The AP has a story this afternoon entitled, Bill Clinton, once an asset, was Hillary's 'mixed blessing'. Here are some of my favorite quotes:
"When Hillary Clinton launched her presidential bid 17 months ago, her husband--with his formidable political talents and popularity among Democrats nostalgic for the 1990s--was seen as her greatest strength. By the close of the primaries yesterday, with his wife's White House hopes dashed by an unexpectedly strong challenger, Bill Clinton had become at least as well-known for his hot- tempered outbursts that hurt her candidacy and damaged his own legacy."
Bill has damaged his legacy? All right!!! Yippee!!! I can't contain my joy.
"Bill Clinton's own popularity has also taken a beating. In a January NBC/Wall Street Journal poll, he got favorable ratings from a plurality of voters, including 78 percent of Democrats. By April, more voters had a negative view of him than a positive one, and his favorable ratings among Democrats had dropped, including among black voters."
What? People aren't in love with the Clintons anymore? (As if they ever were. Clinton failed to get a majority in both 1992 and 1996.) Say it ain't so!
"The first of several gaffes came just before the Jan. 8 New Hampshire primary, when he told a crowd at Dartmouth College that Obama's opposition to the Iraq War had been exaggerated. 'Give me a break,' Clinton said of Obama's record on the war since he joined the U.S. Senate. 'This whole thing is the biggest fairy tale I've ever seen.' The remarks were widely misconstrued that he meant Obama's quest for the presidency itself was a 'fairy tale,' and many blacks took offense."
Bill's got a point there. Obama's "record" of opposition to the Iraq war is one little speech he gave in the State Senate, and Barack even acknowledges in Audacity of Hope his belief in 2002 that Iraq had chemical and biological weapons and was planning to go nuclear. So what right does Obama have to say, "I told you so"? He thought the same way as many of us.
But Bill has no right critiquing fairy tales, especially since he's fed us nothing but those since he first ran for President. "I'm just a poor, humble guy from Hope, Arkansas. My family was dirt poor" (my paraphrase). Well, Dick Morris documents in Because He Could that your family was economically better off than you let on. "I knew once 9/11 hit that it was Bin Laden." Okay, Mr. Smarty Pants. Then why didn't you take care of Bin Laden when you were President? "The economy was great in the 90's." Indeed it was, but that recession during the early years of the Bush II Administration began on your watch. "I did not have sexual relations with that woman..." I'll let that one speak for itself.
I also like the AP calling what Clinton said "gaffes." Every time Dan Quayle or George W. mangle their words a little bit, we're supposed to see them as bumbling idiots, while Bill Clinton is presented to us as an intelligent "master politician" who walks on water. Well, apparently Clinton too can make mistakes.
"Bill Clinton had been popular among black voters -- author Toni Morrison once famously dubbed him 'America's first black president.' Yet some of his remarks were interpreted as race- baiting. In April, during a Philadelphia radio interview, he accused Obama's campaign of having played 'the race card' against him over his South Carolina comments. Questioned later by a reporter about the broadcast remarks, he angrily denied having made them."
I thought that the whole "first black President" spiel was a con from the get-go. James Patterson recounts in Dereliction of Duty that Clinton's staff was not always that nice to African-Americans. Bill Clinton even supported the confederate flag when he was governor of Arkansas. Clinton cares about black people? Give me a break! He wants their vote.
Republicans are always called "racist" by the Left. I'm glad to see that Clinton got a taste of that accusation. Now he knows what it feels like! There are a lot of liberals who do not see blacks as their equals, but as pets, or as a constituency to exploit.
Why don't I like Bill Clinton? Because he's a smug know-it-all. He thinks the rules don't apply to him. I'd have a hard time being around him. He likes to suck up all of the spotlight. And maybe there's envy there too, on my part. He gets all sorts of attractive women! Why do they fall for that jerk? Well, then again, women tend to fall for jerks, period.