Posted on 09/10/2006 11:05:56 AM PDT by Dems_R_Losers
On June 25, 1996, a powerful truck bomb exploded outside the Khobar Towers barracks in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, tearing the front from the building, blasting a crater 35 feet deep, and killing 19 American soldiers. Hundreds more were injured. When news reached Washington, President Bill Clinton vowed to bring the killers to justice. "The cowards who committed this murderous act must not go unpunished," he said angrily. "Let me say again: We will pursue this. America takes care of our own. Those who did it must not go unpunished." The next day, leaving the White House to attend an economic summit in France, Clinton had more tough words for the attackers. "Let me be very clear: We will not resist" — the president corrected himself — "we will not rest in our efforts to find who is responsible for this outrage, to pursue them and to punish them."
As Clinton spoke, his top political strategist, Dick Morris, was hard at work conducting polls to gauge the public's reaction to the bombing. "Whenever there was a crisis, I ordered an immediate poll," Morris recalls. "I was concerned about how Clinton looked in the face of [the attack] and whether people blamed him." The bombing happened in the midst of the president's re-election campaign, and even though Clinton enjoyed a substantial lead over Republican Bob Dole, Morris worried that public dissatisfaction with Clinton on the terrorism issue might benefit Dole.
Indeed, Morris's first poll showed less support for Clinton than he had hoped. But by the time Morris presented his findings to the president and top staffers at a political-strategy meeting a few days later, public approval of Clinton's response had climbed — something Morris noted in his written agenda for the session:
SAUDI BOMBING — recovered from Friday and looking great
Approve Clinton handling 73-20
Big gain from 63-20 on Friday
Security was adequate 52-40
It's not Clinton's fault 76-18
The numbers were a relief for the re-election team. But soon there was another crisis when, on July 17, TWA Flight 800 exploded and crashed into the Atlantic Ocean on its way from New York to Paris. There was widespread suspicion that the crash was the result of terrorism (it was later ruled to be an accident), and Morris's polling found the public growing uneasy not only about air safety but also about Clinton's performance in the Khobar investigation. Morris found that the number of people who believed Clinton was "doing all he can to investigate the Saudi bombing and punish those responsible" was just 54 percent, while 32 percent believed he could do more. Morris feared that White House inaction would allow Dole to portray Clinton as soft on national security.
"We tested two alternative defenses to this attack: Peace maker or Toughness," Morris wrote in a memo for the president. In the "Peacemaker" defense, Morris asked voters to respond to the statement, "Clinton is peacemaker. Brought together Arabs and Israelis. Ireland. Bosnia cease fire. Uses strength to bring about peace." The other defense, "Tough ness," asked voters to respond to "Clinton tough. Stands up for American interests. Against foreign companies doing business in Cuba. Sanctions against Iran. Anti-terrorist legislation held up by Republicans. Prosecuted World Trade Center bombers." Morris found that the public greatly preferred "Toughness."
So Clinton talked tough. But he did not act tough. Indeed, a review of his years in office shows that each time the president was confronted with a major terrorist attack — the February 26, 1993, bombing of the World Trade Center, the Khobar Towers attack, the August 7, 1998, bombing of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, and the October 12, 2000, attack on the USS Cole — Clinton was preoccupied with his own political fortunes to an extent that precluded his giving serious and sustained attention to fighting terrorism.
At the time of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, his administration was just beginning, and he was embroiled in controversies over gays in the military, an economic stimulus plan, and the beginnings of Hillary Clinton's health-care task force. Khobar Towers happened not only in the midst of the president's re-election campaign but also at the end of a month in which there were new and damaging developments in the Whitewater and Filegate scandals. The African embassy attacks occurred as the Monica Lewinsky affair was at fever pitch, in the month that Clinton appeared before independent counsel Kenneth Starr's grand jury. And when the Cole was rammed, Clinton had little time left in office and was desperately hoping to build his legacy with a breakthrough in the Arab-Israeli conflict. Whenever a serious terrorist attack occurred, it seemed Bill Clinton was always busy with something else.
(more at link)
Al-Qaeda grew while Moanica blew.
it's not surprising, but this portrays the sleazy poll driven politics Dick Morris presches.
Don't forget Jimmy Carter's 444 days of toughness.
"Clinton Has No Clothes"
Monica Lewinski and many other women already knew that.
Clinton having no clothes. Now that's a pretty scary picture.
Surely, the MSM gave him a pass. They ae to blame, too.
Hell, if Toon had just listened to Dick Morris a little more he might have done something about Bin Laden and been a real national hero. Even a surefire embellishment of his legacy with just a small war on terror was not enough incentive to get Clinton off the schneid and overcome his cogenital revulsion of the military and military solutions. That may be the most damning thing of all about him. He wasn't that distracted with Monica - he was biased to the core against using American might to do anything.
Here is a weatherman who would fit right in at ABC....
http://www.ebaumsworld.com/2006/09/cockroack-on-weatherman.html
As I recall, the only one punished for the attack was the Air Force Base Commander.
Capped with an under-strengthed, slim-to-none-chance, further face-losing rescue attempt. God how I despise Dhimmicrats!!
"Another trip down Memory Lane......the end of this piece is especially insightful - terrorism just wasn't "Clinton's thing." Liberal baby boomers like Clinton are almost allergic to using force at any time to confront America's enemies. Clinton was all about himself and his legacy, not about protecting America."
Tough to believe a President that dodged the draft and went to Moscow at the height of the cold war.
To this day, I believe if Ross Perot stayed home and counted his money, there would be no such thing as the Clintons.
LOL... That'll leave a mark!
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4 years ago on...
'The Judicial Watch Report' national talk radio show
http://www.JudicialWatch.org
...DICK MORRIS publically admitted to the nation that he had personally witnessed BILL CLINTON refuse 2 Free Offers from the Sudan in 1995 & 1996 to give us our No. 1 Terrorist Enemy OSAMA bin LADEN on a silver platter.
...DICK MORRIS then told US that couldn't personally confirm BILL CLINTON's refusing a third Free Offer in 2000, because MORRIS was no longer in the CLINTON White House by then.
An incoming call on this subject gave DICK MORRIS this opportunity to "share" what he had witnessed with US out here in RadioLand.
Signed:.."ALOHA RONNIE" Guyer
-The Judicial Watch Report Caller
.
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