Clinton's disconnect

Clinton's disconnect

Former President Clinton is a very bright man. His cluelessness is sometimes maddening.

News Conference with PM Binyamin Netanyahu and President Clinton - Dec 1998

Excerpt from Netanyahu's remarks:

I said that are other violations. The Palestinians, I am afraid, began a campaign of incitement. At Wye, as those who are here well know, we agreed to release Palestinian prisoners, but not terrorists with blood on their hands or members of Hamas who are waging war against us. No sooner did we release the agreed number of prisoners in the first installment that the PA refuse to acknowledge what they agreed to at Wye, falsely charging Israel with violating the prisoner release clause. Palestinian leaders openly incited for violence and riots, which culminated in a savage near-lynching of an Israeli soldier, and the Palestinian Authority organized other violent demonstrations. Therefore the Palestinian Authority must stop incitement and violence at once, and they must do so truly and permanently.

Excerpt from Clinton's remarks:

The Palestinian Authority has taken some important steps with its commitments - a deepening security cooperation with Israel, acting against terrorism, issuing decrees for the confiscation of illegal weapons and dealing with incitement, taking concrete steps to reaffirm the decision to amend the PLO charter which will occur tomorrow.

Incitement by Arafat and the PA was, of course, one of those things that was supposed to end with Oslo. With Hebron. With Wye. At this press conference Netanyahu brought it up and Clinton dismissed the Israeli concerns by saying that the PA was "dealing with incitement."

Here's how MEMRI described the PA's dealing with incitement

The tactics used by the Palestinian leadership to evade the public's ire are worrisome. Blaming the opposite side's intransigence is a common public relations "spin" on negotiations. But the PA's statement that the only way to overcome this intransigence is through the use of force is a direct incitement to violence and is beyond "spin." Their readiness to use violent means to achieve their ends demonstrates a non-committal approach to peaceful negotiations as pledged by Arafat in the Wye Memorandum ceremony and in the Oslo Accords.

Though Arafat's incitement in 1998 clearly encouraged riots against Israel, Clinton cavalierly dismissed Netanyahu's concerns. Now the shoe's on the other foot and the incitement comes from the West and ...

Former US president Bill Clinton warned of rising anti-Islamic prejudice, comparing it to historic anti-Semitism as he condemned the publishing of cartoons depicting Prophet Mohammed in a Danish newspaper.

"So now what are we going to do? ... Replace the anti-Semitic prejudice with anti-Islamic prejudice?" he said at an economic conference in the Qatari capital of Doha.

"In Europe, most of the struggles we've had in the past 50 years have been to fight prejudices against Jews, to fight against anti-Semitism," he said.

Clinton described as "appalling" the 12 cartoons published in a Danish newspaper in September depicting Prophet Mohammed and causing uproar in the Muslim world.

All those years he was President and regardless of the peace process he had little, if anything to say, about the incitement that violated letter and spirit of the agreements he oversaw. But now he excuses the violence and blames the "inciters" (who aren't really inciting) and excuses the rioters (who are doing their own inciting).

The disconnect that that man demonstrates is beyone belief.

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Crossposted on Israpundit and Soccer Dad.

Posted by David Gerstman at February 10, 2006 02:01 AM

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Comments

1. Bill Narvey said:

You have to admit that Clinton has a certain mistique about him that makes him the teflon man.

Adept at speaking out of both sides of his mouth, he could make those on different sides of an issue believe he was their man in their corner. Clinton however was always a man in his own corner and he used and abused people to keep things that way.

With superior intelligence combined with his charm, good looks and people skills, Clinton still is able to so mesmerize men and women alike with his slight of hand and mind, that they fail to see that he is directed by a skewed moral compass to satisfy his insatiable need for power and the adulation of an adoring public.

Not even a sex scandal that would have felled any other President or lesser government official could bring him down. Even his marriage remained intact.

As for his wife Hillary, she is cut from the same cloth as her husband. She perfectly played the role of the poor, but brave humiliated victim that the press wanted her to play and very astutely took advantage of the situation to enhance her own political capital for her future political aspirations. Does anyone really think Hillary did not know the kind of man she married from the get go? She knew power she craved would come to her from the power that would come to him. Looking back, her paying for power by living with Clinton's discreet indiscretions was a small price to pay. The only thing that may have riled her was that when Clinton broke his word to her when he failed to keep the privacy of his indiscetions discreet.

Clinton's many detractors during his presidency and since have not been able to even scratch away his mistique to begin to reveal the true nature of the man underneath and the usually vulture like media that thirst for the blood of the high and mighty seem disinterested in chewing on Clinton.

The disconnect that Clinton demonstrates therefor is not at all beyond belief.

Posted by: Bill Narvey on February 10, 2006 08:47 AM

2. Laura said:

From what I can see it is Bush that is the teflon man, as he consistently gets a free pass. What is a measly sex scandal compared to what Bush has gotten away with, from his administration leaking the name of a covert agent, to lies and manipulations about Iraq having nuclear weapons, to a general abuse of power. And especially supporters of Israel have given Bush a free pass over things they would have and did crucify Clinton over.

Posted by: Laura on February 10, 2006 04:12 PM

3. Laura said:

"Clinton's many detractors during his presidency and since have not been able to even scratch away his mistique to begin to reveal the true nature of the man underneath and the usually vulture like media that thirst for the blood of the high and mighty seem disinterested in chewing on Clinton."
.......................
You have to be kidding. On what planet were you living during Clinton's presidency? The media was overtly hostile to him. It of course hasn't occured to you that Clinton was not guilty of the myriad of "scandals" attributed to him, and that conservatives, with help from the media that you would claim were his friends, flogged for 8 years non-stop, and in which he and his wife were repeatedly exonerated by investigations by REPUBLICAN special prosecutors.

Posted by: Laura on February 10, 2006 04:22 PM

4. Laura said:

It is simply beyond absurd to say the media were disinterested in chewing on Clinton, when in fact that's exactly what they did during his entire presidency. You obviously have a very short memory. Maybe a look back at the archives of major newspapers might refresh your memory.

Posted by: Laura on February 10, 2006 04:32 PM

5. Richard Charles said:

Laura, I would be interested in buying some of whatever it is you're smoking. It obviously puts your mind and memory in "La-La Land" and I can use a good trip.

Posted by: Richard Charles on February 10, 2006 05:15 PM

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