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ORLANDO, Fla. – Former President Bill Clinton on Wednesday painted Republicans as a party controlled by its most extreme members, unwilling to compromise and too conservative for former GOP leaders like Richard Nixon and Dwight D. Eisenhower.
"Teddy Roosevelt, Dwight Eisenhower – Richard Nixon’s too liberal for these people. It’s amazing," Clinton told the 2,000 people packed into a hotel ballroom here. He said the most right-wing members of the GOP control the party's nominations and "political operations."
Clinton has spent the past two days campaigning for President Barack Obama in Florida. The tour comes a week after he delivered a well-received speech at the Democratic National Convention in which he laid out the case for the president's re-election.
His stops here and Miami were largely an extension of those arguments.
"The American people have to believe me on this; I have traveled all over the world, not just when I was president, but since I left,” Clinton said. “I work everywhere. I'm telling you what works; what works is cooperation. What fails is constant conflict. You've got to vote for cooperation."
He did not mention the attacks on the U.S. Consulate in Libya, which took four lives and were condemned by top U.S. officials. He stayed away from foreign policy, continuing to focus on the economy, and making the case that America is better off now than when Obama took office nearly four years ago.
"I want to say again something I said in Charlotte, because the whole election could come down to this. I honestly believe – it doesn't matter who caused it or whether the contributing factors all happened under President Bush or something I did or something Ronald Reagan did 30 years ago." he said. "Regardless, President Obama didn't cause it ... but if he just kept telling us that and not done anything, we'd still have to replace him, because we hired him to take the job and you don’t get to pick only the good and not the bad. So he took it on."
Clinton said calls for austerity measures and tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans are irresponsible given the country's slow economic growth.
"I was always taught, when you're in a hole, the first rule is to quit digging," he said.
Clinton's biggest applause lines during his Florida tour have been criticizing Republicans for their inaccurate arithmetic and saying that hypocritical attacks against the president take “real brass."
Tying up his speech, Clinton urged the crowd to choose "arithmetic over illusion."
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With below 20% chance of winning Romneyhood is showing his desperation!
Bill's appearance at the convention got the base all teary eyes, but most people didn't care to watch it or even knew it was on. The 8-9% undecideds didn't get swayed by his appearance. This is the Obama economy, not the 90's.
Obamas term began just a few months after the depression started, to expect a return to normal after just 4 years is unrealistic, the Great Depression lasted 10 yrs yet for most of that we had one of the most popular Presidents ever, so dont think its impossible to get reelected during a down economy.
FDR actually prolonged the Great Depression for 12 years. The only reason he kept getting re-elected in 30's and 40's was because the electorate was totally kept in the dark by the media. They didn't even know FDR served his presidency as a cripple in a wheelchair. How that was kept a secret is amazing. FDR implemented payroll deduction so people wouldn't know they were being raped. Do you think FDR would have been re-elected even once with his record the first four years if there were the internet and 24/7 cable news? Obama's record is out there for the world to see.
Absolutely, FDR was a populist who understood the perils of income inequality and how much pain the working class feels as a result.
Bear,
Wrong. The 30's and 40's were way, way more conservative than today. People voted for FDR because they had no other choice. They were starving and FDR was more than happy to keep them there by stifling the economy with high-spending, high-taxation, anti-growth policies. When you keep people in poverty and toss them a few crumbs once in awhile, they have no choice but to vote for you, thinking you are the savior. That is why Obama wants to be another FDR. Unfortunately, the best he can do is being the Food Stamp President.
You can't judge history in terms of today's standard of "liberal" and "conservative". Even in the 50s and 60s, we were ideological but much more likely to vote for the candidate than the party.
This is a perfect example of seeing the world with a modern conservative filter. During the Great Depression, people were starving and wanted food, we were an agriculture based economy. We were essentially isolationists and the media was run ideologues (on both sides). If you remove your political filter and consider the times, you can see why feeding the poor and hungry was best for the country and very successful.
The conservative filter says, the poor and hungry will be fine in a few years if we're inforce austerity now. The poor and hungry wonder if they'll be around in a few years.
You're fine to have your point of view but you won't understand why modern conservatism keeps failing at the national level until you realize that most of the country doesn't agree with you. And even many who agree with you ideologically, start to waiver when they see the practical implications of that belief system.
This was proven when the Tea Party was crying to cut social spending "we can't afford it" until it started hitting close to home with Ryan's initial budget and the Medicare vouchers.
Extremists in Libya caused a lot of grief when they reacted to a movie produced by
extremists in America. The result wass death and violence. America does not need
unbending extremists in the White House, the House, or the Senate. America
needs a reasoned approach to government. OBAMA/BIDEN 2012
Jane - that is absolutely correct. The GOP as Mr. Clinton points out is controlled by extremists and Romney and Ryan is among that bunch, so says this Republican.
