Bill Clinton Interview in Sunday Times (Iraq: Hang Around & Make It Work?)

[Hissyspit]

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2092-1723872_1,00.html

- snip -

These days Clinton is positively uxorious. “Gosh,” he glows about Hillary, “she’s done a brilliant job in the Senate and I’m really proud of her.” If she wants to run for president — and only the Clintons are still saying “if” rather than when — “whatever it is, I’m for her”.

- snip -

There are few swing votes in Bush-bashing and, as ever with Clinton, he has the great gift of believing, perfectly genuinely, what suits him politically. If Hillary wins the 2008 Democratic nomination, she won’t be facing Bush in battle, so why bother to take him on?
Her biggest challenge will be to persuade Americans that she has what it takes to be a commander-in-chief. Already, Clinton is positioning her to criticise the war in Iraq from the right.

“Clearly in theory I’d like it if we had fewer troops in Iraq,” he says, at a time when the Pentagon is talking about bringing some home, “but there are a lot of people — 58% of them — who want their enterprise in self-government to succeed. They voted in reliance of the action we’ve taken. So I think we ought to hang around and try to make it work.”

- snip -

He is impressed, he says, by Hillary’s ability to work on cross-party issues with right-wing senators. “In a time when the atmosphere has been so hostile and partisan to me, I think they just got to know her as a person. They see her all day, every day. It’s easier to dehumanise somebody when you are distant from them. She is basically a really good person, and most of them are too.”

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[punpirate]

1. Umm, Bill, the polls say that...

... an even larger percentage than that 58% want us to leave their country and the sooner, the better.

And most of those right-wingers are sleazy bastards. If Hillary gets the nomination, they won't be saying, "She is basically a really good person." They'll be sharpening the knives. They're the same people who sent Ken Starr after both you and your wife.

[KharmaTrain]

2. And There's Plenty Of Us Who Aren't Sold On Hillary

While I love it when the wingnuts go into orbit with the thought of Hillary running (and I hope they stay that way), there's no way, at this point, I'd be supporting Mrs. Clinton. Not based on gender, purely the games that seem to be going on with the Clintons and their support for this invasion.

Fortunately 2008 is far out of my view right now...2006 rapidly approaches and there are House and Senate seats that need to be taken...and are far more important than a Hillary watch/will she/won't she game.

[Caleb]

3. First Gentleman Bill Clinton

Has a nice ring to it!

[sandnsea]

4. For the record

"hang around and try to make it work" is as repugnant as anything George Bush has said about the war. The troops are NOT "hangin' around", chillin', trying to make a go of a new TCBY. Two people talk about this war in a way that will get Iraq stable and us home, Wes Clark and John Kerry. Everybody else is a complete dufus on the subject, in one way or another.

hang around and try to make it work, the fucking gaul of him to say that.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

8. How long was he deprived of oxygen anyhoo??

[OneBlueSky]

5. sorry, Bill . . . you're FOS on this one . . .

(for the uninitiated, that's "full of shit"). . .

you can't invade a country on totally trumped up pretenses, proceed to destroy it, contaminate it, steal its resources and its heritage, and kill thousands upon thousands of its people, and then "hang around and try to make it work" . . .

all you can do is withdraw, apologize profoundly, and give the Iraqis funds to rebuild their own nation . . . as opposed to giving billions to Halliburton and Bechtel to pretend to rebuild their nation . . .

[xchrom]

6. blech!

:puke:

[ngGale]

7. Yep, Bill is FOS on the war issue ...

he's just working for Hillary. They tried to sell Iraq to Bill, I wouldn't think he forgot about that. He was smart enough not to go for it, so why not say it except for protection of Hillary. Argg!

[Andromeda]

10. Did I miss something?

So Hillary is responsible for the Iraq war now?

Gee, who would've thought...

[Bluebear]

9. "Hang around"? This is not a mall or McDonald's, Mr. Clinton

Sorry, this is a stupid thing to say, especially after losing 30+ troops this week.