Singing the blues
Enough of this "Clinton betrayed me" bull. All that's being betrayed is the traditional liberal taste for self-flagellation, and for impotently parsing moral issues while our enemies grab the main chance. Meanwhile Ronald Reagan, who ran guns to Iran, is on his 90th birthday hailed across the Net as George Washington, and President Bush redirects billions from welfare organizations to "faith-based" Jesus freaks, while we sit around blubbering over a pardon that does not smell of roses. Our high horse is a hobbyhorse, remaining stationary while conservatives ride roughshod. We should get off it, and into the trenches, for the good of the country.
-- Roy Edroso, Brooklyn, N.Y.
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Anger management
Could congressional probe vindicate Marc Rich? [Writ]
Richard Nixon counsel and Watergate figure John Dean writes a column explaining why congressional investigators will have a difficult time looking into Bill Clinton's pardon of Marc Rich, and suggests that Rich's case is not as black and white as portrayed in the press. He quotes a brief by another Nixon counsel, Leonard Garment, who represented Rich for eight years, which states: "The case involves many disturbing features, but at its core are transactions, which were not criminal." The column prompts discussion on the legal site's discussion boards, where one poster asks: "What could make the government of that time so bent on throwing the largest grenades they had at this guy? ... Something smells about this like revenge."
Meanwhile, the day's news is that Attorney General John Ashcroft may give Denise Rich immunity to force her to testify about her ex-husband's pardon.
"George W. Bush is like a bad comic working the crowd, a moron" [BBC News]
TV president Martin Sheen pops off, again, about his real-life counterpart, which enrages posters on Free Republic. "Why is this considered news? Who cares what a two-bit actor like Martin Sheen thinks?" asks jherd. Sheen's TV show, "The West Wing," then comes under fire. "This show constitutes issue advertising for the Democratic Party and should be prosecuted as such," writes Carry Okie.
Clinton's Harlem shuffle [Lucianne.com]
Reports that Clinton will relocate his New York office to Harlem prompt eye rolling here. "See how long it stays there. As soon as media attention is gone, so is he," says hoosierblue.
A site for dumb Democrats [Demcrats.com]
While trying to find what the angry "blue" posters on Democrats.com were up to, a typo led us to this site, which hopes others will do exactly the same thing. "The majority of the people that ended up on this site ended up here by typing something wrong. They made A mistake! Just Like Some People Did when they voted. They're not entitled to (ANYTHING) They simply just pushed the wrong key and ended up not getting the web site they really wanted!" the site's home page says. "Can they possible go on living knowing (they) punched the wrong key? Has someone betrayed them? Maybe they should call their Senator or their local Congressman or even hire a legal team!!!" The site then offers several links to Rush Limbaugh's home page.
Seeing red
It is with much embarrassment and a degree of outrage that I now find myself writing this message, feeling duped by the Clintons, the couple who was to head up the most ethical administration in history. I've defended them over and over again the last eight years and feel like such a fool. These two have taken a lot of us for a ride, and I, for one, have just now seen the light and am putting on the brakes.
-- Deborah French, Capistrano Beach, Calif.
Submit your own rant or favorite discussion to redvsblue@salon.com, or jump right into a Table Talk discussion about Red vs. Blue.
Anger management
"Oh heck, let's just impeach him again" [Lucianne.com]
Posters respond to an appearance by Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., on Fox News Sunday, in which he suggested that former President Clinton could "technically still be impeached." Sen. Don Nickles, R-Okla., offered that there could be ways to decrease Clinton's office allowance, pension and other benefits. "HAHAHAHAHA!" writes vintook1. "I would love to see him as Mr. Clinton with no pension. He would have to work and nobody would hire him! HAHAHAHAHAHA." Meanwhile, on Table Talk, posters aren't wasting any time making a case for why President Bush should be impeached.
Meanwhile, Drudge reports that Linda Tripp has been wronged again, this time by Bush.
Why aren't we hearing about Gore's gains? [Table Talk]
A Table Talk thread wonders why the public isn't hearing more about gains by Gore in recent media recounts of the Florida election, including a report in the Orlando Sentinel that gives Gore an additional 203 votes from Orange County, where, "in hundreds of cases, the counting machines did not detect a vote even though ballots were filled in with black ink, which, to the eye, appeared indistinguishable from the proper ink."
Will Clinton face a "Militia Etheridge"? [Free Republic]
Reports last week that Clinton, while dining in New York with Sen. Bob Kerrey, shared a raucous lesbian joke have produced countless online threads, inspiring posters to create their own painful jokes. "What are 100 lesbians with rifles called?" asks CRAW. Answer: "Militia Etheridge." Camille Paglia is not amused, and says, "Clinton is a boor. And he's a hypocrite and a misogynist."
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