Jane in TN................ just exactly what do you call Obama? You talk about someone who is out to use class warfare to get re-elected making people with their hands out think he can take enough money from the "1" per-centers to put in their hands so that they will vote for him.
av, there is no class warfare, there is "fair share warfare", why hide money in off-shore accounts? Why are some corporations sitting on huge amounts of cash and not expanding, I'm not for conspiracy theories but something is very rotten on Wall Street, concerted effort to make the economy worse by slow private job creation, deliberate effort to promote a political agenda most advantages to the money holders? Who owns romney and what would he do to repay the Koch Boys and Adelson etal for their largesse. I smell a big nasty rat.
Obama 2012
It is obvious President Clinton that you are out campaigning for your party. You need to look no further than your home state to see what the liberals have done to the democratic party. This was a state that used to be all democrats. Talk about the kettle calling the pot black.
Clinton was one of the best we've had; the Pubbies fought him every step of the way, just like they have done with Obama. What do the pubblies have in their background? Nixon, the only President to be driven out of office in disgrace, Ford the only man every handed the Presidency without running for the privilege, who agreed to pardon the criminal Nixon to keep the jerk out of prison; Reagan, who not only engineered American companies being able to leave the country and set up in foreign countires thereby launching the collapse of the American economy that continued into Bush I, one of the most dangerous men in government, Bush II, the biggest boob to ever hold the office and whose policies have driven the nation into the mess we are in. The GOP is made of losers, cry babies, cheaters, and liars. Look at their history and their actions. The GOP needs to be try to find out what they were before they paid Eisenhower to become a pubby and run for office; back in the day, the GOP was the one who was filled with what they, today, call liberals: today's GOP is NOT the pary of Lincoln. Why are all of you so stubborn, so self righteous and too blind to see it?
Yep, Newt Gingrich fought Clinton like a bulldog, flashing the Contract with America in Clinton's face in the first session. In the following state of the union, Clinton declared the era of big government was over, signaling a willingness to work with the new Republican Congress. That was leadership, something that is sorely lacking today.
ROAD, still trying to fob off that tired Carnard of the Right that the Depression was FDR's fault??? You people never quite. Then as now, it was your crowd that destroyed out economy and then you sit on the sidelines, sniping and shooting spitballs, blaming the entire mess on Democrats. FDR has rightly gone down history as one of our greatest presidents of all time, perhaps the very greatest of the 20th Century and with good reason. He not only steered this nation through the worst economic debacle in it's history but readied us for the gathering storm on the horizon being created in Germany and Japan.
Oh yea, and let me remind you that it was the Right in the 1930's, who didn't want to spend a dime on national defense, many openly admired Hitler and who, if given the chance, would have allowed Britain to be crushed in it's darkes hour. I can never get over how the Right of the postwar era is so gung ho, always looling for an excuse to start a shooting war when in fact, when the chips were really down, chose to look the other way.
The Right is very good at trashing our economy and then blaming Democrats for not cleaning up your disasters quickly enough. With your track record, the GOP has zero credibility when passing judgement on Democrats.
Thanks INTREPID1. But you won't get very far when you talk to people who believe they have their own version of history.
Just remember, they had such a problem with facts that they couldn't handle wikipedia, they had to come up with conservapedia because their "facts" are different (and more
correctright) than the rest of ours.Clinton: Republican party controlled by most extreme members
No @!$%#??? Really???
And just who is running the Democratic party moderates?
Give me a break, both parties are run but the radicals!!!
Time to be able to choose what's behind door number 3
Who's behind door #3 bob, I'm sure it's not Mitt
Actually Ken, you are right about Robmehood/ruin 1040, nobody really likes them. Many republicans will shift their vote to Gary Johnson or they won't vote. Those that do vote are really voting against Obama due to the misrepresentative suggestion from the right wing hate media. Reelecting Obama will be a good thing but we need to remove the Dudley Do nothing tea bags from congress in order to move this country forward.
I am pretty sure the world is grateful that OBAMA made that descision then either of the US PROLIFIC DRAFT DODGERS ie Romney and Ryan. Cowards that run there mouth instead of there BRAIN [if they have one]. How did we ever get to value anything these GOP JERKS SAY/
ED, they may be draft dodgers, but damn, ain't they good at talking tough??? They're just about the best in my opinion, why there swagger almost reminds me of Dubya and Cheney who represent perhaps the pinnacle of draft dodging, Chicken Hawks. The only one who could possibly surpass them would be The Duke, John Wayne who was awesomly tough in "Sands of Iwo Jima" but sadly used his Hollywood connections to weasle out of military service when it really counted. It must be something in the genes with Pubbies, cause they sure sound rugged talking about war, it's only when the bleeding and the dying begins that they're nowhere to be found.
