Why are Rebublicans still running against Clinton?

[burythehatchet]

Speaking in response to President George W. Bush's proclamation against Pornography, a wingnut stated that Clinton and his Attorney General Janet Reno were so soft on pornography, that it has resulted in an explosion of pornographic content in our society.

What do they gain with this approach almost three years after selection 2000?

[Lydia Leftcoast]

1. For the same reason that they

ran against Jimmy Carter through the entire 1980s.

Whatever that was.

[loudnclear]

24. Because it works!!

Envy, jealousy, hatred...it all works for the republicans.

[Faygo Kid]

2. Conditioned hatred and obsession

Thanks to Rush, et al, they are obsessed. And now we read about the "irrational" hatred of Bush. It isn't even close.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

3. Clinton is...

Their Personal Moriarty.

Try to remember what Holmes' obsession with Moriarty drove him to...

[burythehatchet]

6. What I wonder is whether

their motivation rests in primarily the psychological realm or the strategic realm. My guess is that the psychological trauma that was Bill Clinton was probably as nasty a burr in their saddle as whistleass is to many if us.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

8. I suspect...

You are quite correct.

[7th_Sephiroth]

26. they fear clinton

they try to rag on him to reduce his public opinion and try to supress the fact he was one of the countrie's greatest bresidents, thier beating a dead horse with "but hes a democrat and got a blowjob" when the current white house occupier (and i use the term looseley cause he's spent about 1/3rd of his term vacationing) has done things a million times worse "in the name of god"

[emulatorloo]

40. It is all theater and mock indignation

so my vote is for the strategic realm. They will say anything to make points with potential supporters.

[Dagaz]

4. Because he was the last

We argue against Reagan all the time but mostly because Poppy was a puppet. Ask why we argue against Reagan and you'll have your answer.

[klyon]

25. against Reagan

Anytime Reagan comes up I argue against him because it is the neo-cons doing that revisionist history thing again. History has been written and will continue to be written telling the real story as we can best figure it out. The truth is out there for all to see.

KL

[Mountainman]

5. It is a way to avoid seeking real answers which requires effort.

I always think of Kant's answer to what is enlightenment when I think of wing nuts.



IMMANUEL KANT

An Answer to the Question: "What is Enlightenment?"

Konigsberg in Prussia, 30th September, 1784.


Enlightenment is man's emergence from his self-incurred immaturity. Immaturity
is the inability to use one's own understanding without the guidance of another.
This immaturity is self-incurred if its cause is not lack of understanding, but
lack of resolution and courage to use it without the guidance of another. The
motto of enlightenment is therefore: Sapere aude! Have courage to use your own
understanding!

Laziness and cowardice are the reasons why such a large proportion of men, even
when nature has long emancipated them from alien guidance (naturaliter
maiorennes), nevertheless gladly remain immature for life. For the same
reasons, it is all too easy for others to set themselves up as their guardians.
It is so convenient to be immature! If I have a book to have understanding in
place of me, a spiritual adviser to have a conscience for me, a doctor to judge
my diet for me, and so on, I need not make any efforts at all. I need not think,
so long as I can pay; others will soon enough take the tiresome job over for me.
The guardians who have kindly taken upon themselves the work of supervision will
soon see to it that by far the largest part of mankind (including the entire
fair sex) should consider the step forward to maturity not only as difficult but
also as highly dangerous. Having first infatuated their domesticated animals,
and carefully prevented the docile creatures from daring to take a single step
without the leading-strings to which they are tied, they next show them the
danger which threatens them if they try to walk unaided. Now this danger is not
in fact so very great, for they would certainly learn to walk eventually after a
few falls. But an example of this kind is intimidating, and usually frightens
them off from further attempts.

more:

http://eserver.org/philosophy/kant/what-is-enlightenment.txt

[mmonk]

7. All republican office holders

blame previous democrats for any problem or perceived problem they encounter or is present when they leave office.

[maha]

9. They don't change.

The entire first term of the Reagan Administration, every little blip was blamed on Jimmy Carter.

Yes, the Party of Personal Responsibility strikes again ...

[JackSwift]

10. They run against Clinton because they can

and he can't run against them again. He has a very small voice to strike back, and doesn't lower himself to that level. Plus they all seem to be in agreement on their postulate that he is either the devil incarnate, or married to her. It's kinda shorthand for them.

Plus, when they are pushing their own agenda, if they address Clinton in their private, no open debate forums, they don't have to address the real arguments that their real opponents make. This is in effect, choosing who their opposition is.

[DieboldMustDie]

11. They're all on drugs!

:evilgrin:

[retyred]

Clinton said it best

Asked why the right wing despises him so, the former president answered simply, "Because I won."

