Village voice: "Addressing a sea of supporters in Philadelphia at a midday rally, Bill Clinton scathingly attacked George Bush for trying to use the threat of terrorism to scare people away from voting. Clinton and Kerry, who spoke afterward, faced a crowd of at least 4,000" - just in Love Park! "Thousands more stretched back into the city as far as five blocks. Organizers said the crowds were as large as those when the pope gave mass in Philadelphia several years ago. There were seemingly hundreds of people in wheelchairs, people sporting Clinton-Gore buttons, and thousands of African Americans. Latinos were a heavy presence as well. Two speakers addressed the crowd in Spanish." A local news report put the total turnout at OVER 100,000!

Reuters: "Former President Bill Clinton, who is recovering from heart bypass surgery, will campaign with Democratic Sen. John Kerry next week in the critical battleground state of Pennsylvania. At a campaign rally in Dayton, Ohio, on Tuesday night, Kerry said he spoke to Clinton briefly by telephone before the event, and that the former president had offered him words of encouragement in his neck-and-neck race against Republican President Bush "We were talking about how when the other guys are trying to label you and make you into something you're not," Kerry told several thousand supporters. "And Bill Clinton and I were talking, and he said, 'You know, when the other guy wants you to stop thinking and he's trying to scare you into not thinking, and you want Americans to think about their future, it's pretty clear who you ought to be voting for."'

George Harrison's sister Lou Harrison was planning to donate some precious Beatle memorabilia to the Clinton Library in Little Rock, AK because, says, Lou ""I feel that really, Clinton is the Beatle president," Harrison said. "There's not enough things to leave for my grandchildren. So I thought maybe if I could house them at the Clinton Library, where they could be on display, that all the Beatle people could enjoy seeing them." But someone somehow obviously learned of Harrison's planned contribution because as she was taking materials into the library, someoine broke into her car and stole many irreplaceable items. Conspiracy theorists already suspect Repug operatives.

During the GOP Convention, Bill Clinton made one of the most powerful condemnations EVER of Bush. Yet not a peep from the 'liberal' US media. The Australian reports: "Speaking before his recent health scare, the former president accused Chief Justice Rehnquist of deliberately politicising the system of appointing independent investigators, leading to years of relentless, politically motivated inquiries into his presidency. Clinton dropped the affection with which he usually discusses Reagan and the civility he affords the current President to accuse both men of deliberately using racist electoral appeals to win the White House. Clinton said Rehnquist, Reagan and Bush were part of a far-Right branch of the Republican Party made up of the 'spiritual heirs' of white southern racists, who still used the tactics of personal destruction employed by racists in their campaign to block civil rights for blacks."

UPDATE from AP: "Former President Bill Clinton was moved to an operating room early Monday and doctors began preparing him for a heart bypass operation, a hospital source told The Associated Press. Preparations began at about 6:45 a.m. in an operating room at New York Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia in upper Manhattan, said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The operation was expected to last until noon or early afternoon.The surgical team was being led by Dr. Craig R. Smith, chief of cardiothoracic surgery, the source said. The former president and his family issued a statement on the Clinton Foundation's Web site on Sunday, saying they felt "blessed and grateful for the thousands of prayers and messages of good will we have received these past few days." Over the weekend, 26,000 get-well messages poured to the Web site, Clinton spokesman Jim Kennedy said."

Guardian: "Former US President Bill Clinton was today admitted to hospital for heart surgery, US news networks reported tonight. Mr Clinton was understood to be undergoing tests at the Columbia Presbyterian Hospital in New York ahead of quadruple heart bypass surgery. A spokesman for Mr Clinton, 58, was not immediately available for comment. According to reports, Mr Clinton went to a hospital near his home in Westchester, New York state, in recent days suffering from chest pains. He was then transferred to the hospital in New York City. According to ABC News, Mr Clinton may face quadruple bypass surgery at the hospital, which is considered as one of the leading institutions in the US. "

Any hope the GOP had of Clinton's appearance throwing a "shadow" over Kerry can be kissed goodbye! Here's what the Big Dog had to say about Kerry: "John Kerry knows who he is and where he's going. He has the experience, the character, the ideas and the values to be a great President. In a time of change he has two other important qualities: his insatiable curiosity to understand the forces shaping our lives, and a willingness to hear the views even of those who disagree with him. Therefore his choices will be full of both conviction and common sense." Clinton also made a point about the Repug modus operandi we must never forget: "Since most Americans are not that far to the right, they have to portray us Democrats as unacceptable, lacking in strength and values. In other words, the Republicans need a divided America." Here's the full text of Clinton's speech.

"One of the reasons he [Kenneth Starr] got away with it is because people like you [corporate wonk "journalists"]...You gave him a complete free ride. Any abuse they wanted to do. They indicted all these little people from Arkansas, what did you care about them, they're not famous, who cares that their life was trampled. Who cares that their children are humiliated. Nobody in your line of work cared a rip about that at the time. Why, because he was helping their story. And that's why people like you always help the far-right, because you like to hurt people...Look, you made a decision to allocate your time in a certain way, you should take responsibility for that, you should say 'yes, I care much more about this than whether the Bosnian people were saved, and whether he brought a million home from Kosovo'." Go Bill Go!!!!!

The Bushie media, especially its army of rabid rightwing talk show hosts is savaging Clinton - furious, of course, that, as ever, he proves that he has the charisma and personal power Bush could never hope to have. But the Bushies use vicious smears with no rational merit in their anti-Clinton arguments. Here, John Kerry's campaign uses JUST THE FACTS to show the excrutiatingly painful difference between the failed Bush administration and the highly successful Clinton administration. Clinton's achievements are esp. amazing when you consider that he made them while persecuted every step of the way by rightwing sickies like Ken Starr and his "masters."

Despite the efforts by the GOP, Freepers, Bushie corporate media (using "unbiased reviews") and vicious rightwing radio pundits to quash it, Clinton's book is taking off like a rocket! "It's like adult Harry Potter mania. We haven't seen anything like this since J.K. Rowling came here," said Michael Link, a bookseller for Politics & Prose, a Washington-based store that will stay open late Monday night and begin selling "My Life" at midnight Tuesday. Sixteen franchises of the Borders superstore chain will stay open past midnight. Barnes & Noble also will begin selling "My Life" at midnight, at one franchise each in New York and Washington." Bush corporate front group Citizens United, in cahoots with CBS (which has blocked so-called "advocacy ads" by liberals), are running an anti-Clinton advocacy ad during the 60 Minutes interview with Clinton.

As a core of Democratic partisans cheer the return of their champion, Bill Clinton, to the limelight in time to pitch in on the campaign trail, many of his old antagonists are gearing up again...Citizens United â?? a conservative lobbying group whose president, David Bossie, Mr. Clinton writes, helped to foment the Whitewater scandal â?? bought advertising time in several markets during Mr. Clinton's interview on "60 minutes" to argue that the former president was responsible for failing to prevent the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks...In the buildup to the release of "My Life," the talk radio host Rush Limbaugh, another villain of Mr. Clinton's narrative, has begun calling the book "My Lie." ...In the conservative Weekly Standard, Fred Barnes, the executive editor, called Mr. Clinton "Calvin Coolidge without the ethics and self-restraint

In an exclusive interview, Bill Clinton recounted to the UK "Guardian" how Nelson Mandela counselled him through the Monica Lewinsky scandal, helping him to survive the ordeal that nearly saw him removed from office. "[Mandela] told me he forgave his oppressors because if he didn't they would have destroyed him," Mr Clinton said. "He said: 'You know, they already took everything. They took the best years of my life; I didn't get to see my children grow up. They destroyed my marriage. They abused me physically and mentally. They could take everything except my mind and heart. Those things I would have to give away and I decided not to give them away.' And then he said 'Neither should you'. "[Mandela] said when he was finally set free he felt all that anger welling up again and he said: 'They've already had me for 27 years ... I had to let it go'."

NY Times: "The book provides an intimate glimpse not only of Mr. Clinton's struggle with the affair and the impeachment battle that followed, but also of eight eventful years in the White House, an improbable childhood and a precocious political career in Arkansas. The book is sprawling, undisciplined and idiosyncratic in its choice of emphasis. It devotes nearly 100 pages to his childhood but treats large spans of his presidency as a travelogue of campaign cities and foreign capitals...The book's length gives the former president plenty of room to settle scores, and he does so with his customary elan. He takes the whip to Republicans in Congress; Louis J. Freeh, the former F.B.I. director; the National Rifle Association; and even the Supreme Court, which ruled unanimously in 1997 that Paula Jones's sexual harassment case against him could go forward while he was in office."

BBC: "Many obituaries have highlighted [Reagan's] sunny charm and good humour, while others have credited him with helping to end the Cold War, restore America's confidence in itself and 'get government off people's back', as he himself would have put it. But critics point out that there was another side to his presidency - record budget deficits, economic pressure on the middle class, human rights abuses in Central America, and the Iran-Contra scandal. Correctives are being issued even to the claim that he was the most popular president in modern history." In fact, Reagan, as it turns out, was less popular than his two successors: "Gallup poll data suggest that he was roughly as popular as Bill Clinton over time - with President Clinton running slightly higher approval ratings than Reagan during the second half of each man's presidency." Quite a different story from the BS being dished up by rightwingers this week.

