O'Reilly wants Bill Clinton in the admin

[storm1977 0]

Anyone catch O'reilly last night?
For those that think he is strictly right leaning, you
would have been surprised to hear him last night.
He said it would be good for this country and a great
move by GWB if he appointed Bill Clinton to the
Sec. of State position.


Wow... that caught me offgaurd when I was watching.

A transcript is probably available on Foxnews.com. I will take a look.

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Sometimes it is more important to protect LIFE than Liberty

[storm1977 0]

Here is the quote from Bill O'reilly and a link to the quote.

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And now I'm going to be controversial. Now, I know the word is Condoleezza Rice (search) will get the job. And she is absolutely brilliant and very loyal to President Bush, but I would replace Secretary Powell with Bill Clinton.Yikes! The former president probably wouldn't take the job, but if he did, countries like France, Germany, and Spain would like the move, perhaps cooperate more with America. Add Canada and Indonesia to that group as well.

Mr. Clinton is a smart guy, knows the players and the issues, and has clout, especially in the Palestinian-Israeli arena. So there you go, bold move, little downside, maybe big benefits. But I'm sure President Bush isn't going to do it.

And that's "The Memo."

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,138688,00.html

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Sometimes it is more important to protect LIFE than Liberty

[wmw999 2,171]

If Colin Powell was nominated to be a figurehead and as an unlistened-to sop to public and world opinion, well, Clinton would have even less backing from the White House.

Wendy W.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

[quade 3]

The same advantages O'Reilly attributed to Clinton also belonged to Powell.

The change of Secretary of State had nothing to do with Powell not being up to the task and it had everything to do with his disagreements with his boss.

With Rice, there will be no disagreements. Rice will agree with anything the President asks her to do without question.

To a -certain- extent, I understand GWBs feelings on this, however it's usually a good idea to have at least a few people around that have a different point of view than your own.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[storm1977 0]

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The same advantages O'Reilly attributed to Clinton also belonged to Powell.

The change of Secretary of State had nothing to do with Powell not being up to the task and it had everything to do with his disagreements with his boss.

With Rice, there will be no disagreements. Rice will agree with anything the President asks her to do without question.

To a -certain- extent, I understand GWBs feelings on this, however it's usually a good idea to have at least a few people around that have a different point of view than your own.

What you say may be true, however, I think Powell is looking to possibly go into the private sector and make some coin now. It is as you know pretty typical for the administration to break up in the second term of a presidency.
Now, I still feel Bill Clinton may have more clout than Condi will or Powel did. I am not a big fan of Clinton, but let's face it... He is great speaker and a good pursueder :-)
He may be more helpful than Condi who at times appears a little too Stern.

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Sometimes it is more important to protect LIFE than Liberty

[SkyDekker 1,153]

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What you say may be true, however, I think Powell is looking to possibly go into the private sector and make some coin now. It is as you know pretty typical for the administration to break up in the second term of a presidency.
Now, I still feel Bill Clinton may have more clout than Condi will or Powel did. I am not a big fan of Clinton, but let's face it... He is great speaker and a good pursueder :-)
He may be more helpful than Condi who at times appears a little too Stern.

Yes, but the difference is this:

Condi will do what Bush and his puppet masters tell her to do. Clinton won't. End of discussion.

[storm1977 0]

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Condi will do what Bush and his puppet masters tell her to do. Clinton won't. End of discussion.

WOW... You really think Condi is a puppet? Or do you think (like I do) That she happens to agree with this administrations policies.

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Sometimes it is more important to protect LIFE than Liberty

[SkyDekker 1,153]

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Or do you think (like I do)

No

[Deuce 1]

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End of discussion.

Bwahahahaha!

If only it were that easy!

I think most of you folks have it backwards. Dr. Rice is where President Bush got his foreign policy opinions. Not the opposite.

[storm1977 0]

Yeah if it was that easy...

BTW I happen to agree with you Duece

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Sometimes it is more important to protect LIFE than Liberty

[TheAnvil 0]

Mr. O'Reilly has some apparent misconceptions about how foreign policy is actually formulated and executed.

