[gumbo]

Didn't see this in a search. Apologize profusely and abjectly if it's been posted already.

[xm177e2]

"It wasn't all that long ago where a summit was called and nothing happened, and as a result we had significant intefadeh in the area," Bush told Britain's ITV network in an interview taped for his weekend talks with British Prime Minister Tony Blair

This isn't fair to Clinton. Arafat had the whole thing planned in advance anyway. What Clinton did wrong was to not condemn Arafat for his treachery.

[TigerLikesRooster]

Re #1

I like this move. Kick him hard. Kick him good. No finesse. Go for the knock-out.

[xm177e2]

we had significant intefadeh in the area

And that's a new Bushism.

[aculeus]

Never forget that Clinton kept Arafat waiting as he was "serviced" by Monica.

Don't underestimate the impact of such an insult on the Arabs.

[sinkspur]

Clinton coddled Arafat. It sounds like Bush is, in fact, slamming Clinton, and he should. Clinton was pushing a "summit" for selfish reasons. He played Barak like a puppet, and Arafat STILL turned down the best offer he was ever going to get.

Now, he'll probably die.

[LibertarianLiz]

White House press secretary Ari Fleischer, defending Bush against criticism that he had not played an active peacemaking role in contrast to Clinton, noted to reporters in February that the 17-month Palestinian uprising broke out during Clinton's presidency.

Only in Washington D.C. does speaking the truth cause such an uproar.

I really didn't get this as an insult to Clinton, anyway. My read on this was that he was responding to a dumba** reporter's attempt to smear Bush as being "not involved enough" by pointing out that when a President (the former one) was very involved, things didn't turn out any better. Which is true.

There is a lesson here. No matter what you do in terms of Arafat and the Palestinian problem, it will come up and bite you in the a**. You can't give people peace, you can't force peace upon them --- people have to be ready for peace. And, the Palestinians ain't ready.

[Alberta's Child]

Re-post from another thread:

In my opinion, Clinton took both Arafat and Barak for a ride. Arafat thought Clinton respected him by treating him as a statesman, and Clinton duped Barak into thinking that he thought highly of him by sending Carville to help get Barak elected.

It turned out Clinton looked upon both of them pretty much the same way he looked upon women -- he simply used them. In this case it was a desperate, unsuccessful attempt to win himself a Nobel Prize. Say what you want about Arafat, but I truly believe that he had identified Clinton's true motivation long before anyone else did.

[RamsNo1]

I can't really see how Bush can deride Clinton. He following his model pretty well...

[massadvj]

This is the administration's payback for Madeline Albright opening her big trap a few days ago. Apparently, the Dems are trying to make Bush out to be the fall guy, so Bush is going back on the offensive. He waited until they fired the first volley.

[linn37]

is sandy booger gonna cry about his boss getting picked on again? wahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Clintons mistake(and I remember it being said over and over in the press)was treating Arafart like a leader and not the slimey terrorist that he is.

[swampfox98]

Aides said Friday that Bush was not blaming Clinton, either, but rather Arafat for missing opportunities to make peace with Israel — both in 2000 and during Bush's presidency....

And the stolen FBI files of the Republicans are still in action, I see.