Former President Clinton...speaking at his office in Harlem, said he didn't think Kerry was running "too safe a campaign"...by failing to exploit increasing skepticism about Bush's handling of the war. "He's the candidate for president, he's not somebody that's supposed to give day-by-day commentary on events," Clinton said. "He's made quite clear what he believes about the major issues in the news today, and I think he's shown a certain reticence." The former president said that "given the seriousness of the problems we face in the world today, I think it's been quite appropriate." Clinton, talking to reporters, said Kerry should be focused on letting "the American people get to know him, who he is, what he's for, what he wants to do, and then clarify, on his terms, the differences between himself and the president."

UK Independent: "The final sentence of his memoirs completed, Bill Clinton is back, ripping into President George Bush's handling of the crisis in Iraq, and signalling that he intends to play a role in the race for the White House. Liberated from literature, the old master is limbering up anew for political action."

"The honorary title of Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports has been reserved for members of the country's nobility since ancient times, but that could be about to change. The position has remained vacant since the death in 2002 of the Queen Mother, who served as the last warden to the association of 14 ports. Joe Trussler, the speaker of the Cinque Ports and the Mayor of Sandwich, has asked the Queen and the Prime Minister to consider a number of public figures, including Bill Clinton, John Major and Nelson Mandela, for the post." Clinton and Mandela we can understand. But what is Major's claim to fame, aside from being one of the heads of BioPort? BioPort is currently making a killing - literally - off the mandatory vaccination of US troops through its collusion with the Bush Pentagon.

In an interview with American Prospect editor Mike Tomasky, Bill Clinton said, "This is a contact sport. They're supposed to try to beat us. Now, they do things by and large that we don't think are legitimate. And lord knows they did while I was president. But ... nobody gags us! The press has moved way, way, way to the right. And the mainstream press was incredibly supine in the face of all this secrecy, you know, covering up the [Ronald] Reagan and [George] Bush [Senior] records, covering up the [Miguel] Estrada legal opinions, covering up the 9-11 report, covering up the global-warming deal and the air-quality issue down there [in lower Manhattan]. And it all started with putting the governor's records in the Bush presidential library. And [the press] just laid down and let it happen. But we don't have to contribute to it." You GO, Bill!

"Bill Clinton seized the Democratic stage Saturday night, offering one of his strongest denunciations of Bush since leaving office as he tried to rally Democrats here around candidates. Speaking without notes or a prepared text, Clinton invoked the circumstances of the 2000 presidential election as he argued that the Bush administration had squandered the domestic and foreign policy gains he had made in his eight years in office. "That election was not a mandate for radical change, but that is what we got," Clinton said. "We went from surplus to deficit, from job gain to job loss, from a reduction in poverty to an increase in poverty, from a reduction in people without health insurance to an increase of people without health insurance." In the days after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, Bush squandered global good will, said Clinton. "Instead of uniting the world, we alienated it." You GO, Bill!

"It's the birthday of former president Bill Clinton, born in Hope, Arkansas (1946). In 1988 he was chosen to introduce Michael Dukakis at the Democratic National Convention in Atlanta. It was supposed to be Clinton's big break, but it turned into a big belly flop on national TV. Clinton [realized from the start that the speech was doomed. Clinton ignored signs to cut it short -- when] he said the words "and in conclusion" and the place erupted in mock cheers... A few nights later Clinton went on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, who] joked that Clinton should be approved by the surgeon general as an over-the-counter sleep aid. But Clinton turned the joke around by making fun of himself. He said the speech "had not been my finest hour, not even my finest hour and a half." He played the saxophone with the band, and within the year he started building for his 1992 campaign." Send him your birthday greetings at info@clintonpresidentialcenter.com

The psychic heart of the conference was Bill Clinton. "He was in campaign mode but without the restraints of campaign mode. While there was clear bitterness on his part toward the successor who had rushed 'to undo everything I'd done,' and the Republicans who 'will run over you unless you beat their brains out,' there was a feisty humor too. [Clinton kept referring to the media as the 'supine' media, pointing out that when Bush insulted Helen Thomas, no one stood up and walked out. The media was going to have to 'go to the meat locker and take out its brains and critical skills.' When a Bush-Cheney 2004 Chairman said he was offended by Clinton's partisanship, Clinton, without hesitation,] said, 'Good!' From there, Clinton went on, with emotion and anger, at a level seemingly foreign to most everyone here, to rip to shreds the motives, values, and legitimacy of the Republicans."

Richard Cohen writes, "Isn't it just plain mysterious that Newt Gingrich continues to get respectful media attention when, really, on a given day he is half-mad and almost always blowing smoke? The same could be asked of Tom DeLay, who revived impeachment when the effort flagged for lack of compelling evidence and was determined to smash Clinton -- never mind what else he would destroy in the process. Yet he and other Clinton-haters wander the streets of Washington, unscarred, uncensored but, nonetheless, unhinged. The virtue of Blumenthal's book is that it assembles in one place what happened in Washington during the Clinton years. If you are not already convinced that Clinton was guilty of multiple crimes, then Blumenthal will make you wonder all over again about how partisan politics, even cultural disagreements, got so out of hand that the government wound up in the pornography business. The Starr Report. Wrap it in plain paper, please."

Molly Ivins writes, "I had to force myself to start [Sidney] Blumenthal's book, 'The Clinton Wars,' because I'm still exhausted from the whole megillah, but then I couldn't stop reading it. It's perversely fascinating. The year this country wasted on the impeachment was the most tawdry, the nastiest, the ugliest, the sorriest chapter I've ever seen in politics... That [Clinton's] presidency could have been so seriously damaged by what was, in fact, a vast right-wing conspiracy is a horrible indictment of politics in our time. The most depressing thing about Blumenthal's book is that it keeps reminding you that these nasty little ideological zealots set out from Day One to commit the Politics of Personal Destruction. They had no honor, and they had no shame. They were just out to get him any way they could, and when sex proved a convenient route, they used it -- hypocrisy, be damned... We should all be required to read this book."

Blumenthal: "Starr decided to indict me. Control over the press was essential to his investigation because it was a political operation he was illegally leaking to the press. It's illegal under the Code of Federal Prosecutors to give to the press information that has been or might be presented to the grand jury. He was using that sort of information, or what he purported to be that information, to mesmerize the press into publishing articles that were driving the Clinton White House to the wall and really trying to force the President to resign."

AP reports: "Clinton suggested that Bush's priorities are fighting terrorism, not domestic issues. The Bush administration, Clinton said, 'is still focused on defeating terrorism and weapons of mass destruction, and that's good, but not good enough. The power of our example is just as important as our military might.' Clinton also took aim at the growing budget deficit and Bush's tax cut proposals... Sunday's crowd at Tougaloo made it plain who many of them would like to see in the White House... Clinton... also took time to take a jab at Sen. Trent Lott... Referring to the 134-year-old college's need to raise money to renovate its old buildings, Clinton suggested that Lott might want to help them raise money to make up for his remarks. 'Ask Lott to give you the money for the buildings. He said he was going to spend the rest of his life making up for the little trouble he had.'"

The Mississippifarian writes, "Sidney Blumenthal's 'The Clinton Wars' has been serialized by Salon. Here are ten reasons why you should watch Salon's 'commercial' and then read the installments. All of them (one, two, three, four, five - click the links). 1. He related a conversation he had had with Senator Alan Simpson, the Republican from Wyoming, who was retiring. 'You know there's nothing wrong that Hillary and I did in Whitewater,' Clinton told him. 'Of course,' Simpson replied. 'We all know there's nothing there. It was just politics. And it just got out of hand.' 2. Chief Justice Rehnquist...had been chilly and inexpressive toward the president throughout the morning. He was grim while swearing in Clinton to his second term, with Hillary holding the Bible. Now Rehnquist turned to speak to him. 'Good luck,' he said. 'You'll need it.' 'They're going to screw you on the Paula Jones case,' Hillary said." That was the understatement of the decade...

In an excerpt from his new book, "The Clinton Wars", Sid Blumenthal writes: "Clinton was frustrated but almost philosophical about the pseudoscandals. He knew that the Republicans knew they had been ginned up for political effect -- and the Republicans knew that he knew that they knew. He related a conversation he had had with Senator Alan Simpson, the Republican from Wyoming, who was retiring. 'You know there's nothing wrong that Hillary and I did in Whitewater,' Clinton told him. 'Of course,' Simpson replied. 'We all know there's nothing there. It was just politics. And it just got out of hand.'" And then there are Chief Injustice Rehnquist words to Clinton at the '96 inauguration, "Good Luck. You'll need it."

NYDN reports, "Bill Clinton double-dissed Bush last night, saying his successor in the White House has bungled handling the US economy and the crisis over Iraq. Clinton, who drew standing ovations from a packed auditorium at the 92nd Street Y on the upper East Side, criticized the administration's economic policies as 'wrongheaded' and getting worse. He said the 2001 tax cut turned the surplus he left into a 'massive deficit... And now they want to give another tax cut. It doesn't make sense. We shouldn't do it now. It's against arithmetic.'... Right after winning UN Security Council support in November for weapons inspections, the White House 'sent 150,000 troops to the gulf, which convinced everybody we weren't serious about UN inspections. That's how we got into this political mess.' The US should be strengthening the UN and other 'mechanisms of cooperation,' Clinton said. 'We need to be creating a world that we would like to live in when we're not the biggest power on the block.'"

