“Why would he not realize that stepping on a young, idealistic junior senator—who happens to be African-American—would look like bullying?”

Recently, Democracy Now! had a piece on East Timor (and the death of Suharto).  Remember always that Bill Clinton supported Indonesia’s military intervention into East Timor, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of innocent people wanting independence from tyranny.

If you saw the DN! piece, you might have noticed a snip of a press conference in which Allen Nairn (who saved Amy’s life in East Timor during the rampage), attempted to ask Bill about his involvement. Bill’s responses show him to be exactly who he is underneath all the slickness and surface control—A BULLY. He moved closer and closer to Nairn, got right in his face, accused him of “making a speech,” constantly interrupted him as he tried to frame his question intelligently with relevant information, information which Bill knew would tarnish his image.  Bully behavior.

Although I think the Repugnicans made hay out of his shenanigans in the White House, to their discredit as it was not a legitimate “National” issue, or high crimes and misdemeanors (until he lied about it), still, I agree with this responder:

susan suntree, February 1 at 5:46 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)
Bill’s motivations

...Could Bill be sub-consciously motivated to undermine his wife’s ambitions? He certainly didn’t manage his urges in response to her feelings, needs, or ambitions during the course of their marriage.  And his personal ambition and need for attention are well observed. He has been the one in front to the camera until now.”

Not only is he a bully, he’s a narcissist. 

But he is also very smart, and so is Hillary.  I would imagine we will be hearing less from him over the next few weeks.

What a relief that will be!

Former President Clinton should do for his wife’s campaign what he is probably better at than almost anyone on the planet: raise funds and strategize.  She doesn’t have time to do that herself, and it would keep him from continuing to be the public face of the attack-dog side of her campaign.  Furthermore, he should also be quietly fostering initiatives for his foundation.  That way people will be at least somewhat assured he will have something to do besides meddling in her administration as a shadow “co-president.”  She has quite rightly and forcefully insisted that it will be her presidency, implicitly not his, and, somewhat less convincingly, that it is her campaign.  She can’t convince anyone of either of those essential factors unless he gets out of the lime light and stops tripping over his tongue.  At least he is resisting the temptation to hop up on the platform with her and suck all the air out of her victory celebrations.

I turned viciously anti-Clinton after his South Carolina performance. I must say Hillary looked good in the debate tonight, however. If Bill will stay way in the background and keep his big mouth shut, it will be better for Hillary and better for the Democratic Party.

Blueshift: “...I will join hordes of other independents and cast my first ever vote for a republican presidential candidate.”

What part of “independent” do you not understand?

Independent, in my view, does NOT mean your political philosophies just twist, opportunistically, in the wind. It means your views DIFFER from those offered by the branded parties and that your allegiance lies with NEITHER.

You seem prepared to vote for EITHER!

What value is a personal political philosophy that is essentially “vaporware?”

The last thing we want, we being people who previously voted for Bill twice, is to see him step foot in the White House again. He demeaned his office and his character, and his recent behavior proves that this is likely the real Bill Clinton.

If Hillary wants my vote, she has to lose Bill (go back to nevada and get that no-fault divorce). Otherwise, I guarantee you, I will join hordes of other independents and cast my first ever vote for a republican presidential candidate.

(We don’t respond to press bias because we know full well that we don’t useful information from the the news media - just entertainment, spin, and propaganda masquerading as news and repeating itself over and over 24/7.)

Aegrus:

Here, here!  I agree.  In fact, “Con"ason could have said everything he needed to say in half the space, or less.

That said, Bill Clinton is in a unique and difficult position.  On the one hand, he is a candidates’ spouse, and like any candidates’ spouse, he is entitled to support his spouse.  On the other hand, he is a former president.  And though he cannot be “blamed” for this, there are two aspects of this that are unique.  First, he is going to get more media attention that the spouses of other candidates (again, something for which he cannot really be “blamed”).  Second, there will always be the perception that he has ulterior motives for wanting to be back in the White House, even if no such motives exist.

This does not in any way excuse him for some of the tactics he has used and thigns he has said.  But while the fact of having a black man and a woman as the front-runners (and one of them likely the next president) is a far more historical story, having a former president as a presidential candidates’ spouse is arguably equally historical - and presents unique problems.

Peace.

Many people agree Bill Clinton has taken a more vocal role than what could be deemed appropriate and necessary. His Jesse Jackson reference was pretty shallow. The palpable frustration and arrogance in his words is disconcerting. We know.

This article is, however, quite arrogant and presumptuous. I have a major problem with these spectators who try to dissect (quite bluntly)everything campaigners and candidates say, yet only to conform with their subconscious biases. Palming off this opinion as a legitimate article is damaging to media quality and adds to the public confusion.

Those of us who want progress in America need to take articles like these with more than a few grains of salt. Focus on the real issues of our candidates. Hillary Clinton is a good candidate with a respectable reputation. Barack Obama is an equally good candidate with an equally respectable reputation.

Americans won’t ever have a perfect candidate, but that doesn’t mean we are voting for the “lesser of two evils.” There are a lot of people to please in this country, and not all of them are educated enough or involved enough to make the logical conclusions about government policy. That’s okay, this is America. Vote your gut, try to research the issues and keep yellow journalism like this article in the light of satire instead of valid political opinion.