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July 12, 2006

Clinton Still Doesn't Ultimately Get It

On a couple of fronts, really. He was in Aspen yesterday (I'm sure he got there by horseback, to protect the environment and all) dispensing advice:

ASPEN — Democrats should perform well in November if they focus on issues like climate change, former president Bill Clinton told an Aspen Ideas Festival audience Friday.

Oh yeah, that will really bring them out to the polls. I'm reminded of a line from Lucifer's Hammer (I think) where a character says (and this is a rough paraphrase) that "no one ever manned a barricade to the rallying cry of "Clean water and cheap electricity!" I hope the Democrats do stress this though, because Clinton is right when he says

“Historically, we should win,” Clinton said. “We might well win one or more houses.”

I think people are a little fatigued at having the same party in nominal control of the House for awhile. Frankly, given how this supposedly "Republican" Congress has spent its way around town I'm not sure one can really tell which party is in control, but it seems to me that the surest way to guarantee that it won't be the Democrats is for them to start lecturing everyone about the environment in that prissy, high-minded, scornful style that the Democrats do better than anyone. And why do they do it better? Because they actually believe it. Listen to their speeches, read their editorials and blogs, pay close attention to their tone, and you'll easily see that in their heart of hearts, while they may in fact want the 'best' for America it is a 'best' that is strictly defined by them and they do not trust you to decide for yourself what may, in fact, be the best for your particular situation. They openly despise the values and aspirations of the 'common man' that they claim to champion...and then claim that there must be some 'vast right-wing conspiracy' to deny them justice when, shockingly, the 'common man' chooses not to give power to people who despise their lifestyle and values.

But I think Clinton is mostly right with this:

The Republican strategy is weak, he said.

“Let’s forget about global warming and talk about flag burning and gay marriage,” Clinton said. “I don’t know how long you can milk that old cow.”

Democrats, he said, need to focus on their differences with the GOP and on promoting what they stand for. One of those things should be fighting climate change, he said.

Flag Burning and Gay Marriage is the stupidest platform in the world, yet it's one that the idiotic Republican leadership, goaded along by a mostly unfriendly press, seems to keep focusing on. Well, second stupidest, as I would still have to give the nod to climate change, but just barely. Unfortunately, the Democrats are much more interested in focusing on their differences with eachother than on concentrating on the vulnerable fools on the other side of the aisle.

On foreign affairs, while he does believe we need to stay in Iraq, he still can not resist his urge to be Good Cop:

He said he has a deep belief in keeping channels of communication open, even to groups that support terrorist activities, like Hamas in the Middle East.

“I’d still talk to them if they wanted to talk,” he said. “The more you talk, the fewer people will die. There is an inherent benefit to that ... every single death is just another scar you have to claw through before you can make a deal.”

This shows me that he just does not understand how things have changed since his time in office. Well, maybe 'changed' is the wrong word; how about 'clarified'? These 'people', these murderous, raping, beheading, misogynistic barbarians, will talk and talk and defer and delay until the goats come home...and then send in suicide bombers and slit throats. They have openly declared time and again that they want us all to live under sharia or dead, and they have acted and continue to act in a manner which is completely consistent and keeping with those goals. There is no 'talking', there are no 'deals'. If you are willing to take them at their word when you have some global conference, why are you not willing to take them at their word when they say you are an infidel who must die?

Posted by Mr. Bingley at July 12, 2006 08:25 AM

Comments

You can still milk that old cow. It's just that it won't give up any milk. Good exercise for your grip, though.

Posted by: Dan Collins at July 12, 2006 12:49 PM

I think with old Bill, the cow usually does the gripping....

Posted by: Crusader at July 12, 2006 01:14 PM

Mr. Bingley,
You are so right. Your last paragraph of analysis says it all. It's time for dealing and negotiating (lying on the part of Arab extremists) to end.

Posted by: RobertC at July 13, 2006 05:17 AM

Crusader,

That was killer.

Despite the fact that I prefer the chunkies.

Posted by: M. Simon at July 13, 2006 07:46 AM

Thanks guys, and welcome to the Swilling!

Posted by: Mr. Bingley at July 13, 2006 08:11 AM