Steve Ricchetti writes, "Charles Krauthammer's column blaming all the world's problems on former president Bill Clinton [op-ed, Feb. 14] echoes attacks by ultraconservative writers and regurgitates their anti-Clinton bile to distort history." Ricchetti sets the record straight on Iraq, North Korea, terrorism, and the Balkans. "From the first President Bush, Clinton inherited a brewing genocide in the Balkans, growing tension in the Middle East, a standoff in Northern Ireland, unrest in Haiti, an unstable situation in Russia, a healthy and dangerous Saddam Hussein in Iraq, and an emerging terrorist threat. It's not former president Bush's fault that these crises carried over, and Clinton certainly didn't spend the next two years blaming his predecessor for them." You go, Steve!

"Clinton: 'Well-they have a much better media machine than we do. They worked on it for 30 years, and they've got it. They've got everything from the Heritage Foundation, to sympathetic newspapers, to sympathetic cable programs, that are heavily-weighted in their favor.' Couric: 'Hey, they might say, 'Hey, everybody else is liberal.' Clinton: 'Yeah, but - they say that. But that hasn't been true for a long, long time. And - there are five people in America with more than two hours on radio. Who are they? Howard Stern. Near as I can tell, old Howard's not political...Don Imus, who's more Republican than Democrat. And the other three are Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly, and Sean Hannity. Who are very outspoken, and - on the right wing of the Republican Party - that's fine. But, that makes the point I'm trying to make. We don't have that. So that means we have to be more disciplined, more clear, more focused. And it's just harder to do. But our guys will be fine.'"

Do you remember the good old days under President Clinton, the last elected President? The economy had its biggest growth ever, the environment was becoming cleaner, many countries were signing peace treaties and reductions of weapons treaties, unemployment was below 4%, abortion declined 8 years in a row, crime decreased 8 years in a row. Since the stolen election, the US has been attacked on our home soil, the ecomony tanked, unemployment is through the roof, we are in a never ending war, countries- including the US are pulling out of treaties for no other reason than they feel like it (if the US can do it, why can't North Korea, Russia, Iraq, Iran or anyone else?) And to all of the pro-lifers- abortion is on the rise again thanks to funding cuts for sex education and condom distribution. Crime is also on the rise and our allies are becoming our enemies and the environment is suffering. The only truth to Bush's campaign was he sure did change the tone in Washington.

In honor of Ronald Reagan's birthday, CNN asked "Which president do you most admire?" And the winner is... Reagan? NOT! Shrub? NOT! Guess who - BILL CLINTON!

C-Span is running an in-depth 15-part series on Bill Clinton, produced by the University of Arkansas. Tune in Thursdays at 6 p.m. EST for the best Presidency since Truman.

WashPost reports, "President Bill Clinton yesterday assailed his [usurper's] domestic priorities, saying the Bush administration's eagerness for tax cuts is rendering the government unable to address fundamental shortcomings in the nation's health care system, including the 41 million people who are uninsured... Clinton said Bush has promoted tax reductions for the wealthy while depriving states, small businesses and working families of money to expand health coverage. 'You are having a conversation about air if you don't have any money'... Clinton was harshest in his depiction of the $1.3 trillion tax cut that Bush pushed through Congress in 2001 and the additional $670 billion in cuts the president is proposing this year. Noting that the 2001 tax cuts have contributed to the resumption of federal deficits, he said, 'The first thing you ought to do when you find yourself in a hole is quit digging. They are looking for a bigger shovel.'"

Former political prisoner, Susan McDougal, is interviewed by Diane Rehmn. Listen to her describe how Ken Starr tried to blackmail mail her into manufacturing evidence against President Bill Clinton in the 'Whitewater' investigation. Hear her explain in her own words that she had no evidence of wrongdoing by President Clinton. She had the integrity and the guts not to make up a story for Starr and she paid an awful price. Here is real honor and integrity, not the phony kind claimed by Bush and his cronies. It is unethical and illegal for a prosecutor to manufacture evidence. Why does Ken Starr still have a license?

CBSNews.com reports: "Former President Bill Clinton says it's time for the Democratic Party to put November's devastating election losses behind them and move on. 'So we lost a couple of elections,' Mr. Clinton told a meeting of Democratic leaders in New York Tuesday. 'Big deal...Take a deep breath, rear back and go on.'... He said the recent elections...should serve as a wake-up call to the Democratic faithful, but not make them panic or abandon their beliefs....'Democrats have to have ideas to win,' Mr. Clinton told the Democratic Leadership Council, a centrist group he's long been associated with. 'Republicans will always have more money and the fervor of right-wing ideas.'...Republicans were able to appeal to voters by appearing strong and confident on national security matters, while Democrats appeared to be floundering. 'When people are insecure, they'd rather have someone strong and wrong, rather than weak and right.'"

The "liberal media" were so obsessed with Marc Rich, they didn't notice that the vast majority of Bill Clinton's Presidential pardons went to people like Dorothy Gaines, who got a 20-year prison sentence for the crime of living with a man who sold drugs. Since her pardon freed her, Dorothy has founded the Obstacle Breaker Project, to provide transportation and other services for the families of inmates. And she has traveled the country to appear before congressional committees and advocacy groups, campaigning to change the conspiracy laws that put her in prison for even longer than the drug kingpin she was accused of helping. Ms. Gaines is a living example of the REAL "Clinton Legacy."

"The intention of this web-page is to outline the various players involved in the Get-Clinton campaigns -- and some of what is known at this point about their respective roles. If you want to get up to speed fast and get a sense of 'the other side of the story', I believe that you have come to the right place. After reading this page, I recommend that you next read Joe Conason's and Gene Lyons' 'The Hunting of the President: The Ten Year Campaign to Destroy Bill and Hillary Clinton' [St. Martin's Press, 2000] to get the best overall picture of this history -- right up to the day the Lewinsky scandal broke. A web-page such as this can only provide sketches of the main players -- and I have chosen to focus primarily on those around Washington and in the Major Media. In addition, I have embedded links to many wonderful articles as my reference material." So writes Ted Kahl, Democrats.com's Managing Editor, in a webpage started in early '99 (based on Conason/Lyons pre-"Hunting" work).

Simon Hoggart of the Guardian writes: "Bill Clinton was brilliant, dazzling, charismatic, seductive and utterly shameless. The Labour party loved nearly all of it....They especially adored him when he warned about an unelected despot with access to weapons of mass destruction who had already dragged his own country to the brink of ruin and was now threatening the whole world. He also had harsh words for Saddam Hussein. But there was no doubt that the real enemy, the man in the electronic cross-hairs yesterday, was George W Bush.... 'As an American, and as a citizen of the world, I am glad Tony Blair will be central to weighing the risks, and making the call,' he said, implying that he and he alone might manage to halt that demented freak in the White House... They adored his hatred of the Tories. 'I want you to know - the 'compassion' is the rhetoric, the 'conservatism' is the reality'... He ended to great gusts and gales of applause and cheering and ecstasy."

Washington Post writes, "Former president Bill Clinton today warned his successor, Bush, that he could face 'unwelcome consequences' if he launched preemptive military action against Iraq... Clinton said that 'a preemptive action today, however justified, may come back with unwelcome consequences in the future.' And he urged Bush to continue to seek U.N. Security Council approval before sending in U.S. forces... and he suggested that the administration's first priority should be to eliminate the al Qaeda terrorist network. 'Our most pressing challenge is to finish the job.' Clinton also attacked previous Republican administrations for supplying Iraqi President Saddam Hussein with materials that he said Iraq may have used in making biological weapons"

MediaWhoresOnline writes: "President Clinton appeared on the Late Show with David Letterman Wednesday night. Again we were reminded of something many may have forgotten since January 20, 2001: how a brilliant, articulate, patriotic, effective, visionary, elected and respected president of the US comports himself in public and speaks to important issues and crises facing our country. A president who does not need shameless media whores to turn his vices into virtues. A president of character and accomplishment that Americans can be proud of. The President and Mr. Letterman discussed 9/11, Iraq, the Middle East, Northern Ireland, terrorism, alternative energy, and many other topics... David Letterman is being Freeped by enraged wingers. Email the Late Show and thank Mr. Letterman for inviting the best president of our lifetimes on the air to cut through the Bush dog-wagging and secrecy and inform America of the challenges our country faces now and in the future."

Our last constitutionally-elected President continues his good works: "The William J Clinton Presidential Foundation is working to assist Caribbean countries in preventing the spread of HIV AIDS and to treat patients, officials say. The Foundation and the 15-nation Caribbean Community (Caricom) headquarters in Guyana was hoping to sign a memorandum of understanding to provide help immediately to the region. 'This is an urgent problem as there are hundreds of people dying every day,' Coordinator of the HIV/AIDS initiative at the Clinton Presidential Foundation, Ira Magaziner, said. Under the accord, the foundation would assist the Caribbean to negotiate and procure cheaper drugs to treat and care for the estimated 500,000 patients."

