Journalist @baltimoresun writer artist runner #amwriting Chaplain PIO #partylikeajournalist

Journalist @baltimoresun writer artist runner #amwriting Chaplain PIO #partylikeajournalist
Journalist @baltimoresun writer artist runner #amwriting Md Troopers Assoc #20 & Westminster Md Fire Dept Chaplain PIO #partylikeajournalist
Showing posts with label Pres 1993 42 Clinton-William Jefferson. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pres 1993 42 Clinton-William Jefferson. Show all posts

Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Bill Clinton to George W. Bush: Why aren't you on Twitter? - CBS News

Bill Clinton to George W. Bush: Why aren't you on Twitter? - CBS News

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/bill-clinton-to-george-w-bush-why-arent-you-on-twitter/

"Bill Clinton has one question for George W. Bush: How are you not on Twitter?

The wisecrack was embedded in a Presidents' Day greeting Clinton posted Monday on the social media site. In the post, Clinton gave a shout out to President Obama, who has been praised for his Internet savviness, and former President George H.W. Bush, who joined Twitter in December. "


Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/bill-clinton-to-george-w-bush-why-arent-you-on-twitter/

'via Blog this'

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Huffington Post: MSNBC's Bill Clinton Documentary 'President Of The World' Repackaged For Other Networks (PICTURES)

MSNBC's Bill Clinton Documentary 'President Of The World' Repackaged For Other Networks (PICTURES)



02-22-11  
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/22/bill-clinton-documentary-_n_826373.html?utm_campaign=022211&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Alert-comedy&utm_content=FullStory&utm_term=Comedy+Brief#s243838&title=Fox_News_Presents


Even die-hard Bill Clinton fans had to have been a little creeped out by Chris Matthews' overly-fawning docu-special, "President of the World: The Bill Clinton Phenomenon." While the former president's humanitarian efforts and his diplomatic reach are undeniably critical, even inspiring, with Matthews playing Clinton's personal hype man, town crier and super fan all rolled into one, it's kind of hard to focus on the message and not the messenger. But that got us thinking. What would this special have been called had it been created for another network? Surely, Fox News, VH1, and Nickelodeon would have come up with a title that expressed their particular point of view just as resoundingly...  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/22/bill-clinton-documentary-_n_826373.html?utm_campaign=022211&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Alert-comedy&utm_content=FullStory&utm_term=Comedy+Brief#s243838&title=Fox_News_Presents

*****

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Hating over Haiti


January 20, 2010

Hating over Haiti http://www.thetentacle.com/ShowArticle.cfm?mydocid=3564

Kevin E. Dayhoff

In a moment that could warm all but the coldest of hearts last Saturday, in the midst of all the despair that is now Haiti, Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush, and Bill Clinton set aside their political differences for a joint appeal to raise money for that earthquake-ravaged country.

This is what our country is all about and it should make all of us proud.

The stories and pictures that have illuminated the disaster are heartbreaking. Hold your breath when you view the photo gallery posted yesterday by The Boston Globe’s “The Big Picture – news stories in photographs,” which may found here:
http://tinyurl.com/yclmayb.

The earthquake which struck 16 miles west of Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti, which shares the island of Hispaniola with the Dominican Republic, measured 7.0 on the “moment magnitude scale,” and was followed by at least 33 aftershocks.

A CBS/AP news article reported that the “International Federation of the Red Cross estimates that up to three million people” were affected by the powerful earthquake.”

“While earthquakes are not uncommon in the Caribbean island country, the recent Haiti earthquake's intensity surprised experts,” observed the National Geographic Daily News web publication.

“‘It's quite strange’ from a historical perspective, said Julie Detton, a geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey… The last major earthquake to strike Haiti's side of the island was in 1860.”

Red Cross spokesman “Paul Conneally says the fact that the quake occurred very close to Port-au-Prince was ‘not a good indicator.’ He says Haiti is one of the poorest countries in the northern hemisphere and is ill-prepared to handle a major disaster.”

What should not be strange about the response to the disaster, which has befallen our Caribbean neighbors to the south, is the outpouring of solidarity in relief efforts from all over the world.

One reaffirming news report on television showed Mexican and Israeli search and rescue teams working side-by-side, hand-in-glove, while Jordanians provided security.

“In addition,” observed National Geographic, “the Haiti earthquake was very shallow, being centered just 6.2 miles (10 kilometers) below Earth's surface…”

What was also a surprise and just as heartbreaking, strange and shallow, was the intensity of hate just beneath the surface of the American response from people who have chosen to utilize the horrific disaster to promote an enigmatic ideological agenda.


Read the rest of the column here: Hating over Haiti http://www.thetentacle.com/ShowArticle.cfm?mydocid=3564

20100120 TT Hating Over Haiti ttked
*****

Kevin Dayhoff Soundtrack: http://www.kevindayhoff.net/ Kevin Dayhoff Art: http://www.kevindayhoffart.com/ Kevin Dayhoff Westminster: http://www.westgov.net/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/kevindayhoff Twitpic: http://twitpic.com/photos/kevindayhoff Kevin Dayhoff's The New Bedford Herald: http://kbetrue.livejournal.com/

Monday, October 19, 2009

Media bias: Lap Dogs

Click here for a larger image: http://twitpic.com/m3qv5


October 19, 2009 - The matter in which President George W. Bush replaced eight federal prosecutors and the resulting media firestorm; in spite of the fact that President Bill Clinton once replaced 93 federal prosecutors, and the media barely raised an eyebrow, still sticks in my craw.