"They believed there would never be a Democratic president," he said of the Republicans. "They thought they found a foolproof formula to turn us into cardboard cutouts -- superficial, one-dimensional, non-American figures. And the American people voted for me. They never thought it was legitimate. They decided 'We should have never lost the White House. It belongs to us.'

http://www.democrats.com/view.cfm?id=5718


Retyred In Fla
So I Read This Book

[FrenchieCat]

12. Because they are Jealous that Clinton

was a better president than Reagan, :puke:Bush I and
:puke::puke:Bush II

HAPPY HOLLOWEEN Y'ALL!

[Arianrhod]

13. The Republican strategy is well thought-out.

Never doubt that. They know precisely what they are doing.

I argue against "neo"cons on other Boards, and almost invariably they refer to Clinton, regardless of the subject. "The Clinton recession", "the Clinton failure to stop bin Laden", "the Clinton destruction of morals". It's a propaganda technique designed to avert attention from the atrocities the Republicans have been engaged in for the last 35 years. And it works two ways: By coalescing a united front among the right-wing, and by enervating the left.

I've found that the best way to counter this tactic is simply to point out the facts. When a "neo"con Air Force sergeant told me the other day that Clinton had "destroyed" the military, I told him about *'s shredding of military pensions and benefits, and how Clinton proposed a bigger pay raise than the Republican Congress approved. He shut up very quickly. . . . But even more important, everyone around us who was listening to the conversation realized how out of touch this guy was.

We won't change the minds of the hard-core. But we can limit the scope of their propaganda if we 1. Don't get angry; and 2. Counter with the truth.

I have to admit that I find #1 to be extremely difficult. . . .

[elperromagico]

14. Because he's the only Democrat in the last 35 years

that they couldn't somehow beat. Every other Dem candidate for President since '68 has been somehow "beaten."

They beat Humphrey in '68.
They beat McGovern in '72.
Carter won in '76, but they beat him in '80.
They beat Mondale in '84.
They beat Dukakis in '88.
Gore won in '00, but they figured out a way to beat him too.

They threw everything they had at Clinton, but they couldn't bring him down. They're still trying to bring him down in order to maintain their 35 year track record.

Clinton fought them with all he had... and he beat them. They hate him for not laying down and allowing himself to be beaten. That, in my opinion, is why they're still running against him:
They still haven't beaten him.

[Scurrilous]

20. Well said!

n/t

[lynndew2]

15. Simple Answer.... Hillary N/T

[Piperay]

16. Cause there is nothing good that they

have to say for themselves plus hate is what drives them, that's what they are ALL about...HATE. :-(

[rman]

17. enforcing the notion that Dems = Bad

Clinton is an easy target because everyone knows who he is.

[radfringe]

18. because dragging out Bill or Hillary Clinton

is the way they raise money for themselves...

Just as Baghdad-Bush drags out terra-lerts, bin-laden or Saddam tapes to scare the general public when his poll numbers are dropping

the fatcat GOPers drag out Bill or Hillary to scare their base into donating money

[RandomUser]

21. You're right -- it's in their interest to keep the Clinton fear alive

Helps them not just raise money, but energize their base to go out and vote to prevent the "return of the Clintons."

[radfringe]

22. booga booga

Clinton Continues To Ponder Presidential Run; Bush Still Favored To Win
By Jimmy Moore
Talon News
October 31, 2003

WASHINGTON (Talon News) -- Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) stepped up her criticism of President George W. Bush in a recent speech that some of her supporters hope is a precursor to an eventual run against him for president in 2004.

Clinton told the audience that "the pillars of democracy are shaking" because of Bush's supposedly poor foreign policy decisions.

In a speech to the Center for American Progress, a Washington-based liberal think tank, Clinton blamed Bush for hiding his alleged mistakes in Iraq as well as his administration's security breakdown that she says led to the attacks on September 11.
------------


Hillary is RUNNING!!! Hillary is RUNNING!!!!

...now...

[burythehatchet]

30. Ever notice that when they talk about Hillary

its in terms of she's going to take over the white house

[Lexingtonian]

19. that's pretty easy

"When a true genius appears in the world you may know him by this sign:
that all the dunces are in confederation against him.". -- Jonathan Swift.

"The innovator has for enemies all who have done well under the old, and lukewarm defenders in those who may do well under the new law." -- Niccola Machiavelli, 1513

***

It is true that while Reno was AG the porn industry had something of a boom. It also coincides with the media companies getting into marketing porn and making it a massive industry, revenuewise. I'd say Reno had larger priorities in civil rights and domestic terrorism to deal with, and the legal/political basis for obscenity laws is formally unworkable. (Basically, obscenity laws exist as useful tools for people already embarking on a "moral" agenda and require ignorance or collusion on the part of judges and juries to function.) But I'd say that the present size of the porn enterprise/industry has to do with media companies making porn available on a level with Walmart shopping. It could have remained small stuff revenuewise, with bootlegged/copied tapes as the main form available- the big money making is the essential component of the game. Widespread premarital sex isn't due to the AG no longer enforcing statutes either, is it?

