Clinton launches withering attack on Bush on Iraq, Katrina, budget 2 hours, 7 minutes ago

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20050918/wl_afp/usweatheriraqeconomy_050918200308&printer=1;_ylt=AslNADBWqpk1QVtViDK5WSSROrgF;_ylu=X3oDMTA3MXN1bHE0BHNlYwN0bWE-

Former US president Bill Clinton sharply criticised George W. Bush for the Iraq War and the
handling of Hurricane Katrina, and voiced alarm at the swelling US budget deficit.

Breaking with tradition under which US presidents mute criticisms of their successors, Clinton
said the Bush administration had decided to invade Iraq "virtually alone and before UN inspections
were completed, with no real urgency, no evidence that there were weapons of mass destruction."

The Iraq war diverted US attention from the war on terrorism "and undermined the support that
we might have had," Bush said in an interview with an ABC's "This Week" programme.

Clinton said there had been a "heroic but so far unsuccessful" effort to put together an
constitution that would be universally supported in Iraq.

The US strategy of trying to develop the Iraqi military and police so that they can cope without
US support "I think is the best strategy. The problem is we may not have, in the short run,
enough troops to do that," said Clinton.

On Hurricane Katrina, Clinton faulted the authorities' failure to evacuate New Orleans ahead
of the storm's strike on August 29.

People with cars were able to heed the evacuation order, but many of those who were poor,
disabled or elderly were left behind.

"If we really wanted to do it right, we would have had lots of buses lined up to take them out,"
Clinton.

He agreed that some responsibility for this lay with the local and state authorities, but pointed
the finger, without naming him, at the former director of the Federal Emergency Management
Agency (FEMA).

FEMA boss Michael Brown quit in response to criticism of his handling of the Katrina disaster.
He was viewed as a political appointee with no experience of disaster management or dealing
with government officials.

"When James Lee Witt ran FEMA, because he had been both a local official and a federal official,
he was always there early, and we always thought about that," Clinton said, referring to FEMA's
head during his 1993-2001 presidency.

"But both of us came out of environments with a disproportionate number of poor people."

On the US budget, Clinton warned that the federal deficit may be coming untenable, driven by
foreign wars, the post-hurricane recovery programme and tax cuts that benefitted just the
richest one percent of the US population, himself included.

"What Americans need to understand is that ... every single day of the year, our government
goes into the market and borrows money from other countries to finance Iraq, Afghanistan,
Katrina, and our tax cuts," he said.

"We have never done this before. Never in the history of our republic have we ever financed
a conflict, military conflict, by borrowing money from somewhere else."

Clinton added: "We depend on Japan, China, the United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, and Korea primarily
to basically loan us money every day of the year to cover my tax cut and these conflicts and
Katrina. I don't think it makes any sense."

Remember back when Presidents would leave office and then STFU.

Those were the days.

He's just trying to set the stage for his wife to win.

So what.   He doesn't work there any more and I could care less what his opinions are today.

He truly has no class.

Took that asshole long enough.  I figured that the prick would start a couple of years ago.

What a total dick...

"We have never done this before. Never in the history of our republic have we ever financed a conflict, military conflict, by borrowing money from somewhere else."

Clinton once again demonstrates his ignorance (or, more likely, his ability to lie through his teeth.)  The Revolutionary War was financed by borrowing from other nations.  I'm not advocating the practice, just pointing out that it has happened.

Klinton said that?  What a dumb ass.  As an ex-Pres, his words mean nothing.

He should've let Monica say that; I thought she was his mouth piece.

Plain and simple...........Clinton sucks

I just hope they put some screens around his grave so we can all pee privately.

Um.. I thought he was talking about how he agreed with Bush's decisions to go to Iraq, though his opinion about shunning the UN means jack shit to anyone who remembers how he gave the UN the finger when he brought us into Kosovo.

The man is NOT circumcised.


Reason: There's no end to that prick.

CNN still has "President Clinton" as his name when they interview him.
WTF

You have to admit that GWB is walking with blinders on when it comes to Bill Clinton.  He keeps trying to rehabilitate Slick Willy's legacy first by sending him to the Phillipines and now to New Orleans.  What does he get in return....

This is what he gets..........

I have a stupid question.  

If an x-president slugged a current president, who would the Secret Service draw down on?  