Not to be overlooked is the dynamic that several of the prosecutors that President Clinton replaced were actively engaged in investigating Democrats.

Make no mistake about it, if I am not mistaken, the federal prosecutors serve at the pleasure of the president. At least thing is for sure, why was it okay for President Clinton to do it and yet it was so wrong for President Bush to do it…?

Furthermore, the ruling party in the U.S. Congress is still pursuing the matter: see here and here - Conyers May Call Rove, Miers to Testify Publicly About Attorney Firings.

I was e-mailed this cartoon just the other day… Hat Tip: Analog. http://kevindayhoff.blogspot.com/2009/10/australian-cartoons.html It is just a relevant today as it was in 2007.

Related: Why John Conyers, the New York Times and the Washington Post owe me an apology. By KARL ROVE OPINION AUGUST 19, 2009:

[…]

“Judiciary Democrats had California Rep. Adam Schiff doggedly ask me about four-year-old phone logs, emails, meetings and conversations. What did the committee discover?

“Judging from the evidence released, it uncovered facts that show that my role in the U.S. attorneys issue was minimal and entirely proper. I did not conceive of the idea of removing certain U.S. attorneys, did not select those to be removed, and did not see the lists of U.S. attorneys Justice was considering to replace. I had no idea who was on the final list until Justice sent it to the White House in November 2006. No fair-minded person can review the thousands of pages of documents and testimony and conclude that I drove the process.”

And here, for another point of view: Conyers May Call Rove Miers Testify Attorney Firings http://www.truthout.org/082009R?n Thursday 20 August 2009 by: Jason Leopold, t r u t h o u t Report

20070000 cartoon on GWB replacing 8 fed prosecutors
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203550604574360500363745662.html

http://www.truthout.org/082009R?n

http://kevindayhoff.blogspot.com/2009/10/australian-cartoons.html




*****


Kevin Dayhoff Soundtrack: http://www.kevindayhoff.net/ Kevin Dayhoff Art: http://www.kevindayhoffart.com/ Kevin Dayhoff Westminster: http://www.westgov.net/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/kevindayhoff Twitpic: http://twitpic.com/photos/kevindayhoff Kevin Dayhoff's The New Bedford Herald: http://kbetrue.livejournal.com/

Monday, June 15, 2009

Obama's Pick to Be Army's Top Lawyer Withdraws


Obama's Pick to Be Army's Top Lawyer Withdraws

Donald Remy caught heat from the Senate Armed Services Committee for not disclosing his ties to Fannie Mae during the nomination process.

FOXNews.com Saturday, June 13, 2009

President Obama's pick to be the Army's top lawyer withdrew after failing to disclose Fannie Mae as his former employer in a document submitted as part of his nomination process.


Read the rest here: Another Obama Nominee Withdraws


20090615 SDOSM Another Obama Nominee Withdraws
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/elections/2009/06/13/obamas-pick-armys-lawyer-withdraws/

Other items of interest for your reading pleasure:

Fired Inspector General: I Acted 'With Highest Integrity'
[2009-06-12]
fired inspector general i acted 'with high integrity', fired inspector general i acted 'with highest integrity'

Biden Reveals Location of Secret VP Bunker
[2009-05-18]
biden reveals secret bunker location, biden reveals location of secret vp bunker, biden, biden reveals location of supersecret 9/11 bunker, 9/11

Jones On the Outs With Obama? Gates Defends National Security Adviser
[2009-06-11]
obama's national security adviser on thin ice, key obama adviser on thin ice, obama, jones on the outs with obama? gates defends national security adviser, jones on the outs? gates defends security adviser

Writings Reveal Sotomayor's Controversial 'Wise Latina' Remark Not Isolated
[2009-06-04]
sotomayor deep in debt, sotomayor, writings reveal sotomayor's use of 'wise latina', writings reveal sotomayor's controversial 'wise latina' remark not isolated, sotomayor's 'wise latina' remark not isolated

Obama Accused Bill Clinton of Telling 'Bald-Faced Lies,' Reporter Says in Book


Kevin Dayhoff Soundtrack: www.kevindayhoff.net Kevin Dayhoff Art: www.kevindayhoffart.com Kevin Dayhoff Westminster: www.westgov.net Twitter: https://twitter.com/kevindayhoff Twitpic: http://twitpic.com/photos/kevindayhoff YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/kevindayhoff Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1040426835

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Bush Aides Challenge Biden’s Boasts - by Bill Sammon

Bush Aides Challenge Biden’s Boasts by Bill Sammon

Apparently Vice President Joe Biden has been making outrageous claims of schooling – err - chastising President George W. Bush in years past, in a continuing effort by the Obama administration to differentiate itself from the previous administration by a series of colorful, if not fictional anecdotal invectives meant to vilify.

Many of the claims, especially those made on the recent European “apology tour” by President Barack Obama are mischaracterizations of the actions and approach by President Bush towards our European “allies.”

Of course, to be glib, if Europe is considered to be our “allies,” who needs enemies?