The NY Times just cannot deal with the fact that Bill Clinton is STILL the most popular politician in America - and around the world. And why not? He can think (unlike Bush II), he can talk (unlike Bush I), he can party (unlike Carter), and he cares about the issues we ALL care about. And with Bush trashing the Constitution and waging global war at every turn, we desperately NEED Bill on TV. Tell the Times how much you want Bill Clinton to have a talk show by writing letters@nytimes.com

"The central reality of the 21st century world, as the spread of worldwide terrorism and the vulnerability of the United States to it demonstrate, is that our era is globally interdependent but far from integrated. We learned on Sept. 11 that the very forces of globalization we helped to create -- open borders and commerce, easy travel, instant communications, instant transfers, and widened access to information and technology -- can be used to build or destroy, to unite or divide." So writes Bill Clinton.

Bill Clinton, "who is the co-chairman of the International AIDS Trust, described the AIDS epidemic as the biggest single problem for the world, barring nuclear war. 'For the first time in history the world has to take responsibility for a global health crisis,' he said during a youth forum at the world's biggest AIDS conference. Africa is most severely affected by HIV/AIDS but it is spreading quickly in Asia, gaining pace in the Caribbean and threatens to explode in India, so no country or government can be complacent, he warned. Less than a third of the estimated $10 billion needed annually to provide life-saving drugs to poor nations has been pledged to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Clinton said governments must do more... Clinton fielded questions on topics ranging from stigma and condoms to poverty and religion as the youths clustered around him during the informal taping of an MTV special on HIV/AIDS."

Gene Lyons writes, "On evidence, you'd think Americans had real problems to think about." For example: Afghanistan, Pakistan, the Middle East, and Bush's failed Coup in Venezuela. "Here at home, unemployment has reached a six year high, the stock market's staggering, corporate profits look shaky and government projections show rising budget deficits for the foreseeable future. That Social Security 'lockbox' the candidates bickered about during the 2000 election campaign? It's gone, a casualty of recession, tax cuts and the war on terrorism. So what did our peerless Washington press corps spend last week ranting about? Why Bill Clinton, naturally."

"Bill, you're the only one who has the political and financial markers built up all around the world to bring together the $5 billion or so dollars in capital to create some real competition in American media. Put together a network. Get Bill Moyers and Dan Rather to run the news end. Find an evening for Molly Ivins to bring her brilliant Texas twist to America's viewers. Give yourself a weekly news show where you go around the world and let the rest of us know what is good and getting better and what needs to be changed and how to change it... While you're at it, open a national newspaper to compete with UselessA Today. Give America's investigative journalists a place to strut their stuff. Bring Greg Palast home from exile in Britain. Then, rigorously, religiously, make sure that people get the full story, both sides, so they can make the informed decisions voters and citizens must be able to make." So writes Stephen Corrick.

According to the Associated Press, Bush intends to include former President Clinton in a U.S. delegation to the May 20 celebration of independence for East Timor. An anonymous administration official stated Tuesday that the White House plans to announce the selection once the delegation is completed. Bush's decision supposedly won't be final until the complete delegation is formed. East Timor is a former Indonesian territory that separated from Jakarta in 1999. The mission, first reported by USA Today, marks the first time Clinton has been tapped by Bush for help. Good luck Bill! Even the resident must realize he needs all the help he can get!

A few hundred true patriots gathered at James Carville's DC restaurant, West 24, to honor Julie Hiatt Steele, the woman who stopped Ken Starr from his legal assassination of President Bill Clinton. After enthusiastic introductions by Carville and Joe Conason, Steele spoke. Maia Cowan reports, "She said thank you, of course, looking more than a little dazed that all of us 'strangers' would give large sums of money for her and travel all that way to see her. Then she gave us a glimpse of the honesty and determination that thwarted Ken Starr. She admonished us that the assaults on democracy and civil liberties didn't end when Ken Starr packed up and went home. The important thing - the most important thing, she said, is to make sure the Democrats win big in this year's election and in 2004." Right on, Julie!

"It was showtime at the Apollo last night, but Bill Clinton left his saxophone home. Still, he brought the house down by introducing Michael Jackson, who performed three songs that had the crowd at the star-studded Democratic National Committee fund-raiser snapping their fingers. Jackson's gig ended with wild applause and a shower of blue, purple and gold confetti that covered the audience of 1,400 in the packed Harlem landmark. Among others who performed were Tony Bennett, k.d. lang, Reuben Blades and the Harlem Boys Choir. But the sweetest sounds might have been those from the cash register. Organizers said "A Night at the Apollo" raised an estimated $2.7 million for voter education and registration drives aimed particularly at minorities. Rep. Charles Rangel (D-Harlem) drew cheers when he hailed Clinton as "the last elected president of the U.S." and said, "It is our job to say we're not getting over Florida." So reports the NY Daily News.

"With a degree of regularity I discover little ill-advised and uninformed snippets suggesting that many of the ills of the current administration lie at the previous administration's, or the Democrat-controlled Senate's, feet... First, the economy. How ludicrous, in the second year of the Bush administration, to suggest that we are experiencing the results of Clinton's failed economic policies... In the area of foreign affairs. Whatever the public may think, the president of the United States determines our foreign policy. Was it Clinton or was it George Bush the elder who left Saddam Hussein in power in Iraq?… Seventy-three million dollars to prove that not a single Whitewater wrongdoing, not even a simple misdemeanor, could be laid at the feet of Bill and Hillary Clinton," writes retired Southern Baptist pastor L. Milton Hankins, who also addresses the Clinton-Lewinsky affair, the moving day "scandal," and those pardons.

Remember back when the nation's heroes were guys like Nelson Mandela instead of guys like Ariel Sharon? Remember back when "working for peace" really meant working for peace... and "peace talks" meant sitting down face to face and talking with folks as equals and really listening? Remember when speech was still free and every voice counted? We do... but it's starting to seem like a long, long time ago...

The Democratic Leadership Council (DLC) today launched the Clinton Center to promote the Democratic values of opportunity, responsibility and community championed during the 8 years of peace and prosperity of the constitutionally-elected (rather than judicially-appointed) Clinton administration. The Clinton Center will specialize in events that identify and highlight innovative policy ideas and the leaders who are implementing them around the country, exemplifying the Democratic values with a commitment to public policy innovation based on traditional progressive values. To commemorate the event, former President Clinton awarded the first Clinton Center Awards for Leadership and National Service to Maryland Lieutenant Governor Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, and to City Year Philadelphia project manager Chandra Bembery. Putting People First!

If you happen to be in the nation's capital on April 27th, join Bartcop.com at James Carville's restaurant to thank Julie Hiatt Steele for "for letting us keep our last legally elected President. Abraham Lincoln once asked us to appeal to the better angels of our nature. Come meet one of them"! Get your tickets while they last.

Press Release from the Office of the Independent Counsel (3/20/02) "This Office investigated whether President and Mrs. Clinton knowingly participated in any criminal conduct related to Madison Guaranty, CMS, or Whitewater Development or had any knowledge of such conduct. This Office determined that the evidence was insufficient to prove to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt that either President or Mrs. Clinton knowingly participated in any criminal conduct involving Madison Guaranty, CMS, or Whitewater Development or knew of such conduct. The evidence relating to their testimony and conduct, in connection with this investigation and other investigations involving the same entities, was also, in the judgment of this Office, insufficient to prove to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt that either of them committed any criminal offense, including perjury (18 U.S.C. § 1621) or obstruction of justice (18 U.S.C. § 1503)."

Liberal talk show host Mike Malloy will interview Julie Hiatt Steele on Thursday. You won't want to miss this! Mike's show can be heard on the web from 3-6 ET; replayed from 9-12 ET on the i.e. America Radio Network. Also, check out Peter Werbe's show at i.e. America's site. Mike and Peter's shows provide a refreshing contrast to the domination of talk radio by Rush Limbaugh and his clones. Unlike Rush, Mike and Peter base their views on solid facts, which they quote from credible sources. Their shows are the antidote to the orwellian propaganda being put out by the Bush/Murdoch/Scaife/Moonie/Corporate Media machine. They are the only two nationally syndicated progressive talk show hosts. Obviously, the pro-Bush corporate media doesn't want their message getting out, so Peter and Mike are carried by a relatively small number of affiliates. If your local talk show stations don't carry them, call the station managers and tell them to feature these excellent, and unique, programs!

According to America's bravest woman, Julie Hiatt Steele, Ken Starr "NEVER expected to be able to indict President Clinton on the strength of the Paula Jones civil case deposition... The grand jury, with its Federal venue, was always their planned and 'best odds' ticket to destroying the President... They needed to convict me and lock the truth away in prison for forty years. The result would be the raising of [Clinton 'grope' accuser Kathleen] Willey's credibility and a chance to indict the President for 'perjury' in his August 17, 1998 grand jury testimony regarding Willey. As it stood, the President and I were saying the same thing, 'it did not happen, there was no grope'. We were saying the same thing because it happened to be the truth. The OIC knew that from day one, and still they threatened, bullied, punished, and ultimately prosecuted me because I dared to stand up to them and to tell the truth despite their best efforts to silence me." Read Steele's Final Report on Ken Starr.