Lets say, Clinton goes nuts and takes a swing at Bush.      Would the SS agents fight amongst each other?  

Quoted: I have a stupid question.   If an x-president slugged a current president, who would the Secret Service draw down on?   Lets say, Clinton goes nuts and takes a swing at Bush.      Would the SS agents fight amongst each other?

I'd pay good money to watch that on PPV.

Quoted: I have a stupid question.   If an x-president slugged a current president, who would the Secret Service draw down on?   Lets say, Clinton goes nuts and takes a swing at Bush.      Would the SS agents fight amongst each other?

the bookie of the group would be throwing out odds.

Quoted: I have a stupid question.   If an x-president slugged a current president, who would the Secret Service draw down on?   Lets say, Clinton goes nuts and takes a swing at Bush.      Would the SS agents fight amongst each other?

From what I have heard about the way the Klintons treat staff assigned to them, they would probably look the other way.

No friend of Clinton but  -
"What Americans need to understand is that ... every single day of the year, our government
goes into the market and borrows money from other countries -very true
--namely China -Japan - -

Clinton may very well be a no-class bastard, but one thing he is not is stupid. He can see just as well as anyone else (at least, anyone else who isn't infatuated with George Bush) that all of this federal spending with no way to pay for it is not a good thing. Clinton has the wrong solution (raising taxes), but he correctly recognizes the problem. We need to get serious about curtailing Bush's New New Deal socialism. Perhaps we could start by cutting funding for NASA's summer home on the moon and their planned vacation to Mars (projected to cost at least $100 billion...). Where else to cut? I can think of thousands of examples, but no one on Capitol Hill has enough sense to listen, except for maybe Ron Paul and Tom Coburn.

I got $25 that says Bush will KO the dirtbag in the first 3 minutes.

He's a bozo.

Once a scumbag, always a scumbag.

Quoted: Clinton is a no class bastard

Quoted: He's just trying to set the stage for his wife to win.

this is exactly what he's doing.  Say what you will,  he's enormously skilled as a politician and he's using the "Fog of president's past" to spend some political capital to get his wife lined up.

Get ready for a full court press to put hillary in the white house.

Quoted: Klinton said that?  What a dumb ass.  As an ex-Pres, his words mean nothing. He should've let Monica say that; I thought she was his mouth piece cock holster.

My first "fixed it for ya" quote.

Quoted: Quoted: Klinton said that?  What a dumb ass.  As an ex-Pres, his words mean nothing. He should've let Monica say that; I thought she was his mouth piece cock holster. My first "fixed it for ya" quote.

Thanks.  

Guess no one got my intended reference...

Quoted: I have a stupid question.   If an x-president slugged a current president, who would the Secret Service draw down on?   Lets say, Clinton goes nuts and takes a swing at Bush.      Would the SS agents fight amongst each other?

After all the stories I heard on how the SS was treated?  I'd guess that they'd be fighting on who got to arrest Clinton for attacking the President.  

+1
He is also entitled to voice his opinions.
Even if he is a draft-dodging cigar shoving up the intern twat in the whitehouse piece of shit.

Quoted: So what.   He doesn't work there any more and I could care less what his opinions are today.

The Iraq war diverted US attention from the war on terrorism "and undermined the support that we might have had," Bush said in an interview with an ABC's "This Week" programme.

While I do not totally agree, it is a legit complaint.

Clinton said there had been a "heroic but so far unsuccessful" effort to put together an constitution that would be universally supported in Iraq. The US strategy of trying to develop the Iraqi military and police so that they can cope without US support "I think is the best strategy. The problem is we may not have, in the short run, enough troops to do that," said Clinton.

What is the problem with that?
Plenty of us here have been saying the same thing since the invasion.

On Hurricane Katrina, Clinton faulted the authorities' failure to evacuate New Orleans ahead of the storm's strike on August 29. People with cars were able to heed the evacuation order, but many of those who were poor, disabled or elderly were left behind. "If we really wanted to do it right, we would have had lots of buses lined up to take them out," Clinton.

Can't disagree with that though most of the blame is with governor and mayor. I think that is pretty obvious to everyone.

He agreed that some responsibility for this lay with the local and state authorities, but pointed the finger, without naming him, at the former director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

They're going to point fingers at FEMA, Brown and Bush. We're going to point them at local officials. Political posturing on both sides, both are right and wrong.

