President Bill Clinton's Interview on Fox News

Transcript

The Fox News Transcript

The Washington Post Report on THE INTERVIEW

Article on RealClearPolitics on Clinton and 9/11 , Views very much agrees with this commentary on Bill Clinton.‘ Someone else should be trusted to do the scoring when it comes to Clinton's time in office. In the history books, he deserves to be counted as the President who did not protect us against al-Qaeda, who left the impression they could attack us without penalty, whose wasted opportunities contributed to the travesty of 9/11.

American Presidential Politics

It is interesting how a former President spends his time; if a successful President then you can spend you time in the glow of your time served as President. President Ronald Reagan was seen to have had a successful Presidency. In the year that he left office, the Berlin Wall came down, the Democratic Movement won in Nicaragua and the Soviet where out of Afghanistan. In essence Reagan had achieved what he had wanted to achieve when he became President in 1981. Thus we come to President Bill Clinton.

It has to be stated that when Bill Clinton was running in 1993 against Bush 41, VIEWS could see that he was a great politician but could not believe that the American Public would vote with a man with so many drawbacks on the personal level no matter how intelligent and charismatic he was, NO JFK but not bad. Views was reading the Broadsheets in his first year at University and his friends asked him who would win the election, Views wanted to say Bush 41 but he had to give a truthful ANSWER, it would be Clinton. VIEWS was about to give Clinton the benefit the doubt then he heard his first inaugural Speech and the perceived attack on the Reagan and Bush years, VIEWS recalled thinking people in glass houses should be careful not to attack others for mistakes when one was on thin ice concerning one’s own behaviour, draft dodger and the alleged affairs, he refused to confirm Gennifer Flowers at the time but this turned out to be true. After that VIEWS would tend to take a negative view of Bill Clinton. Clinton never let VIEWS down in his ability to create a negative out of nothing. Thus by the end of his Presidency, he had failed to get a Middle East Peace, North Korea was back to where the administration had started in 1993, Terrorism had declared WAR on the USA in the shape of UBL and then we have the Pardon scandal of the last day of Bill Clinton combined with plea deal to end the investigations of Bill Clinton that started with Whitewater and ended up by his trial and Impeachment over an affair with a White House Intern. VIEWS could not wait for Bill Clinton to go, enough was enough by 2000.

Then we come to blame game for 9/11, as VIEWS has stated neither Clinton or Bush are to blame for lack of action more for leadership before 9/11. But it should be noted that Bill Clinton had eight years while George W. Bush had less than seven months and before 9/11 Bush had decided he was going to do lot more than Clinton had done, no more missiles in empty tents.

Thus today we have Bill Clinton on Fox news, if the transcript is full the Clinton handlers should be worried should Senator Hillary R. Clinton the Junior Senator from New York decided to run for President. Does seem that Clinton does not do well when coming under critical inspection, perhaps he should stick to soft pieces as if he behaves like that during the election he may finish Hillary Clinton chances before they start, in a election cycle of American Presidential Politics these days, the opposition would have an extra field day with Bill Clinton if that is how he is going to behave when being interviewed by the Press. The Main Stream Media might be Liberal but they want a good story, and a Former President going off one, as we would say over water does great things for selling papers or rating for 24-hour news. Perhaps the former President should keep on the golf course and leave the politics to the Junior Senator. It has been noticed by VIEWS that President Clinton has a complex about Reagan, VIEWS recalls reading that it really annoyed Clinton that Reagan could walk ways from things while Clinton would be attacked, does sound a lot like the complex Nixon had about Kennedy.

American Politics Update

A new patch of polls on the approval rating for President George W. Bush, in the Los Angeles Times we have the President at 44% approval and 54 Negative. The New York Times Poll does seem out of sink with recent Polls, in this Poll the President is at 37% approval and 56% negative.

On the Legal front Mr Libby has perhaps got a way to finish his case before a Trial next year, a Judge has decided that Mr Libby should have access to Secret Information, the administration has to decided if the information can be released or otherwise the case would have to be dropped due to the fact that Mr Libby could not have access to these secret documents.

The Prediction for the American Mid Term Elections

In the business of political predictions, it is easier to hold your fire and wait till a few days or hours before the Polls close to make you views open to the public. Views has a different idea, you place you neck on the chopping block and take a risk. The latest Gallup Poll has Bush on 44% approval rating, 51% negative; this has followed a trend in political polls with the President in the mid 40s. The question has to be asked why the President is making such an improvement when in the past few months his ratings have been to used a very accurate phrase in the toilet.

