There's Backwards and there's . . .

BurkeWords

Tuesday, May 19, 1998

In this issue:

Some Observations

McDougal in Chains:

Do the people criticizing Judge Starr for leading Susan McDougal around in chains actually believe that he has some say in the manner in which she's transported? McDougal is a convicted felon serving time for four counts of fraud. Starr has as much say about her handcuffs as he does about whether she wears an orange prison jumpsuit or a lavendar one.

Fewer Teens Smoking?:

Will raising the price of cigarettes cause fewer teenagers to smoke, or cause teenagers to smoke fewer cigarettes? Because if it's the latter, won't the same number of teens become addicted?

And shouldn't we hand out patches to all those poor non-teenaged addicted smokers who will be forced into withdrawal when they can't afford their cigarettes anymore?

And will President Clinton support not raising the minimum wage by $1.10 over the next five years, which might undo his tax hike?

He's Not an Idiot

As fans of my Clinton Joke-of-the-Day Page know, I will not use jokes that belittle the President's intelligence. Belittle his policies, sure. His honestly, absolutely. His integrity, what integrity?

But I won't call him stupid. Why? Because the chief occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue didn't get there by being a moron. He's called Slick Willie for a reason. You can't have it both ways: either he's slick, clever and devious or a stupid, moronic imbecile. I believe he's the former of the two.

What brings this up? Glad you asked. Right now the President is under attack for the Big One: selling weapons technology to China for donations to the Democratic National Committee. New York Times columnist William Safire has labeled Clinton, the Proliferation President and credits him with starting a new arms race.

The President denies any quid pro quo. He, and others around him, claim that they didn't know anything about what was going on, and that the decisions Clinton made, the ones where he overrode the advice of his own advisors, were purely co-incidental. He portrays himself as just a bumbling country bumpkin from Arkansas who was hoodwinked.

We all know better. He isn't stupid -- he's the most informed man on the planet. I refuse to paint this corrupt President as a moron. Ironically, he has no problem doing it to himself.

Clinton and Claude Reins

I believe the time has come to start comparing President Bill Clinton with screen actor Claude Reins. Not because Clinton was The Invisible Man in the China connection, but because he appears to be shocked -- shocked -- to find that the Chinese military donated to his campaign and received missile technology in return.
[Note: for anyone who doesn't "get" that, rent Casablanca. And if you did "get" it, rent the movie anyway. Great flick. CJB]

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Dan Burton Open Letter to Bill Clinton

Government Reform and Oversight Committee

COMMITTEE CORRESPONDENCE

May 12, 1997

Honorable William Jefferson Clinton
The White House
Washington, DC 20500

Dear Mr. President:

I welcome the news report about your intended International Crime Control Strategy, particularly as it relates to national security threats. As you are aware, this Committee's investigation of foreign money involvement in American political campaigns has uncovered these perils on several occasions.

With that in mind, may I urge that any transnational undertaking to combat crime address:

Mr. President, the Congressional investigations of campaign finance crimes have exposed money laundering, masked contributions, and other violations of law that have occurred across national borders. We believe you would agree that any battle against international lawbreaking should have such felonies in its focus.

Sincerely,
Dan Burton, Chairman

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Cal Thomas's Clinton on the Couch

The following excerpt was enough for me to link this article into this week's Burkewords:

"... we elected an apparently post-patriarchal leader -- a noncompetitive idealist, a pot-smoking pacifist who called for love, not war, a feminist with a powerful wife as an equal partner -- and now he seems to want the privilege of old-style patriarchs, like Greek gods, Roman emperors, Renaissance popes and Kennedys."

Here's the rest of the article.

Return to Table of Contents.

William Safire: the "Proliferation President"

In his New York Times Op-Ed column on 5/18/98, Willaim Safire labeled Bill Clinton the Proliferation President for helping to start a brand-new arms race, this time between nations that having signed on to any pacts or agreements.

Unfortunately, the link I wanted to add was no longer available. If you can find a copy of the column, read it. Try your local library. Or shell out the money for the Times' archive site.

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