Quite odd. No wonder I haven't watched him for a long long time now.

Vinny the Anvil
Post Traumatic Didn't Make The Lakers Syndrome is REAL
JACKASS POWER!!!!!!

[storm1977 0]

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Mr. O'Reilly has some apparent misconceptions about how foreign policy is actually formulated and executed.

Quite odd. No wonder I haven't watched him for a long long time now.

So hypothetically, you do NOT believe that Clinton could do a better job convincing Europe to see things our way at least a little bit more than they do now, than Condi Rice?

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Sometimes it is more important to protect LIFE than Liberty

[SkyDekker 1,153]

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So hypothetically, you do NOT believe that Clinton could do a better job convincing Europe to see things our way at least a little bit more than they do now, than Condi Rice?

I thought it didn't matter what the rest of the world thought about your foreign policies. You are big and bad and will do whatever the hell you want to do and anybody who stands in the way will be dealt with accordingly.

??

[storm1977 0]

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Quote

So hypothetically, you do NOT believe that Clinton could do a better job convincing Europe to see things our way at least a little bit more than they do now, than Condi Rice?

I thought it didn't matter what the rest of the world thought about your foreign policies. You are big and bad and will do whatever the hell you want to do and anybody who stands in the way will be dealt with accordingly.

??

Yup, we will do what we think is nessesary, however, it is a lot easier when foriegn money and man power is helping out would you agree?
It is not that we didn't WANT global support in Iraq, it
was that we didn't get it.

Nice try though

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Sometimes it is more important to protect LIFE than Liberty

[wmw999 2,171]

Note: not all Americans think this way.

Wendy W.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

[storm1977 0]

what r u refering to wendy????

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Sometimes it is more important to protect LIFE than Liberty

[quade 3]

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Dr. Rice is where President Bush got his foreign policy opinions. Not the opposite.

I think you've been thrown off by the title National Security Advisor, which is a bit of misnomer. The position is more of a referee and not so much one of policy maker. She also wasn't very good at it, but considering the folks she was dealing with (Ridge, Rumsfeld, Tenet, Powell) I'm not sure anyone would have been. However the things that made her not very good at the National Security Advisor spot may actually work to her advantage as Secretary of State. As NSA she was working within the Administration trying to make sense out of some conflicting views and agendas. As Secretary of State her job will be to diplomatically sell the U.S. position to other countries -- so none of that messy conflicting view point stuff, just sell what the President tells her to sell.

My only reservation is that, based on her testimony in front of the 9/11 Commission, I don't think she has a very good poker face.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[storm1977 0]

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As Secretary of State her job will be to diplomatically sell the U.S. position to other countries -- so none of that messy conflicting view point stuff, just sell what the President tells her to sell.

Well, this is my whole question... Don't you think Slick Willy would be better at this than Rice?

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Sometimes it is more important to protect LIFE than Liberty

[quade 3]

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Don't you think Slick Willy would be better at this than Rice?

Ever try to sell a product you didn't believe in?

Ever buy a product from a salesman that didn't appear to believe in his product?

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[crwtom 0]

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[
Condi will do what Bush and his puppet masters tell her to do. Clinton won't. End of discussion.

Yeah after Bush finally learned a bunch of foreign names maybe
this time around she will teach him ice skating. It is really
interesting that a guy who rags about intellectual snobbery picks
a lifelong academician, theoretician and pianist. Probably it's her
maternal flair that soothens him over the intellectualiserism.

Why O'Reilly dreams to have Clinton to be Powel's successor
is not unplausible to be. That's give the Bushies an opportunity
to make a clown out of him the same way they did it with
Powell - - - "hey, Colin why don't you do the hulahula
look-at-my-tube dance as a distraction in front of the UN so that
we can undistrubedly paste together our invasion."
GWB pretty much has the humiliation of one American icon to
his credit, and Clinton will be lucid enough not to be the second
one.