Lost in the all the rhetoric is the fact that Europe has not been truly helpful, except Britain and Estonia, in our efforts to curb global terrorism, because they have grown soft while being protected for decades by American military power – and ultimately, the American taxpayer.

While we pay for Europe’s defense, many European nations have diverted funding for their military to social programs, for which they cannot afford.

Also lost in the latest revisionist discussions over the previous Bush administration’s overtures to Europe to lend us a helping hand to help defend them from terrorists is the fact that several European nations, such as Germany, France and Russia, had no interest in helping us in Iraq because they were making too much money over the murderous and threatening regime of Saddam Hussein.

In the end, after all the hype by the sycophant elite media in the United States, President Obama flew home from the great apology tour with essentially nothing more than what help President Bush was able to accumulate.

Meanwhile, Vice President Biden has embarked upon a concurrent campaign to raise his own stature – and that of the Obama administration - by belittling the previous administration.

Can you imagine the outrage of the “Katie Couric’s” of the elite media if Vice President Dick Chaney were to have uttered such disparaging remarks about President Bill Clinton?

For that matter, could have you imagined the howls from the elite media if President Bush had gone to Europe and blamed much of the challenges of global terrorism on the politics of appeasement of the Clinton administration?

Meanwhile, while we are on the subject of double standards, remember when President Bush reached out to our European allies and got nothing but personal distain. President Obama came home from the apology tour with zilch – where are the personal recriminations from the elite media – as when President Bush came home empty-handed.

As an aside, let’s not overlook the efforts and help from our neighbor to the north, Canada, or our neighbors down-under, the Australians, which have been by our side from the beginning and remain there today.

/ Kevin Dayhoff April 11, 2009

Bush Aides Challenge Biden's Boasts of Oval Office Slapdowns By Bill Sammon FOXNews.com Thursday, April 09, 2009

Aides to former President George W. Bush are challenging the veracity of Vice President Joe Biden's claim this week of having privately castigated Bush, who does not remember the incident or an earlier episode in which Biden claims to have similarly rebuked Bush.

Biden spokesman Jay Carney declined to specify the dates of his boss's purported Oval Office scoldings of Bush. Nor would he provide witnesses or notes to corroborate the episodes.

"The vice president stands by his remarks," Carney told FOX News without elaboration.

Those remarks include a shot that Biden took at Bush on Tuesday.

"I remember President Bush saying to me one time in the Oval Office," Biden told CNN, "'Well, Joe,' he said, 'I'm a leader.' And I said: 'Mr. President, turn and around look behind you. No one is following.'"

That exchange never took place, according to numerous Bush aides who also dispute a similar assertion by Biden in 2004, when the former senator from Delaware told scores of Democratic colleagues that he had challenged Bush's moral certitude about the Iraq war during a private meeting in the Oval Office. Two years later, Biden repeated his story about dressing down the president.


Read more of Vice President Biden’s antics – if you have the stomach for it, here: Bush Aides Challenge Biden's Boasts of Oval Office Slapdowns

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/04/09/bush-aides-challenge-bidens-boasts-oval-office-slapdowns/

20090409 Bush Aides Challenge Biden’s Boasts by Bill Sammon


Kevin Dayhoff www.kevindayhoff.net http://kevindayhoff.blogspot.com/

Monday, March 09, 2009

New York Times – Sept. 30, 1999: Fannie Mae Eases Credit To Aid Mortgage Lending


The New York Times – September 30, 1999: Fannie Mae Eases Credit To Aid Mortgage Lending
Hat Tip: Analog

Fannie Mae Eases Credit To Aid Mortgage Lending

By STEVEN A. HOLMES

Published: September 30, 1999

In a move that could help increase home ownership rates among minorities and low-income consumers, the Fannie Mae Corporation is easing the credit requirements on loans that it will purchase from banks and other lenders.

[…]

Fannie Mae, the nation's biggest underwriter of home mortgages, has been under increasing pressure from the Clinton Administration to expand mortgage loans among low and moderate income people and felt pressure from stock holders to maintain its phenomenal growth in profits.

In addition, banks, thrift institutions and mortgage companies have been pressing Fannie Mae to help them make more loans to so-called subprime borrowers. These borrowers whose incomes, credit ratings and savings are not good enough to qualify for conventional loans, can only get loans from finance companies that charge much higher interest rates -- anywhere from three to four percentage points higher than conventional loans.

''Fannie Mae has expanded home ownership for millions of families in the 1990's by reducing down payment requirements,'' said Franklin D. Raines, Fannie Mae's chairman and chief executive officer. ''Yet there remain too many borrowers whose credit is just a notch below what our underwriting has required who have been relegated to paying significantly higher mortgage rates in the so-called subprime market.''

[…]

In moving, even tentatively, into this new area of lending, Fannie Mae is taking on significantly more risk, which may not pose any difficulties during flush economic times. But the government-subsidized corporation may run into trouble in an economic downturn, prompting a government rescue similar to that of the savings and loan industry in the 1980's.

''From the perspective of many people, including me, this is another thrift industry growing up around us,'' said Peter Wallison a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. ''If they fail, the government will have to step up and bail them out the way it stepped up and bailed out the thrift industry.''


