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Jewish World Review August 2, 2000 / 29 Tamuz, 5760

David Limbaugh

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The first attack dog


http://www.jewishworldreview.com -- WITH ONLY a half year left in his reign, his legacy starving for some substance, and Al and Hillary getting all the attention, it must be awfully tough to be Bill Clinton right now.

Apparently overcome by the urge to recapture the spotlight, the president threw a couple of tantrums over the last few days in Boston and Chicago. His rhetoric was remarkably unpresidential -- or should I say "unremarkably"? Since his understudy is now running for president instead of him, I suppose it's appropriate that Clinton has donned the role of head attack dog, making his role reversal with Gore complete.

Before launching into his diatribe against George Bush, Dick Cheney, Senate and House Republicans and the GOP in general, Clinton said there is no need for negative campaigning this year. I guess he meant there is no need for negative campaigning other than by him.

In Boston, Clinton ridiculed Bush to an audience of Democrats replete with Kennedys. Clinton said that Bush thinks he ought to be president because "(his) daddy was president." He then mocked Bush and Republicans for trying to appear "compassionate and humane."

Anxious to demonstrate his point, Clinton railed against Republicans for failing to act on his proposal to raise the minimum wage by a dollar to $6.15 an hour. Republicans, he said "were still working overtime to give tax breaks to the tiniest, wealthiest fraction of America's families and still doing nothing for the 10 million people who would benefit from a boost in the minimum wage."

A few days later Clinton spoke to a group of trial lawyers, who presumably were not among those 10 million. Wisely, he chose not to emphasize his patented class warfare themes before that group, which collectively paid him a handsome quarter million at their modest little luncheon. Instead, he focused on more uplifting themes, such as racist Senate Republicans blocking his judicial appointments of blacks and Hispanics. Before you assume I'm exaggerating, take a look at the president's words: "I've been trying for seven long years to fix that, and they've blocked every one. They're so determined to keep an African-American off that they have allowed a 25 percent vacancy rate." Nothing negative about that, Mr. Clinton.

In a frenzy to outdo himself, Clinton topped it off with a swipe at Dick Cheney. He reminded the group how Cheney had voted against recommending freedom for Nelson Mandela, saying it "takes your breath away."

No comment necessary

It didn't take Cheney's breath away. He had plenty left to refute these bogus and incendiary charges on the Sunday talk shows. Cheney explained that in 1986 he voted against a nonbinding resolution calling for Mandela's release because it was packaged with a resolution calling for U.S. recognition of Mandela's African National Congress, "a terrorist organization." Cheney said that while he had always supported efforts to free Mandela, he could not in good conscience support a "terrorist organization."

Clinton wasn't out of breath either because he went on to tie the two issues (minority judicial appointments and Mandela) together. He likened his failed African-American and Hispanic judicial appointments to Mandela, saying they are "being held in a political jail because they can't get a hearing from this Republican Senate."

A somewhat loftier theme emerged in Clinton's speeches over the weekend. He contended that Democrat ideas are so superior that Republicans are now trying to blur the distinctions between the parties. Clinton has it exactly wrong. While Bush will bring a message of inclusion to the "Philadelphia convention" -- that has a nice ring to it -- he is not recommending that the party abandon its principles. A review of the platform, which Bush endorsed, confirms a Republican Party that is quite unashamed of its conservative positions. On all of the substantive platform battles, including abortion, gays in the military, promoting English as the nation's common language, limiting the role of the federal government in education, and even abstinence education, conservatives prevailed.

I wonder if Al Gore sometimes wishes his boss would be a little less conspicuous on the campaign trial. For a study in contrasts, look to the Republican convention for a glimpse at the type of leadership timber George Bush wants to bring to this country. Perhaps Dick Cheney said it best: "We want to make Americans proud again by giving them a president they can respect."



JWR contributor David Limbaugh is an attorney practicing in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, and a political analyst and commentator. Send your comments to him by clicking here.

WND

Up

07/31/00:The Cheney taint?
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07/24/00: The raging culture war
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06/05/00: Who, which, what is the real Al Gore?
06/01/00: Legacy-building idea for Clinton
05/30/00: Clinton: Above the law or not?
05/24/00: Not so fast, Hillary
05/22/00: Gore's risky, fear-mongering schemes
05/17/00: Can Bush risk pro-choice running mate?
05/15/00: Right to privacy, Clinton-style
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05/01/00: The resurrection of outrage
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04/10/00:The fraying of America
04/05/00: Noonan: End Clintonism now
04/03/00: Bush: On going for the gold
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03/13/00: Deifying of the center
03/08/00: The media, the establishment and the people
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02/28/00: Bush's silver lining in McMichigan
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02/16/00: Substance trumps process
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02/09/00: President McCain: End of the GOP as we know it?
02/07/00: From New Hampshire to South Carolina
02/02/00: SDI must fly
01/31/00: Veep gores Bradley
01/26/00: The issues gap
01/24/00: GOP: Exit, stage left
01/20/00: Nationalizing congressional elections
01/18/00: Do voters really prefer straight talk?
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01/10/00: Conservative racism myth
01/05/00: Just one more year of Clintonian politics
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12/27/99: Al Gore: Bullish on government
12/22/99: Bradley's full-court press
12/20/99: Bush: Rendering unto Caesar
12/15/99: Beltway media bias
12/13/99: White House ambulance chasing
12/08/99: Clinton's labor pains
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12/01/99: In defense of liberty
11/29/99: Are Republicans obsolete?
11/24/99: Say you're sorry, Mr. President
11/22/99: Architects of victory
11/17/99: Trump's tax on freedom
11/15/99: GOP caves again
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11/03/99: Keyes vs. media lapdogs
11/01/99: Signs of the times
10/27/99: The false charge of isolationism
10/25/99: A matter of freedom
10/20/99: Clinton's mini-meltdown
10/18/99: Senate GOP shows statesmanship
10/13/99: Senate must reject nuclear treaty
10/11/99: Bush bites feeding hand
10/06/99: Jesse accidentally opens door for Pat
10/04/99: Clinton and his media enablers
09/29/99: Reagan: Big-tent conservatism
09/27/99: The Clinton/Gore taint?
09/22/99: Have gun (tragedy), will travel
09/20/99: Hillary's blunders and bloopers
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09/13/99:Time for Bush to take charge, please
09/10/99: Bush's education plan: Dubya confounds again
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09/02/99: Character doesn't matter?
08/30/99: Should we judge?
08/25/99: Dubyah's drug question: Not a hill to die on
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08/16/99: 'W' stands for 'winner'
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08/04/99: What would you do?
08/02/99: No appeasement for China
07/30/99: Hate Crimes Bill: Cynical Symbolism
07/26/99: It’s the 'moderates', stupid
07/21/99: JFK Jr. and Diana: the pain of privilege
07/19/99: Smith, Bush and the GOP
07/14/99: GOP must be a party of ideas
07/12/99: Gore's gender gap
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06/10/99: Victory in Kosovo? Now What?

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