"Former President Bill Clinton suggested...that a modern-day 'Marshall Plan' program that increases U.S. foreign aid would help stem the threat of global terrorism. 'It would be a mistake in my judgment to spend all that we have to spend in the war against terror on defense and homeland defense, and spend nothing the way General Marshall spent it to build a world with more partners and fewer terrorists,' Clinton said of the post-World War II recovery program. In a speech before several hundred Long Island business leaders, Clinton said that 'for less than 20 percent of the proposed increases ... we could double our effort to build a world with more partners.'"

"Asked why the right wing despises him so, the former president answered simply, 'Because I won.' This is not what Clinton came to talk about, but these three words are the ones that will be remembered by everyone who saw him on January 29, for they said as much about the country in which we live, and in which 51 million were disenfranchised a little over a year ago, as Clinton's prepared speech said about our entire world. 'They believed there would never be a Democratic president... They thought they found a foolproof formula to turn us into cardboard cutouts -- superficial, one-dimensional, non-American figures. And the American people voted for me. They never thought it was legitimate. They decided 'We should have never lost the White House. It belongs to us.' If you want to be a Democrat or progressive and run for national office today, you have to have a pretty high pain threshold. It's just the cost of doing business in politics today.'" So writes Monica Friedlander.

While Bush foamed at the mouth demanding war with any nation that challenged US global domination, Bill Clinton called instead for global justice. "Half of the world was left out of the economic expansion," Clinton told a packed crowd of 2,000 people. "Not surprisingly, they don't think as much of this new world as many of us do, because they are not a part of it." "We've got to spread the benefits and shrink the burdens of the modern world," Clinton said, citing his administration's debt relief program that directed money toward education. "This (money) was peanuts when it comes to us, and it makes all the difference in the world to them," he said. The audience greeted Clinton with cheers and applause and chuckled when he said the right wing despised him "because I won." "If you want to be a Democrat or progressive and run for national office today, you have to have a reasonably high pain threshold," he said. "But it's the most rewarding work in the world." You go, Bill!

I was thrilled to be able to attend, "An Evening with Former [and last elected] President Bill Clinton," Sunday, Dec. 2, 2001, at the Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts, Hartford, CT. According to the program, "all proceeds to benefit Hebrew Home and Hospital." I arrived over an hour early, expecting to face long lines for security checks. On my way there, I actually felt that would be the one "positive" aspect of Ashcroft's police-state - that Bill and Hillary Clinton would be safe whenever they make public appearances. Guess what? Not a SINGLE SECURITY PAUSE or CHECK FROM HOMELAND SECURITY! No camera bags/purses checked, no wands for weapons-searches, no display of ID.

"Global trade can help win the war against terrorism if the West is willing to spread the wealth it generates more equitably, former President Clinton told a conference of globalization critics [at a conference held at the University of Ghent]…'Not everyone who's angry is angry at the civilized world and wants to destroy it,' Clinton said. 'A lot are angry because they can't be a part of it'…Clinton said bringing terror suspect Osama bin Laden to justice is not enough. 'We need to reduce the pool of potential terrorists by increasing the number of potential partners in the 21st century world'…He called on Western nations to foot the bill to raise living standards and improve education in the developing world to promote equal opportunity…speakers agreed that solving problems like the growing gap between rich and poor - what Clinton called 'the dark side' of globalization - has become even more urgent."

Former President Clinton made his first major policy address since leaving office on Tuesday night, but unless you were watching C-SPAN2 that night you probably didn't hear about it. Clinton showed not only America's resolve in bringing terrorists to justice, but also the side of the American spirit that has so often been missing in the last several weeks. He demonstrated a sophisticated understanding of the underlying causes such as poverty. When people live under oppression -- as in the Middle East and elsewhere -- extremist calls to violence find greater support. [Note: There is no transcript. This is a link to a C-SPAN video that is almost always overburdened with requests.]

Former President Clinton offered his perspective on the challenges facing America last weekend in an extemporaneous speech at Yale. Democrats.com now has the transcript of the Clinton address, in which he discusses the global context for the September crimes and the difficulties facing President the nation. He presents terrorism as the dark face of globalism: "This is about a global force with a fundamentally different point of view... It is time to take America's eternal mission to the world... We can no longer to deny to others what we claim for ourselves. That is the ultimate lesson of our interconnected world."

This audio, produced by WBUR in Boston, is an 11 minute extract, with commentary, of a brilliant speech delivered by President Clinton on October 6 as part of Yale Tri-centennial celebration. In this extemporaneous talk, former President Clinton offers his perspective on the challenges facing America.

The Observer calls President Clinton the first truly global political politician, whose surging popularity both at home and abroad present opportunities for influence that his predecessors never imagined -- and which continue to threaten the Republican Party and Bush.

Democrats.com has arranged with the office of former President Clinton for birthday greetings sent by e-mail to be delivered to him personally. Please join us in thanking the last legally elected President of the United States for his dedication to public service. And let's encourage him to be the most vigorous, active and influential ex-president we've ever had. His birthday is Sunday August 19th. Please send your birthday greetings to: info@clintonpresidentialcenter.com. Thank you for passing this message on to your friends. -- Democrats.com

According to the Christian Science Monitor, we Democrats are avoiding Bill Clinton because we're so afraid of being "tainted" by his scandals. Well, if we were that namby-pamby and superficial, we should just become Republicans. The article also says some Dems say Bill's scandals lost us the election. There are a good many more who know we WON the election - and our victory would have been beyond stealing if we let Bill campaign. So, to set the record straight, we believe Bill Clinton was one of the finest presidents this nation ever had, and we would be proud to accept his help any time, any place, with apologies to no one! Let the fairweather folks stay where they belong: quivering in the GOP behind the likes of Trent Lott and Tom Delay.

Bill Clinton sold his memoirs "to Alfred A. Knopf Inc. for an advance of more than $10 million, an amount believed to be the largest ever for a nonfiction book." Knopf is a division of German media giant Bertelsmann, and beat out rival publisher Simon & Schuster, a division of Viacom, which paid Hillary $8 million for her memoirs, due out in 2003. The two advances should pay off the Clintons' $11.3 million in legal fees. Bill "plans to write the book himself," which seems to come as a shock to the publishing world, which believes famous people are all idiots. You go, Bill!

Democrats.com member Leah Faerstein joined thousands of New Yorkers to welcome Bill Clinton to his new office in Harlem. "Charlie Rangel was saying: 'Sometimes you know someone by his friends, sometimes by his enemies. There was no one who tried to kick this man down that did not try to kick us down first!' I felt the ground shake with the crowd reaction... He then introduced Bill as 'the last President elected in this country,' adding that 'If we'd have our way, we'd re-elect him all over again!' The crowd was positively jumping!... I am now reveling in the feeling that the resistance is alive and well and I had just come from the heart of it!"

America's last elected President, Bill Clinton, opened his Harlem office and began work on his chosen issues. "He talks often about globalization and how to ensure that the growing interdependence of people and economies contributes to broad-based prosperity for many instead of a few. He talks about the challenge of promoting diversity and reconciliation in the United States and abroad. He has said he wants to promote a "political infrastructure" of public servants who can help enlightened leaders carry out needed reforms in former dictatorships. And he has called repeatedly for a much more robust effort to combat the AIDS epidemic in developing countries." In private, he is also eagerly dispensing political advice to Democrats, both presidential contenders and House freshmen. You go, Bill!

President Clinton had the crowds at Wimbledon in the UK entranced when BBC sports journalist Gary Richardson collared him for an impromptu interview. Soon, the huge live crowd and millions of viewers around the world forgot the dismal rainy weather and turned their attention to the man who may be the brightest and most well-informed US statesman since Thomas Jefferson. As reporter Denis Campbell observed, "From his seat in the Royal Box, he showed he knows as much about sport and "Henmania" as about the intricacies of the Middle East or Northern Ireland." Too bad the White House is now occupied by a "statesman" more reminiscent of Boss Hawg than Jefferson.

"Chelsea Clinton's somewhat normal four years at Stanford end Sunday, when the only child of former President Clinton and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton will join 1,600 other seniors at commencement in the football stadium. Chelsea Clinton, 21, who once talked of becoming a pediatric cardiologist, leaves with a degree in history... Chelsea Clinton will go on to study international relations at Oxford University, where her father was a Rhodes Scholar from 1968 to 1970. 'She is very bright. She's extremely well-informed, as someone would expect. She's very well-read. She's read things I'd be surprised an undergraduate had read,' said her thesis adviser, Professor Jack Rakove, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of 'Original Meanings: Politics and Ideas in the Making of the Constitution.'" Congratulations from all of us at Democrats.com!

"Former President Bill Clinton will hold three 'thank you' dinners for major Democratic donors in coming months, starting with an event June 13 in Chicago. The dinner will be Clinton's first fund-raising-related appearance for the Democratic National Committee since he left office in January. Events are also planned in Northern California and Florida." Let's get ready to honor the man who gave America unprecedented peace and prosperity!