Read the entire article here: Fannie Mae Eases Credit To Aid Mortgage Lending

19990930 NYT Fannie Mae Eases Credit To Aid Mortgage Lending

http://tinyurl.com/6p5d9j

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9c0de7db153ef933a0575ac0a96f958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=2
Kevin Dayhoff www.kevindayhoff.net http://kevindayhoff.blogspot.com/

Saturday, February 14, 2009

Difference of 8 years

Difference of 8 years

February 14, 2009

Hat Tip: Analog

I received this in an e-mail just the other day. It obviously stems from the events which occurred during the inauguration, however, the hypocrisy and double standards continue to dominate the media coverage…

Can one only imagine the media coverage of the gaffs and missteps of the early days of the administration of President Barack Obama, if the same challenges were to have occurred with President George W. Bush or the administration of John McCain?

Yesterday:
Outgoing President George W. Bush quietly boards his helicopter and leaves for Texas, commenting only: "Today is not about me. Today is a historical day for our nation and people."

Eight years ago yesterday:
Outgoing President Bill Clinton schedules two separate radio addresses to the nation, and organizes a public farewell speech/rally in downtown Washington D.C. scheduled to directly conflict with incoming President Bush's inauguration ceremony.

Yesterday:
President Bush leaves office without issuing a single Presidential pardon, only granting a commutation of sentence to two former border patrol agents convicted of shooting a convicted drug smuggler. He does not grant any type of clemency to Scooter Libby or any other former political aide, ally, or business partner.

Eight years ago yesterday:
President Clinton issues 140 pardons and several commutations of sentence on his final day in office. Included in these are: billionaire financier, convicted tax evader, anleading Democratic campaign contributor Marc Rich; Whitwater scandal figure Susan McDougal; Congressional Post Office Scandal figure and former Democratic Congressman Dan Rostenkowski; convicted bank fraud, sexual assault and child porn perpetrator and former Democratic Congressman Melvin Reynolds; and convicted drug felon Roger Clinton, the President's half-brother.

Yesterday:
The Bush daughters leave gift baskets in the White House bedrooms for the Obama daughters, containing flowers, candy, stuffed animals, DVD's and CD's, and heartfelt notes of encouragement and advice for the young girls on how to prepare for their new lives in the White House.

Eight years ago Yesterday:
Clinton and Gore staffers rip computer wires and electrical outlets from the White House walls, stuff piles of notebook papers into the White House toilets, systematically remove the letter "W" from every computer key-pad in the entire White House, and damage several thousand dollars worth of furniture in the White House master bedroom.

Headlines On This Date 4 Years Ago:
"Republicans spending $42 million on inauguration while troops Die in unarmored Humvees" "Bush extravagance exceeds any reason during tough economic times" "Fat cats get their $42 million inauguration party, Ordinary Americans get the shaft"

Headlines Today:
"Historic Obama Inauguration will cost only $170 million" "Obama Spends $170 million on inauguration; America Needs A Big Party" "Everyman Obama shows America how to celebrate" "Citibank executives contribute $8 million to Obama Inauguration"

What a difference eight years makes, huh!


20090214 Difference of 8 years
20010100 White House Silverware

Kevin Dayhoff www.kevindayhoff.net http://kevindayhoff.blogspot.com/

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Carter 'Snubs' Clinton?

Carter 'Snubs' Clinton?

January 20, 2009 11:54 AM

ABC News' David Wright reports: Today may be a day when the nation briefly sets aside partisan enmity for the peaceful transition of power, but personal enmity? That’s another matter.

One small example: as the ex-Presidents gathered in the crypt of the Capitol preparing to head out to the platform, a chilly day got a bit chillier as the Carters and the Clintons were forced to occupy the same cramped space.

Former Democratic President Jimmy Carter appeared to greet former Republican President George H.W. Bush and his wife warmly, kissing Barbara Bush on the cheek. But as Carter passed fellow Democrats Bill and Hillary Clinton,
the two men did not appear to acknowledge each others presence at all.

President Carter disputes there was any snub and says any suggestion there was is “erroneous.” …

[…]

Recently, during
a photo opportunity at the Oval Office, following a lunch with Barack Obama and the ex-Presidents, Clinton and Carter stood next to one another, but miles apart. Obama stood between the two Presidents Bush:
http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=6689418

Read more.

Yeah, that was a snub. Clinton and Carter hate each other.

Whispers in the hallways of DC indicate that the families of Bush 43 and Obama hit it off well. And that is a good thing – putting some of the digs in his inaugural speech aside. They were meant to appease the hard left, of which Obama is more worried about than the Republicans.

Reports are that Obama was taken aback to find Bush so likeable. Of course, it is easy to admire what Obama has accomplished…

And Clinton and Bush 41 have long since hit it off well.

Whispers are that Bush 43 actually likes Obama and may very well like him more that he will ever like McCain.

Clinton and Carter are another story…

Check out the video. Senator Hillary Clinton's reaction is priceless: http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=6689418

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2009/01/carter-snubs-cl.html

20090120 Carter snubs Clinton


Kevin Dayhoff www.kevindayhoff.net http://kevindayhoff.blogspot.com/

Thursday, January 08, 2009

Five presidents meet for a power lunch


Five presidents meet for a power lunch

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

President-elect Barack Obama is welcomed by President George W. Bush for a meeting at the White House in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2009, with former presidents, from left, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and Jimmy Carter.

