Clinton Aims Barbs at Bush at Gathering for Hopefuls

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/14/politics/14DEMS.html?...

INDIANOLA, Iowa, Sept. 13 — Former President Bill Clinton seized the Democratic stage tonight, offering one of his strongest denunciations of President Bush since leaving office as he tried to rally Democrats here around candidates who have yet to stir the excitement he did in 1992.

Speaking without notes or a prepared text, Mr. Clinton invoked the circumstances of the 2000 presidential election as he argued that the Bush administration had squandered the domestic and foreign policy gains he had made in his eight years in office.

"That election was not a mandate for radical change, but that is what we got," Mr. Clinton said, adding, "We went from surplus to deficit, from job gain to job loss, from a reduction in poverty to an increase in poverty, from a reduction in people without health insurance to an increase of people without health insurance."

The former president said that Mr. Bush had wasted an opportunity to unite the country and enhance its international standing in the days after the Sept. 11 attacks. "Instead of uniting the world, we alienated it," he said. "And instead of uniting America, we divided it by trying to push it too far to the right."

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[Pallas180]

1. Now that's a strange spin at the end of the NYT story...I watched

as people shouted Bill,Bill -we want Bill" and
Bill, over here"....while the NYT paints it as
Bill hung around to find people to shake hands with.

F the NYT reporter who lied in the story. Pri_k.

[SharonAnn]

2. Well, Al Sharpton wasn't there because he was in Knoxville

tonight along with Gen. Wesley Clark.

Wooo-hooo! What a night it was.

[TacticalPeek]

3. I wonder if this reporter, Adam Nagourney, attended the event, or even

if he watched it on c-span.

You're right, Pallas180, that shaking hands remark is gratuitous bs.

He walked the rope line for at least 15 or 20 minutes after his speech, with the crowd pressing for autographs, shaking hands even two or three rows back. Check the tape.

Hunger for a president is what it looked like to me. Nagourney can stick his spin up his whistle ass.

[Pallas180]

4. LOL. Agreed TP. Shall we e mail Nagourney -let him know what we

think of him, or e mail the managing editor about his biased
spin. OUTRAGEOUS.

[otohara]

5. Did You See "The Crowd Go Restless"?

Mr. Clinton, in fact, spoke for 22 minutes. His voice was hoarse and strained, and his speech wandered at times, as his crowd grew restless.



...People without notes sometimes get side tracked and "wander" - but at least he can make complete sentences and touch on every emotion you have several times.

I thought President Clinton looked fabulous tonight -

[LittleApple81]

6. I was watching and I did not see the crowd growing restless.

Did I miss something? People were just carried away by his enthusiasm (as I did at home). Where was the restlessness?

[grasswire]

7. nagourney is a prick, for sure

He's just got a bee in his bonnet regarding Clinton.

[MidwestMomma]

11. Complete crap...I was there

And the crowd was not restless. Maybe he got confused and meant 'breathless', as in hanging on every word?

This whole piece is a bucket of spin. Clinton wasn't there to rally Democrats around 'hopefuls who have yet to stir the excitement he did in 1992' (Once again, Democratic hopefuls 'weak'. Repeat until nobody thinks they can beat Bush.) These candidates don't need anybody to generate excitement for them. They can do it on their own. In my opinion, he was there to give advise on how to defeat a incumbent Republican president. (Which he as quite good at.)

He gave specific advise, not to just the candidates, but to every member of the audience for those that were listening. He said to disagree with our Republican friends, in the friendliest way possible; then tell them things this admistration is doing that they don't know about that if they knew about would make them mad; and then show them evidence of what could be done different. (That's what I came away with anyway.)

And while listening to Clinton was great, his speech did not entirely "obscure" the words of the other candidates. I went to the Steak Fry to listen to the candidates as I am very undecided and I came away with some definite impressions about each candidate. Yes, even after seeing the Big Dog, I was still able to remember what the candidates said and the impressions they made.

God Lord, what tripe!

[koopie57]

8. I watched it twice

and those people loved the Big Dog. And what was that he said? Humm...something about you can't kill all your enemies. At some time you have to work towards peace.

[robbedvoter]

9. Nagourney's last headline: "WORRIED DEMOCRATS....

One of our Clark meet-up members got so amgry about it, he started an action - early morning at their building - talking to everyone there about us not being worried. Nagourney is the heir apparent to Berke the jerke (who does his damage behind the curtains now) It seems one cannot get to wotk for NYT without hating Clinton (Krugman is a fluke).

[hippiechick]

10. dupe, please lock ?

[VolcanoJen]

12. Dupe... locking

Let's keep our discussion about Clinton's comments in Iowa yesterday consolidated into one LBN thread; this earlier one by kskiska is pretty healthy and active:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

Thanks!
VolcanoJen
DU Moderator