Tag Archives: Bill Clinton

Donald Trump, national news

How did we regress this far?

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I will go to my grave never understanding how this nation has regressed as far as it has with the election of someone who is so fundamentally flawed as the man who is about to become the 47th president of the United States of America.

I can recall an earlier era in this nation when Republicans across the land were so livid at the election of a young governor from Arkansas. Bill Clinton was believed to be a serial cheater, a womanizer who violated the oath he took to his wife. They published defamatory videos about him, accusing Bill and Hillary Clinton of killing a trusted aide who, in fact, took his own life.

Bill Clinton got elected president in 1992, but the hunt for impeachable dirt on him never let up. Finally, during a probe into a real estate matter, a special prosecutor found evidence of a relationship that existed between the president and a young White House intern. The prosecutor summoned a grand jury, which then asked the president about the affair. Clinton had taken the oath to tell the truth and then lied to the grand jury.

Aha! Republicans then had their impeachable offense: perjury before a duly sworn grand jury!

Good grief. Clinton lied about an affair and got impeached for it. He would be acquitted in a Senate trial.

Two decades later, we have a man in the White House who has admitted to marital infidelity but then sought political favors from a foreign head of state and then, after losing the 2020 election, incited an insurrection against the government as Congress was preparing to certify his election loss to Joe Biden. He went through two impeachment trials … but survived them both.

Republicans shrugged. No problem with any of that. He was convicted of 34 crimes involving the payment of money to a porn actress to be quiet about a tumble the two of them took in 2006.

We have entered a dark era where character no longer matters. We used to seek the very best among us to lead us. We have turned instead to giving a pass to someone who embodies he worst among us.

I never can accept what we are about to experience once again.

local news, media news

This news hurts badly

Freddie Campbell was a dear friend, a confidant and someone with whom I could discuss just about anything.

He died the other day, apparently of complications from cancer. I struggled a bit over how I want to remember Freddie. I came up with something to share, so … here goes.

We worked together for nearly 11 years at the Beaumont Enterprise. I ran the editorial page, Freddie was the paper’s IT guru, the guy who kept the main-frame computer system running.

My day started the same way practically every day once Freddie and I became acquainted. I would go to work, read the paper (which was required of us) and start planning the day’s tasks.

Then Freddie would amble into my office. He would sit down and we then would begin discussing the news of the day. Later on, as often as not, the news involved the then-president of the United States, Bill Clinton. Freddie hailed from Little Rock, Ark., so he was quite familiar with the president. He didn’t think much of Bill Clinton and was unafraid to express his dislike to me. I had a different view of the 42nd POTUS. We would tussle, argue, even get our dander up. He then would get up and go about his day.

The routine would repeat itself the next day and days after that.

Freddie was a good man. He was smart and came from a family steeped in newspaper tradition. He was so very proud of his daughter and the woman she became.

But curiously, though, our friendship hit the rocks in recent years. We lost touch with each other because in the current toxic environment that has poisoned so many relationships, we couldn’t argue our points and then move on.

I regret deeply that our friendship soured.

Rather than talk any more about that, though, I am going to recall the joy we both felt in working for a newspaper, the Beaumont Enterprise, that sought to report on the community, to offer perspective on where we believed was the right direction for the region we covered … and toiled diligently to ensure we could deliver the news each day.

Well done, Freddie Campbell.

national news, political news

Character no longer matters?

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Republicans once stood as those who believed in strong moral conduct and scorned those who got caught doing untoward things in public.

Do you remember those days? I sure do. They reached a full boil during the time Bill Clinton was seeking the presidency. Why, the so-called “moral majority” and those on the far right just couldn’t stomach the notion of someone who cheated on his wife becoming president of the United States.

They even countenanced the publishing of an alleged documentary called “The Clinton Chronicles” that purported to “prove” that Bill and Hillary Clinton plotted the murder of a close friend, Vince Foster … who in fact took his own life in a D.C. park.

Oh, how it has all changed.

What now passes for the Republican Party is set to nominate an individual for the presidential campaign who fails at every level possible the test the GOP once applied to candidates for the nation’s highest office.

