Bill Clinton is being a douchebag.

[Chardok]

From Here

NACOGDOCHES, Texas (AP) — Former President Clinton on Friday accused Sen. Barack Obama, his wife's rival for the Democratic nomination, of trying to ignore any accomplishments they achieved during their years in the White House.

"You have one candidate who's made the explicit argument that the only way we can change America is to move into a post-partisan future and therefore we have to eliminate from consideration for the presidency anybody who made good things happen in the '90s or stopped bad things from happening in this decade," said Clinton, who was winding up a day of East Texas campaign appearances for his wife, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.

"It doesn't matter how much good you did," the former president said at Stephen F. Austin University. "We've got to get rid of you because you had to fight to make something good happen. You had to fight to stop something bad from happening. And if you fought, you made somebody mad, we ought to give you an old watch and retire you. You can't possibly make a contribution to America's future."

Without mentioning Obama by name, Clinton said the Illinois senator was promoting a position that it's "actually an advantage to not have any experience because you've not made anybody mad."

"It's been very effective," Clinton said. "It's already taken four good candidates out. It would have taken Hillary out if she didn't have so much grass-roots support and so much guts."

Clinton said his wife's position is to "bridge the party divides when we can, but we also need to be prepared to fight."

...I loved you, Bill. I did. But you're PISSING ME OFF.

[Zablorg]

So he is effectively accusing Obama of... going about his business? Damn, if I was candidate I probably wouldn't advertise my opponents' achievements either.

[General Zod]

"It's been very effective," Clinton said. "It's already taken four good candidates out. It would have taken Hillary out if she didn't have so much grass-roots support and so much guts."

So, wait, according to him everyone who's been taken out was a good candidate, but Obama's not?

[Chardok]

"It's been very effective," Clinton said. "It's already taken four good candidates out. It would have taken Hillary out if she didn't have so much grass-roots support and so much guts."

So, wait, according to him everyone who's been taken out was a good candidate, but Obama's not?

Ahh, so you see what he did there?

[Anguirus]

If Obama wins the nomination he's going to backpedal so fucking fast there will be skidmarks.

There have got to be a lot of prominent Democrats that are shaking their heads angrily over how aggressive the Clintons have been. Meanwhile, the GOP saw the writing on the wall and closed ranks.

[Mr. Sinister]

"It's been very effective," Clinton said. "It's already taken four good candidates out. It would have taken Hillary out if she didn't have so much grass-roots support and so much guts."

So, wait, according to him everyone who's been taken out was a good candidate, but Obama's not?

Of course he's not a good candidate. Obama doesn't even have the common decency to drop out now that he's winning! The bastard.

[Mr. T]

I have to wonder if any of Clinton's top campaign aides have experience running a primary campaign. The kind of vitriol they're spewing has its place in a general election against the other party, but not when running against someone from your own party that's pretty much identical on policy issues to yourself.

TIME puts down her recent string of losses to the fact that her campaign didn't really even have a plan for the primary's after super-Tuesday and that Obama's beaten her with a superior ground game as a result.

[Gerald Tarrant]

...I loved you, Bill. I did. But you're PISSING ME OFF.

I think Bill's making a fair point.

"You have one candidate who's made the explicit argument that the only way we can change America is to move into a post-partisan future and therefore we have to eliminate from consideration for the presidency anybody who made good things happen in the '90s or stopped bad things from happening in this decade," said Clinton, who was winding up a day of East Texas campaign appearances for his wife, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.

The message of "post-partisanship" can just as easily be re-phrased as "I'm a uniter not a divider". Both President Bush and Senator Obama had experiences at the state level where bi-partisan work was accomplished.

Clinton said his wife's position is to "bridge the party divides when we can, but we also need to be prepared to fight."

There are enough "big issues" where there isn't really room for compromise, that a claim of being able to work across the aisle is naive, or unrepresentative of what most decisions will be.

The idea of trying to get past our partisanship is silly. It means that any liberal who took a stand and fought politically on any serious issue, would be too partisan for the new era of compromise. But there are going to continue to be serious disagreements with Republicans: Iraq, Entitlement reform, taxes, and the Judiciary, at a minimum. I don't see that much room for accomodation on those issues. So that would leave a President Obama no choice but to play by the same old Partisan rules that everyone else plays by.

