Delftsman

Legacies..

Just the other day, I was informed that I was one of those that had my head in the sand concerning how evil and engaged in illegalities that President Bush is.
They furthur lauded President Clinton as one of the finest Presidents in history.

Ever one to be willing to concede that my personal biases just might color my opinions, I did some research and to my dismay discovered that President Clinton and his Administration did indeed set some high records for a Presidental term in office.

Here's the short list of Firsts/malfeasance records set in that time:

RECORDS SET:

- The only president ever impeached on grounds of personal malfeasance
- Most number of convictions and guilty pleas by friends and associates*
- Most number of cabinet officials to come under criminal investigation
- Most number of witnesses to flee country or refuse to testify
- Most number of witnesses to die suddenly
- First president sued for sexual harassment.
- First president accused of rape.
- First first lady to come under criminal investigation
- Largest criminal plea agreement in an illegal campaign contribution case
- First president to establish a legal defense fund.
- First president to be held in contempt of court
- Greatest amount of illegal campaign contributions
- Greatest amount of illegal campaign contributions from abroad

* According to the best information, 40 government officials were indicted or convicted in the wake of Watergate. A read of teh records imputes that there was a total of 31 Reagan era convictions, including 14 because of Iran-Contra and 16 in the Department of Housing & Urban Development scandal. 47 individuals and businesses associated with the Clinton machine were convicted of or pleaded guilty to crimes with 33 of these occurring during the Clinton administration itself. There were in addition 61 indictments or misdemeanor charges. 14 persons were imprisoned. A key difference between the Clinton story and earlier ones was the number of criminals with whom he was associated before entering the White House.

Now the Progressive will claim that this record is due to Republican "witch hunts" in their hatred of Bubba and Shillery, but the sheer range and magnitude of the charges/indictments/convictions would lead a reasonable person to at least start to question the true legacy that President Clinton will come to bear.

There is an old adage that "where there is smoke there is fire", and it's usually been proven true with the hindsight of history. This next Presidential cycle may prove to be really interesting. Hillery may have more trouble than she's counting on. If nothing else her past record of her stands taken during her husbands administration belie her current attempt to move more to the center.

Kerry found to his chagrin that the American people respect a person for maintaining his core beliefs more than one who conveniently changes positions as the public mood does. They may not like the position, but they respect the person who stands firm for one.

Posted by Delftsman3 at September 19, 2005 04:49 PM | TrackBack