In defense of Bill Clinton

[darklordoftech]

Bill Clinton balanced the budget, he got the Family and Medical Leave Act and CHIP passed, he cleaned up a lot of pollution, he ended tobacco subsidies and got the tobacco companies to admit that nicotine is addictive, he appointed Ruth Bader-Ginsberg and Stephen Breyer to the Supreme Court, he closed military bases, he helped bring peace to Northern Ireland and the Balkans, he attempted to take action against Bin Laden, and he oversaw a booming economy and falling crime rates.

An obnoxious tendency among Republicans is to blame Clinton for everything that went wrong under Bush 43. I feel like they don't want to admit that voting for Bush 43 in 2000 was a mistake (or they've been indoctrinated by Fox News and Rush Limbaugh).

I think that Bush Dynasty's advocacy for sending teenagers to Straight, Inc. did far more to "disgrace the White House" than a sex scandal ever could.

From the 2000 Democratic Platform:
"Battling Terrorism.
Whether terrorism is sponsored by a foreign nation or inspired by a single fanatic individual, such as Osama Bin Laden, Forward Engagement requires trying to disrupt terrorist networks, even before they are ready to attack. We must improve coordination internationally and domestically to share intelligence and develop operational plans. We must continue the comprehensive approach that has resulted in the development of a national counter-terrorism strategy involving all arms and levels of our government. We must continue to target terrorist finances, break up support cells, and disrupt training. And we must close avenues of cyber-attack by improving the security of the Internet and the computers upon which our digital economy exists.

As President, Al Gore will tolerate no attack against American interests at home or abroad: terrorists must know that if they attack America, we will never forget. We will scour the world to hunt them down and bring them to justice.

While fighting terrorism, we will protect the civil liberties of all Americans. Our justice system must guarantee fairness with procedures that protect the rights of the accused, even under the unusual circumstances of the investigation of threats to our national security. We must avoid stereotyping, for it defeats the highest purposes of our country if citizens feel automatically suspect by virtue of their ethnic origin. The purpose of terrorism is not only to intimidate, but also to divide and fracture, and we cannot permit that to happen."


The 2000 Republican platform doesn't talk about terrorism at all.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Holding Clinton accountable for the bills he signed, doesn't absolve Bush of the mistakes that he made.

It merely asserts that Clinton took credit for a booming economy while at the same time setting the stage for future disasters and by extension future deficits.

Clinton still pushed for and signed NAFTA without doing nearly enough to mitigate the damage that would occur to rural and small town America, the resulting loss of tax base and its effects on education, public heath and transportation etc.

Clinton signed into law bills not only repealed Glass-Steagall, but also that legalized a multitude of financial instruments, including many of those that would directly cause the credit crunch in 2007 and the collapse of the financial system in 2008. While Bush can be held to some degree of responsibility for pushing Housing (so can Clinton), it is fair to say that Clinton loaded the shotgun aimed at the economy and Bush pulled the trigger.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

I consider the repeal of Glass-Steagall and his crime bills as indefensible, period.

To be honest, I see Clinton as somewhat of a tragic figure, that started out as someone with a sincere progressive leanings, who embraced the "Third Way" to have a chance at implementing what could've been implemented in what was a conservative political environment. Unfortunately he went on to get hooked on bulls**t like Morris' "triangulation" and thoroughly betrayed himself.

[Sestak]

Bill Clinton balanced the budget, he got the Family and Medical Leave Act and CHIP passed, he cleaned up a lot of pollution, he ended tobacco subsidies and got the tobacco companies to admit that nicotine is addictive, he appointed Ruth Bader-Ginsberg and Stephen Breyer to the Supreme Court,

This is not a positive.

[Sirius_]

Bill Clinton balanced the budget, he got the Family and Medical Leave Act and CHIP passed, he cleaned up a lot of pollution, he ended tobacco subsidies and got the tobacco companies to admit that nicotine is addictive, he appointed Ruth Bader-Ginsberg and Stephen Breyer to the Supreme Court,

This is not a positive.

What did he do? What makes him different from any of the other Democrats on the court?

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Bill Clinton balanced the budget, he got the Family and Medical Leave Act and CHIP passed, he cleaned up a lot of pollution, he ended tobacco subsidies and got the tobacco companies to admit that nicotine is addictive, he appointed Ruth Bader-Ginsberg and Stephen Breyer to the Supreme Court,

This is not a positive.

What did he do? What makes him different from any of the other Democrats on the court?

He is general regarded as being pro-prosecutor.

There used to be an alignment of sorts on these issues with

Roberts, Alito, Kennedy and Breyer vs. Ginsburg, Sotomayor, Kagan, and Thomas. And Scalia would hold the decisive vote in these cases.

The one lasting legacy of Trump that is positive, and the one that often gets lost over the hand wringing over wronged Merrick Garland, is that Garland would have likely been a Breyer clone based on his record and thus would have given a decisive majority to that side in these cases. Gorsuch replacing Scalia, had the effect of shifting the court in the opposite direction. This is why I said in another thread that instead of the Gorsuch-Sotomayor alliance on these issues, you would have a Garland-Alito one in the opposite direction.

[OSR stands with Israel]

I consider the repeal of Glass-Steagall and his crime bills as indefensible, period.

To be honest, I see Clinton as somewhat of a tragic figure, that started out as someone with a sincere progressive leanings, who embraced the "Third Way" to have a chance at implementing what could've been implemented in what was a conservative political environment. Unfortunately he went on to get hooked on bulls**t like Morris' "triangulation" and thoroughly betrayed himself.

The Crime Bill was something the American people Demanded,  there was no way that type of bill wouldnt have been stopped from being implemented in law. Politicians who were viewed as too weak on crime would basically be gone in the next election due to it. Just look at California at the time, Judges were thrown out by a 2-1 vote because they were viewed as too weak on crime, 3 strikes and your out passed as a ballot measure and many more.