…the New York Post (in the guise of Ralph Peters) has something nice to say about former President Clinton. No, really. The phrase “the perfect statesman’ were used in a non-ironic manner to refer to him and everything.
The reason for this largesse and praise is due to a speech Clinton made in Qatar as part of the closing remarks to the U.S.-Islamic World Forum. Interestingly enough, the only article discussing that speech before now seems to be this AP article – which does not quite touch on the items that Peters concentrates on himself. I really want to see the transcripts for this one, which is the other reason why I’m linking this to Calpundit, Pejmanesque and Outside the Beltway: somebody should unearth the full text of this speech eventually.
Now, let’s talk about what it means. Assuming that Peters is accurately describing what Clinton said (on the one hand, he’s been harsh about Clinton in the past; on the other, he’s been harsh about Clinton in the past), this is yet another data point in a trend that will probably make certain of my fellow Righties squirm: to wit – oh, stop flinching – that Bill and Hillary Clinton no longer eat human babies, if indeed they ever did (thank you, Bob Heinlein). They aren’t Republicans: so stipulated. They could have done some things better and a few things much better while in office; also stipulated, although my previous post should be perused before the wilder comments are made about national security issues. And, yes, Bill is a glad-handling SOB with no gravitas and Hillary gives off massive exothermic vibes; no problem, I’m right there.
But when it comes to this particular war they’ve been the absolute picture of the Loyal Opposition: careful of their comments, made all the right statements, did all the right things at the right times. Senator Clinton went to the war zone and visited the troops. Former President Clinton came out and gave welcome cover to Tony Blair when he needed it most. We can carp about it all we like, or try to come up with reasons why they aren’t really True Believers, but do you know something? I could give a flying leap. I honestly believe that their actions are righteous, so I’ll let them worry about their motivations. Besides, to rip off somebody who made a comment here once, you cannot expect that the Democrats will never win another election. It is entirely likely that the next Democratic President (which, might I add, I don’t think will be until 2008) will either be named Clinton or have been mentored by them.
It is long since past time that we were honest with ourselves about precisely how horrible such a scenario would really be.
You are so going to lose your VRWC card. If we catch you wearing a John Edwards t-shirt, consider the jig up!
“You are so going to lose your VRWC card.”
Gee, harley, haven’t you figured it out yet? We’ve taken over the Republicans, so now we’re going to take over the Democrats too. Then we shall take over Andorra, mostly because even geography wonks have difficulty finding it on a map, which adds a bit of complexity to the thing. After that, we face our greatest challenge: convincing the food industry to either sell hot dogs in groups of 12 or hot dog buns in groups of 8…
Damn you Moe Lane! Diabolical in ways I never suspected.
Didn’t Hillary attempt to complain to soldiers in Iraq about President Bush? No cite, just a memory. I don’t disapprove of Hillary just on sheer Hillariness, but I do disapprove of some of her actions. Just look at her during a SOTU address (particularly the 2002 one) to see what I mean.
That said, bravo for Bill! Give the man an ambassador post. I don’t know, perhaps he’s learned something. Certainly the deals he’s brokered between Israel and Palestine haven’t exactly continued on their original course, but maybe that was naivete. I think more of the same ought to be encouraged, but (I was half-kidding about the ambassadorship) how do you encourage an ex-president to do anything at all?
Didn’t Hillary attempt to complain to soldiers in Iraq about President Bush? No cite, just a memory.
No. While visiting Iraq, she gave an interview to a reporter in which she was generally very positive about our military efforts but said something like “the ultimate outcome is uncertain,” neither referring to Bush, nor addressed to soldiers. The VRWC ™ threw its usual hissy-fit.
“The VRWC ™ threw its usual hissy-fit.”
Umm, actually, some of us didn’t.
Others of us didn’t, too. As I said, a vague memory. If I’d paid any mind to it at all, I’d have blogged it.
And I AM the VRWC, LizardBreath. Moe’s just a toady.
“Moe’s just a toady.”
That’s Mr. Toady to you, fjordmaker.
😉
Moe
Clinton Address Unearthed
Remember that speech that Clinton gave at the US-Islamic World Forum last month? Moe Lane referred to it as a sign of the apocalypse, Kevin Drum called it Clinton’s “latest Sister Souljah moment,” Pejman asked whether or not it makes