Posted on 08/08/2012 7:29:20 AM PDT by Qbert
Bill Clinton, after steering clear of the flap over Mitt Romney using him in an ad in which he accused President Obama of trying to "gut" the 1996 welfare reform act, responds tonight with a statement rapping the Republican:
"Governor Romney released an ad today alleging that the Obama administration had weakened the work requirements of the 1996 Welfare Reform Act. That is not true."The act emerged after years of experiments at the state level, including my work as Governor of Arkansas beginning in 1980. When I became President, I granted waivers from the old law to 44 states to implement welfare to work strategies before welfare reform passed.
"After the law was enacted, every state was required to design a plan to move people into the workforce, along with more funds to help pay for training, childcare and transportation. As a result, millions of people moved from welfare to work.
"The recently announced waiver policy was originally requested by the Republican governors of Utah and Nevada to achieve more flexibility in designing programs more likely to work in this challenging environment. The Administration has taken important steps to ensure that the work requirement is retained and that waivers will be granted only if a state can demonstrate that more people will be moved into work under its new approach. The welfare time limits, another important feature of the 1996 act will not be waived.
"The Romney ad is especially disappointing because, as governor of Massachusetts, he requested changes in the welfare reform laws that could have eliminated time limits altogether. We need a bipartisan consensus to continue to help people move from welfare to work even during these hard times, not more misleading campaign ads. "
In Clinton fashion, brevity is not at play, but he spends a long time making a case for why the Romney attack is wrong. The ad that Romney is airing, as I noted earlier, has real money behind it, suggesting it was effective in focus groups - and therefore something Chicago felt needed a stronger response to.
UPDATE: Romney spokesman Ryan Williams emails with a response that tried again to push a wedge: "President Obama was a vocal opponent of the innovative, bipartisan welfare reforms that President Clinton and a Republican Congress passed in 1996. His administration has now undermined the central premise of those reforms by gutting the welfare-to-work requirement. Unlike President Obama, Mitt Romney has a record of fighting to strengthen work requirements. As president, he will ensure that nearly sixteen years of progress aren’t erased with one stroke of a pen."
"Welfare waiver supported by Romney would have increased work requirements for welfare"
*snort*
Clinton wasted no time. It’s pretty clear the Donks are in fear of this one.
Clinton is clearly back on the reservation. I wonder how they bought his loyalty.
since when do Dems favor State's rights? they want one-size-fits-all gubbamint for everything else, from marriage laws to voting laws to speed limits,concealed carry laws, illegal aliens, and voter ID.
He can respond to Clinton
But of course as Willie himself advised: what he says always "depends on what the meaning of the words 'is' is."
Democrats’ principles are elastic with one exception - they must maintain control at all costs.
Why is Bill Clinton letting himself be used by Obama? The Won's campaign apparently wants to go back to blaming Bush but can't do it directly because people realize it's just an excuse. The only reason they are going to let Sinkstain "Cigar Diddler" Clinton speak at the DNC Convention is to revisit the blame Bush meme.
Who gives a crap whether it was misleading or not? The Dems can dish it out, but they can’t take it. I wish the Romney camp would get an Obama look-alike to do an ad in the darkened by night, back seat of Larry Sinclair’s limo smoking crack and getting oral sex. I’d say 5 days before the Election would be a good time to run the ad.
"Clinton wasted no time. It’s pretty clear the Donks are in fear of this one."
Absolutely correct.
I really like this line of attack from Romney because it shows how hard left Obama really is. And Bill Clinton is throwing away his major "moderate" accomplishment to shill for Obama (the guy who "would've been fetching him coffee a few years ago"...). Two birds, one stone...
The ABC and CBS radio “news” at the top of the hour have reported this.. but not one thing about the lies in Obama’s Romney-killed-my-wife ads, that I heard. I understand that CNN TV did expose the lies in that ad.
When bill “the rapist” clinton speaks... satan’s hands move.
LLS
I think Obama’s going to dump Biden...
Can we go to the tape?
IIRC, Pinnocio VETOED welfare reform twice before the polls showing him loosing re-election on the issue in 96, so in late Aug. or Sept. of that year with much fanfare he signed the legislation.
To Bill Clinton AKA the cigar man, Rapist, Perjurer, serial liar it is always “I” did this or “i” did that. He sure doesn’t admit he signed the legislation under overwhelming pressure.
If the DIRT-FPOTUS has to help Barry, then lil Barry can’t fight his own fight. Weak sauce Soetoro.
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