Even with a grant of immunity, "Denise Rich has led federal investigators to a dead end in their probe of whether her billionaire ex-husband, Marc Rich, bought his pardon from then-president Bill Clinton, sources said yesterday. The songwriter-socialite's financial records, which were subpoenaed by the feds, don't show any trail of money from him that can be linked to her contributions to Democrats, the sources said. Manhattan U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White launched a probe into Clinton's last-day pardon more than three months ago, but nothing has come of it." Once again, it appears that the Republicans cried wolf over another Clinton 'scandal.'

"Former President Bill Clinton, who is expected to meet with top Chinese officials in Hong Kong next week, was briefed by national security adviser Condoleezza Rice yesterday on the sticky state of affairs between the U.S. and China. It was the second top-level China briefing for the ex-President before his trip, during which he is expected to meet with Chinese Premier Jiang Zemin. Nevertheless, the administration insisted that Clinton won't carry any messages from President [sic] Bush." Thank God for big favors! We don't need the inept Bush 'sending messages.'

CNN is wooing Bill Clinton to host a talk shows. "What could be more fun for viewers than the spectacle of Bill Clinton chatting with guests about the big news of the day and taking questions from viewers? And Clinton would appear live before the cameras, not on tape delay. Love Clinton or hate him -- and there appears to be no middle ground -- he has charisma. Adding Clinton to CNN's programming 'could triple ratings,' [CNN co-founder Reese] Schonfeld said. 'He was the best Democratic president since FDR,' Schonfeld said. 'That's why he was hated by so many people -- because he was a great politician.'" You go, Bill!

"In a little-noticed speech last week in Africa, [President Clinton] said the new administration was not pumping adequate resources into combating AIDS there. Scolding the United States for not doing enough, Mr. Clinton said: "We have the money, all right. The question is do we have the will." Julia Payne, a spokesman for Mr. Clinton, said his remarks were intended squarely for Mr. Bush. Ms. Payne said that he was aware that Mr. Bush might take offense but that Mr. Clinton's feeling was: "This is just too important. It's too big. It's not political to me." Clinton is also appalled at how easy the media is treating Bush. "How Bush gets away with stuff with the media - that could be [Clinton's] No. 1 issue," according to a Clinton friend. [Reader's note: as with many articles in the New York Times, the important facts are at the very end.]

"Denise Rich reportedly did not implicate ex-President Clinton in criminal conduct in recent testimony to U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White, despite a grant of immunity from prosecutors." For this to be reported by a right-wing site like Newsmax suggests that there must not be anything incriminating, since "Scaifemax" would make the most of anything remotely suspicious. This assertion is supported by Alison Cowan's fine article in the New York Times. According to the article, Ms. Rich refused solicitations by her ex-husband's friends to reach out to Clinton. When approached in March 2000, she declined their request, since "it would just embarrass the president." (Not to mention that she still harbored negative feelings towards Rich). Ms. Rich finally agreed to approach Clinton last fall - perhaps as late as mid-November. In which case, the quid pro quo theory doesn't make sense. How is it possible for her to give money all year for something she only agreed to in the eleventh hour?

"The independent counsel investigations of former president Bill Clinton have cost almost $60 million, with months of wrap-up work ahead, the General Accounting Office reported yesterday...In all, five independent counsels investigating Clinton administration officials have spent more than $110.4 million." Except for a misdemeanor conviction of Cisneros -- and the ridiculous Lewinsky sex hunt -- these investigations went nowhere. In contrast, Lawrence Walsh's Iran-Contra investigation still took less time and far less money than the Starr probes, and Walsh was investigating bona fide crimes against our Constitution and our Nation. Walsh got convictions of the major Iran-Contra players -- until Ollie North's and Poindexter's were overturned by the specious rulings of Federalist Society comrades Silberman and Sentelle. Walsh was so close to nailing Bush Sr. that Bush had to pardon all of the Iran-Contra felons to escape further disclosure of his role.

While relations with China deteroriate under Shrub, President Clinton is in India strengthening the ties that he established during his Presidency. Hey Shrub, if you say "pretty please with sugar on top," maybe Clinton will get you out of your China mess!

On the eve of his departure for India, President Clinton stopped in Los Angeles and, among other topics, shared his thoughts on the 2000 election. "Clinton pitched for a national holiday on election day and hoped for the day when money is not the deciding factor in elections. He deplored the U.S. Supreme Court's role in deciding the Gore-Bush election, noting Republicans knew they would get it to that point and that they would win in that court. He also said members of the Supreme Court 'are now not talking to one another.'"

"There is something unreal about the moral outrage, especially in Washington, over the idea that an official act might have been influenced by money or that someone might be cashing in on his or her proximity to the powerful." So writes Michael Kinsley in the Washington Post.

If you’ve had the feeling that the Republicans cannot drop their constant bashing of the Clintons, you’re right. Clinton bashing is becoming institutionalized as a regular feature of American politics because it serves so many elements of the far right's agenda so well.

If Julie Hiatt Steele had lied for Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr's "star" witness Kathleen Willey, by backing Willey's tale that during a visit to the Oval Office Bill Clinton had groped her, Steele could have escaped being financially ruined, ostracized by friends and neighbors in her Richmond, VA, suburb and would not today be faced with imminent foreclosure on her house.

"By mid-1994, however, things had gotten out of hand. The Whitewater delusion had led to Kenneth Starr's invasion of Arkansas, the entire Washington press corps appeared to be taking dictation from local crackpots, and what I call the "Clinton rules" were already in place: Almost no source was too crazy to credit, no error so gross as to require correction and no accusation so lurid or unfounded as to need debunking. Exculpatory facts were suppressed, even--nay, especially--when clearly dispositive. Something new and scary was happening to American journalism, hence to democracy itself." So writes columnist Gene Lyons, the only voice of truth in all of Arkansas.

"The media coverage of the Clinton pardons has been so biased, overblown and vituperative as to call into question the very purpose of what currently passes as journalism. It is difficult to recall a more partisan, one-sided hatchet job. Surely, even the faintest sense of fairness would compel a comparison of former President Clinton's actions with that of his predecessors and, as Rep. Henry Waxman pointed out at a recent hearing to a largely indifferent Washington press corps, Republican presidents have more than matched the outrages of Clinton." So writes Robert Scheer in the Los Angeles Times.

Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) wants to have a private sit-down with former President Clinton and another Democrat to question him about his last-minute pardons. Specter said he'd be willing to go to Clinton's office to do this. Clinton is considering the offer. It sounds like they're looking for a way to gracefully get out of this mess.

Regent Cheney's chief of staff, "Scooter" Libby, defended Marc Rich under tough questioning by House Democrats. Rep. Paul Kanjorski (D-PA) asked, "Did you represent a crook who stole money from the United States government, was a fugitive and should never have been given or granted a pardon by the facts that you know?" Libby replied, "No, sir. There are no facts that I know of that support the criminality of the client based on the tax returns." Libby then said prosecutors from the Southern District of New York "misconstrued the facts and the law" when they prosecuted Rich. "(Rich) had not violated the tax laws," said Libby. Libby was Rich's chief legal strategist from 1985 until last November, and collected $2 million from Rich for his work. And on January 22, after becoming a White House official, he called Rich to congratulate him on his pardon!

"The person largely responsible for key legal arguments cited in Marc Rich's successful pardon application is not Jack Quinn, President Bill Clinton's former White House counsel. It's I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, a longtime Rich lawyer who is now chief of staff for Vice President Cheney." So says the Washington Post.

According to Robert Reno, "Several reasons come to mind to suggest the Clinton pardon scandals are hysterically overblown: A. Marc Rich's indictment was an overreach typical of so many of the grandstanding prosecutions to come out of Rudy Giuliani's office when he was U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York. B. Still-pending civil actions against Rich are sufficient to make sure he does not go unpunished. C. If the clownish Rep. Dan Burton is investigating anything, you know it's going to be done in a shifty, partisan manner. D. This scandal is just the final gasp of the drooling Clinton haters, a bunch of rabies victims getting in one last bite. E. Clinton's impulse to pardon merely reveals a Southern Baptist's overdeveloped sense of the concept of redemption. F. None of the above." And the correct answer is....

Here's the complete Q & A on the Clinton "Scandal." Of course, the only real scandal is the hijacking of Congress, once again, for the personal vendettas of the Republicans. That's the real scandal, but we don't hear anyone in the press talking about it, do we?

In the end, every Clinton "scandal" has turned out to be a non-scandal. You might argue that the Lewinsky romp was a true scandal, but we'll argue that the whole legal process was a set-up. The GOP is fantastic at creating "factoids" that really are based on nothing other than rumor and innuendo. The Democrats could easily cream the GOP Congressional leadership in the same way -- and Bush for sure -- but they don't have the stomach for it.

For the first time we can remember, the Washington Post is actually running a story that comes just short of calling the Bush team liars. The subject is the continual use of the media and Congressional investigative means -- as well as the Ashcroft Department of Injustice -- to slander and harass Bill Clinton. The Post, in this story, airs the perspective of former Clinton staffers that it is the Bush regime who is really behind the trash talking to the media and the Marc Rich witch hunt. Can we believe our eyes? Finally, the veil of hypocrisy has been pierced by a major media outlet. One small step for the truth.

