I had no idea: Ken Starr spent $30 million taxpayer dollars during the 1990's...

[Writer]

in order to give some Obama supporters talking points to use against Hillary Clinton in her 2008 election bid. I am rather impressed with how valuable our investment was! They're useful by Republicans and Democrats alike. Why do they need to do their own opposition research when Ken Starr so conveniently investigated the Clintons for them?

In fact, if you look online, you might find one of the best resources for someone trying to knock down Hillary Clinton: the Starr Report. Inside you'll find all sorts of goodies. For instance, remember Bill Clinton's cigar? That's a GREAT way to vet Hillary Clinton as president. Or how about Monica Lewinsky's "under-the-desk" services? Wow. Now I truly understand why Hillary Clinton can't be president.

$30 million dollars may seem like a lot of money, but compared to what Bush is spending in Iraq each day, it's just a drop in the bucket. Who knew that such a small amount of money could yield a bounty of so many non-issue, distracting talking points?

I'm truly envious that I didn't reap the rewards. I mean, really.

:eyes:

~Writer~

[Autumn]

1. That figure seems low

I thought it was around 80 million.:shrug:

[Writer]

2. I have no idea.

Quite a yield on investment, nonetheless. Political capital that stretches over decades, apparently.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

7. you're closer.... I believe it was $75 million Mr Starr spent on nothing.

[Autumn]

19. What is so wrong,

is that we could spend 5 bucks on investigating bush and come up with enough to have him in the Hague for a long time.

[leftofcool]

3. Lot of money to investigate a blow job

[zbdent]

21. no ... a lot of money to investigate "illegal activities" and "murders"

and all they got was an intern giving him a blowjob ...

[olkaz]

4. Jesus, I didn't realize it cost so much for Bill to cheat on his wife and perjure himself.

Whole thing could have been avoided if he had admitted it early.

So there's that.

[JoFerret]

6. Hello house republican

wake up!

[olkaz]

10. I'm sorry, am I supposed to be happy he did it?

He admitted to it. This isn't news. He also committed perjury. I didn't make him do it. How am I supposed to wake up? Am I dreaming? Is this not the objective truth?

Clinton initiated the whole thing by cheating on his wife. Blame the Republicans and Ken Starr all you want, but Bill did what they accused him of.

Sorry, but to me, dragging your party through one of ugliest scandals in my lifetime isn't worth putting him in the position to do it again.

[Writer]

13. olkaz, Dick Armey himself admitted that they put Bill Clinton on the stand...

as a perjury trap. To put him in such a politically challenging situation that the only option was to lie and hope they didn't have any direct evidence. They did, hence the trap.

Their entire goal was to entrap Clinton into lying about something they were all guilty of.

It's too bad there aren't a few hundred more stained blue dresses out there - then we'd see some REAL justice.








I can't believe I'm having to explain this to a fellow Democrat.

[olkaz]

16. "I can't believe I'm having to explain this to a fellow Democrat."

Here's the thing. Many of your fellow Democrats didn't like having to defend their president in the face of the indefensible. I, personally, don't think it's too much to ask that our politicians conduct themselves morally 24/7. There's too much riding on it. And if I can do it, jesus, Bill Clinton should be able to do it.

And honestly, it affected the 2000 election. Florida would have never been an issue had it not been for Lewinsky.

Trap or no trap, the objective truth is that he risked our party and our issues for his own personal enjoyment. That's not much of a commitment to me.

And one other thing: There are a great deal of Democrats that didn't live the high life during the Clinton years. Things were very hard in my area. The scandal was the icing on the cake.

[Harry Monroe]

17. I know I'm gonna get flamed for this, but in some ways I agree with you!!

He was not impeached for cheating on his wife, he was impeached for perjury. That being said, it was a complete hatchet job and hit by the Republicans. Everyone in the country knew that he had cheated, so what was the big deal with him just coming clean and apologizing?? I would have had much more respect for the man had he simply said to the grand jury "Yes, I cheated on Hillary. Everyone here knows it, but it is a personal matter between myself, my family and my God." If he had simply said that, instead of committing perjury, then there would have been absolutely no issue. It would have been the smartest thing to do and would have stopped the whole damn thing in its tracks. Perjury is perjury is perjury no matter the subject matter.

But, in retrospect, it is small potatoes in comparison with what Bush has done. How many more lies do we have to hear from this Administration?? What is the threshold before his lying to the American public becomes worthy of impeachment hearings?? The Republicans set the bar pretty low on impeachment, I guess we'll have to get Bush lying about his sex life before any of his lies rise to the "high" bar set by the Republicans on impeachable offenses. If this Congress had any moral values and decency whatsoever, this president would have been held accountable for his actions and duly impeached and removed from office by now. But alas, the Republican controlled Congress we had before our spineless Democratic majority came to "power" were nothing but a bunch of hypocrites, holding a Democratic president to one standard and a Republican president to another, even though the Republican president's lies have caused the deaths of tens of thousands in Iraq and his lawbreaking and dismissal of the Constitution have taken this country down the "slippery slope" to totalitarianism.

