Pity the fools

I hated Bill Clinton. Friggin' hated him. If you don't believe me, ask John Stone, who chuckled through some of my more memorable tirades back in the good ol' *nix shell and Pine Mail days of the Ozarks Regional Information Online Network. Granted, I considered Clinton the best president of my lifetime, but that's not saying much -- I was born during the reign of LBJ, and it's not like anyone's turned in an Oscar-quality performance in the role since. I friggin' hated him, and I didn't respect him, but what're you gonna do? At least he had a Congress of the opposite party to restrain him from, or else whittle down, some of his worst ideas.

Now, I distinctly recall the tone of the 2000 presidential campaign. I remember a Republican who was going to "restore honor" to the White House. A guy who promised to "bring back integrity." A guy who was going to pursue a "more humble foreign policy." George W. Bush was going to be a better president than Clinton. George W. Bush was a better man than Clinton. And then ...

It took all of a month for the Era of Big Government Being Over to be, um, over.

It took about ten seconds after the second plane hit the World Trade Center for "a more humble foreign policy" to transform itself into "All the really, really stupid ideas that got us into this situation in the first place, squared."

So when some nimrod writes (courtesy of a circulation list that I never asked to be subscribed to) about the Cindy Sheehan t-shirt fiasco:

What happened to Cindy Sheehan is not new. During the Clinton years, a fellow attended a state of the union address wearing a t-shirt saying that Clinton sucked. He was also detained by capitol police. You didn't see any of the leftwing moonbats freaking out about free speech then, did you?

... I'm going to take exception. First of all, yes, I did see some "leftwing moonbats" freaking out about free speech then. Secondly ...

Republicans, your candidate ran on a "better than Bill Clinton" platform. Your candidate ran on a "more honest than Bill Clinton" platform. Your candidate ran on a "restore integrity to the White House" platform. Your candidate ran on a "no more harassment shenanigans with our political enemies" platform. Your candidate ran on a "respect for the Constitution" platform. Your candidate ran on a "more humble foreign policy" platform.

Yet every time the Republicans step on their own cranks in public, the first shot out of the Bushevik cannon is "Well, Clinton did it toooooooooooooooo! Neener, neener!"

Guys ... what the fuck is that noise?

Since when does the Republican standard of behavior come down to "see, our guy is tres Clintonesque?"

Hell, if it was true, it would be an improvement. But even if was true -- and it isn't; bad as Clinton was, he doesn't hold a candle to King George -- it's hardly something I'd expect you to advertise.

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