He admits to cheating on his wives; he has been convicted of sexual abuse; he was impeached twice during his term as POTUS; he once bragged about grabbing women by their genitalia; he has said he never has sought forgiveness; he called for the execution of the Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman who had the temerity to criticize him over policy matters.

I could go on … but I won’t.

To be clear, I wasn’t a fan of the witch hunt launched against Bill Clinton back in the day. I am less of a fan now of the dimwit who wants to return to the Oval Office and serve as “your retribution” to those who have swallowed the swill he has offered.

And yet he has the support of the Republican National Committee, those who operate the machinery and a loudly vocal minority of voters who continue to outshout the rest of the nation.

The state of the current Republican Party makes me miss the former GOP … and that, I will tell you, is really saying something.

national news, political news

Exhibit recalls bygone era

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LITTLE, ROCK, Ark. — Well, I will now be able to check off No. 5 on my list of presidential libraries I have seen … and this one is quite special.

The William J. Clinton Presidential Center and Park is a gem. It shines brightly near the Arkansas River just adjacent to downtown Little Rock.

It reminds me foremost of an era when political leaders of different parties could squabble, take the country to the brink of a constitutional crisis and then work together for the common good.

That’s how it was during the two terms of the Bill Clinton presidency.

It has been said over the years that President Clinton is the master of “compartmentalization,” meaning he could put personal animus aside in one corner of his brain and work outside those emotions to craft constructive legislation with his ardent political foes. Clinton’s compartmentalizing was put to the extreme test during his second term as POTUS.

The Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives impeached Clinton for lying to a grand jury about an affair he was having with a White House intern. The library does not ignore that event. It mentions it on two panels displayed chronologically. It doesn’t mention the reason for the president’s commission of perjury, only that he lied to a federal grand jury. It also mentions that the House impeachment vote was virtually taken along partisan lines.

The president apologizes for his “conduct,” a display tells us.

Enough about that.

The library also tells of the myriad accomplishments that Clinton achieved: the peace treaty between the Palestine Liberation Organization and Israel; the ouster of Serbian dictator Slobodan Milosevic; the balanced federal budget; his tireless work on behalf of racial minorities; a comprehensive crime prevention bill.

We have seen elements of this kind of cooperation between the GOP and the current Democratic POTUS. Here and there, though, is not sufficient to move the country forward constructively. President Clinton and the GOP congressional majority with whom he worked — while they were, um, testy at times — laid the groundwork for the way government ought to work.

The Clinton library tells us that story. I am glad to have seen it.

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national news

30 years? Already?

I was talking to a family member a while ago and told her of my intention to visit the Bill Clinton presidential library in Little Rock, Ark., when I pull into the city some time Thursday.

Then I said, “I cannot believe it’s been 30 years since he was elected the first time. Thirty years!”

I cannot guarantee I’ll get there, but I certainly intend to see it, given that I’ll be in Little Rock overnight.

I want to relive the days when Democrats and Republicans could find common ground, even as GOP lawmakers and their acolytes sought to dig up dirt on President Clinton and his wife, Hillary. Indeed, the Clinton administration, working with Republicans in Congress, crafted the first balanced budget in 30 years in 1999.

Remember, too, that the GOP took control of Congress with its Contract With America theme in 1994. The Republican victory gave us Newt Gingrich of Georgia as speaker, the guy who told us he intended to make Democrats the “enemy of ‘normal’ Americans.'”

Yes, I am acutely aware of the impeachment that fell on Clinton. The GOP was looking for reasons to impeach the Democratic president, and he gave it to them by lying to the grand jury about the soiree he was having with the White House intern.

All told, we witnessed one of the more successful presidencies in recent memory. President Clinton has assembled an exhibit that I am sure will accentuate the successes.

I hope to take it in … and long for a return of the good old days that in Clinton’s case are fading rapidly into the distant background.

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crime news

What-about-ism on full display

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The noted right-wing blowhard Glenn Beck has been quoted suggesting that if the FBI felt compelled to search Donald Trump’s home for evidence relating to alleged criminal activity, then it should have done the same thing to Bill Clinton during an impeachment inquiry of the 42nd president.

