That gets the "TWISTER" award for intellectual gyration above and beyond the call of kneepad duty.
Posted on 12/26/2001 5:50:05 PM PST by Apollo
The previous administration left us with many memorable quotes. The choice was difficult, but here is a list of the Top 10 Quotes of Bill Clinton, Al Gore, and Hillary Clinton, along with some commentary.
Whatever feelings you may have about Bill Clinton, Al Gore, and Hillary Clinton, we can all agree that none of them will be forgotten anytime soon. They have provided us with numerous opportunities for criticism and seemed to revel in it.
Most of us became acquainted with Al Gore when he ran for President in 1988 and with the Clintons in 1992 in their famous 60 Minutes interview regarding the Gennifer Flowers affair (which he never had, of course). Since 1992, these three have given us many memorable quotes, some of which are now legendary.
In honor of the top three Democrats of the 1990s, I hereby present the Top 10 Quotes of Bill Clinton, Al Gore, and Hillary Clinton, along with some commentary.
10. “The era of big government is over.” —Bill Clinton.
This is from one of the former President’s speeches on the State of the Union. The quote itself is nothing special, but it becomes laughable considering that the person who said it did everything in his power to make big government even bigger.
9. “I have never questioned the experience of my opponent.” —Al Gore.
This Gore fib may have slipped past many of you since the media didn't call him on it. He made this comment in his first debate with George W. Bush, after he and his people had constantly mocked Bush’s 6 years of experience in public office vs. Gore’s 24 years (while at the same time strongly supporting Hillary Clinton’s senate bid and then Jean Carnahan’s candidacy for senate, each of whom had 6 years less experience than Bush—that’s zero for those of you who attended public schools).
8. “I don’t recall.” —Hillary Clinton.
The former First Lady once made this statement 50 times to a House investigating committee. Funny, but supposedly she has an IQ of 100,000, according to her supporters. You’d think that a person with such intelligence would have a slightly better memory.
7. “It depends on what the meaning of the word ‘is’ is.” —Bill Clinton.
The master of hair-splitting manages to split the split ends. This statement is from his testimony concerning the Monica Lewinsky affair. Can you imagine hearing such an excuse from a regular person in court? “Your honor, these men accuse me of robbing a bank, but the accusations are false because ‘robbing’ means that the robbing is happening right now. If I were robbing a bank, I wouldn’t be here on the stand next to you right now. I’m talking right now, not robbing anyone. How can I be robbing a bank when I’m here talking to you right now?”
6. “One of our greatest Presidents.” —Al Gore on Bill Clinton.
After the impeachment of William Jefferson Clinton, the last thing you’d expect to hear are these words. But Al Gore rose to the occasion and somehow found a way to get the words out with a straight face. The scary thing though is that I think he actually believed it.
5. “There has never been a time when I’ve said something I know to be untrue; there has never been a time when I’ve said something untrue.” —Al Gore.
This Gore whopper made its debut during a debate with Bill Bradley during the Democratic primaries. The Bush campaign was shrewd in using this sound bite in one of their commercials, while the Gore campaign claimed that doing so was ‘unfair’. If you don’t like less-than-truthful statements, Mr. Gore, then please don’t make them.
4. “I didn’t inhale.” —Bill Clinton.
When Gov. Clinton was asked about experimenting with marijuana, he said that he tried it, but didn’t inhale. This wishy-washy remark should have tipped everyone off about this guy. If we hadn’t given him a pass on this, we might have been spared Monica Lewinsky, Filegate, Travelgate, etc.
3. “…there is no controlling legal authority that says that is any violation of any law.” —Al Gore.
The former Vice President’s now-infamous defense of his questionable fund raising practices. But of course, the media never pressed him on it. When it’s a 24-year-old DUI charge against a Republican that mysteriously surfaces days before an election, the media is in a frenzy. When it's a Democratic scandal that has yet to be resolved, they simply don't care. And they claim to be objective? We know better.
2. “…this vast right-wing conspiracy that has been conspiring against my husband since the day he announced for President.” —Hillary Clinton.
Who can forget these unforgettable words from the former First Lady on The Today Show, after the Monica Lewinsky story broke? She did her best to act holier-than-thou, trying to take the moral high ground, but in the end she ended up with egg on her face when the facts became known. Mrs. Clinton, the only conspiracy you have to worry about is the one that exposes the truth.
