The Sestak Job Offer, Bill Clinton's Credibility, and Bill Clinton's
Legacy <http://www.bizzyblog.com/2010/06/01/remembering-bill-clinton/>
Filed under: Economy <http://www.bizzyblog.com/category/economy/>,
National Security
<http://www.bizzyblog.com/category/national-security/>, Soc. Sec. &
Retirement
<http://www.bizzyblog.com/category/social-security-and-retirement/>,
Taxes & Government <http://www.bizzyblog.com/category/taxes-government/>
--- TBlumer @ 9:42 am
Bill Clinton's involvement
<http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/05/29/clintons-role-sestak-controversy-stirs-questions-white-house-motives/>
in the Sestak job-offer controversy and his statements about exactly
what happened should resurrect fundamental assertions about his
credibility and legacy that are matters of record.
Yours truly brought them forth in a comment (edited and enhanced for the
purposes of this post, with the addition of several links) at another
post in December 2008
<http://www.bizzyblog.com/2008/12/20/things-id-like-to-post-about-today-122008-morning/#comment-126543>:
Objective historians recognize seven fundamental truths about
Clinton and his impeachment:
*1. He lied under oath about his relationship with Monica Lewinsky.*
Clinton even paid a fine and lost his Arkansas law license for
having done so.
*2. He lied when he said he did not have a years-long affair with
Gennifer Flowers in the 1980s during the 1992 primaries and
presidential campaign.* He admitted to having an affair with Flowers
during the course of his Paula Jones deposition. Had the public
known the truth about Clinton-Flowers, which Clinton and the
iron-grip, pre-Internet media chose to cover up despite taped
evidence that the affair was real, the outcome of the 1992 primaries
and/or presidential campaign would very likely have been different.
*3. Clinton sexually harassed Paula Jones essentially as Paula Jones
described it,* forcing him into an out-of-court settlement of
$850,000
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clinton_v._Jones#The_Court.27s_decision>
after years of saying he would fight the charges tooth and nail.
*4. The Paula Jones suit established an important legal principle,
affirmed unanimously* by the Supreme Court
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clinton_v._Jones#The_Court.27s_decision>,
that presidents can be sued while in office for actions that took
place before they took office.
*5. Bill Clinton raped Juannita Broadderick in the late 1970s* (full
transcript of the Lisa Myers NBC report is here
<http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1961109/posts>). He had
many opportunities to deny that he did so, and any man who hadn't
done it would have denied it. But he never did, because he knew he
could be sued civilly, which would have opened up the entire
incident to public scrutiny and confirmation.
*6. The House managers were carrying out their sworn duty to uphold
the law and the constitution when they wrote up articles of
impeachment based on Clinton's self-evident perjury.* The House was
correct in impeaching Clinton on two of four counts, and probably
should have impeached him on a third.
*7. The Senate did not carry out its constitutional duty to hold a
trial with appropriately presented evidence, and failed to do what
the known and available evidence demanded it do.* There is not a
planet on which perjury is not a "high crime," regardless of the
subject matter. Independent counsel Robert Ray referenced
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clinton_v._Jones#The_Court.27s_decision>
"President Clinton's admission of providing false testimony that was
knowingly misleading, evasive, and prejudicial to the administration
of justice before the United States District Court for the Eastern
District of Arkansas." In other words, Ray noted the obvious:
Clinton, when all was said and done, admitted to the acts of perjury
that should have led to his removal from office.
The truth of the above assertions is not arguable, which is why
objective history will eventually get it right, despite what today's
whiners and weasels who pass for historians say.
More generally (and this is the short list), Clinton's obsessive
behavior prevented him from accomplishing anything meaningful during
his two terms in office, besides NAFTA, presiding over an economy
the GOP Congress (finally) set on the right course in 1995-1996,
giving in to the GOP on welfare reform in 1996, and agreeing to a
capital gains tax cut in 1997 that accelerated growth further.
He failed to address Social Security and Medicare reform during the
period that may have represented the last best chance to do so
without inflicting a lot of pain on the nation.
He and his SEC allowed scores of companies of no substance to go
public, leading to the dot-com bubble in 1999-2001.
Finally, Clinton failed to heed multiple warnings that Islamic
terrorism was a growing threat (all the way back to the first World
Trade Center bombings in 1993), leading terrorists to believe in
2001 that they could fly planes into the WTC and the Pentagon
without suffering recriminations.
Fortunately, the most important legacy of Clinton's impeachment is
that, even in an apparently strong economy (but not as strong as
originally thought
<http://www.bea.gov/national/nipaweb/TableView.asp?SelectedTable=1&ViewSeries=NO&Java=no&Request3Place=N&3Place=N&FromView=YES&Freq=Qtr&FirstYear=2000&LastYear=2001&3Place=N&Update=Update&JavaBox=no#Mid>
in the summer, fall, and winter of 2000-2001), it made a successful
challenge against Vice President Al Gore plausible, even by a less
than charismatic candidate.
Clinton's disastrous first two years in office led to his party's
loss of Congress in 1994. His impeachment led to his party's loss of
the presidency in 2000. That meant that when the 9/11 attacks
occurred, someone who would respond appropriately to terrorism up to
and including victory in Iraq
<http://www.bizzyblog.com/2008/11/22/its-vi-victory-in-iraq-day/>
and who would do everything he could to prevent another attack on
American soil for the next seven years was at the helm, with a
Congressional majority at the ready to support him.
Considering the above, it's obvious that whatever Bill Clinton has to
say about the Sestak affair and his role in it has no presumptive
credibility.
Comments [moderated] (4) <http://www.bizzyblog.com/?comments_popup=21169>
4 Comments ยป
<http://www.bizzyblog.com/2010/06/01/remembering-bill-clinton/#postcomment>
1.
Ouch.
Comment by zf --- June 1, 2010 @ 9:59 am
<http://www.bizzyblog.com/2010/06/01/remembering-bill-clinton/#comment-155343>
2.
#1, I guess he'd better put some ice on it.
Comment by TBlumer <http://bizzyblog.com> --- June 1, 2010 @ 10:00
am
<http://www.bizzyblog.com/2010/06/01/remembering-bill-clinton/#comment-155344>
3.
With Clinton that ice could go anywhere...
But really, all I'm saying is next time don't hold back.
Comment by zf --- June 1, 2010 @ 10:32 am
<http://www.bizzyblog.com/2010/06/01/remembering-bill-clinton/#comment-155346>
4.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Sue H (Dee Bunk),
Tom_Blumer. Tom_Blumer said: Bizzy: The Sestak Job Offer, Bill
Clinton's Credibility, and Bill Clinton's Legacy: Bill Clinton's
involvement in ... http://bit.ly/bq5ftI [...]
Pingback by Tweets that mention BizzyBlog -- Topsy.com
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--- June 1, 2010 @ 11:22 am
<http://www.bizzyblog.com/2010/06/01/remembering-bill-clinton/#comment-155347>
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