Clinton: remember that Republicans are slow learners in everything (except some of the things that affect their wallets directly). Clinton is sort of a placeholder target for keeping their sociopathic bitterness fresh until the next Democratic Presidential nominee is determined. Oh, and he made them look like and feel like the dupes, fools, and thirdraters they consider themselves at bottom.

[jumptheshadow]

23. A few reasons

1) Because he knew how to win.

2) Because this country has a strong Puritanical streak. Sexual sins are often judged to be much weightier than sins of arrogance, greed and violence.

3) Because some people genuinely believe that he was dishonorable (I'm trying to be objective here).

4) Because he is married to a strong woman who scares the heck out of the fundies and the fundy-influenced.

5) Because he was a working class kind of guy who excelled. The Republicans of late have much preferred that their candidates be anointed from the wealthy, the spoiled and the connected class.

[KharmaTrain]

27. It's The Benjamins

Nothing rings Repugnican cash registers than a good Clinton fear or smear.

These people symbolize all the evils of the Right Wing...feminism, social and racial equality, unions/workers, intelligencia and all the elements that stand in their way of total economic and social domination. They've been targeted and crystalized into decades of Right Wing hatred at the social and cultural progress and changes of the last 40 years.

Rehashing Clinton-hate has prolonged careers and falls into the Repugnican mantra of shirking any personal responsibility and always blaming others for their failures. Then we get bashed when we clean it up too well.

We're a year out of the election and fortunes are to be made in the election system...either running campaigns, polling, writing and so on...it's become a year-round industry that thrives on the money that poors through the Clinton hate letters, books, T-Shirts and other Newsmax goodies.

[snippy]

28. Ringing the Clinton Bell. It is all about an insatiable hunger for hatred

There is a large group of ignorant and hypocritical hate mongers with a sociopathic hatred of the Clintons that the republican party manipulates and exploits by "ringing the Clinton Bell." This causes these Pavlovian Clinton-haters to start salivating and rise up on their hind legs barking with hatred. This group of ignorant and hypocritical hate mongers is a significant portion of the republican base and it needs its insatiable hunger for hatred fed on a fairly regular basis. The RNC considers these people comically pathetic but easily manipulated and very reliable. The ringing of the Clinton Bell by the RNC and its paid political whores is predictable whenever a republican politician or policy is being criticized or whenever the RNC or a republican politician is raising money.

[DocSavage]

29. Still has connections

The consencous of the Repugs is that Bill still runs the democratic party. He picked McCaullif, His wife is a Senator that is going to run for President. The fear is Hillary. It is imperitive that the Clinton name be linked to a major defeat in Nov. WIth that, it is thought that the party will abandon Clinton (both) for 08. It will be much easier for Jeb to run in 08 without Hillary running against him.

[Cooley Hurd]

31. Pornography "exploded" in the '90s because of the internet...

...removing the "plain brown wrapper" and offering anonymity to those purchasing porn is the real reason for the "rise" (sorry, no pun intended).

Asscroft has had 3 years, yet there seems to be no less porn on the internet (in fact, I'd say there's a lot more, given all the dirty spam I get). Does that mean he's "soft on porn?" (Pun intended...)

[livinontheedge]

32. Because nothing gets republicans more energized than Clinton.

I work in a CPA firm of over 100 degreed accountants. I would guess over 70% are staunch republicans. The partner in charge of our office refers to Clinton as "BJ". Anytime I want to cause a stir, I just have to mention Clinton's name and they are ready to write checks to the RNC. Hillary's name sends them into orbit.

I think the RNC people know this and when they want to raise big money, they just have to mention Clinton's name.

[snippy]

38. You are right about the RNC raising money with Clinton's name.

It is called ringing the Clinton Bell.

[Lindacooks]

33. Because they're obsessed with him

They can't stand it that a good-looking, charming, intelligent man was elected President of this country. Since they're all ugly, abrasive, stupid pigs.

[quaker bill]

34. Because he got a hummer in the oval office

It is also election envy. Clinton actually won two of them.

[DemNoir]

35. Who else can they blame?

Since the Republicans control the entire federal governmnet, they are responsible for everything that happens. In order to divert peoples attention from that fact, they make believe that Clinton is still the President.

[Kanola]

36. Ahhh. The mighty CLENIS...

I think the Repugs actually miss the CLENIS. But again, they love to project their problems and mistakes even more so on the CLENIS.

[leftofthedial]

37. because the "liar" Gore, 9-11, Afghanistan and Iraq (twice)

have proven that the Repugs don't need an actual enemy to wage war against. They just need a convenient symbolic enemy. Murkans can't tell the difference anymore.

The Repugnicants spent ten years and hundreds of millions of dollars to create the "evil" Clinton and they still can get use out of him.

[burythehatchet]

41. That's what I feel

he is the domestic equivalent of the terrorist boogyman

[Ishoutandscream]

39. But you must have read this morning's DU article

The fires of Southern California were caused by Clinton's penis. Read it! It's true, it's true!