Bill Clinton To Obama: Man Up, Dude

Bill Clinton in Parkersburg, WV, according to press accounts:

"If a politician doesn't wanna get beat up, he shouldn't run for office," he said. "If a politician doesn't wanna get beat up, he shouldn't run for office. If a football player doesn't want to get tackled or want the risk of an a occasional clip he shouldn't put the pads on."

Jake Tapper picks up on something else:

"I don't give a riff about all this name-calling that's going on. They've been going on ever since Iowa. I've heard them say all these things about her.... Apparently it's okay to say bad things about a girl,"

To interpret: those who complain about the tenor of the Democratic Primary are just whiners. And by extension, so is Obama. Is there some subterranean machismo/peacock feather displaying going on here, too?

Comments

The housing market>>>>>>>>Bill Clinton's legacy

Posted by Bill | March 26, 2008 2:35 PM

Most football players don't count on being on the receiving end of personal fouls committed by other members of their own team.

What a jack ass. To think I once respected him.

Posted by Dave | March 26, 2008 2:39 PM

The last throes of the Clinton dynasty are not going to be pretty. It must be killing them that Obama goes on vacation, leaving the field to them and they have the worst few days of the campaign.

Posted by NHCt | March 26, 2008 2:39 PM

"To think I once respected him."

Therein lies the frustration. I spent so much time and energy defending this man and his family during the 1990s. I deeply loved our Bubba. Now, I can't even look at the man anymore; I can barely even think about him without becoming depressed. I think he assumed that based on his experiences in the past in rebounding from scandal that he could just use the bully pulpit of being the only re-elected Democratic president since FDR and do as he pleased. He was wrong - his legacy will not survive this. I guarantee you that it will not.

Posted by Bill | March 26, 2008 2:44 PM

Ha--good point Dave. Usually the quarterback doesn't get tackled by his own team.

Bill Clinton is a selfish, out-of-touch fool.

Wake up Democrats. This is ALL ABOUT THEM. Not about us. The Clintons could give a rip about the Party.

And what's with the gender whining? Seriously, Bill? Because she's a girl? Good Lord. So Bill can whine but Obama can't? Oh the inconsistencies. It must depend upon what the definition of "name-calling" is, right Bill?

Posted by Joe Justice | March 26, 2008 2:46 PM

I think it's smart: he can't beat a girl, how is he going to beat McCain?

Hillary's proven she has grit because everyone keeps saying she has grit, lol. Never mind all three of these candidates have had to endure an endless and crazy campaign. They need the public to turn on the idea that it's time to wind down the race and pick a nominee.

It'll affect them in PA if Obama can get the Rendell coalition going and put himself over the top: appeals to November and party unity aren't good for clinton with this crowd.

Posted by Rhoda | March 26, 2008 2:47 PM

"Most football players don't count on being on the receiving end of personal fouls committed by other members of their own team.

What a jack ass. To think I once respected him."

HAHA great point. bill clinton needs to shut it.

___

and to rhoda: it may be smart to the misinformed, but obama is beating hillary by every measure right now.

Posted by justin | March 26, 2008 2:50 PM

Is this Bill Clinton any relation to that woman who cried when she thought she would lose the New Hampshire primary?

Posted by DaveW | March 26, 2008 2:51 PM

the party will not survive too much more of this..........personal fouls committed by members of their own team............exactly!

Posted by heather | March 26, 2008 2:53 PM

Fair points, Bill, so surely you won't mind Obama talking about how your wife only has her job because you had to pay her off for that blowjob, how you got impeached, the Northern Ireland lies, the Lincoln Bedroom, the pardons, and your tax returns, right?

Posted by Galatia | March 26, 2008 2:54 PM

Yes, it's all about them. It always has been and it's a wonder that the party has stuck up for them for so long. His soap opera life style and then the pardons as he left office, did it for me. They have zero sense of shame.
Obama with birthed in Chicago politics so I doubt these kinds of chides will bother him much.
He's got bigger problems than Bill and he needs to keep his eye on those. Bill doesn't have half the influence in the country he thinks he does so this silliness won't have much in the way of legs. I suspect it gets more of a yawn.

Posted by linda | March 26, 2008 2:54 PM

Hey, Galatia, if the shoe fits...

Posted by To Galatia | March 26, 2008 2:56 PM

According to BIll Clinton, because HIllary is a woman she is allowed to attack Obama unfairly, but Obama is not allowed to attack her fairly or he's a sexist.

If Obama calls the Clintons on their BS, he is whining. But when Hillary cries about fair coverage and outcomes, she is having a "human moment"

When will women voters wake up and realize that the Clintons have set back the cause of feminism 20 years?'

Posted by RKA | March 26, 2008 2:57 PM

"If a politician doesn't wanna get beat up..."

Does this mean Bill is willing to beat his own meat rather than be serviced?

Posted by D | March 26, 2008 2:58 PM

Seriously, the problem is not that Obama is getting hit, but that he can't hit back—partly because it would undermine his schtick, but mostly because he recognizes there are places you don't go in an intraparty contest. The Clintons have been launching nukes while Obama has been shadowboxing, and the polls are still tied at worst, which has to make you think that if Clinton got a tenth the vetting she claims she's had, her numbers would be down with Dubya's.