[JoFerret]

18. The house republicans SAID

they felt the same way. Strangely enough....

(I am not sure you grasp the complexity.)

[Harry Monroe]

22. And furthermore, I do agree with others here that it was a trap

The Republicans were desperate to pin anything on B. Clinton and no subject was offlimits for them. That Clinton was impeached over an affair that had NOTHING to do with our security or public welfare is ample proof of that. I was very disappointed in Clinton in that he walked right into the perjury trap . I really thought he was smarter than that. But the fact of the matter is that once he perjured himself, he was fair game. He should have seen that coming, but Bill always tried to have it both ways, one perfect example being the stupid "I didn't inhale" remark. If he had just admitted to smoking the evil weed (and who among us here wants to cast the first stone) in his youth, the issue would have died a quick death. Gore and Gingrich have both owned up to a little toking in their youth, and most people have forgotten about that. Hell, even Obama admitted to drug use in his youthful days. But Bill Clinton's remark will always be remembered, not because he took a few bong hits during his formative years, but because of the remark and trying to have it both ways. It's what people will always remember and it is what always infuriated and annoyed people about him. I prefer politicians to just come clean. We are all adults here, yet they insist on treating us like children who cannot handle the truth.

[joeybee12]

25. No, Starr initiated it with the Whitewater investigaton, and when he found

nothing, he went after Monica...the 2 were not related, but Starr was determined to find something somewhere.

[Writer]

26. Actually Starr went after Paula Jones...

and to prove that Clinton was a philanderer, he cross-examined him about Monica Lewinsky.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

8. Linda Tripp is that you?

[dsc]

9. evidently you slept through the last decades

Starr's investigation started not one, not two, but three whole years before Clinton met Lewinski and was supposed to be confined to Whitewater. Obviously it wasn't.

[Writer]

11. It started with Whitewater...

then move on to the Travel Office firings...

then it moved on to Paula Jones (right?)...

which led to Monica Lewinsky...

which finally led to the tawdry Starr Report.

[dsc]

15. my point is that starr would have spent all that money and then some

Monica or no Monica.

[Hangingon]

Almost all special prosecutors have spent tens on millions and

have almost nothing to show for the money.

[demo dutch]

5. It's more like 40 to 50 million

[lwcon]

12. It's called unity, baby!

We're reaching across the aisle to the "party of ideas."

___

The Vast Left-Wing Conspiracy, now at my new home: Correntewire.com

[bigtree]

14. set him up for impeachment by turning an investigation of a failed land deal that LOST money

. . . into an investigation of a private affair. Chilling.

[rodeodance]

24. the RW was out to smear the Clintons and pancy dems went along with it --now BHO fans

use the material.

BHO fans are turning out to be RW'ers themselves!--to smear another Democrat!

[blm]

20. You BOUGHT that dog and pony show? When Starr and others got into Rose Law Firm, you believed

they were actually there to pore over Whitewater dealings?

Right. And the fact that Rose Law Firm's biggest client was GHWBush's crony Jackson Stephens who BROUGHT the BCCI bank into this country was no red flag to you?

Dog and pony show - You think Clintons didn't accept that Whitewater would be USED as cover while Jackson Stephens' files were being scrubbed? All those dealings for WalMart, Chinese industrialists, GHWBush, Dubai and Saudi royals weren't targeted for a massive scrubbing?

You think Whitewater files even contained 4 months worth of scrutiny, let alone 4 years?

[LSK]

23. welcome to the General if Hillary gets the nom

This stuff will be repeated over and over by Rush, Hannity and company.

[Bluebear]

27. Well, check out what gets posted at DU these days>>>>>>>>>>

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x5727039#5727858

[Writer]

28. ...

((speechless))

[Bluebear]

29. :nodding:

[JuniperLea]

31. :sighing in agreement: eom

[Jamastiene]

30. Well said.

Recommended and :kick:

[Mezzo]

32. that's because it was 70 million.

[Melinda]

33. Which is why the GOP is *salivating* at the prospect of runnimg McLame vs HRC

Whitewater, Travelgate, Vince Foster, Rose Law firm and those investments, and then staying married to a man who perjured himself while serving as chief executive law enforcement officer of the US govt, Norman Hsu (indicted this past 12/08 and soon to go on trial)... why, it's the proverbial smorgasboard and the gift that just keeps on giving as far as the RW is concerned.

:eyes:

[Tennessee Gal]

34. It is truly disgusting to find Democrats on DU dissing

the Clintons with the same BS that Ken Starr and the right wing zealots did. I am appalled to read this crap here.

I really thought better of Democrats.

I guess that is okay here on DU if you are an Obama supporter.