I don't see a problem with being a political extremist, especially since I am one. Unfortunately, too many on the right don't believe they are extreme. They think they are the mainstream so anything left of them is an extreme.
Get rid of that mindset and the intransigence in DC can be worked on.
should billy boy be talking about what republicans are doing-wasn't he impeached?ahhh yeah he was-acted like a total hillbilly loser-and he painted a lot of women with his wit,wisdom and what ever else he could get his hands on-Monica ,a cigar or 2.and was an accomplished liar on t.v when he said that his sexual affairs where not the u.s citizens business-right!right bill while ur hands where all over Monica,pilots hands where on the controls of b-1 bombers flying into Croatia on air strikes and u could care less.amazes me how much our muslim prez must be paying Clinton to support his administration ,because 8 months ago they couldn't be in the same room together.wow an impeached president as a supporter-right barrack hussein obama,muslim in disguise- must feel that Clinton's budget balancing talents will give him legitimacy during this election run.bill you should focus on your cocksmanship in chappaqua and don't talk about republicans-your whole party is full of Yiddish clowns and you sound stupid.man up billy boy
Thanks for proving the point.
Clinton getting a bj in the oval office, complaints from the right signals "penis envy?"
Obama 2012
What is Obama offering Clinton.....did he offer him 72 virgins to go down on him?? Clinton....THIS isn't the Democratic Party that you led....this is some Socialist hijacked entity, a bit left of Hugo Chavez!
It really is a shame that Hillary won't run again. She would make a great President. But guys are afraid of girls with brains. The Republican party is so out of step with AMERICA and it's people. They let ROMNEY buy this nomination. I for one am going to vote DEMOCRAT, I did vote REPUBLICAN, and now I am ashamed of that vote. I remember 2008, when GWB was President, I remember what happened to my retirement. That's the REPUBLICAN PARTY FOR YOU. No way for REPUBLICANS this year. no way no way, they appear to have lost what little brain power they have.
Lady, she may, I am hoping, I believe Hillary is tired, in 4 years a lot can happen and she may step-up.
Obama 2012
Will we ever see the day when the Clinton's no longer devote themselves to creating and promoting hatred?
Any politicain can choose to speak of valid, genuine issues or can choose to fabricate hatred as a cheap and tasteless way of promoting election results, but, the people of the nation cannot choose to pretend that the damage from the politicians hatred does not occur, cannot pretend that the damages does not hurt.
This is the new Republican line. After 3 1/2 years of unprecedented vitriol toward President Obama, including questioning whether he was born here, questioning his religion, calling him names like Obozo and so forth, insulting his wife, and on and on, they now accuse the Democrats of being the party of hate. Kind of like when they bend over backward to block any tax increase on the rich - and then accuse the Democrats of class warfare. Who do they think they're fooling?
Jeff,
Bill wants to ensure Hillary has an equal or better job after the elections, essentially Bill is campaigning for Bill.
Bill is Hill, and Hill is Bill, and don't forget Chelsae :)
The Republicans are fond of using the word "socialist" to describe the Democrats. Apparently their definition of socialism is any government that tries to bring health care to its citizens, a fair tax code, food or financial aid to children and elderly who are in poverty, aid to college students, a fair immigration policy, some effort to protect the environment, and reasonable regulation of Wall Street and big banks. You know - all the things that Republicans hate.
They don't oppose healthcare reform, they just oppose paying for it. Romney's new half platform is to enact all the good of ACA but he doesn't tell us how (or even that) he will pay for it.
Big spending budget bloating Republicans. They're like McDonald's advertising healthy burgers, the ads may look nice but it's the same ol same ol under the bun.
BEAR, Really??? Then how come Willard clearly stated as the governor of Massachussetts that the Individal Mandate was crucial to his health care program? He said it was imperative to use it so freeloaders would not game the system. I thought the Right hated freeloading "welfare queens"? And please explain why the mandate was CREATED by Conservative Republicans like Newt Gingrich, Bob Dole as well as the Heritage Foundation, hardly far left Socialists??? Your party was for it before they were against it. It would never do to be seen agreeing with Obama, you party has to oppose EVERYTHING he does, even the programs that until he became president you were all gung ho for.
You completely misread my statement which is fine. Nothing you said is untrue except the "your party" line. I find that highly offensive.
And meanwhile:
"Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius violated federal law when she campaigned this winter for President Obama, federal investigators announced Wednesday.Sebelius broke the law by making “extemporaneous partisan remarks” during a speech in February at a Human Rights Campaign Event in Charlotte, N.C.