Several news accounts reported, that “although all the surviving presidents (including Ronald Reagan and Gerald Ford) were present at Richard Nixon’s funeral in 1994, this is the first time that all surviving presidents have met at the White House since 1981.”

No matter what your political views, you have to admit that this is a poignant moment in history and a tribute to our peaceful approach to transitions in government.

Although I was amused with the observation of several, that the reason that President Clinton and President Carter are not standing closer together is because they can’t stand each other. Oh well.

20090107 Five presidents meet for a power lunch
Kevin Dayhoff www.kevindayhoff.net http://kevindayhoff.blogspot.com/

Wednesday, January 07, 2009

Washington Post: Panetta Chosen As CIA Director

Washington Post: Panetta Chosen As CIA Director

Well duh! I'm not sure "stunned" is nearly strong enough a word.

The intelligence community is beside itself...

However, Mr. Panetta is pretty sharp people.

On the flip side, he was chief of staff when President Clinton dropped the ball repeatedly on national security matters...

Not to worry, if President-elect Obama sticks by him he will be confirmed - it just won't be real pretty

Panetta Chosen As CIA Director

Some Question Intelligence Experience

By Anne E. Kornblut and Joby Warrick Washington Post Staff Writers Tuesday, January 6, 2009; A01

President-elect
Barack Obama stunned the national intelligence community by selecting Clinton White House chief of staff Leon E. Panetta, a longtime Washington insider with little intelligence experience, to serve as the next head of the CIA.

The decision -- which was also met with wariness on
Capitol Hill -- reflects a desire to change the intelligence power structure, officials close to the selection said yesterday. Obama has chosen retired Navy Adm. Dennis C. Blair as the director of national intelligence, a job he intends to reinforce as the "lead horse" on intelligence issues, an official close to the selection process said.

Panetta, 70, is widely regarded as a good manager who knows the government bureaucracy well. Panetta, a former eight-term member of Congress who has run a think tank in California for the past decade, has no significant ties to the agency that Obama has criticized for using harsh interrogation methods. Panetta has openly objected to the use of such methods, writing in an essay last year that the United States "must not use torture under any circumstances." Obama had trouble filling the
CIA slot in part because other candidates were perceived as tainted for having supported aspects of the Bush administration's interrogation and intelligence programs.

[…]

That would be the “Bush administration's interrogation and intelligence programs” that kept us safe…

Read the rest of the article here: Panetta Chosen As CIA Director

20090106 WaPo Panetta Chosen As CIA Director

Kevin Dayhoff E-mail him at:
kdayhoff AT carr DOT org His columns appear in The Tentacle, www.thetentacle.com; The Westminster Eagle /Eldersburg Eagle The Sunday Carroll Eagle - Opinion: http://explorecarroll.com/opinion-talk/ www.kevindayhoff.net http://kevindayhoffart.blogspot.com/ www.westminstermarylandonline.net http://kbetrue.livejournal.com/ http://www.youtube.com/user/kevindayhoff http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1040426835 http://picasaweb.google.com/kevindayhoff

Thursday, June 05, 2008

20080603 A Campaign to Hate by Richard Cohen

A Campaign to Hate

By Richard Cohen Tuesday, June 3, 2008; A15 Washington Post

Wherever I go -- from glittering dinner party to glittering dinner party -- the famous and powerful people I meet (for such is my life) tell me how lucky I am to be a journalist in this the greatest of all presidential contests. I tell them, for I am wont to please, that this campaign is indeed great when, as history will record, it is not. I have come to loathe the campaign.

I loathe above all the resurgence of racism -- or maybe it is merely my appreciation of the fact that it is wider and deeper than I thought. I am stunned by the numbers of people who have come out to vote against Barack Obama because he is black. I am even more stunned that many of these people have no compunction about telling a pollster they voted on account of race -- one in five whites in Kentucky, for instance. Those voters didn't even know enough to lie, which is what, if you look at the numbers, others probably did in other states. Such honesty ought to be commendable. It is, instead, frightening.

I acknowledge that some people can find nonracial reasons to vote against Obama -- his youth, his inexperience, his uber-liberalism and, of course, his willingness to abide his minister's admiration for a racist demagogue (Louis Farrakhan) until it was way, way too late. But for too many people, Obama is first and foremost a black man and is rejected for that reason alone. This is very sad.

[…]

I loathe also what Hillary Clinton has done to herself. The incessant exaggerations, the cheap shots, the flights into hallucinatory history -- that sniper fire in Bosnia, for instance -- have turned her into a caricature of what her caricaturists long claimed she already was. In this campaign, Clinton has managed to come across as a hungry hack, a Janus looking both forward and backward and seeming to stand for nothing except winning. This, too, is sad.

[…]

So I see little to be happy about, little that pleases my jaundiced eye. Yes, voter participation is way up and in the end, the Democrats will choose a woman or an African American and, to invoke that tiresome phrase, history will be made. But this messy nominating process has eroded the standing of both candidates.

