Is Bill Clinton the best thing to happen to the Republican Party?

Question

He governed like a liberal for 2 years and then lost Congress won his approval ratings hit 29%

He governed like a conservative after that.

1) Signing welfare reform (after vetoing it 3 times)
2) Signed Defense of Marriage Act
3) Apologized for largest tax hike in US history
4) Said "era of big government" is over

Bill Clinton killed liberalism, was he best thing to show that conservative politics work?

Answer 1

More like a balance of powers and compromise works. He wasn't getting anywhere because of the Republican congress, so like a smart man, he started to work with them. Why is it bad to go across the aisle and see if there is anything that they can work on together. I appreciate that attitude much more than Bush's arrogant and partisan actions. I wish Bush could be a lot more humble and realize that almost half the country would like things one way, and perhaps you should work with them to get things done. I just don't see that from him.

Answer 2

certainly i think of Clinton became an stunning polititian. it is why he served 2 words and left place of work with a 60% approval score. the subsequent 2 bozos, Gore and Kerry, ran undesirable campaigns and have been outspent, out labored and out foxed by using the GOP. Hillary, who is conscious. i'm hoping she does not run - i'm searching for somebody else to steer the Democratic occasion back to the White homestead. Edwards? Biden? Obama ain't have been given it, the two. A sense reliable vote which will lose.

Answer 3

Clinton is the gift that keeps on giving. Because Clinton had no core belief's(except what is best for Bill) it was easy to get him boxed in on issues such as welfare reform and traditional marriage. Clinton's constant poll watching insured certain gains would be made for traditional America. Clinton has gone on the make a fortune(nothing wrong with that)proving that he realized free market solutions work best for the individual. He continues to remind all of us that Hillary's feminism is a fraud. At every political event he attends with his wife, we are shown how angry and shallow Hillary is. In years to come historians may view the Clinton presidency as the end of apologies for Communism, a realpolitik view of how the private sector economy is superior to the command economy of a central government. Clinton much like Ike was a caretaker in a time of prosperity set up by the Reagan tax cuts of the 80's. Unlike Ike, Clinton failed to take seriously the threats of islam, which set up the 9/11 attack. Clinton was on whole a mixed bag, but he certainly ushered in the death of Euro-liberalism in this country.

Answer 4

Bill Clinton was so bad, the conservatives broke the 40 year reign of democrats in the House.

Answer 5

if we discover (see below) that your figures on approval ratings are wrong

we can come to the conclusion that you are also wrong about

Welfare reform (he wouldn'tsign it with republican pork barrell attached)

He didn't know George W Bush was going to be the next president or he would have never said the era of BIG Government is over

read the following and you'll see EVEN FOX reports his LOWEST approval rating was 54 %

But lets not let the facts get in the way

http://www.pollingreport.com/clinton-.htm

Answer 6

The conservatives liked Clinton so much that they tried to impeach him for lying about sex.

As for his economic plan that raised taxes on the wealthiest Americans but balanced the budget and gave us the longest period of economic growth in US history the wingnut leaders said:

"The banks will fail. Clinton's plans will only worsen the recession."
-- Dick Armey

"Clinton's pie-in-the-sky fantasies will crash our economy."
-- Phil Gramm

"A guaranteed disaster, without a doubt."
-- Newt Gingrich

Edit: Approval ratings:

Look at W's since he had megaphone in hand at Ground Zero after 9/11 when Americans were with him on the real war on terror.

http://members.aye.net/~hippie/images/blog/bush_ar.gif

Now compare that to Clinton's steady increase in his appoval rating.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/92/Clinton_approval_rating.JPG/300px-Clinton_approval_rating.JPG

Answer 7

strange that a man who has been out of the Oval Office for over 6 years is still getting all the credit/blame for what goes on in the country. Bill Clinton apparently has more power and influence while out of the presidency than GW has while in.

Answer 8

Donie, nice link. Clinton was president from 1993-2000, and you give us evidence extending back to 1997 to show that his lowest approval rating was 54%. Sure, if you just ignore half of his presidency. I say we ignore half of Bush's presidency, at just look at the half when his approval rating was 92%.

Of course Clinton's approval ratings got as low as 36% (not as low as Bush lowest) but his high was only 73%, nowhere near Bush's high level of 92%.


Noils, I think if you look at the DJIA, you'll see that that longest period of economic expansion actually started 27 months BEFORE Clinton became president, and end 12 months BEFORE he left office. If his policies helped an already growing economy to continue to grow, why did the lead to the collapse in 2000?

Answer 9

Bill Clinton was fairly conservative fiscally, especially for a Democrat.

The far-left liberals on this site who idolize him either fail to recognize this, or attempt to downplay this aspect of his administration.

Answer 10

Ironic how Bush has probably been the best thing for the democrats since FDR.

The backlash that has begun against the GOP will continue in '08 and solidify the DEMs hold on govt.