Clinton Derangement Syndrome

A recent exchange with a reader reminds me of a post from July of last year, in which I said that the "virulence of the anti-Bush crowd (horde, really) reminds me of the virulence of the anti-Clintonistas." I must say that the anti-Clintonistas had -- and have -- good cause; for example:

1. Clinton won in 1992 because Ross Perot (or pee-rot, as Texans say it) siphoned votes from G.H.W. Bush. (That's roughly parallel to what happened in 2000, except that the Nader vote was minuscule compared with the Perot vote.) But that's only the beginning.

2. Clinton made political hay from the tragedy in Oklahoma City by equating Timothy McVeigh's violent, anti-government act (a protest of the tragedy in Waco) with conservatives' legitimate call for less intrusive government.

3. Clinton piled on later in the same year by blaming the (partial) government shutdown on Republicans, though it was Clinton who vetoed the spending bill that caused the shutdown.

4. Clinton lied under oath in a case that was brought under a law that he signed. He escaped removal from office for doing so only because Democrat senators refused to acknowledge the facts of the case.

5. Clinton, as ex-president, lately has been critical of a war that he threatened to wage when he was president. Typical two-faced Bill.

That's enough for now. Clinton derangement syndrome is beginning to obscure my true, forgiving nature.