[…]

Read the entire piece here: A Campaign to Hate

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/02/AR2008060202590.html

20080603 A Campaign to Hate by Richard Cohen

Tuesday, June 03, 2008

20080602 Bill Clinton: Purdum a “Sleazy” “Slimy” “Scumbag” by Mayhill Fowler for Huffington Post

Bill Clinton: Purdum a "Sleazy" "Slimy" "Scumbag"


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mayhill-fowler/bill-clinton-purdhum-a-sl_b_104771.html


June 2, 2008


MILBANK, S.D. -- Former President Bill Clinton today unleashed a salty stream of epithets to describe former New York Times reporter and current Vanity Fair writer Todd Purdum, calling him "sleazy," "dishonest," "slimy" and a "scumbag."


The former president made the comment at a local campaign event after I asked him if Purdum's much-commented upon Vanity Fair story was weighing on his mind.


Tightly gripping this reporter's hand and refusing to let go, Clinton heatedly denounced the writer, who is currently married to former Clinton White House Press Secretary, Dee Dee Myers.


"[He's] sleazy," he said referring to Purdum. "He's a really dishonest reporter. And one of our guys talked to him . . . And I haven't read [the article]. There's just five or six blatant lies in there. But he's a real slimy guy," the former president said.


When I reminded him that Purdum was married to his former press spokesperson Myers, Clinton was undeterred.


"That's all right-- he's still a scumbag," Clinton said. " Let me tell ya-- he's one of the guys -- he's one of the guys that brought out all those lies about Whitewater to Kenneth Starr. He's just a dishonest guy-- can't help it."


Purdum's piece, featured in this month's edition of Vanity Fair, included former advisers criticizing former President Clinton for bringing negative attention to Hillary Clinton's candidacy and for surrounding himself with friends who might discredit her campaign.


The former President's tirade continued:


"The editor of Esquire-- he sent us an email yesterday and said it was the single sleaziest piece of journalism he'd seen in decades. He said it made him want to go take a shower and he was embarrassed to be a journalist when he read it."


Read the rest: Bill Clinton: Purdum a "Sleazy" "Slimy" "Scumbag"


20080602 The facts about the Clinton post presidency by Bill Clinton

20080602 The facts about the Clinton post presidency by Bill Clinton

The Facts About Clinton's Post-Presidency

June 02, 2008 By Bill Clinton in “Real Clear Politics”

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/06/the_facts_about_clintons_postp.html

“Real Clear Politics” is carrying President Bill Clinton’s response to Bubba Trouble by Todd S. Purdum for Vanity Fair.

Hmmm, it seems that the former president is annoyed…

TO: Interested Parties
FROM: Office of President Clinton
RE: Vanity Fair Article on President Clinton
DATE: June 1, 2008

A tawdry, anonymous quote-filled attack piece, published in this month's Vanity Fair magazine regarding former President Bill Clinton repeats many past attacks on him, ignores much prior positive coverage, includes numerous errors, and ultimately breaks no new ground. It is, in short, journalism of personal destruction at its worst.

Any balanced account of President Clinton's post-presidency - which other publications have referred to as one of "a great philanthropist;" the face of "the power of philanthropy" and "a major force in fighting the pandemic [HIV/AIDS]" - would recognize that the lion's share of his work is his multi-million dollar charitable foundation, which works in almost 50 countries around the world. [The Economist, 9/23/06; Fortune Magazine, 9/7/06; The Wall Street Journal, 1/14/04] Vanity Fair, however, has chosen to publish thousands of words on former President Clinton, but to devote only a single paragraph to his enormous charitable accomplishments.

The piece also takes gratuitous and baseless shots at President Clinton's longtime Counselor, Doug Band, a key architect of the post-presidency, in sections that are rife with mistakes and which, in particularly galling taste, go as far as to criticize Band's wife, who started, and is the CEO of a multi-million dollar global company. The article even criticizes his wedding. The critiques of Band are baseless, and President Clinton has credited Band with being the originator of CGI and has noted that "I couldn't have done half of what I have done in my post-presidency without him."

The author, Todd Purdum, acknowledges speaking to over 50 people (almost all of them anonymous Washington insiders) before contacting President Clinton's office about his piece. Though he researched the piece for several months, his first contact with President Clinton's office was several weeks before he closed the story. Most revealing is one simple fact: President Clinton has helped save the lives of more than 1,300,000 people in his post-presidency, and Vanity Fair couldn't find time to talk to even one of them for comment.

Below are facts and information for those who want to know the real story.

Information below:

I. The Real Facts about President Clinton's Post-presidency

II. Vanity Fair's Troubling Ethical History

III. Fact versus Fiction About this Piece

I. THE REAL FACTS ABOUT PRESIDENT CLINTON'S POST-PRESIDENCY

Ø In six years, the William J. Clinton Foundation has grown from a small staff with two offices in the U.S. into a leading global non-governmental organization, with over 800 staff and volunteers in 44 nations with the mission to strengthen the capacity of people throughout the world to meet the challenges of global interdependence.

Ø The Clinton Foundation is made up of seven initiatives that address some of the most pressing global challenges, including HIV/AIDS, climate change, childhood obesity in the United States and economic development around the world.

Ø The Clinton HIV/AIDS Initiative (CHAI) is focused on expanding access to HIV/AIDS care and treatment. Through the Clinton HIV/AIDS Initiative:

ü 1.4 million people - nearly half of all people on treatment - have access to HIV/AIDS treatment at reduced prices reflecting CHAI negotiations.

