April 16, 2003

History's Prodigal speaks

Well, I might as well attract more trolls (the ones my latest Michael Moore post haven't already sucked in). Everyone is always jawing on about how intelligent and smart and he-went-to-Oxford-Rhodes-Scholar ex-president Bill Clinton is, as opposed to "Our Current Moron-in-Chief." Well, Mr. Smarty Pants said this recently, and it sure sounds like an opinion off the short bus to me:

"Since September 11, it looks like we can't hold two guns at the same time," Clinton said. "If you fight terrorism, you can't make America a better place to be."

So... we should quit this silly terrorism-fighting thing, and do whatever it is constitutes in Slick Willy's mind "makes America a better place to be"? And we will enjoy these fruits of well-being up until the next terrorist attack, right? Dumbass.

For more opinions on BJ's latest emission of wisdom, check out moxie, and Tim Blair.

Posted by Andrea Harris at April 16, 2003 03:07 PM
Comments

The more I hear/read from "scholars" the less respect I have for higher education. Of course, Pres. Bush is much better educated than his speech indicates. The anti-Bush crowd act like he's an elementary school drop out or something. So he can't pronounce "nuclear"... at least he seems to know the difference between "unilateral" and "multilateral," "diplomacy" and "appeasement," etc.

Posted by: Lynn S at April 16, 2003 at 06:03 PM

The funny thing is, the holy, sainted Jimmy Carter could never pronounce nuclear either. And he supposedly was a nuclear expert. And worst of all his mispronunciation excluded the L, not just moved it around.

Posted by: Tom Kince at April 16, 2003 at 07:28 PM

I strongly urge anyone who desires to piss off Leftists to do what I do, and just use the lazy rural 'nucular' pronunciation. This will suck the foul little traitors into thinking that they can best you in debate. Then, just go ahead and do the job on them that I know a reader of Andrea's fine blog can do.

And please make sure you keep using the piss-'em-off 'nucular' pronunciation. It will drive them batshit. Keep in mind that there are quite a lot of bomber pilots, missile combat crews, and SSBN skippers who pronounce it that way.

Posted by: Mike James at April 16, 2003 at 08:27 PM

It's particularly odd in that Clinton wrote an article supporting the Iraq war (specifically, supporting Tony Blair's support for the war) for a British paper whose identity escapes me at the moment. He's been more or less in favor of it, and of the Afghanistan war and other anti-terrorist operations, most times that he's been asked. Maybe he's just complaining about Bush's domestic policy, for which I don't really blame him.

Posted by: Matt McIrvin at April 16, 2003 at 09:44 PM

I like all these references to Bush's domestic policy, reminiscent of how Clinton got into office in the first place, bragging about what a great domestic policy he would give us...

His great corporate corruption really helped the economy there for a while, til the pyramid got top heavy, but then Democrats arent big business...dont mind Robert Rubin behind that curtain, he is just discussing boring old bonds with his treasury pals.

Kinda hard to have a domestic policy when your predecessors foriegn policy has large aircraft flying into offices housing major portions of your financial industry. And he has appeased A communist dictatorship so much they magically have nukes....

But dont worry, according to major media and hollywood, Clinton was a great president, so it must be true.

Lets see, Reagan leaves office, Berlin wall falls down. Clinton leaves office, WTC falls down...which is the better legacy?

Posted by: Joel Mackey at April 16, 2003 at 10:52 PM

Clinton was always over rated, intellectually. Did you ever listen, or read a transcript of his remarks when they were off the cuff as opposed to scripted? The man was incoherent. He didn't know the Declaration from the Constitution from the Gettysburg Address. Maybe he WAS the most brilliant man to come out of Arkansas, but that's sort of like being the highest mountain in Florida, isn't it?
Glad to see that I'm not the only one out here who considers the crater in Manhattan to be the real Clinton legacy.

Posted by: MLP at April 16, 2003 at 11:04 PM

Perhaps he is referring to the fact that GW has not yet had a knob-polishing in the office. That made his term better (at least for him). What a joke - the worst president we've had since I've been alive, probably worse than any other two presidents, and he is criticizing GW. You know, when Clinton was running our country into a fake boom of dot-coms you didn't hear George Senior ripping him in the media. I guess the Oxford education doesn't come with class.

Posted by: BillH at April 16, 2003 at 11:10 PM

I think the two statements he made have to be taken as part of the same thought - he believes that under the Bush administration it's as if we can't deal with domestic and external issues at the same time (and thus if we're fighting terrorism, we can't deal with domestic issues, from way he sees the Bush administration handling things).

I don't get the impression he was saying "do one or the other" but that he sees Bush and his cabinet as only capable of doing one or the other.

Don't worry, not a Clinton fan, but I think in this case he's been misunderstood.

Posted by: andy at April 16, 2003 at 11:32 PM

Jimmy Carter couldn't pronounce "nuclear" either, and he falsely claimed to be a "nuclear physicist" when he ran for President in 1976.

It was Eisenhower who popularized the mispronunciation of "nuclear" as "nucular."

Posted by: jim at April 16, 2003 at 11:34 PM

Clinton and his crowd can't wrap their heads around what 9/11 means. However, it doesn't actually make him retarted. I know that using the retard jokes against the unretarted can be just hilarious.

Before my son was born(just 2 months after 9/11), I could have laughed right along with them all (the extra chromosome club, mouthbreathers, short bus riders, etc.). Now it just makes me wince. I'm walking that mile in my new shoes, you know? Anyway, don't necessarily take this as criticism for what really is a funny post. Just remember that Bill Clinton most likely won't be the one feeling that barb.

