During the 2004 election, that self-same Billy-Bob Clinton, he who presided over one of the worst, most corrupt, defense-weakening, tax-and-spend administrations in American History (cigars and blue dresses served in a white water sauce, anyone?) was a rather unwelcome fixture at the Democratic Convention. All of the blue boys were trying their best to distance themselves from the hick from Arkansas. And you could see Hillary just squirming every time the boob was shown on television. Oh, and leave us not forget the five times... FIVE TIMES... that Bill-bo embroiled us in military conflicts in Rwanda, Bosnia, Iraq (yes, he bombed it before W), and other places - once while getting a Monica in the Oral Office.

Oh, but lets all bash George W. for having to deal with the results of the failed Clinton administration... Is W failed in many things? Yes... Is he still deserving of a little base common courtesy? More than the Arkansas good ol' boy...

1. Clinton's was one of the most corrupt? The only government official who was convicted in WhiteWater was for having overcharged his clients as a lawyer, before he was in office. The rest of the allegations that you might refer to have to do with bullshit that Starr couldn't prove and gave up after spending about $60 million.

2. This president has stopped investigations by either claiming executive priv. or by having his justice department refuse to bring charges....or by commuting the sentence (Libby). How many former Bush White House folks are in jail? I can think of two.....and Libby & Rove should be. Did Clinton fire prosecutors to keep them from prosecuting democrats or to encourage them to go after republicans? Did Clinton have people in the justice department hiring based on wanting to "server" him? Bush did. Any CIA agents get their covers blown during the Clinton years...by the White House?

3. Did Clinton's administration torture captives? No.

4. Did Clinton order illegal wiretaps? No.

5. Did Clinton's administration orchestrate the bogus prosecution of a republican governor to help get a democrat elected? No.

6. Did Clinton's administration pay reporters for favorable coverage of their efforts? No. Bush did.

Bush deserving of common courtesy? Like the kind of courtesy evidenced by you guys with the "Clinton Death List"? Look into why they wanted to replace Robert Fiske with Ken Starr. It was because Fiske said that there was nothing more than a suicide to Vince Foster's death and Lauch Faircloth, Jess Helms and David Sentelle wanted to try to pin it on Clinton.

Why is it that we have the Reagan/Bush S&L scandal that cost us billions and now we have the mortgage crash under this president.

By the way, when it comes to convictions of former administration officials....Reagan holds the record.

Weakended defense department. Reagan and Bush cut far more troops from the active duty and reserves than Clinton did. There were 2 million troops when Reagan took office. there were 1.6 million when Clinton took office. There are 1.4 million now.....which is the exact same number as when Bush walked into the White House. Bush invaded Iraq and did not attempt to increase the number of troops to do the job. Instead he increased the amount of time they'd spend in combat from 12 months to 15 months and used "Stop Loss" against over 80,000 troops to force them to stay in past their discharge dates. We now have a $40 billion backlog for repairs to vehicles damaged in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. We have been moving those tanks and armored vehicles to repair yards and there they sit. Our military is far weaker than they were when Clinton was president.

Good job, George.

I frankly couldn't give less of a shit about Clinton's BJ. If it would allow him to eliminate our projected $482,000,000,000.00 deficit, I would proudly support any Bush initiative to procure a BJ of his very own. Sure, Clinton was a corrupt politician (as well as a goofball), but not appreciably more corrupt than the average bear in those particular woods. All politicians are crooked. It’s the rule. His military adventures were minor and measured by comparison to our current ones, and always had UN and/or NATO backing, unlike now. Bush the Elder went to war against Iraq before Clinton, and his campaign was also wisely ended at the appropriate time. Bush the Elder knew the value of proper coalition-building. The son is almost a parody of the father in that respect.

Let's not forget, whatever Clinton's intern-related indiscretions, we spent the vast majority of his Administration at peace and with a stable, prosperous economy. Clinton's sexual dalliances did not prevent him from passing his successor a $128,000,000,000.00 budget surplus, which his successor (no doubt suffering from puritanical sexual repression) squandered literally weeks into his first term. Clinton’s affair with his young intern and his related lies were not praiseworthy, but I haven’t heard that they caused the death of over 4,000 American servicemen, cost hundreds of billions of dollars or trapped us in a war with no exit strategy.

Say what you will about Clinton’s moral character—certainly there is more than enough to criticize there—but if you want to call Clinton’s Administration a failure in terms of policy, you’re going to need to back it up with more than a cigar and a blue dress. Claiming that any of Bush's mistakes were the result of Clinton's policies is ridiculous. Bush dug his own holes just fine without help.