"In this bitterest and most partisan political season in years, with a presidential election limping into December, and with elections all over America decided by mere handfuls of votes that were contested and recounted, it's ironic that it was Hillary Clinton, one of the nation's most polarizing figures, who ran a race that transcended virtually every line that divides New York voters... [She]changed historical assumptions about politics in New York State that have held sway since the New Deal." So writes Michael Tomasky in the first serious look at Hillary Clinton's pundit-defying landslide victory. Read the excellent review by Susan Faludi.

In a cogent, lucid essay in the New York Times, Bill Clinton explains the reasoning and circumstances behind the pardon that he granted to Marc Rich. It is a strong rebuttal to the mob media hysteria that is circling around him. Of course, the GOP is leading the inexcusable jihad against Clinton -- and there is nary a Democratic Congressional leader who is denouncing what amounts to a witch hunt. But, once again, Bill takes them all on single handedly. Whatever Bill's flaws, he makes the others look like pygmies when it comes to putting up the good fight.

We all remember Bush I's pardon of Caspar Weinberger to keep himself out of jail. Ford pardoned Nixon to keep Nixon out of jail. Nixon commuted Jimmy Hoffa's 13-year prison sentence. And so it goes, all the way back to George Washington's pardon of the leaders of the Whiskey Rebellion.

To Members of the U.S. Government and Media: "FORGET the CLINTONS! Many of us are working on finding a 12-step program for you. It's out there; trust us. Meanwhile, please just FORGET the Clintons."

You might not have heard it because of all the allegations of corruption, but yesterday's testimony before a Senate committee revealed that former president Clinton received repeated requests from Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak to pardon financier Marc Rich. Former prime minister Shimon Peres also asked Clinton to pardon Rich, whom Israeli intelligence credits with helping find soldiers who were missing in action in Lebanon and helping free Jews from Ethopia, Yemen and other countries. Former Israeli foreign intelligence chief Shabtai Shavit wrote to Clinton praising Rich: "Israel and the Jewish people are grateful for these unselfish actions which sometimes had the potential of jeopardizing his own personal interests and business interests in these countries."

Hillary sent a check to a NY Art Gallery owner to pay for a housewarming gift she and Bill received for their home in Chappaqua. Ironically, the gallery owner is NOT a Clinton supporter - and he's not planning to cash it because he regards it as a collector's item. Hillary visited the gallery last week and was typically gracious, saying "I'm sorry you had to go through all this." Without a cancelled check, they'll probably have to use this article as proof of purchase.

In her first Senate speech, Hillary Clinton (D-NY) challenged Resident Bush to embrace the bi-partisan patients' bill of rights offered by Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA), John Edwards (D-NC) and John McCain (R-AZ). She said, "Health insurance should not be a luxury... it should be a fact of life." She also noted that over 40 million Americans don't have any health insurance. Bush opposes any bill that allows patients to sue HMO's for denial of care.

Valentine's Day came early for Bill Clinton when he visited an office building on 125th Street in Harlem. Bill was mobbed by a crowd shouting "We love you!" Looks like Bill sure outsmarted the Clinton-haters this time, and even bought himself some safety - his racist enemies like Trent Lott and Bob Barr would be too terrified to go within a mile of Harlem.

"Clinton's pardon of Marc Rich was not a payoff to a political donor, but an effort to cut a last-minute deal in the Middle East." So writes Joe Conason in Salon.com.

On President Clinton's final day in office, in accordance with federal law the couple disclosed that for the year 2000 they had accepted $190,027 worth of gifts, including sweaters, lamps, golf clubs, china and glass sculptures. For some context, during their four years in the White House, the least amount of gifts George and Barbara Bush accepted in any given year was $21,000; the most the Clintons accepted during their first four years was $16,000. An important clue for 2000's lofty price tag, though, was included right on the Clintons' official Executive Branch Personnel Public Financial Disclosure Report, which was distributed to the press: "This list includes gifts received over the last eight years, but which were not accepted by the Clintons until last year." As gifts accumulate at the White House, first families can wait until their final year before officially accepting them or not. Now, Does this sound like the story Tom Brokaw, Dan Rather and Peter Jennings told you? Not very much, no...

Democrats.com co-founder David Lytel is among the Democrats quoted in the Charleston SC Post and Courier article this weekend about the latest Clinton controversies. "The phenomenon is now entirely familiar," Lytel said. "Some Clinton error -- not malicious -- amplified by Republican operatives whose business it is to inflict whatever damage they can on the Clintons..."

Right on cue, Linda Tripp emerges from the shadows to give an interview to Larry King on CNN. Tripp claims she was told by White House officials to not record gifts received by the Clintons. The timing couldn't be more suspicious for Tripp to bear "witness" to the latest trumped-up scandal -- "Giftgate". Somehow this woman pops up in the middle of every Clinton "scandal"! For starters, Tripp was the last person to see Vince Foster alive (Scaife and the wingnuts' favorite conspiracy theory). Tripp was also a key "witness" to other pseudo-scandals such as Travelgate, Filegate and Willeygate, not to mention Monicagate. CNN even published this whopper: "After the disclosure of the tapes, she was transferred to the Pentagon", which is absurd since Tripp met Lewinsky while they both worked at the Pentagon. By the way, Linda -- who was that "benefactor" that paid for your plastic surgeries? Does he have the initials R.M.S.? This weekend CNN and King continued their homage to right-wing treachery with Larry's interview of Katherine Harris.

Trash-talking Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) wants to impeach Clinton over the Marc Rich pardon. How can Congress impeach an ex-President, you ask? Arlen says it's purrfectly legal. In that case, we demand the impeachment of Ronald Reagan first. Reagan SHOULD have been impeached over Iran-Contra, which was a "high crime" against the laws of the United States by any definition. But the kind Congressional Democrats didn't want to put the country through the agony of impeachment with only 2 years left in Reagan's second term. But hey - what's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander!

Nancy Reagan left the White House with more than $1 million in clothing apparel. Then there was the $2.5 million house that Reagan friends bought for Nancy and the Gipper in California. Do we hear a word about this from the mainstream press or the GOP junkyard dogs? Of course not.

"In Salon, Eric Boehlert weighs in with a well-considered analysis of the Clintons’ gifts, showing that what they did was by no means unprecedented or unusual. It turns out that the Bushes accepted $144,000 in goodies during George Sr.’s one-term presidency. And the Reagans allowed their friends to buy them, on loan, a $2.5 million home two years before Ronnie left office, a blatant conflict of interest. (Nancy Reagan only recently finished paying it off.) As for charges that many of the gifts the Clintons are taking with them came in only after Hillary was elected to the Senate, Boehlert shows rather convincingly that there is no actual evidence as to when those gifts were received — only when the Clintons filed the required paperwork." So writes media critic Dan Kennedy in the Boston Phoenix.

"Even as the public was having fits about the Clintons' U-Haul full of flatware, Bush was quietly pocketing $100,000 checks from his buddies, and no one raised so much as a fish fork. The occasion for this generosity was the Bush-Cheney inauguration, and the total collected was more than $40 million. In knickknack terms, that's enough for about 786,000 place settings, 32,000 love seats and a solid-gold doggie dish." So says columnist Lenore Skenazy in the New York Daily News.

Following DNC Chairman Terry McAuliffe's battle cry against the illegitimate Bush regime, Freshman New York Senator Hillary Clinton has announced a fundraising PAC to help the Democrats take back the House and the Senate. Named "HILLPAC" after the Senator -- could that also be short for the "Take back the HILL PAC"? The pundits are oh-so-certain that Hillary's real goal is to launch her race for the Presidency in 2004, but Hillary - unlike the pundits - understands that putting Democrats back in charge of Congress is crucial. And if any one Senator can make that happen, it's Hillary.

"I continue to be astonished at the hysteria the Clintons bring out in people," writes columnist Michael Tomasky in New York Magazine. "That hysteria erases memory and context and makes all sins seem original." The original purchase plan of the Clinton’s Chappagua house? Consider, Tomasky argues, the still-secret purchasers of the Reagan home in 1986. And while there is no excusing the pardon of Marc Rich, consider George Bush's pardon of Caspar Weinberger: "The Whopper of pardons, the Waterworld, the Ira Rennert mansion of pardons."

Clinton left office with 68% approval ratings according to Newsweek, despite eight years of media savaging. Yet despite fawning coverage from the corporate media, Bush assumed offices with job approval ratings of only 42%, according to a Zogby poll. Bush has an awful lot to prove to the American people.

Bill Clinton stood up to the forces who oppose America’s evolution into a multi-cultural society, time and time again. It was no game for the faint of heart. We are a better country for it.

Our last elected President, Bill Clinton, will arrive at New York's JFK airport on Saturday at 1:30 pm. Let's turn out in force to thank him for eight good years! Wear black to mourn the death of Democracy, and orange ribbons to remember the stolen Florida vote.

