Posted on 07/28/2002 1:21:27 PM PDT by Suzie_Cue
WASHINGTON (AP) - Former President Clinton ( news - web sites) says the bull market of the 1990s bred corporate corruption but that President Bush ( news - web sites)'s laying blame on his predecessor twists the truth.
"There was corporate malfeasance both before he took office and after," Clinton told a Washington television reporter. "The difference is I actually tried to do something about it, and their party stopped it" in Congress.
"And one of the people who stopped our attempt to stop Enron accounting was made chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission ( news - web sites)," Clinton said. "That is a fact; an indisputable fact."
White House spokesman Scott Stanzel would not respond Sunday to Clinton's specific comments but said: "There is a long-held tradition of former presidents acting in the national interests, not their own partisan interests. That long-held tradition has served the nation well, and President Bush is looking forward, not backward."
Clinton's interview was aired Friday on WJLA-TV Channel 7.
Bush was asked at a July 8 news conference whether Clinton had contributed to corporate excesses of the 1990s that have shaken the stock markets and slowed the nation's economic recovery. "No," Bush said. Asked later about controversies surrounding his new SEC commissioner, Bush said: "I think Harvey Pitt was put in place to clean up a mess."
Other White House officials have criticized the Clinton administration for letting underhanded corporate practices flourish.
Clinton also noted that Bush had blamed his effort to push Israel and the Palestinians into an overall settlement for violence that began in September 2000 and has become steadily worse.
"These people ran on responsibility, but as soon as you scratch them they go straight to blame," Clinton said in the interview. "Now you know, I didn't blame his father for Somalia ... I didn't do that.
"And I think that's not a real mark of leadership, and it's the wrong thing to do. But in this case, it's factually wrong."
Clinton said he began warning in 1998 about a gathering problem with corporate accounting practices, and when his SEC "tried to stop the Enron accounting practice of accountants being the consultants, the other party stopped us. And their main lobbyist was Harvey Pitt."
On the Middle East, Clinton said: "We had seven years of progress toward peace in the Middle East, and they tried to blame me for trouble in the Middle East. That's just what they do. Republicans have always done that. But it's bad form, and it's bad for America, and they should stop it."
The interview was taped after Clinton attended an observance to commemorate the 10th anniversary of passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
1) Grandious idea of self importance. Expects to be recognized as superor.
2) Preoccupied with fantisies of Unlimited Power, Brilliance, Beauty.
3) Believes himself especially Unique and can only be understood by other Unique people, High Status or Special.
4) Requires excessive admiration, attention.
5) Sense of entitlement, Unreasonable expectations of especially favorable treatment and automatic compliance with his expectations. Reacts with Explosive Anger when criticized.
6) Exploits others, takes advantage to achieve own ends.
7) Lacks empathy.
8) Envious, believes others envious of him
9) Arrogant, haughty.
And there are TWO of them with the same disorder! Double Trouble.
Not much does.
Perhaps it was just wrong to raise doubts about his job performance. First of all, you should show some competence for being able to do a job. He was simply overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of the duties demanded of him, and shirked from applying himself to any significant part of the discharge of the Office of the Presidency. He may have occupied the office, but he darned well never served as President.
Unless the biographer is plagiarist Doris Kearns Goodwin. For the future, I hope that some objective, balanced political historians will be out there, and that they all won't be products of left-wing university history departments.
Regards,
Imagine what fun it would be to help him reenact Paul Newman's staircase scene, from Alfred Hitchcock's Torn Curtain!
PLEASE DEAR GOD IN HEAVEN, how much more must we endure.? Either turn him into stone or give him so much air time that every single American comes to despise the mention of his name. One or the other. Just please spare us from this drip drip blathering.
As this Time article shows, David Schippers first coined the phrase........
But no Republican, not even Ken Starr, cut through the President's mortar as efficiently as David Schippers, a Democrat hired by Hyde as majority counsel. In an angry, sarcastic and merciless presentation delivered in a penetrating Chicago twang, Schippers drilled holes in Clinton's words, deeds and character, arguing that the President had lied repeatedly under oath, obstructed justice by helping Lewinsky get a job and encouraged everyone around him to do the same. "He lied to the people, he lied to his Cabinet, he lied to his top aides, and now he's lied under oath to the Congress of the U.S. There's no one left to lie to."
You're point is well taken, sir. I commend you for pointing out that it was Schippers, not Hitchens, who came up with the damning phrase. Be Seeing You,
Chris
 |
Oh, never mind. |
Leave it to Bubba to hire her!
Wouldn't be prudent.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.