The GOP Needs To Get Past Clinton

McCain Criticizes Clinton on North Korea

Republican Sen. John McCain on Tuesday accused former President Clinton, the husband of his potential 2008 White House rival, of failing to act in the 1990s to stop North Korea from developing nuclear weapons.

Geesh! Bill Clinton gets blamed for a lot of things that the GOP has on its agenda. There are even GOP members and leaders balming our current deficit on Clinton, even though when Wild Bill left office we had a surplus the likes of which we had never seen before. But isn't it the spending on Iraq that is throwing our budget into the dumpster?

But hasn't the GOP and the Bush administration held the reins for a long time since Bubba left office? Yes, I do seem to remember that George W. Bush took office on January 20th, 2001. Here we are five years later, the GOP has dominated the congress and the courts for several years back into the Clinton administration, and George W. Bush has had the opprtunity to undo anything that Bubba did during his administration. Somehow, though, I seem to recall that all Dubya has done in terms of North Korea is make some unsupportable threats, become best buddies with the nations that have been supplying North Korea with nuclear technology, and completely closed off communication with the crazy bastards that are running the North Korean government.

Maybe McCain has a point on the matter of appeasement as was made this morning during a GMA interview, but blaming Clinton for what is occurring now is a lot like blaming parents for not teaching a bank robber to say please when he demands the teller turn over the loot. It's just plain disingenuous.

"I would remind Senator (Hillary) Clinton and other Democrats critical of the Bush administration's policies that the framework agreement her husband's administration negotiated was a failure," McCain said at a news conference after a campaign appearance for Republican Senate candidate Mike Bouchard.

"The Koreans received millions and millions in energy assistance. They've diverted millions of dollars of food assistance to their military," he said.

Perhaps we should have gone back to the MacArthur plan and bombed the hell out of North Korea instead of trying to bring them to the table for discourse and reasoning. But I did notice that China is taking a harder stance with North Korea on these matters, even to the point of threatening to cut off financial, trade, humanitarian and military support. Don't I recall something about Clinton's team working with China on these issues? Could we be neglecting to give Bubba his due respect on laying the foundation for China's new found perspective? Naw... That credit goes to Dubya who has managed to tick off the Chinese on his aggravating stance on Taiwan.

Democrats have argued President Clinton presented his successor with a framework for dealing with North Korea and the Republican fumbled the opportunity. In October 2000, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright made a groundbreaking visit to Pyongyang to explore a missile deal with Chairman Kim Jong Il. There was even talk of a visit by President Clinton.

I am not convinced that Clinton provided a real framework for dealing with North Korea. I am not so enamored with Bubba that I will refuse to admit his flaws. But he was so busy defending his sexual exploits before a GOP-controlled congress that he didn't have much time to focus on the bigger issues... which I fault the GOP for in the first place. However, the real issue is that if the GOP and the Bush administration recognized the flawed approach of the Clinton administration, why didn't they do something about it over the past five years?

Reports this week suggesting North Korea tested a nuclear device prompted a number of Democrats to criticize Bush, arguing that he focused on Iraq, a country without weapons of mass destruction, while ignoring legitimate threats from Pyongyang.

The criticism took a presidential campaign turn on Tuesday as McCain, the Arizona senator considered the Republican front-runner for the party nod, assailed Clinton's husband and mentioned her by name. The New York senator is considered her party's leading candidate in 2008.

The criticism of Bush on foreign policy doesn't need an incident like the nuclear testing conducted by North Korea... but such an incident does provide fuel for the bon fire that was already ablaze given the foul-ups George, Condi, Donny, Albee, and the rest of the Bush gang have accomplished in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Sen. Clinton's spokesman dismissed McCain's criticism and argued that it was time for a new policy from the president.

"Now is not the time to play politics of the most dangerous kind - with our policy on North Korea," Philippe Reines, spokesman for Sen. Clinton, said in a statement. "History is clear that nothing the Bush administration has done has stopped the North Koreans from openly testing a nuclear weapon and presenting a new danger to the region of the world."

Okay, so Hillary Clinton is posturing for the press... Who the hell cares... I am not goign to vote for her anyway. What concerns me is not what Hillary has to say, but what Bush and his gang of fascist thugs are going to do about it now. Since Dubya has managed to alienate almost the entire world against US policies and US actions, where is Dubya goign to find the support to actually do something about the loons that are in control in North Korea? Hell, we can't even count on the support of South Korea in these matters. But if we choose to invade, like we did in Iraq over WMDs in the hands of another alleged looney-tunes dictator, where will we find the military resources to do so? If we choose to seek diplomatic options, where will we find the international support? Since we have all but pissed off everyone at the UN, can we count on the international community to aid our efforts? Probably not.

Five years after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Bush "has allowed the 'axis of evil' to spin out of control. Our Iraq policy is a failure. Iran is going nuclear and North Korea is testing nuclear weapons," the statement said.

Yep... that's the truth of it. And to add salt to the wounds, we have provided support to Pakistan who then stabbed us in the back by supporting the Taliban, Al-Qaeda and sellign nuclear technology to North Korea. Gee, I wonder if our agreement to supply nuclear technology to India, Pakistan's arch rival in the region, had anything to do with Pakistan selling us out?

A spokesman for President Clinton, Ben Yarrow, said in a statement that it was "unfortunate that anyone would attempt to rewrite history to score political points at a time when we need to address this serious threat."

Get real... this is exactly what politicians do to each other. And shame on us for not nipping it in the bud by capping their access to the media, their funds for campaigns and access to influence peddlers that support such behavior.

"For eight years during the Clinton administration, there was no new plutonium production, no nuclear weapons tests and therefore no additional nuclear weapons developed on President Clinton's watch," said Yarrow, who added that Colin Powell, Bush's secretary of State, endorsed Clinton's policy toward North Korea in 2001.

Facts is facts. Powell did support the foundation laid by Clinton... And he was given the cold shoulder and the heave ho... So, whose fault is this again? Oh, that's right, it's Bubba's fault!

"The truth is the Clinton administration knew full well they didn't have a perfect agreement. But at least they were talking. At least we had inspectors going in and we knew where the (nuclear fuel) rods were. This way, we don't know where the rods are, the rods are gone. There are no inspectors. Ask any American which way is better," Kerry said.

Anything John Kerry has to say is no more meaningful than Dubya, Hillary or McCain. Maybe we should interview some of the State Department's experts on North Korea for a more valid perspective.