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08/20/2003 Archived Entry: "And this is why they call him The Big Dog."
And this is why they call him The Big Dog.
Man, to have been in the room when this went down. Clinton should take this to the op-ed pages and every TV show that'll have him (and you know they all would).
Clinton had lost weight and—with a great collection of just-out-of-the-wrapper pastel-colored polo shirts on view throughout the conference—seemed in fabulous form. He was in campaign mode but without the restraints of campaign mode. While there was clear bitterness on his part toward the successor who had rushed “to undo everything I’d done,” and the Republicans who “will run over you unless you beat their brains out,” there was a feisty humor too. Of the disputed Harken oil deal, Clinton said Bush had “sold the stock to buy the baseball team which got him the governorship which got him the presidency.”Clinton kept referring to the media as (contrary to Kinsley’s view) the “supine” media, pointing out that when Bush insulted Helen Thomas (who, by asking a rough question in the infamous prewar press conference had, Clinton said, “committed the sin of journalism”), no “young journalists” stood up and walked out.
The media, the supine media, was going to have to “go to the meat locker and take out its brains and critical skills.”
Everybody seemed to love this. Clinton was not just the beloved former president, but he had become some sort of sassy oracle.
There was a party on the second day for Clinton at the Aspen version of Nobu, and then, later that evening, a discussion between Clinton and President Kagame, hosted by the William Morris Agency, at Whiskey Rocks Bar in the St. Regis Hotel (Michael Eisner, the Disney CEO, while not a conference attendee, slipped into the room).
This turned out to be the pivotal moment of the conference—even the primal one. When Clinton took questions, a young man from a technology company who identified himself as chairman of Bush-Cheney 2004 in California said he was offended by Clinton’s partisanship. To which Clinton, without hesitation, and with some kind of predatory gleam in his eye, said, “Good!” From there, Clinton went on, with emotion and anger, at a level seemingly foreign to most everyone here, to rip to shreds the motives, values, and legitimacy of the Republicans.
It was all anyone could talk about the next day.
Goddam it, Bill! Go public with this stuff! People will listen, because no matter how the media and your enemies tried to trash you, Americans who pay attention know you're right.
Replies: 5 people speak up
My Grandpappy told me a story. He said once upon a time America was a Republic and was governed by a chief executive who always spoke the English language articulately and, on occasion, eloquently.
I think Grandpappy was making this stuff up.
Posted by Metropolitan99 @ 08/20/2003 11:40 AM NY
i miss bill clinton. he was very conservative for a democrat, but at least he was a democrat. bush is so far to the right that he makes ronald reagan look like Che Guevarra. after bush, all the conservative democrats look good (except lieberman, i still hate him) still, it would be nice if we could have an actual liberal running (other than kucinich, who cant possibly win, unfortunately)
its been a few years since my high school civics class, but if i remember correctly, the republicans are supposed to be conservative and the democrats are supposed to be liberals... meanwhile, the conservatives are not conserving anything, they have gone far past conservative, to a new level of right wingedness, unfortunately the democrats have filled in the niche in the center. oh well, just bitching really, the democrats wont be in power anytime soon, so i guess it doesnt really matter that they have sold out. i just wish i had someone to vote for in 2004 that wasnt just anyone but bush. we need a real leader to fix the last 4 years damage. maybe the raelians can start working on cloning FDR
Posted by justin @ 08/20/2003 12:40 PM NY
Justin,
If were gonna' clone a progressive stateman, let's go all out. How about FDR or Teddy Roosevelt (when he was running on the progressive Bull Moose Ticket)?
Posted by Metropolitan99 @ 08/20/2003 01:00 PM NY
a roosevelt/ roosevelt ticket would be interesting, but who would be pres and who would be vice pres? wasnt teddy a repugnican originally though? either way, even a clone of LBJ would be better than the dan quayle clone we have running the place now
Posted by justin @ 08/20/2003 01:15 PM NY
Justin,
I'm currently reading a book, "The Three Roosevelts" (Teddy, FDR, and Eleanor). Teddy was a Republican, FDR a Democrat. However, a century ago, many Republicans were progressives and Teddy, especially in his second term, was extremely left-wing on many issues.
Both Teddy and FDR were domineering personalities. Neither could be VP. I'd settle for FDR as President and Adlai Stevenson as Veep.
Posted by Metropolitan99 @ 08/20/2003 03:13 PM NY