FEMA boss Michael Brown quit in response to criticism of his handling of the Katrina disaster. He was viewed as a political appointee with no experience of disaster management or dealing with government officials.

True.
Though it is pretty obvious he was fired.

On the US budget, Clinton warned that the federal deficit may be coming untenable, driven by foreign wars, the post-hurricane recovery programme and tax cuts that benefitted just the richest one percent of the US population, himself included. "What Americans need to understand is that ... every single day of the year, our government goes into the market and borrows money from other countries to finance Iraq, Afghanistan, Katrina, and our tax cuts," he said.

Correct.
And the deficit is going to be a real drag on the economy. The excessive social programs passed by this administration are going to further be a drag on the future economy. It is a greater threat then terrorism.

"We have never done this before. Never in the history of our republic have we ever financed a conflict, military conflict, by borrowing money from somewhere else."

But we have borrowed plenty in the past to finance wars. What difference does it make where it comes from?

I know this is a Clinton bashing thread but I fail to see what the big deal is. Plenty of us have noted the same problems facing America and they are not going to go away. In fact, this country is worse off for Bush's presidency. Better than some socialists but not by a whole helluva lot.

Where I differ with Clinton is over the solution but the bottom line is that this country faces numerous challenges right now and none are being terribly well managed. Put blame where it lays and some of it lies with Bush. The guy is just not doing a stellar job.

I'd expect nothing less then that from him.

How about a nice cup of STFU?

This can't be the 1st time you figured that out about Clinton can it!
[j/k]

Quoted: He's just trying to set the stage for his wife to win.

No surprise

Quoted: Quoted: He's just trying to set the stage for his wife to win. No surprise

More than that. Clinton still craves power for himself.

Secretary General of the UN?

Quoted: The Iraq war diverted US attention from the war on terrorism "and undermined the support that we might have had," Bush said in an interview with an ABC's "This Week" programme. While I do not totally agree, it is a legit complaint. Clinton said there had been a "heroic but so far unsuccessful" effort to put together an constitution that would be universally supported in Iraq. The US strategy of trying to develop the Iraqi military and police so that they can cope without US support "I think is the best strategy. The problem is we may not have, in the short run, enough troops to do that," said Clinton. What is the problem with that? Plenty of us here have been saying the same thing since the invasion. On Hurricane Katrina, Clinton faulted the authorities' failure to evacuate New Orleans ahead of the storm's strike on August 29. People with cars were able to heed the evacuation order, but many of those who were poor, disabled or elderly were left behind. "If we really wanted to do it right, we would have had lots of buses lined up to take them out," Clinton. Can't disagree with that though most of the blame is with governor and mayor. I think that is pretty obvious to everyone. He agreed that some responsibility for this lay with the local and state authorities, but pointed the finger, without naming him, at the former director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). They're going to point fingers at FEMA, Brown and Bush. We're going to point them at local officials. Political posturing on both sides, both are right and wrong. FEMA boss Michael Brown quit in response to criticism of his handling of the Katrina disaster. He was viewed as a political appointee with no experience of disaster management or dealing with government officials. True. Though it is pretty obvious he was fired. On the US budget, Clinton warned that the federal deficit may be coming untenable, driven by foreign wars, the post-hurricane recovery programme and tax cuts that benefitted just the richest one percent of the US population, himself included. "What Americans need to understand is that ... every single day of the year, our government goes into the market and borrows money from other countries to finance Iraq, Afghanistan, Katrina, and our tax cuts," he said. Correct. And the deficit is going to be a real drag on the economy. The excessive social programs passed by this administration are going to further be a drag on the future economy. It is a greater threat then terrorism. "We have never done this before. Never in the history of our republic have we ever financed a conflict, military conflict, by borrowing money from somewhere else." But we have borrowed plenty in the past to finance wars. What difference does it make where it comes from? I know this is a Clinton bashing thread but I fail to see what the big deal is. Plenty of us have noted the same problems facing America and they are not going to go away. In fact, this country is worse off for Bush's presidency. Better than some socialists but not by a whole helluva lot. Where I differ with Clinton is over the solution but the bottom line is that this country faces numerous challenges right now and none are being terribly well managed. Put blame where it lays and some of it lies with Bush. The guy is just not doing a stellar job.