Sheesh! Well, as usual, the Beckster has gone far afield in trying to attach moral equivalence to what Clinton supposedly did and what might await The Donald.

President Clinton got caught messing around with a young woman who was working in the White House as a temporary employee during a government shutdown. A special prosecutor got wind of it and then summoned Clinton to testify before a federal grand jury. The panel asked Clinton about the affair. He lied about it.

Thus, he broke the law by committing perjury. Therein rested the Republican Party’s pretext to impeach the president. He went to trial. The Senate acquitted Clinton.

What’s happening now is, shall we say, far more egregious.

Donald Trump is under investigation for a series of allegations: seditious conspiracy, violating the Presidential Records Act, dereliction of duty, a violation of his oath of office.

I might throw in treason, but that’s a bit of a stretch. So, I won’t go there.

Attorney General Merrick Garland is conducting a serious probe into whether Trump broke the law. The FBI obtained a warrant to conduct a search of the ex-POTUS’s home. Trump said it is unprecedented. He is right. Then again, so are the crimes for which Trump might be indicted. Right there is all the moral equivalence anyone should need to justify why the FBI did what it did.

As for any notion that another former president’s home should have been searched for evidence … well, there was nothing to seek. It was on the record with his grand jury testimony. Yeah, it was a phony and lame excuse to impeach a president, given what we’ve witnessed so many years later through the conduct of POTUS 45.

As for Glenn Beck’s assertion, I’ll just take it for what it’s worth, which is not a damn thing.

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national news

Let’s wait on the political obit

Before we start dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s on President Biden’s political obituary in the wake of the upcoming midterm election, let’s revisit a couple of recent historical events … hmm?

President Clinton won election in 1992. The midterm election occurred in 1994 and you know what happened. Republicans took control of both congressional chambers for the first time in 40 years. They flipped dozens of House seats. Newt Gingrich became speaker.

What happened in the 1996 presidential election? Clinton won re-election in an Electoral College landslide.

OK, now let’s look quickly at what occurred in 2010. President Obama took office after the 2008 election. He had a Democratic Party majority in Congress. Then the 2010 midterm occurred. Republicans delivered what Obama called a “shellacking.” The GOP took control of Congress.

Oh, but wait! The 2012 election ended with President Obama winning re-election. The margin for Obama wasn’t as impressive as the victory scored by President Clinton.

So here we are today. President Biden and Democrats are facing strong headwinds moving toward this year’s midterm election. Republicans are poised to seize control of both congressional chambers. If they do, they will follow historical precedent.

Is that the end of the line for Joe Biden? Nope, not even …

You see, today’s GOP is now populated by election deniers, followers of the Big Lie fomented by the Liar in Chief. The GOP is fully capable of messing up what the voters appear ready to grant them, which is control of the legislative branch of government.

Given the quality of the rhetoric coming from the cultist who leads the Republican Party and the blind fealty to his blathering that his followers exhibit, I am betting President Biden and the Democrats won’t surrender anything.

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political news, State news

Character no longer matters

This much is abundantly clear about today’s Republican Party: Character no longer matters, that party fanatics do not care whether the individuals who hold public office might be criminals, or that they are serial philanderers and admitted sexual assailants.

A Texas Tribune story published this week talks, for instance, about how Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is well-positioned to defeat challenger George P. Bush in next week’s GOP runoff for the attorney general’s office.

Why is that a big deal? Because Paxton has been under criminal indictment almost his entire time in office. Paxton has shamelessly challenged President Biden’s election in 2020. The FBI is investigating complaints filed by several top Paxton legal assistants, who allege criminal activity within the office.

Hey, no problem! The GOP is set to renominate Paxton for yet another term.

It’s all part of the pattern followed by the GOP cultists in this Donald Trump Era. Conservatives used to get their underwear tied into knots when liberal politicians got caught misbehaving.

Why Texas Attorney General Ken Paxtonā€™s backers are unfazed by his scandals | The Texas Tribune

Character mattered to them in the days of Bill Clinton. Do you recall those days? I damn sure do. These days, one of their own pols — Donald J. Trump — actually boasted that he could “shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and not lose any votes.” The line drew laughter and gasps when he said it. It’s not so preposterous these days.