By the way, I voted for Dole in 1996. :-)

In and out (and in and out) is not always a bad strategy, you know what I mean? Huh? Do you? President Billy Bob Bubba didn't get us stuck into a (how many trillions of dollars?) quagmire in Iraq either, but that doesn't address McCain's problem.

What does McCain do with a wildly unpopular lame duck president Bush at his convention? He can't kick him around because the GOP, at least the hard core types like yourself, still loves Bush. The hard core types like yourself must be appeased because they control the campaign money.

The rest of the people in the greatest country in the world are reeling from $4 per gallon gas prices, the real estate and credit implosions, and our disastrous foreign policy. How else could a lightweight like Obama attract such huge and adoring crowds everywhere he goes? Obama should perhaps change his name to "Not Bush", but McCain does not have that option.

All perfectly valid arguments. And when George W. gets impeached for any actions committed while executing the office of President, then I will concede the point. Oh, by the way, what was the name of the only president who was impeached? Hint: It wasn't Nixon...

George Bush could never be impeached! The solid family values of Republicans will always ensure that lying about consensual sex is always a greater national concern than torture, invasion of privacy, elimination of habeas corpus, and fabricating evidence to induce the nation to war. Clearly democrats have their priorities screwed up if they think all that other jazz can hold a candle to the MONSTROUS CRIME of lying about a BJ.

Never Forget... 12-19-98

Interesting that on the date of Bill Clinton's impeachment (cited above as 12-19-98), it was also the same time that Iraq was busy building up weapons for war and then exporting them, refusing to allow internationally mandated inspections as per the UN Resolutions of 9 years earlier...

Like I said - if there are any criminal proceedings against Bush, I will be right there saying "shame on you..." Until then, all you flamers out there who live by the credo "Bush Lied, People Died" can just keep on deluding yourselves about the Clinton clan...

I stand by my statements.

don't know much about history.... Pres. Andrew Johnson was impeached,and acquitted, so Bill C. was not the only prez. try to learn a bit more about American history before you make a bigger fool out of yourself. Bill C. was not a pious christian and a holy warrior like Dubya, but then again he didn't drag the USA into a useless war. what a fiasco! enjoy your debt and $4 gas under our current Boy King, and try to remember how great the economy was during the Monica scandal when Bill's approval ratings were in the 70s. but Americans are always apt to get more upset about sex than killing.

Was the question answered?

SHOULD Dubya address the GOP Convention at some "low rating" time VERY early in the Convention (thus keeping his image as far from McCain and the Republicans as possible)...

or some night when viewership will be high so that McCain and Repubs get linked inexorcably to Dubya and his legacy?

and why?

No I didn't forget Andrew Johnson... Congress attempted to impeach Johnson under the premise that he removed someone from office without proper authorization. He did not deliberately attempt deliberate malfeasance and obstruction of justice like Slick Willy.

To wit:

Subsequent events vindicated Johnson's position that he was entitled to fire Stanton without Congressional approval. First, the Tenure of Office Act was repealed by Congress in 1887. More importantly, in 1926 the United States Supreme Court in Myers v. United States affirmed the ability of the President to remove a Postmaster without Congressional approval; in so doing, it stated in its majority opinion "that the Tenure of Office Act of 1867...was invalid"

So who's the fool now? Remember, name-calling is strictly the province of those who have run out of anything intelligent to say...

Oh, thanks for reminding me, vis-a-vis Prez Johnson. Lying about BJ's is also way way worse than firing people and creating partisan policy in an attempt to politicize the Justice department.

I hope we keep talking about Clinton's BJ's as the paramount abuse of American power for like, the next 20 or 30 years. It's obviously the best example anyone could ever think of regarding abuse of executive power. I mean, its not like anything similar or worth talking about is happening now.

Never forget.....

Johnson was in fact impeached. That the impeachment was based on trumped up charges doesn't negate the fact that it happened.

Yes, we know Bush is not going to be impeached. He should be and if Pelosi had a spine he would be, but that's the reality of the situation. That doesn't mean any of his many illegal acts are justified.

I suppose you think OJ Simpson is innocent, too.

"I suppose you think OJ Simpson is innocent, too"

It is a settled matter of law that he is-- perhaps you missed the verdict.

The great economy of the Clinton years was a result of the 12 years of Republican reform which saw drastic reduction in taxes by reduction of government waste, and significantly lowered interest rates for loans. Prior to his taking office, interest rates on mortgages hovered in the 14-16% range if buyers were LUCKY. Clint sailed on the wave that had predated him, because he had a pretty boy smile and a knack for using all three sides of his mouth.

Settled matter of law true...

And are you suggesting that history will later vindicate Clinton for lying to Congress and putting our troops in harm's way merely so he would not have to reveal his sexual escapades? Sorry, don't think so...