Mike Broadbent/ Daily Texan Staff
Mark McCaig, a Texas A&M finance sophomore, protests former President Bill Clinton's speaking engagement outside the Frank Erwin Center Wednesday night.
Posted on 02/15/2003 12:15:04 AM PST by HAL9000
Former President Bill Clinton's appearance in Austin on Wednesday met with fervent opposition from area conservative Republicans, who staged a protest outside the Frank Erwin Center.Members of the Young Conserv-atives of Texas, the Williamson County Republican Party and the FreeRepublic.com online forum held up signs amid a crowd waiting to hear the former president speak. Their posters focused on what they considered Clinton's political misdeeds with slogans such as "Remember Elian?" and "The Price is Right: A 'free' speech from Bill Clinton."
"He shouldn't come to Texas," said David Rushing, a protester and a law student from Southern Methodist University. "Texas has never voted for him, and he isn't welcome here."
On behalf of the participants, protest organizer Brendan Steinh-auser said he believes the former president ruined America, blaming Clinton for allowing nuclear proliferation in North Korea and causing the Sept. 11 attacks by foregoing an offer by the Sudanese government for Osama bin Laden's extradition.
Gwen Hodges, a self-described former liberal and UT alumna, returned to campus to stand with signs supporting President Bush and the Republican Party.
"If Bill Clinton were a Republican, he would have resigned instead of sitting through the impeachment trial," Hodges said. "We [Republicans] are the type of people that if we mess up, we step aside from the leadership role."
But the protest spawned intense conversation between Republican supporters and citizens. While the protesters declared support for President Bush and his case for military action in Iraq, they denounced Clinton for compromising national security. Thor Harris, a passer-by and Austin resident, stood up for the liberal and left-wing arguments.
"You know why 9/11 happened?" Harris said. "Because of the Texas oilmen in the Middle East. There are innocent people there who are going to die. You want more 9/11s? Bomb Iraq."
A Republican protester yelled back, "I wouldn't give a piss about 100 of their people over ours. I'm concerned about Americans and American security."
Startled spectators moved away from the altercation but continued cheering for the side they supported.
Steinhauser criticized what he considers the liberal slant of the UT campus.
"Liberal views are a criterion for the faculty and students on this campus," he said.
While most students agree that the campus is relatively liberal compared to the rest of Texas, few deny the conservative presence.
"This is Texas," said Tanuja Parachuri, a business freshman. "There are always going to be a lot of Republicans."
Mark McCaig, a Texas A&M finance sophomore, protests former President Bill Clinton's speaking engagement outside the Frank Erwin Center Wednesday night.
One of my old favorite game shows!
Glad to see that someone is giving that assclown hell.
I'll bite. How did Reagan disgrace himself?
Can I guess and say "Iran/Contra"? Do you want to explain how a bad policy idea is the equivalent to perjury, suborning perjury and obstruction of justice?
Uh oh, you're asking him to "think" for himself....and actually "reason" through this process. We could have a meltdown situation here.
Massachusetts Alliance of College Republicans Protest France's Foot Dragging
North testified that the Iran/Contra scheme was orchestrated by himself and Poindexter who both kept Reagan out of the loop because of the questionable legality of it. Reagan testified that he didn't recall anything about it. The liberals all claimed he was lying but, within a short time, Reagan was diagnosed with Alzheimer's so it's very plausible that he really did not recall anything. It can't be proven one way or the other.
Now, if you want to expand "mess up", I suppose you could include his sending troops to Beirut and the tax increase that was suppose to be tied into budget cuts. Congress didn't live up to their end of the agreement and deficits followed.
Were any of these things so disgraceful as to suggest Reagan should have left office?
Contrast this with the scandal of using the Oval Office to conduct trysts with an intern (technically, a boss taking sexual advantages with an employee), then lying about it under oath and encouraging Bettie Currie to both hide evidence and testify that no such thing happened. He essentially admitted he had lied or, in his Clintonian way, saying he was "less than helpful" because he disliked those who investigated him.
While the scandal might not have gone to the heart of governing, it did show a willful disregard for fundamentals of the law, and forced Congress to halt other business in order to spend several months on impeachment proceedings.
If we want to expand "mess up", then under Clinton's record we should include Waco (he ducked responsibility for that one, just as you claim Reagan did with Iran/Contra), illegal White House fundraisers, the sale of long-range missile technology to China, the agreement that allowed North Korea to acquire materials to build their own nukes, refusing to have Osama bin Laden arrested when the Somalis offered him to us, and the failed attempt at nationalized health care.
One might also be tempted to include the tax increase on Social Security recipients and the Elian Gonzalez raid but, to his credit, these things worked exactly as he intended them to so it is hard to consider them a "mess up". Reprehensible, yes, but not a mistake of any sort.
Rather than turning to Ronald Reagan, a better contrast to Clinton's dishonor would be Bob Livingston's resignation when he was about to become House Speaker over charges of marital infidelity, and Newt Gingrich's affair with a staffer which explained why he seemed unwilling to pursue some of Clinton's scandals when his voice was truly needed.
Amen to that. How conveniently the Clintonista's (want to) forget.......and pass the buck to Reagan, Bush or anyone else that seems handy enough to blame. Don't forget about the trail of dead bodies from Arkansas to Washington, the horrible financial economy Clinton left the Arkansas constituents in, the drugs, etc., etc., etc. Shameful, disgraceful and ZERO dignity.
My economics professor stated that it takes about 6-8 years for the economy to feel the effects of economic adjustments made during a typical administration ... so Clinton enjoyed (and took credit for) all the Reagan economic policies. We are just now feeling the tip of the iceberg...so to speak, of what Clinton instituted. Ain't it grand? He sold us down the river.
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