This is a large part of what troubles me about the demise of a once-great political party. It no longer stands for character. The only aim of GOP pols ought to be their ability to stick it to their liberal foes.

Ken Paxton has done so in Texas and he likely will win the GOP runoff next week, to the ever-lasting shame of the GOP faithful.

As for Trump … aww, hell! I have nothing to say about the former Sexual Assailant in Chief.

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national news

Dole reminded us of a kinder past

Robert Doleā€™s death has thrown me into the realm of recalling what another great American politician once referred to as a ā€œkinder, gentlerā€ time, when politics and politicians werenā€™t stained by hatred.

Dole died this past weekend at age 98. His death wasnā€™t a shock. We all knew it was coming soon. I mean, the man was nearly aĀ centuryĀ old and as they say, none of us gets out of here alive. He also had been ill with cancer, and I knew that, too.

Still, his passing reminds me of how politicians formerly conducted their business. They fought hard for their policies and their philosophy. Yet they managed somehow to maintain personal relationships with those with whom they fought while they were on the clock.

That seems to sum up the late Sen. Doleā€™s professional life.

One of the remarkable pieces of video I have seen since Doleā€™s death was of his accepting the Presidential Medal of Freedom from the man who just a few weeks earlier had defeated him in the 1996 presidential election. President Clinton draped the medal around Doleā€™s neck and the beaten Republican nominee stood for a moment, then said, ā€œI, Robert J. Dole ā€¦ do solemnly swear.ā€ He brought the house down. Then he said, ā€œOops. Wrong speech.ā€ He also told the still-laughing crowd that he expected President Clinton to ā€œgive me somethingā€ when he arrived at the White House, but that he had hoped it would be ā€œthe keys to the front door.ā€

Can you imagine (a) Joe Biden ever awarding the man he defeated for the presidency the nationā€™s highest civilian medal and (b) Donald Trump accepting it with the kind of class that Bob Dole did in receiving it from the man who defeated him for the office he coveted?

The Donald Trump Era in presidential politics ushered in a new age of extreme animus. Indeed, Sen. Dole exemplified the quality of men and women who once led this country. They did so with class and dignity, which drew praise from their foes, even as they continued to disagree over basic policy matters.

I am going to hold out hope ā€” being the eternal optimist I am ā€” that we can find our way back to the way it was. Meanwhile, I will offer a word of thanks to Sen. Dole for reminding us of the lessons he taught us about graciousness and class.

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national news

Another hero has departed

A former U.S. senator, presidential and vice-presidential candidate, and World War II hero has left us and the world he leaves behind should mourn its loss forever.

I refer to Robert Dole, the one-time senator from Kansas.

Oh, my. He was a Republican tough guy who emerged from the crucible of world conflict to become eventually a statesman and a man who built solid relationships and friendships across the vast span of the political spectrum.

To be candid about Dole, he leaves behind a complicated legacy.

He was wounded grievously near the end of World War II. He lost the use of his right arm. He rehabilitated himself after the war ended. Dole would run eventually for Congress, ending up in the Senate.

In 1976, President Gerald Ford selected him to run as vice president as Ford sought election to the presidency. During a vice-presidential debate with his friend Sen. Walter Mondale, Dole blurted out a remark about how the nation had suffered during “Democrat wars,” saying that Democratic presidents were on the watch when World Wars I and II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War all broke out. It was an unfortunate analogy to make.

He snarled at Vice President George H.W. Bush on national TV — against whom he was competing for the 1988 GOP nomination for president — telling Bush to “stop lying about my record.”

Over time, though, Dole’s image softened. He morphed into an elder statesman, an individual to whom other politicians — of both parties — turned for advice and counsel. His good humor replaced the occasionally tart tenor of his comments.

He ran for president in 1996 as the GOP nominee, challenging President Clinton’s re-election effort. I did not vote for Dole. However, I want to stipulate in the strongest terms possible that I never lost my abiding respect for the service and sacrifice he gave to the country we all love.

His brand of politician, I hate saying, is vanishing before our eyes.

May this good and heroic man rest in eternal peace.

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