It'd be cute if Rice kept Armitage as deputy - the guy pretty
much accused her of incompetence and completely dropping
the reins on the principles in the lead up to the war.

Cheers, T

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Fear causes hesitation, and hesitation will cause your worst fears to come true

[happythoughts 0]

PBS interview with Osama

To really find out what effect that Clinton would have on the US perception abroad, you have to merely look at his history in foreign policy. He never did any good and did a lot of harm.

PBS can hardly be called a "right-wing" organization.
During a personal interview, OBL stated that Clintons actions in Somalia reversed his view of US military resolve. The US became a "paper tiger".

Quote

Describe the situation when your men took down the American forces in Somalia.

...So, when they left Afghanistan, they went to Somalia and prepared themselves carefully for a long war. They had thought that the Americans were like the Russians, so they trained and prepared. They were stunned when they discovered how low was the morale of the American soldier. America had entered with 30,000 soldiers in addition to thousands of soldiers from different countries in the world. ... As I said, our boys were shocked by the low morale of the American soldier and they realized that the American soldier was just a paper tiger. He was unable to endure the strikes that were dealt to his army, so he fled, and America had to stop all its bragging ...

... After a few blows, it forgot all about those titles and rushed out of Somalia in shame and disgrace, dragging the bodies of its soldiers.

At one point, he could have killed OBL but chose not to, because of the Lewinsky scandal at the time. No OBL? Maybe the WTC would still be standing.

Clintons foreign policy record?
Incompetent military leadership.
No committment.
Lack of action in the 1st WTC bombing probably resulted in the 2nd.
Involvement in personal scandals prevented him from taking action for fear of more political fallout.

[billvon 2,473]

>At one point, he could have killed OBL but chose not to, because
>of the Lewinsky scandal at the time.

And Bush could have killed al-Zarqaui three times, but chose not to because it would weaken his case for war. Hindsight can be 20-20, eh?

[SkyDekker 1,153]

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And Bush could have killed al-Zarqaui three times, but chose not to because it would weaken his case for war. Hindsight can be 20-20, eh?

Bill, when will you finally understand that Clinton made only mistakes and Bush never made or will he ever make a mistake.

[happythoughts 0]

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>At one point, he could have killed OBL but chose not to, because
>of the Lewinsky scandal at the time.

And Bush could have killed al-Zarqaui three times, but chose not to because it would weaken his case for war. Hindsight can be 20-20, eh?

Clintons mistakes were obvious present-time judgement errors or choices made to protect his political career.

Clintons target was someone who had attacked the US repeatedly. Good judgement in the present day, not hindsight, would have been to attack. He chose not to attack because politically he couldn't handle another foul-up/scandal while under investigation already.

Clinton chose to put the US military under UN control. An obvious mistake at the present time.
He chose to leave tanks on the ships and not in support of the troops. What kind of idiot does that?

The Pentagon plan was presented to the NSC.
According to most news reports, the NSC debated the subject, but never implemented it in a timely fashion. The WMD lab was targeted early in the war, but too late.

Interesting, isn't it? The Pentagon had intelligence that stated that there was a WMD lab producing ricin and cyanide in Iraq. The very people on this site who scream that there were no WMD in Iraq, are now adamant that there were and complain that nothing was done about it.

Police in London arrested people for possession of ricin. It was linked to the Iraqi lab.

Would you say that there definitely were WMD in Iraq during the time that the UN was in control ?

[billvon 2,473]

>Clintons mistakes were obvious present-time judgement errors or choices
>made to protect his political career.

Agreed. And Bush's decision to let a terrorist go was made to promote a war he desperately wanted.

>Clinton chose to put the US military under UN control. An obvious
>mistake at the present time.

And Bush ignored clear evidence that Hussein's WMD program was not all it was cracked up to be. He sent in an inadequate number of troops, and they paid the price. An obvious mistake, one that's clear in hindsight.

Face it, both presidents play politics, think about themselves first and often screw up. In other words, they are both politicians. I trust this doesn't come as a suprise.