President Clintons remarks in Milwaukee yesterday

[undeterred]

It was a great speech he gave at the Milwaukee theater, where he came to campaign for Wisconsin's Gov. Doyle.

Clinton criticized them for running up deficits while cutting taxes for the wealthy, mishandling the war on terror and for looking out for special interests. Clinton, however, didn’t pin the blame on Republicans in general.

"Essentially, it’s not fair to blame the Republicans, because it is only a narrow strip of the Republican Party that was in control of this country’s machinery in the last six years," Clinton said. "Their most right-wing, their most ideological, their most special interest wing have been running the show."

Clinton criticized Republicans for their handling of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and their demonization of Democrats on the issue.

"They now call us the cut and run crowd because we don’t want to stay their course," Clinton said. "Stop and think is not the same as cut and run."

Clinton poked fun at the Republican campaign strategy, saying it tries to turn Democrats into two-dimensional cartoons that will raise taxes, fail to keep the streets safe and shy away from standing up for America overseas.

Later in the speech, he got a hearty laugh by paraphrasing what he said was the Republican message.
"If you vote for those Democrats, they will tax you into the poorhouse, and on the way to the poorhouse you will meet a terrorist on every street corner," Clinton said. "And when you try to run away from the terrorist, you will trip over an illegal immigrant."

http://www.wispolitics.com/index.iml?Article=76674

I was about 10 ft behind them, but not in the picture!

[liberal N proud]

1. Now Clinton can do humor and slam the other guy without botching it

I saw that in a video the other day, maybe it was that speech. But it is a great quote.

[undeterred]

2. There is a recording of the governors speech

and the Presidents speech on the link. I am listening to it now- I actually can hear it better now than before because I was behind them. Our governor is very pro stem cell research and its a big thing at the University of Wisconsin. But I didn't know his mother (who just died in May) had Parkinsons for 30 years. He's had MJ Fox here too.

[elocs]

3. Clinton said:

"Essentially, it’s not fair to blame the Republicans, because it is only a narrow strip of the Republican Party that was in control of this country’s machinery in the last six years," Clinton said. "Their most right-wing, their most ideological, their most special interest wing have been running the show."

That certainly would not be the popular consensus here at DU, would it?

[Alamom]

4. Seems there is a lot more to this than;

It's not all of them, just a few.....

AND, He "does" have a way with words.

[undeterred]

5. He's a careful speaker

and the main point of his being there is to bring people together and bring out the vote. At one point he also said "whatever you think about the war in Iraq" Well, that acknowledged that the people onstage have varied points of view on it... and they're all trying to get elected.

[cobaindrain]

9. but it's the smartest thing to say

What he's doing is isolating the far far right from the right, essentially leaving the door open for your perceived enemies...to come on over and vote for you in this election.

[elocs]

10. I agree it is the right thing to do.

Clinton is also pragmatic about how to win elections. I have seen too many examples here of those who would be willing to bite off their nose to spite their face. We here at DU tend to be more Liberal than the average Democratic voter, but often I see posters who insist that the party should do things our way even if it is not the smart thing to do to win an election considering that Liberals are a minority in the Democratic Party. A future Republican candidate could employ the same tactics of separating the far left from the left, but in this case it might be to get the far left to get disenchanted and vote for a third party.

I have a retired friend who bleeds Republican and has never voted for any Democrat other than the late Senator Proxmire here in Wisconsin because he respected and trusted him. Proxmire would spend next to nothing on his campaigns and win by huge margins. My friend is a traditional fiscally conservative Goldwater style Republican and he feels disillusioned by what his party has become. He insists that in 08 he refuses to vote for McCain if he is the candidate, but would write in somebody's name. But if the Democratic Party moves too far to the left, or too quickly, it will force him and probably millions of others to support the Republican Party right or wrong.

[Catherine Vincent]

6. Gawd, I love that man!

He's awesome!

[undeterred]

7. He's a uniter, not a divider

REALLY.

[MODemocrat]

8. Bill Clinton is truly a Phenomenom

I have a photo of him when he was about five years old, and he looked so sharp. My daughter, who
loves him like I do, finds pictures of him every time she can, and brings it to me. I adore him. :bounce: :bounce: :thumbsup: :loveya: :loveya: