Former president Bill Clinton called Congress' impeachment of him an "egregious" abuse of the Constitution and challenged those who say history will judge him poorly because of his White House tryst with Monica Lewinsky.
That's right. There's plenty of other things to judge him poorly for. Where do I start?Speaking at an academic conference examining his presidency here Thursday, Clinton challenged historian Douglas Brinkley's comments in a newspaper interview that Clinton would be deemed a great president were it not for his impeachment.
But for the wrong reason. This man has the brass-balled effrontery to suggest that he really was a great President. He wants to claim credit for Middle East peace initiatives (regardless of their abject failure), and "turning around the economy" (as if Reagan's policies, the end of the Cold War and Bush 41's paying the bill for the S&L fiasco had nothing to do with it). And that's not to mention the cancers that he let grow that metastasized into 9/11.Oh yeah, the impeachment was "about a blowjob"? If it was trivial, why did our erstwhile law professor lie about it? Protecting his wife, my eye - you do that by keeping your hands to yourself. Or at least by being more selective - all those women in Washington and elsewhere and he couldn't find someone with some discretion? Hint - try someone who can abstain from showing off her thong for a meeting or two.
But oh no - he played chicken with Ken Starr, he lost, and then claimed it was Starr who lacked discretion.
The fact is that he knew his sleaziness was a big deal with the electorate, which is why he made such a big show of going to church, sending goons after his "bimbo eruptions" and otherwise being phony. His only enduring legacy will be how he and his minions cheapened public discourse just to spare his degenerate carcass from a fate better than what he deserved.