Senator Obama has better policy mechanisms than Senator Clinton. All her proposals involve mandates, most of his involve changing the incentive structure through taxes, or tax cuts. To win the primary Obama doesn't need to rely on empty platitudes, a careful look at the two candidate's platforms should be sufficient for most Democrats. A few moderated debates would probably be enough. The rhetoric of getting past parties isn't sufficient. At best it's naive, at worst it's dishonest, Senator Obama can do better.

[Gigaliel]

Bill's argument seems contradictory: both Bill and Hillary compromised on issues numerous times in order to appeal to centrist to voters, yet he mocks a post-partisanship era?

Secondly, why does he bring up the 90s? Hillary was not in office in the 90s. Unless we're counting First Lady experience again, in which case (as others have brought up before) she would be responsible for all the Clinton presidency's unmentioned mistakes.

Heck, the entire experience debacle is because Hillary's 'experience' is riddled with stupid vote-grabbing compromises. Her vote on the Iraq War stands testament to that. The subsequent refusal to say she was wrong does not help, especially since numerous Democrats have. Honestly, Hillary's voting record does not help the whole "prepared to fight" part.

Also, let's address "if you fought you made somebody mad". True, but if you're Democrat it would presumably be a Republican you angered if you fought. Bill's rhetoric makes no sense. It is refusing to fight for principles that people are 'mad' about, not standing up for them. The number of times Democrats have been outraged over Congress refusing to fight is huge.

[Glocksman]

Apparently Bill Clinton took offense when BHO said Reagan changed the country in a way that Clinton did not.
Linky

I think part of what's different are the times. I do think that for example the 1980 was different. I think Ronald Reagan changed the trajectory of America in a way that Richard Nixon did not and in a way that Bill Clinton did not. He put us on a fundamentally different path because the country was ready for it,"

At least that's my guess why he keeps bringing up the 90's.
He also probably didn't care for Obama practically calling him a liar.

The more Bill speaks, the more he sounds like a bitter old man.

As for BHO's style, I found this cartoon.



Killing them with kindness.

[Death from the Sea]

Sounds like to me that he was just upset because Obama was not acknowledging Bill's accomplishments... what ever those might be.

[CmdrWilkens]

NACOGDOCHES, Texas (AP) — Former President Clinton on Friday accused Sen. Barack Obama, his wife's rival for the Democratic nomination, of trying to ignore any accomplishments they achieved during their years in the White House.

Yes the achievments THEY had. Funny that everything Bill put on her plate she lost (which includes Health Care, Paula Jones, and the whole Whitewater boondogle). basically the whole position here pisses me off in a number of ways:

1) Hillary is running NOT Bill so please shut up about what BILL did. He needs to get over himself because the job he did in terms of the economy and defense, interntional relations, etc has exactly zero bearing on Hillary.

2) If you are going to talk about those years then talk abotu what she was substanatively involved in (see above). Obviously this would be to the campaign's detriment as her accomplishment record is far less than stellar.

3) The whole line just REEKS of the idea that Obama should defer to the "superior" Clinton experience. Seriously anybody who can survive the marathon of insantiy which is the modern presidential election can be a damn effective administrator. For those pointing out Bush he has been effective, the problem is he has been very effective at fucking up. He has been able to do exactly what he wants to do which makes him effective. At the same time what he wants to do is accumulate personal power to himself and wage a never ending war that makes the US fearful and pliant to his party's extremist message and in that he has largely, up until VERY recently, suceeded.

[Darth Wong]

Until I heard Bill explain this, I had no idea that experience and accomplishments were a sexually transmitted disease (maybe he's talking about one of his more successful initiatives, like being president during the dot-com boom, or passing the DoMA and setting back gay rights for years to come). Perhaps Monica Lewinski should run for President too.

[Elfdart]

I was thinking the same thing. As Alexander Cockburn pointed out several years ago, Monica Lewinsky saved Social Security. Clinton was all set in 1998 to throw SS under the bus like he did on almost every other issue (taking it balls deep from the Republitards didn't begin with Harry Reid), and in the guise of "reform". But Monica testified and the well was poisoned and one of the last vestiges of the New Deal was saved.

In other words, by sucking Bill's cock and telling her friends about it, Monica Lewinsky did more for this country than Hillary.

[Uraniun235]

Ah, "triangulation". When you listen to how desperately Hillary is clinging to her husband's "glory", you can't help but wonder how much her presidency would be like her husband's.