ü Over the last two years, prices for pediatric ARVs have been reduced by 89%. CHAI has achieved 7 breakthrough price reductions on ARVs and diagnostics in four years, often reducing their cost by 50%.

Ø The Clinton Climate Initiative (CCI) is working with 40 of the world's largest cities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through a variety of programs, including building retrofits and improvements in transportation and waste management. Additionally, CCI's purchasing consortium for energy efficiency products is accessible by more than 1,300 cities.

Ø The Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) provides an innovative, meaningful, and tangible platform to help the public and private sectors work together to devise and implement solutions to some of the world¹s most pressing challenges. CGI has inspired nearly 1,000 Commitments to Action to improve over 200 million lives in 100 countries.

Ø The Alliance for a Healthier Generation - a partnership between the Clinton Foundation and the American Heart Association - is working with over 2,000 schools nationwide to create healthier school environments. The Alliance has brokered agreements with 30 companies and trade associations in the beverage, food & dairy industries, resulting in a 41% decrease in calories in the products shipped to schools.

Why did Vanity Fair fail to include any of this information in its post-presidency piece? Much lies in the sources they elected to pursue.

Who did VF call for this piece?

* Dozens of Clinton "watchers," "former aides," and "senior aides" who refused to be identified.

Who didn't VF call?

* The more than 800 staffers and volunteers in 44 nations who work for the Clinton Foundation.

* The 200,000,000 people in 100 countries whose lives will be impacted by commitments made by Clinton Global Initiative members.

* The 700 students from around the world who have made a commitment to act when they gathered for the first annual Clinton Global Initiative University.

* The more than 1,300 members of the Clinton Global Initiative who are leaders in government, including 36 Heads of State and 15 Former Heads of State, business and non-governmental organizations who have made commitments to action.

* The 1.4 million people with HIV/AIDS around the world who are benefiting from the Clinton Foundation's successive price reduction.

* The more than 20 national governments that the Clinton Foundation's HIV/AIDS Initiative works with around the world.

* The 7 pharmaceutical companies that have completed agreements with the Clinton HIV/AIDS Initiative allowing 67 countries to buy AIDS medicine at drastically reduced prices.

* The more than 750,000 kids from more than 1,000 schools in 44 states who are part of the Healthy Schools Program, which the Clinton Foundation launched with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to combat childhood obesity.

* The 30 companies and trade associations that the Clinton Foundation and American Heart Association's Alliance for a Healthier Generation has brokered agreements with in the beverage, food and dairy industries, resulting in a 41% decrease in calories in the products shipped to schools.

* The 425,000 people in eastern Rwanda and the 584,000 people in Malawi who the Clinton Hunter Development Initiative are helping reach economic self-sustenance through improved agricultural productivity, access to clean water, and stronger health-care systems.

* The hundreds of thousands of people in the Gulf Region who have been the beneficiary of over $130 million in grants given by the Bush Clinton Katrina Fund.

* The hundreds of thousands of people in Asia who have benefited from the $12 million in grants from the Bush-Clinton Houston Tsunami Fund.

* The New York City small businesses who received more than 65,000 hours of pro-bono technical assistance to help them stay competitive in an increasingly competitive environment.

* And at least two Nobel Peace Prize winners who have praised the President's foundation:

* "The (Clinton) Foundation has already proven to be a unique vehicle for Bill Clinton to continue working on the issues he cared about most as president. I congratulate the former president on establishing the Clinton Foundation and on the excellent work he has already done through it." -Nelson Mandela

* And Wangari M. Maathai, MP

II. VANITY FAIR: A LONG HISTORY OF LIBEL AND A LOOSE RELATIONSHIP WITH THE FACTS

This piece was written by Todd Purdum, who is married to Dee Dee Myers, former White House Press Secretary. Purdum's disclosure of this in the piece does not, as Vanity Fair apparently concluded, remove the obvious conflict of interest. It's a conflict that would likely not be contemplated at more reputable publications, especially considering that, as a result of this relationship, at least one source's anonymity was revealed to others.

It is, however, but an example of Vanity Fair's ethical challenges. Since 1992, media outlets have reported on the magazine's penchant for libel, which has led to numerous lawsuits. The suits came from a wide range of people including: a former chess prodigy, Julia Sarwer; Mohamed Fayed; and American bio-weapons specialist and outed-anonymous source, Steven Jay Hatfill. In 2004, one of the magazine's "premier" writers, Dominick Dunne, was accused of paying a woman to lie for his stories. And in late 2006, the conservative author David Frum took to the pages of Huffington Post to explain how, "[i]n short, Vanity Fair transformed a Washington debate over "how to correct course and win the war" to advance obsessions all their own." [Huffington Post, 11/4/06]

Furthermore, several new outlets including the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times reported in 2004 on Editor in Chief Graydon Carter's capitalization on his position at Vanity Fair to explore consulting and investment deals. Specifically, they examined connections between Carter's personal consulting deals with movie companies and Vanity Fair's coverage. It was revealed that Carter had received a $100,000 consultant fee for suggesting to Hollywood producer Brian Grazer that Sylvia Nasar's book, A Beautiful Mind (which had been excerpted in Vanity Fair), be adapted into a movie. [Columbia Journalism Review, Jan/Feb 2007]