And the #1 quote from the Clinton/Gore/Clinton trio…
1. “I - did - not - have - sexual - relations - with that woman.” —Bill Clinton.
Out of all the Clinton untruths, this one will most likely be the one that lives forever in the American conscience, right next to “I am not a crook.” What makes it even more fascinating is that Clinton said it with such conviction (no pun intended). Remember the way he wagged his finger in our faces and pounded on the podium as he said it? That’s the way an innocent man would react, right? The difference between Nixon and Clinton is that one was a bad liar, the other exceptionally good.
The master of hair-splitting manages to split the split ends. This statement is from his testimony concerning the Monica Lewinsky affair. Can you imagine hearing such an excuse from a regular person in court? “Your honor, these men accuse me of robbing a bank, but the accusations are false because ‘robbing’ means that the robbing is happening right now. If I were robbing a bank, I wouldn’t be here on the stand next to you right now. I’m talking right now, not robbing anyone. How can I be robbing a bank when I’m here talking to you right now?”
Sorry, but your interpretation of President Clinton's testimony deviates by about 180 degees from what really happened when the President made his quoted statement. In reality, the President was defending his non-objection when President Clinton's attorney previously said that "there is no sex". The quoted statement was the President's lecture to the IC that his attorney's statement was literally correct, because President Clinton was not having sex at the time the attorney's statement was made.
IOW, the IC was splitting hairs, not President Clinton!
"This crusade against terrorism is going to take a long time."
"You can't balance the budget on the backs of the taxpayers!"
Oops, sorry, little Dumbya made the first blunder, and the second statement was Raygun's.
"If a President of the United States ever lied to the American people he should resign."
Your point is almost too silly to warrant a reply, but here goes.
The quoted statement was the President's lecture to the IC that his attorney's statement was literally correct, because President Clinton was not having sex at the time the attorney's statement was made.
So, the IC asks how it is possible to square two opposing facts: (1) Lewinsky's semen-stained dress with (2) his laywer's statement that there is not sex going on between him and Lewinsky. And his reply is to engage in an utterly ridiculous "lecture" to the IC that his lawyer was speaking truthfully because he was not engaged in sex at the time the statement was made. And it's the IC who is splitting hairs? Pullleeezzzzze!
This is a man who testified that he was never alone with Ms. Lewinsky because, after all, there's always someone, somewhere, lurking in the White House grounds. Your hero is man-child who lives in an alternative universe unfamiliar to adults who have more than two brain cells to rub together.
that single statement is probably the MOST destructive of any others and the one that makes the ANGRIEST when i hear it repeated.
well put! lol! :)
Nice try, but your statement has no relation to the context in which President Clinton lectured the IC.
The correct context was that the IC asked President Clinton why he did not object when David Kendall said "There is no sex." The exchange about "is" only related to literal truthfulness of Mr. Kendall's statement, and had nothing to do with semem-stained blue dresses.
Monica says "I need this stain removed from the front of my blue dress!" The old man, straining to hear, cups his hands behind his ear and says: "Eh! Come Again!!??"
"No!" Monica replies. "Just mustard this time!"
That gets the "TWISTER" award for intellectual gyration above and beyond the call of kneepad duty.
The law is not a parlor game where you win if you can trick your opponent into saying Rumplestilskin -- or not saying it. The notion that "there is no sex" between him and Monica because she wasn't blowing him at the time the question was asked wouldn't cut it in any court of law in the country. And, as Clinton learned through his various legal findings against him (Judge Wright) and his disbarrment, his clever evasions weren't nearly clever enough.
Nice try, but Clinton is a liar, just as water is wet, and puppies are cute.
I dissagree, I've never found the Clintons to be "good" liars, but only that the big media refused to bust 'em on anything. Their dodgings were laughably transparent to those of us who still had cranial activity. Nixon tried to squirm out of his corruptions, but his own party busted him on it, he resigned under pressure from REPUBLICANS.
When the Democrats discovered (too late) that their poster boy baby boomer president was another Nixon, they did not call for his head: they circled the wagons. Ego made them continue this strategy while Bill and Hill continually knocked over the china cabinets (figuratively) in the White House.
No, Nixon and Clintons were both corrupt presidents, while only the Pubs knew enough to clean up their own mess.
Actual qoute from his grand jury testimony: "[I]t depends on how you define "alone" ... there were a lot of times when we were alone, but I never really thought we were."
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