The Butterfly Effect of a Blow-Job (Revisted from December 2005)

[David Zephyr]

It's time for a serious Come-To-Jesus Meeting here at the DemocraticUnderground.Com. It's high time that a lot of us (me included) face the cold hard fact that President Bill Clinton's shabby behavior with an intern while he was President of the United States resulted in the Democrats losing control of the U.S. Senate and in losing even a greater number of seats in the House of Representatives. Most of all, Clinton's misconduct cost Al Gore an even clearer-cut victory against then Texas Governor George W. Bush in 2000.

The fact that our nation's right wing went into melt-down mode, into total hysteria in their utterly hypocritical and malicious campaign to wrongfully drive him from office through the impeachment process still does not change the simple stark truth that Bill Clinton, and Bill Clinton alone, allowed himself and the rest of us within the Democratic Party to be sidetracked from what we should have been doing into defending him.

Bill Clinton should have put the good of the nation and the best interests of his Party first and should have had the grace to have resigned his office and thereby permitted his Vice President, Albert Gore, to step immediately into the Executive role in the White House. A President Gore, with Tipper at his side, would have had all the trappings of the Executive Branch at his disposal and would have carried the 2000 election in a landslide. Indeed, had Gore become President, I doubt that Governor Bush would have run in 2000 because Karl Rove would have known better than to challenge a popular sitting President.

Al and Tipper Gore could have never been assailed for Clinton's tawdry conduct. It would have never stuck. Everyone knew that the Gores had a strong marriage, an enviable union, if there ever was one. And with out the Lewinsky stench hanging over the White House, Gore could have carried the day, perhaps in 50 states, with the nation prosperous and at peace in the world.

Instead, we had a stretched out, blood wrenching two year tug-of-war that exhausted all the political capital of the Democratic Party to defend Bill Clinton's right to be President. We never stopped to ask ourselves that old, but helpful question: Was that the hill that we all really wanted to die on? Well, we won the battle alright, but we sure as hell lost the war, didn't we?

We've lost, at minimum, two precious opportunities to nominate to the Supreme Court. We've lost millions of jobs to outsourcing. We've lost a $3 trillion Social Security surplus to a projected $10 trillion deficit. We've gone from being the champion of human rights in the world's collective eye to becoming military occupiers and the torturers of Abu Graib. We have fallen from the hope and promise of science and medicine to the backward darkness of back-wooded superstition and demagoguery. We have squandered the greatest economy in our nation's history and all the good that we could have done with it. We can't turn back time. It is what it is.

But, fellow Democrats, don’t be down heartened. Don’t despair. We can still all crow alongside Bill Clinton that we did stop the impeachment and removal of a President from office. We did win that one, didn't we? But what a price we have all paid.

The butterfly effect of a blow-job.



Original Post and Thread with all Responses from December 6, 2005: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x5533003

[iamjoy]

1. Dubya Would Have Run Anyway

It wouldn't have mattered if Gore was a popular sitting President, Rove would have come up with a dirty campaign to run against him. Don't forget that Ann Richards was wildly popular in Texas in the early 90's and Dubya still beat her.

[David Zephyr]

A President Gore would have cleaned his clock.

He won anyway without the trappings of the White House by over 600,000 votes. He would have been elected and would have carried a lot more electoral college votes.

Anyway, I am pissed at the Clintons today for their attacks against Howard Dean, John Kerry, John Murtha and their assumption that Hillary should be coronated by our Party.

Bill Clinton sent Madeleine Albright to go out and lie for him and defend him about his blowjob. she believed him when he told her privately that nothing happened. She regrets that she did it because he made a fool out of her. Dianne Feinstein says the same thing.

Cheating on your spouse is not noble.

[David Zephyr]

2. delete duplicate

[niyad]

3. some evidence that that was the first election they stole.

[FormerOstrich]

4. In what way is this constructive?

I don't agree with you, but that's not my point. Honestly, what good do you expect to come from re-hashing all of this? Isn't there a better use for our energy? There are so many "if", "if only", "if it weren't" in the world. So what?

Honestly, I have found I still don't feel a lot of joy after our latest victory because the fact so many people are dying, every day, in Iraq. That seems to be a cloud that hangs over me constantly. That's what is important. This is just tired bullshit.

[A Simple Game]

5. Bill or anyone else for that matter

getting a blow job didn't bother me then, and it still wouldn't bother me now.

Get over it, or even better, get one yourself.

[TankLV]

6. Get over it - the rest of us have...

We could care less about this topic...

[pansypoo53219]

7. that butterfly only flew

because of the shitty rite-wing teevee gnews.
JFK had fucking PROSTITUTES in the oval office, and all bill got was a BJ.

gore's 1st mistake was running from clinton. 2nd, picking joemental the prig.

[KoKo]

8. Great Subject Title...and looking back it's hard not to see what our defense of

Clinton cost us as a nation. I blamed the RW Attack Machine for a long time...but Clinton knew he was being "watched" day and night. His grave mistake of his folly with Monica has cost our country badly and hurt those who defended him through it all.

It's a hard thing to admit this knowing the RW was on his back from the time of his election even when he gave them NAFTA as his first deed. His "Telecom Bill" of '96 sealed our doom by giving away our airwaves to the Corporations. The few bones he threw the middle class were not enough to compensate for his three greatist blunders.

We don't need any more dynasties. And following another Bush with another Clinton would doom us to a fate that I don't even want to think about. Pardons and kumbayah.... and cover up for Poppy and his Evil Spawn once again.