The OSC concluded Sebelius had violated federal law and has sent the report to the president -- the procedure for a government official appointed by a president and confirmed by the Senate.
OSC spokeswoman Ann O’Hanlon said there is no formal rule for dealing with an appointed official in violation of the act, but “a great majority” of them are resolved internally with violators getting a suspension.
O'Hanlon said the remaining cases are sent to the Merit System Protection Board, which can decide to terminate the employment of non-appointed federal employees or give them a 30-day suspension."
The question is, whether Democrat or Republican, why are our elected officials above the law? How can they continue to hold their post after violating Federal law? We need more accountability in Washington.
And the Dems are run by the most EXTREME liberals. So what? The extreme Republicans won't be able to get anything extreme passed into law so- so what. HOWEVER, the extreme liberals HAVE gotten extreme laws passed. So, we have to stop them. simple.
Oh my! The Republicans are controlled by their most extreme right wing! OMG!
And the Democrats aren't?
Pass the Kool Aid Billy!
yea yea yea, vast right wing conspiracy, blah blah blah. We've heard it from him before.
Mr. Obama isn't exactly an icon of co-operation himself, nor Harry Reid, nor Nancy Pelosi...
The Democratic party has doubled down on National and State level debt (unsustainable public sector union pensions) ~ for votes, forced health care tax, open door policy on the southern borders, and assualt on Christianity.
I love the way the media and the progressives have redefined extreme. I don't see preventing us careening into socialism as extreme. I don't see expecting us to live within our means extreme. I don't see desiring a major restructuring of our failed education system (you know, the one progressives have been erecting the 50 years). I don't see requiring adults to carry a photo ID extreme. I don't see requiring ID to vote as extreme. I don't see the desire to enforce our immigration laws as extreme. And I don't see the desire to live freely without the government overseeing everything you do as extreme.
I consider borrowing $0.40 of every dollar we spend as extreme. I see spending the unearned income of our kids and grand-kids today in order to sustain the repulsive, unearned lifestyles of the progressive (stealth child abusers). I see debasing our currency in futile attempt to prevent an economic correction extreme. I see the pushing to recruit (literally buy votes) of criminals and illegal immigrants extreme. I see the "give me you vote and I'll give you a handout" pandering to public unions extreme.
The progressives have defined "extreme" in the context that what they are doing is NOT extreme. They are the ones violating basic common-sense morality in an extreme fashion.
Apparently Michael1969 - is one of the unemployed.
I'd feel sorry for him except that he's probably unemployed because he spent his entire workday blogging his pathetic idiotic political stances.
Vote "YES" - OBAMA/BIDEN 2012 (the party of caring and understanding)
VOTE "NO" to the Romney Republican/Taliban Party (the party of HATERs)
Oh I think there is enough blame to go around for why the US is in the predicament it is... dems, repubs alike are to blame.
Looks like all we are really teaching in this country is finger pointing.
BTW... Bill Clinton was IMPEACHED for his lack of morals and ethics. Not exactly my idea of a perfect role model. But hey - this is the party of free birth control and unlimited abortions for all!
Pat, your statement about Clinton is as empty as your head. Unlimited abortions for all? In what corner of your deluded mind do you keep that crap?
The only thing you morons have against Clinton is Monica: Clinton left the biggest surplus in a century: Monica. Clinton left us a healthy economy: Monica. Clinton left us a country at peace: Monica. Clinton created millions of jobs: Monica.
He was not impeached for his lack of morals, he was impeached for a sexual escapade which compared to the ones in the GOP (with boys) is just a small pecadillo. The hate the GOP felt for Clinton is the same hate they feel for Obama, which only proves how small and petty you are, putting your hate ahead of country.
pat, Clinton getting a bj in the oval office, so what, old news, who cares, al little Penis Envy?
Obama 2012
The repukes continue to say inflammatory things to rowd up the rest of the loonies in there party, they continue to lie and even when given the truth they ignore that and double down on there ignorance. I wonder what planet some of these people are from.
Y'all need to ignore Michael; he's a troll and you just expend your energy and encourage him by responding in any manner whatever. He won't go away (probably because he's paid), but his day will be ruined if you don't respond.
Paid? Like FuzzyRedSnatch from Roselle?
kc, such a clever putz, mom must be very proud of you.
Obama 2012
How are you any better as you do the same thing? Anyone but Obama anytime, anywhere.
And Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid are such middle of the road Liberals. LMFAO.
and bush and cheney, ryan, mcdonnell, boehner, cantor, bachmann, issa, king, west, akin, demint, rubio, hatch, are middle of the road republicans, lmfao, hahahahahaha. Silly twit.
Obama 2012