Posted by: wen at April 16, 2003 at 11:59 PM

I'm sorry about your son, Wendy, but I will continue to make tasteless jokes about all and sundry. It isn't meant to reflect on actual people with real mental handicaps that are not under their control, any more than is the use of terms like "idiot" and "moron," which were once merely medical terms for people with varying degress of mental illnesses and brain damage.

Posted by: Andrea Harris at April 17, 2003 at 12:05 AM

I would not wish you to do anything other than make tasteless jokes about all and sundry. I had hoped that my earlier post showed that I had no ill will towards your comments. But I can't help feeling sad sometimes about that damned short bus. However, that has passed and I hope all posters will resume the with Clinton criticisms post haste.

Posted by: wen at April 17, 2003 at 12:41 AM

How about "useless dickhead"? That's nice and inoffensive...

Posted by: David Ross at April 17, 2003 at 01:00 AM

Reminds me of dialog from Ghostbusters: "Everything was going fine until dickless here pulled the plug and all hell broke loose." Official: "Is this true?" Bill Murray: "Yes. This man has no dick."

Posted by: Dark Avenger at April 17, 2003 at 01:38 AM

There is something that liberals better worry about if they continue to play the "moron in cheif" meme. He keeps winning, getting his agenda through, and blocking theirs. If he is a moron and keeps beating them, what does that make them?

Carter was an officer on nucular submarines. Not quite a physist, but pretty close.

Posted by: Ben at April 17, 2003 at 03:34 AM

The only way an officer on a nuclear submarine is "close" to a nuclear physicist is if he's on the engineering crew. The LTJG in charge of the sonar team wouldn't necessarily know squat about the nuclear aspect of the boat.

Posted by: Kevin McGehee at April 17, 2003 at 09:12 AM

Bill Clinton needs a big ol' cup of STFU...

Posted by: BarCodeKing at April 17, 2003 at 09:44 AM

Kevin, having served on "nucular" fast attack subs for most of my Navy career, I can safely say that all of the officers except the supply officer are grads of the Navy's Nuclear Power School.

Posted by: Dave at April 17, 2003 at 11:26 AM

As far as Bush's "nucular" goes, I for one am positive that he does it deliberately. What the intended effect is I'm not sure, but it's obvious from the way his delivery has improved through his Presidency that he's been coached hard on his speaking, and even if somehow he didn't know the pronunciation was wrong, his coaches must. Maybe they think it conveys lack of pretension?

Posted by: Michelle Dulak at April 17, 2003 at 12:05 PM

Apparently, Carter had been XO and Engineering Officer and Electronics Officer on non-nuclear subs, and applied to work under Rickover on the first nuclear sub in 1952. He was accepted and trained to serve as Engineering Officer for the nuclear power plant on the USS Seawolf, and designed the training for the enlisted men. But it looks like he never actually served in her, as he resigned his commission in 1953 after his father died.

http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq60-14.htm

Posted by: PJ/Maryland at April 17, 2003 at 12:09 PM

The thing is, you know Clinton has got to be sick over how Bush has already established his (presidential) legacy--a free Iraq and Saddaam-free world, and what will Clinton be remembered for?

Posted by: sheraton at April 17, 2003 at 01:12 PM

My thanks to Dave and PJ for the education.

Posted by: Kevin McGehee at April 17, 2003 at 03:45 PM

What will Clinton be remembered for? Come now, we know the answer to that.

I talked last night to a man who's convinced that Tony Blair and Bill Clinton talk all the time about what a moron Bush is. Not wanting to start a seder spat, I didn't say: Do you think Blair risked his political career to support a moron?

And you'd think people would notice how the dumb guy keeps winning.

Posted by: Joanne Jacobs at April 17, 2003 at 08:37 PM

I think "The War on Terror" is domestic policy. If there was another attack on American soil, the economy would really go in the toilet. I mean all the way down the pipes. The economy right now is not that bad. THere's no inflation and a little more than 1/2 a person out of 10 is unemployed. Interest rates are at all time lows. I'm sorry things are not that bad. I think most people (stupidly) thought that things would go perfectly forever. In fact, I believe that it was BJ clinton who said, " We've defeated the business cycle". If Americans feel safe, the economy will get better quicker. Even if they don't, the economy will go up at some point in time. It might go down first, that's why it's called a cycle. Like planetary heating and cooling. There feel better.

Posted by: Charles Rutt at April 17, 2003 at 09:51 PM

I am not particularly worried about the economy. Unlike many people I do not think the office of the president of the United States confers magical power on the president to Make the Economy All Better. Clinton had no more control over the economy than I do -- he just happened to be president during a time when we were all (supposedly) getting fat and rich on "web portals" or whatever the hell it was the so-called "Dot.com Boom" was all about. (If you ask me it was all about unrealistic expectations, web sites no one wanted to visit, and brand-new companies going belly-up after spending money they didn't have on the latest hitech toys and Italian office furniture. But I look at such things from the outside.)

Posted by: Andrea Harris at April 17, 2003 at 10:19 PM

just a quick statement:

Bill Clinton is a two dollar whore.

That is all.

Posted by: dave at April 18, 2003 at 05:15 AM

It's hard to demonstrate that you've defeated the business cycle until you've skipped a few more than one of them. Skipping one is not uncommon.

What a fargan icehole that guy still is.

Posted by: David Perron at April 18, 2003 at 09:28 AM

Dave, the TDWADL (Two Dollar Whore Anti Defamation League) protests your comparison of two dollar whores to Bill Clinton. Your statement is insulting and demeaning to two dollar whores throughout the world.

Posted by: Rossz at April 18, 2003 at 05:41 PM