I didn't know you were such a big Clinton fan.  I guess you would prefer another Clinton Administration, if you agree with his views,  Clinton was the worst thing to happen to this country in the past 50 years.

Clinton Is A low Rent idiot. He has the nerve to say thoses things after he looted....oooppps i mean stole ...... opps I mean borrowed the 179 peices of furniture marked white house property that he and his wife took the day he left office and has yet to return them.

Granted the war is expensive(in more than one way) and the hurricane is even more expensive. It was more expensive when he set on his rear end with his thumb up his but as the economy tanked his last year in office.

As for his fema director....all I can say is......if you wanted help from his adminastration you were fucked(sorry for being vulgar). They had the slowest response time of any adminastration including bush's. I worked and was certified in disaster recovery planning/recovery. Rule one when training was you were on your own at the local level so plan accordingly.

Now I agree Brown was in over his head, But so was the local first responders(god bless them for their efforts). Mayor Nagin was an Idiot for not using the 1400 buses he had at his disposal. Theese buses were ear marked for that use in the evac drill they had last june. Now don't say this could not be done, Senator Landrue mobalized 140 buses in 8 hours to get out the vote in 1994 when it looked like she would not when the vote. Now her voters are no longer there(NO was her base). As for 'no bus drivers were available' how about anyone with a drivers license would do.

Oh well please forgive the rant.... I am having the same arguement with a liberal at work who is from LA. When we discuss the buses she says there was no one to drive them out and I say 'well the evacuees had feet did't they?'

Good point Rebel marine,,, too bad Clinton wasn't in office after 9-11.  He could have sent Jesse Jackson over to talk to Osama.   There wasnt any real need to involve the military.   We could have just done nothing like the other 15 times terrorists kicked our asses while Clinton was in office.  

Quoted: "We have never done this before. Never in the history of our republic have we ever financed a conflict, military conflict, by borrowing money from somewhere else." Clinton once again demonstrates his ignorance (or, more likely, his ability to lie through his teeth.)  The Revolutionary War was financed by borrowing from other nations.  I'm not advocating the practice, just pointing out that it has happened.

And the Civil War.  And we accepted tens of billions of dollars from many countries to help push Saddam out of Kuwait.  That money briefly gave us a trade surplus.

Quoted: CNN still has "President Clinton" as his name when they interview him. WTF

Standard edicate for former presidents  is that that the title "President" follows them forever.  IE: President Clinton, President Carter, Etc.  Regardless of what we think of the guy, he is still President Clinton.

Quoted: Quoted: CNN still has "President Clinton" as his name when they interview him. WTF Standard edicate for former presidents  is that that the title "President" follows them forever.  IE: President Clinton, President Carter, Etc.  Regardless of what we think of the guy, he is still President Clinton.

And you explain CCN and others calling President Bush, Mr. Bush?

I could see if they called him Hairy Bush or Big Bush or Nasty Bush or Big Hairy Nasty Bush, but come on.

Hey, Pravda works in special ways.

I have seen most of the recent interviews Clinton gave. He also praised Bush plenty of times, and he rarely directed any criticism directly at Bush. I'd say this is much more of a case of the media being classless bastards for trying to pit the two against each other unnecessarily for the sake of sensationalism.

Quoted: Quoted: CNN still has "President Clinton" as his name when they interview him. WTF Standard edicate for former presidents  is that that the title "President" follows them forever.  IE: President Clinton, President Carter, Etc.  Regardless of what we think of the guy, he is still President Clinton.

Listen to them very carefully.  Its always -President- Clinton and very often -Mr- Bush  with those folks, so while you are correct regarding the honorific title, it is also a lack thereof used as a subtle jab.

Quoted: Great. Let's start another federal mandiate to have a fleet of a few hundred federal buses sitting around in every city in the US waiting for evacuation orders. No a fleet of C-17 cargo planes with parachute buses so that the 82nd Airborne could be dropped into the city at a moment's notice and act as airborne bus drivers. I figure Los Angeles would need around 300,000 buses, as many drivers, and a whole bunch of mechanics .... How in God's good name could you possibly blame the federal government for the local government not moving their people in their buses???

Clinton knows that its a bad idea, but he don't care.  He's just trying to affect the polls.