Carter's actions were condemned by Ed Kosner, a former editor of Newsweek, New York and Esquire: "When you're running an important magazine, there's an ethical line you just can't cross.You don't do any business on the side with people you're covering. You don't pitch projects to people your magazine is covering. You don't accept gifts," said Kosner. "This is not a personal decision one makes as an editor. It's a journalistic code, something that's very well known." The New York Observer concluded, "What Mr. Carter did was unconscionable." [LA Times, 5/14/04; New York Observer, 5/24/04]

III. VANITY FAIR VS. THE FACTS

VF Claims: Based on the opinion of a single doctor, VF claims President Clinton had heart surgery that has led to him behaving erratically.

The Facts: Purdum, who is not an MD, quotes one doctor who has never examined President Clinton and who provides a hypothetical analysis (from at least several hundred miles away) to support this claim. This theory is false and is flatly rejected by President Clinton's doctors who say he is in excellent shape and point to his vigorous schedule as evidence of his exceptional recovery.

VF Claims: President Clinton had a negative impact on his wife's campaign.

The Facts: Independent observers continue to praise President Clinton's abilities on the stump: "I have always said that Bill Clinton is still par excellence among all of them [speakers on the stump]." [Michael Smerconish on MSNBC, 5/12/08]

In his role as spouse/surrogate, Bill Clinton is still the gold standard: "And a spouse who I think gives the best stump speech of any spouse I`ve seen, with the exception of Bill Clinton." [Mark Halperin on Charlie Rose, 5/6/08]

The New York Times has praised President Clinton's "command of language," "appreciation of the urgency" of the campaign, ability to boil down a subject to its essence resulting nodding heads, and "political skills and fighting style." [New York Times, 5/5/08]

Finally, the data shows that Sen. Clinton won by huge margins in several rural counties that her husband visited: 44 percentage points in Armstrong County, 44 points in Cambria County, 48 points in Carbon County and 50 points in Greene County. This compares with an edge of 26 points for Hillary among rural voters statewide. In Bucks County, a Philadelphia suburb that Mr. Clinton visited, Sen. Clinton won by 26 points, compared with only three points in suburban Philadelphia as a whole. [WSJ, 4/26/08]

VF Claims: "As disclosures about his dubious associations piled up.his wife's reluctance to release their income-tax returns created crippling and completely avoidable distractions for Hillary Clinton's own long-suffering ambition."

The Facts: The Clintons have made public thirty years of tax returns, a record matched by few people in public service. None of Hillary Clinton's presidential opponents have revealed anything close to this amount of personal financial information.

VF Says: There is ample evidence that his eight-year absence from a political workplace that has changed.

The Facts: To suggest that President Clinton has sat idly watching campaigns play out for the last eight years is irresponsible. In June 2006, under the headline: Clinton is the Life of the Democratic Party, the New York Times wrote: "In what promises to be his most intensive campaign since he left office, former President Bill Clinton is scheduled to appear at more than two dozen fund-raisers for Democrats around the country, hoping to collect at least $20 million for his party's drive to recapture Congress." [New York Times, 6/6/06]

VF Says: For one thing, she lent her campaign $11.4 million this year, and because the Clintons' finances are commingled.

The Facts: Bill and Hillary Clinton have been married for over thirty years, yet the article makes it seems as though there is something suspicious about a husband and wife who have a joint financial account. This is ridiculous, and only serves to promote the opaque financial arrangements that the McCain campaign has relied on to deny the public information about his wife's finances.

VF Says: Since 2001, Clinton has received more in almost every category-pension, staff salaries, supplies-than any of his colleagues in that smallest of clubs. Before Ronald Reagan and Gerald Ford died, Clinton's telephone and rent expenses came close to exceeding the comparable expenses for all four then living former presidents combined.

The Facts: 1. President Clinton receives the same pension amount as the other former presidents.

2. The difference in cost for President Clinton's office is attributable to location. Real estate in New York City is more expensive than in other cities. The rent for President Clinton's office is comparable to that of Social Security Administration, a federal agency with an office in the same building.

3. The numbers referenced by VF are GSA allocations, not actual amounts spent. Funds are allocated in accordance with the Former's Presidents Act. Under the Act, GSA allocates funds based on previous years allocations and GSA's projections. For Fiscal years 2005, 2006 and 2007 the President's office did not spend the full amount allocated by GSA.

VF claims: Band showed poor judgment

The Facts: In fact he is the originator of CGI, which has raised over $30 billion and impacted over 200 million people globally; helped raise $100 million with President Bush to help tsunami victims in Asia in addition to $20 million for the families of 9-11 victims to go to college; helped lead president Clinton's effort to put more than half of the developing world's HIV patients on life saving treatment, and his efforts to develop programs that fight climate change with the world's 40 most prominent mayors, childhood obesity and promoting citizen service.

VF Claims: President Clinton's Counselor Doug Band was involved in a deal involving Ron Burkle and Raffaello Follieri.

The Facts: Band was not involved in and did not receive remuneration for this deal.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/06/the_facts_about_clintons_postp.html

20080602 The facts about the Clinton post presidency by Bill Clinton