President Clinton made a deal with Independent Counsel Robert Ray, in which Ray will drop all charges against Clinton in exchange for an admission that Clinton misled prosecutors about his affair with Monica Lewinsky. Clinton's law license will be suspended for five years, and he will pay a $25,000 fine to bar officials in Arkansas. We wanted Ray to bring Clinton before a jury, because we are certain Clinton would be acquitted, which would be the perfect ending for the Republicans' 8-year effort to destroy Clinton. Too bad!

"Last night I was feeling lonely and depressed. Much of my day had been spent faxing stern letters to Democratic Senators and Reps and keeping abreast of the Linda Chavez controversy. I began to doubt myself. Were my efforts getting anywhere? Was I really just The Lone Wolf shouting into a big black void of apathy and indifference? Then I ran across the item that President Clinton, during a speech yesterday, had said flat out that the only reason Bush was President was because the Republicans had stopped the vote count. Suddenly my energy level went through the roof. I can't tell how I thrilled and proud I was that finally, a Democratic leader, despite the oncoming coronation of the Clown Prince, had said straight out loud what millions of us, irrespective of our party affiliation, know in our hearts and souls to be true. I went to sleep with a smile, knowing the consternation Clinton's words would have on the Republican right wing, and vowed to continue my faxing, e-mailing and phone calling with a vengeance. How could I have doubted the honor of our cause for even a split second?" So writes one of our readers about how reassuring it is to know that the Big Dog may be changing his address, but he will still be around to tell it like it is.

Our Man Bill once again says what has to be said: Bush is President only because they stopped the voting in Florida. When other Democrats are too timid to voice the truth, the Big Dog tells it like it is.

Fed up with the GOP Senate hold on appointing minority Federal judges, Clinton went ahead and appointed one to a Southern court that has no minorities on the bench. Trent Lott and the Republican gang have been doing their darndest to keep the Federal courts as white as possible, but Bubba Bill struck a blow for fairness in the waning days of his presidency. Way to go Bill!

Let's test out your compassion, Dubya. Robert Ray (Kenneth Starr's "Little Me") is still in hot pursuit of our man Bill. Ray, no doubt, is looking for a federal judgeship in your administration, so he wants to show you that he's ready and willing to hound Clinton to the ends of the earth. Okay, so here's the deal: pardon Clinton and we won't turn our televisions to a hue of puke green when you are orating. Go ahead. We'll be watching.

On Thursday, the NY Times reported that Rolling Stone reported that President Clinton called the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy on gays in the military "dumb-ass." Now, Slate reports that Rolling Stone got the quote wrong: "Managing Editor Robert Love called. 'It was a mistake,' Love said. 'Due to a transcription error, the words 'don't ask' were printed as 'dumb-ass' in our interview with President Clinton. We regret the error.'"

Hey, what are we waiting for? Let's make Bill OUR Rush Limbaugh. Or make that Rush and Larry King all rolled into one. Bill won't take no guff and he'll carry the battle right to the GOP front lines. Bill, forget Oxford, we need you to do battle with the Rush Man and FOX!

Is Robert Ray obsessed with Clinton, or is he seeking a judgeship in the Bush administration? We think the latter. That may be why he is going to call witnesses before a grand jury to try and indict Bill after he leaves office. Of course, if Bush wins, Ray will get what he wants. The Bush clan likes to reward its friends.

Well, our man Bill is hanging out in New York with Hillary and Chelsea. Today's he's also calling radio stations to get the vote out. By the way, as of the afternoon, it looks like Hillary is headed for a win in NY.

What's a moralistic, modest young girl to do? Pose nude for Penthouse, that's what. Oh Paula, for such a chaste young woman, it does seem a bit odd that you'd bare your body for the men of America after being the pinup girl for the right wing moral goon squad. You almost drove the President out of office, and now you will be sending the men of America into their toilet stalls. We love the right wing: hypocrites down to the bone. We bet Kenneth Starr will be first in line for a copy.

It's not the kind of news item that should get overlooked in an election year. The U.S. is posting its largest budget surplus ever. Even though, the Clinton/Gore team put this country's economic house in order, they aren't getting enough credit from the voters. If the Republicans were presiding over this sort of unprecedented period of economic well-being, you know the media would be lavishing credit on them. But the budget surplus story is getting drowned out by the election year white noise. How odd.

"This election ought to be a feast," Clinton said. "People should feel good about it but sometimes it's harder to make a decision when times are good than when they are bad." Could we have said it any better? We doubt it. Bubba Bill is going to bat for Gore, and that's comforting to know just two weeks from election day.

Nobody says it better than Bill. While the Gore campaign is hesitant to run on the record of the last eight years, Bill Clinton is not too shy to do a bit of bragging. Al Gore should be saying the same thing to the American public. Instead of giving the last eight years second billing, he should be shouting about it from the roof tops. There is nothing to apologize for. It has been a spectacular run. Compare it to the stock market crash, the savings and loan scandal, and recession that occurred under Reagan/Bush.

Welcome back, Bill! Yesterday, the President said that he almost gagged when Bush claimed to support a patients' bill of rights. Clinton mocked the GOP presidential candidate and accused him of trying to cloud the real issues and distort the accomplishments of the Clinton/Gore administration.

Our Big Kahuna, our Chairman of the Board, who is also known as President of the United States, is getting reflective in the last months of his term. A big regret he has: not achieving healthcare reform. A big accomplishment he cites: holding off the impeachment onslaught. Most of the Republicans who took Bubba Bill on have fallen by the political wayside. But Clinton is still standing tall, for which he deserves our admiration. The GOP zealots tossed more artillery at him than was used in the Vietnam War. In the end, he won, and they lost.

Good Question. Back in 1994, the then independent counsel, Robert Fiske, was ready to clear the Clintons. That's when Jesse Helms stepped in and had his friend, David Sentelle, head of the judicial panel that oversees the independent counsel, remove Fiske and replace him with Ken Starr. After Starr left empty handed, it was up to Robert Ray, Ken's "mini-me," to do the right wing's dirty work, under the cloak of "serving justice." In the end, the taxpayers got fleeced for more than $50 million dollars. The Clintons, in the meantime, went through the worst nightmare of an American: a branch of government, in this case the judiciary, hijacked by political partisans for the sole purpose of prosecuting and persecuting an opponent. Shame on Jesse Helms, David Sentelle, Ken Starr, Robert Ray and the entire right wing apparatus that perpetrated this travesty of justice. But don't count on an apology. Not one of them has a bone of decency in his body.

Don't count on the Independent Counsel to make a big deal out of clearing the Clintons in the Whitewater investigation. This seven-year inquisition was nothing short of prosecutorial malfeasance. Any good Republican should set aside their rabid distaste for the Clintons and call for an investigation of the investigators. To spend this much money and this much time to come up with nothing would normally be called incompetence. In this case, however, it is called a failed witchhunt.

The brazen attempt of the Independent Counsel to undercut Al Gore's night in the spot light is another perversion of justice by the longest ongoing inquisition in U.S. history. Even Dan Rather said of Robert Ray's insolent action: "You don't have to be a cynic to note that this has all the earmarks of a carefully orchestrated, politically motivated leak."

Who's responsible for turning the Independent Counsel into a permanent prosecutorial arm of the conservative GOP movement? From a historical perspective, Jesse Helms and Federal Judge David Sentelle are a good place to start. In 1994, Helms had an Independent Counsel tossed out so that Kenneth Starr could be appointed by Sentelle to the post. Everyone involved on the Republican side had conflicts of interest galore, but that didn't stop them from ramming Starr down our throats. Now Independent Counsel Robert Ray is filling the partisan shoes of his mentor.

Capturing the mood of the Democratic Convention, Bill Clinton set his marker clearly down: America's longest expanding economy is no accident. With a detailed catalogue of economic accomplishment, Clinton jabbed at the GOP with lacerating precision: "You know Harry Truman's old saying has never been more true: If you want to live like a Republican, you better vote for the Democrats," the President said. While also describing the administration's social accomplishments, he gave full credit to Al Gore for being a full partner in the administration's successes. It was the kind of speech that has driven GOP operatives to distraction over the years: confident, persuasive and rousing.

Tonight will be Bill Clinton's farewell address to the Democratic Party. Despite incessant Republican pressure to renounce the President for the Monica Lewinsky affair, it is time that the Democrats praised Clinton for standing tall against an eight-year onslaught by the Republicans. What the conservatives really hate about Bill Clinton has nothing to do with sex. Let tonight be Bill's night. He deserves it.

When Clinton and Gore came into office, they inherited a record deficit from President George Bush. As the Democratic Convention opens, that deficit is now an expanding budget surplus. In a speech to the convention on opening night, Bill Clinton will remind the country of America's enormous progress since 1992 and demonstrate that the Democrats have led while the Republicans in Congress squandered opportunity.

Bill Clinton once again expressed his contrition over his behavior in the Monica Lewinsky scandal. Speaking before a group of Evangelicals in suburban Chicago, he also asked the public not to blame Al Gore for his, the President's, sins. Bill Hybels, pastor of the Willow Creek Community Church and spiritual advisor to the President, invited Clinton to the summit of religious leaders. Afterwards, the largely Republican audience seemed to give the benefit of the doubt to the President.