Quoted: Quoted: The Iraq war diverted US attention from the war on terrorism "and undermined the support that we might have had," Bush said in an interview with an ABC's "This Week" programme. While I do not totally agree, it is a legit complaint. Clinton said there had been a "heroic but so far unsuccessful" effort to put together an constitution that would be universally supported in Iraq. The US strategy of trying to develop the Iraqi military and police so that they can cope without US support "I think is the best strategy. The problem is we may not have, in the short run, enough troops to do that," said Clinton. What is the problem with that? Plenty of us here have been saying the same thing since the invasion. On Hurricane Katrina, Clinton faulted the authorities' failure to evacuate New Orleans ahead of the storm's strike on August 29. People with cars were able to heed the evacuation order, but many of those who were poor, disabled or elderly were left behind. "If we really wanted to do it right, we would have had lots of buses lined up to take them out," Clinton. Can't disagree with that though most of the blame is with governor and mayor. I think that is pretty obvious to everyone. He agreed that some responsibility for this lay with the local and state authorities, but pointed the finger, without naming him, at the former director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). They're going to point fingers at FEMA, Brown and Bush. We're going to point them at local officials. Political posturing on both sides, both are right and wrong. FEMA boss Michael Brown quit in response to criticism of his handling of the Katrina disaster. He was viewed as a political appointee with no experience of disaster management or dealing with government officials. True. Though it is pretty obvious he was fired. On the US budget, Clinton warned that the federal deficit may be coming untenable, driven by foreign wars, the post-hurricane recovery programme and tax cuts that benefitted just the richest one percent of the US population, himself included. "What Americans need to understand is that ... every single day of the year, our government goes into the market and borrows money from other countries to finance Iraq, Afghanistan, Katrina, and our tax cuts," he said. Correct. And the deficit is going to be a real drag on the economy. The excessive social programs passed by this administration are going to further be a drag on the future economy. It is a greater threat then terrorism. "We have never done this before. Never in the history of our republic have we ever financed a conflict, military conflict, by borrowing money from somewhere else." But we have borrowed plenty in the past to finance wars. What difference does it make where it comes from? I know this is a Clinton bashing thread but I fail to see what the big deal is. Plenty of us have noted the same problems facing America and they are not going to go away. In fact, this country is worse off for Bush's presidency. Better than some socialists but not by a whole helluva lot. Where I differ with Clinton is over the solution but the bottom line is that this country faces numerous challenges right now and none are being terribly well managed. Put blame where it lays and some of it lies with Bush. The guy is just not doing a stellar job. I didn't know you were such a big Clinton fan. Hardly. but in all honesty the country was better off during the 90's than it is now. In almost every regard. I guess you would prefer another Clinton Administration, if you agree with his views,   Try again. I detested Clinton and what he stood for. However, I am a realist. Clinton was the worst thing to happen to this country in the past 50 years.

Well now, that is just not true.
I've been alive since 1958 and I can tell you no one in the history of this country was worse than LBJ. No one will ever damage America more than he did. Carter, likewise, did profound damage through his total incompetence. Johnson was corrupt.

But let's look at this country since Bush has become President:

9/11
Economy in the tank
NO/Katrina debacle bungled not just once but even afterwards.
Iraq War-awesome kick ass blitz...pretty much bungled after that.
Patriot Act-see what Hilary does with that POS.
Rx drug plan-completely unaffordable
Incredible increases in National Debt
Illegal immigration wave unsurpassed
National Guard disarming law abiding citizens

I am sure that Clinton supporters would love to compare respective records.  I do nt revel in saying so. Fact is, we could only come up with George W. Bush for a President. We conservatives should be able to do better than that.

Let's see --

Clinton let nuclear secrets leak to the Chinese that could result in West Coast Cities getting nuked -
Clinton let OBL escape 5 or 6 times, when folks in other countries offered to hand them to us -

Those two things right there are far worse than anything LBJ or Carter ever did, and I am as old as you and remember both of their administrations.

Quoted: Let's see -- Clinton let nuclear secrets leak to the Chinese that could result in West Coast Cities getting nuked - Clinton let OBL escape 5 or 6 times, when folks in other countries offered to hand them to us - Those two things right there are far worse than anything LBJ or Carter ever did, and I am as old as you and remember both of their administrations.

Then I would argue that you have no sense of scope.
What nuclear secrets did Clinton leak to the Chicoms?