Thus we have the following issues, the threat from Terrorism, the plot was that uncovered in August in London, the anniversary of 9/11, this had reminded Americans that the United States has not been attacked since, while there have been attacks in Spain and London. The cost of Gas or Petrol for cars has gone down, while the Prices have gone down the President’s approval rating have gone up. The President has bought the major negative of Iraq and placed it in the context of the War on Terrorism, the Democrats argue that it is a separate issue but a new Poll by Fox show that the War has 51% support compared to 44%. The WAR ON TERROR is in Iraq, that is where its fate will be decided, however much Democrats want a new policy it is seen as cutting and running, and being seen as weak on Foreign Policy is not good for Democrats.

At this present time we have a debate about how to deal with Islamic Terrorists, the Democrats see this as an issue they can use as Senator John McCain is opposed to the severe treatment that the President wants to allow the CIA to use, it worked on Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and helped prevent attack on the United States. The President has stated that if the Senate does not allow such measures they will be stopped, one can only imagine should another attack take place and it is found that the information could have been found if severe treatment has been used, McCain would be finished as a contender for the Republican nomination in 2008. What ever the United States Supreme Court thinks, Al Qaeda are Islamic Terrorists not the Vietcong and this is not Vietnam. It can be argued as Ronald Reagan stated in 1976 about the then USSR, there can only be one winner and the loser has to be Al Qaeda and it’s franchise operation, they have to be destroyed or they will try and destroy the West and its Liberal Democracy, take care of business first then argue about civil liberties, Liberals seem to have this view that theory matters more than the security of the individual. The American public seem to have got the idea before the leaders of the Democratic Party and some Liberal Senators in the United States Senate, who are there to protect the people of the United States not to care what the rest of the world thinks about its use of severe treatment to protect the country.

Thus we come to Prediction time, as to the United States Senate, the general views is that the Republicans will hold this chamber. I think it will be lot closer than people think, but the Republicans will hold it by 1 or 2 seats. As to the House of Representatives, the generic polls on who the American people would vote for have come a lot closer, as from my previous Blog, three points difference in favour of the Democrats, if that carries on the Democrats would be lucky to win any seats it has been stated by political writers, but here is VIEWS prediction, the Republicans will hold the Chamber by Six seats.

Can the Democrats lose again?

An interesting article in the Washington Times on how the Republicans are gaining ground for control of Congress, Click Here

An interesting article by the Boston Globe on how the 9/11 anniversary has helped the President and the Republican Party before the Mid Term Elections, Click Here

The Mid Term Elections in the United States

The signs are that the Republicans are making a fight of it in the Congressional elections, an interesting article in the New York Daily News, suggests that Republicans will hold the Senate. Political Analysts over the water seem to agree that the Democrats don’t have enough wind to their back to win the Senate this time around. On the race for the House of Representatives, it depends on which polls you prefer, RealClearPolitics has an Average of Democrats leading by 9.5 compared to Republicans, including the below Fox Poll. On the other hand the Fox Channel has a Poll of Likely Voters, which has the Democrats only leading by 3 points. As we are a few weeks away from the election, Views is reminded of a often used quote, ‘ A week is a long time in Politics ’ and what can change the political landscape, ‘ Events, Events, Events ’.

The Path to 9/11 / The Mini Series

The mini series was interesting, not sure it was the smartest move by the Clinton Crowd to demand that ABC take it off. The film itself was well acted, well written and made you feel like you where been taken in to how the USA government reacted to the threat of Terrorism. In a article for RealClearPolitics Victor Davis Hanson writes the following about the mini series, ‘ I found The Path to 9/11, with its disclaimers, far closer to the "truth" about the saga of bin Laden than what turned up in Bill Clinton's "factual" autobiography. ’

A counter view can be found in the Washington Post by an article by Ruth Marcus, Marcus writes the following, ‘ The docudrama is an inherently flawed form, one that invites embroidery. The irony of "The Path to 9/11" is that this dramatic license was so unnecessary, given the richly detailed narrative in a document available to the docudrama's ’

In the View of Views after reading the 9/11 report and seeing this mini series, the blame for the lack of leadership in dealing with the threat from UBL has to be placed at the feet of all policy makers both Democrat and Republican. As a student of International Politics and International History, terrorism was seen as a major threat, but invading Afghanistan and Iraq based on that threat was not something Views had thought about as a serious possibility. The events of 9/11 changed the thought process of many, one can not blame Clinton or Bush for 9/11, but one can hold them for account for lack of leadership in thinking outside the box, Ronald Reagan in 1976 stated about the USSR, that there could only be one winner and one loser, and that loser would be the USSR. The Presidents that came after lacked that leadership quality. That is why Discovery Channel watchers voted the greatest American, Ronald Reagan.