Posted by Galatia | March 26, 2008 2:58 PM

Classy, Bill.

You know what's odd? The press turned a corner in the last few days. They seem set on taking Hillary down. I don't know what it is. But everybody seems to be pulling out a new "Remember when Hillary said this? Well take a look at what ACTUALLY happened!" story. And there are a lot of them.

I personally think that the FMLA and the SCHIP exaggerations are going to bite her in the ass even harder than SniperGate.

Bill. You really are sort of bozo. A loveable, shameless little bozo.

Posted by Craig | March 26, 2008 3:00 PM

I don't quite understand what Bill is responding to, here... When has Obama said that he doesn't want to get "beat up"?

Obviously, both sides have feigned an absurd amount of offense when they have been criticized, claiming racism, sexism, etc. However, it's not as if both sides don't understand the game.

If anyone is worrying about Obama getting "beat up", it's Democratic voters who see Clinton's attacks as a nihilistic destruction of the presumptive nominee.

Posted by Jerry Medium | March 26, 2008 3:05 PM

Bill isn't responding to anything, he's just being the same hateful scumbag he's always been. In his mind he's still poor white trash that doesn't quite fit in around all the rich kids at Georgetown, and that's never going to change. Maybe the old bastard's heart will explode again and spare us from having to listen to him inflict his insecurity on the world for the next few months.

Posted by Galatia | March 26, 2008 3:09 PM

Fine and dandy, Bill.

Now where are those tax returns? And donors to your library?

We're waiting, dude!

Posted by Ruth | March 26, 2008 3:10 PM

Bil just sent a message to the Party Elders and supers - The Clintons are ready for a blood bath - you think it's been bad so far - you haven't seen nothing yet.

Good. Let's everyone be clear about what The Clintons are capable of and want. They are in a death spiral. They are going to put everything on the line - her future in politics, his legacy, everything. They are desperate to win at ALL costs.

They are running as incumbents - failure to be re-elected means a presidency that ends in disgrace with no room for redemption. That's how they see it and that's how we should see it.

Posted by C.B. Todd | March 26, 2008 3:20 PM

There weren't any blogs back in '92--but if there had been, every single one of you would have been commenting on them just as enthusiastically for Bill Clinton as you now are for Obama. So now Clinton is Satan? Aside from your total lack of loyalty, it seems to me that you've all forgotten that power corrupts. I can just imagine what you're all gonna be saying about Obama in 10 or 15 years.

Posted by Hope Muntz | March 26, 2008 3:33 PM

Hmm. So a politician has to expect to get beaten up.
But they're being mean to Hillary because she's a "girl".

Is he saying Hillary's not a politician? Isn't he contradicting himself?

Also, isn't there something contradictory in Bill Clinton being so solicitous and protective of a wife that he humiliated publicly, over and over again?

Posted by Tithonia | March 26, 2008 3:35 PM

Loyalty has its limits Hope - I doubt that in 10 or 15 years Obama will be running for a third term.

Posted by C.B. Todd | March 26, 2008 3:36 PM

Bill Clinton never did anything for me, and if Obama is running for a third term in 15 years I'll be enthusiastically running him down, because, as you rightly point out, he'll be unimaginably morally disfigured by then. Just like po' white Bill, who's still a backwoods hillbilly after all those years of never hearing anyone tell him "no."

Posted by Galatian | March 26, 2008 3:37 PM

Dear President Clinton,

We'll always have the '90s. Now please go away.

Posted by Hal | March 26, 2008 3:38 PM

Hope, you see I DID enthusiastically vote for and then defend Bill Clinton against all of the crap the right-wingers threw his way. When he said he didn't "have sex with that woman," I totally believed him and thought he had been framed. Then I found out he had lied, and that because of his utter selfishness the Democratic party was completely broken. That was when I saw through the Clinton lies.

Even so, I respected Hillary until this campaign. She is just as selfish, and just as prone to lying, as Bill ever was. They're a match made in Hell. So the Clintons completely earned my disdain -- and my lack of "loyalty." After all, they're loyal only to themselves in the final analysis. Why should I remain "loyal" to them?

Posted by Amy | March 26, 2008 3:52 PM

Shorter Ambinder, Tapper, Halperin, and assorted media personalities: "Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!"

Posted by dry_fish | March 26, 2008 4:01 PM

The part of Clinton's remarks Marc conveniently failed to quote:

And while some are "moaning and groaning," he said there are larger issues to gripe about. "None of these politicians are gonna have anything like the tough time half the people in this audience have already had for the last seven years," he said to applause. "This is about you. Don't you let anybody take this election away from you."

Posted by dry_fish | March 26, 2008 4:07 PM

Well, she certainly does cry often enough, maybe Hillary needs to Woman up a bit.

Posted by obscure | March 26, 2008 4:34 PM

Hope Muntz - That's about the saddest argument I've seen yet. Loyalty? You've got to be shitting me. The Clintons set the Democratic party and the progressive movement back... 7 years and counting now.

Loyalty doesn't mean a fucking thing if they betray what the party stands for.

If Obama pulls the shit Bill does, I'll be the first to change the channel when he's schmoozing for "Michelle for President 2020!".

This "loyalty" idea is bullshit.

Posted by socctty | March 26, 2008 4:50 PM

The choice of "risk of an a occasional clip" seems odd to me considering clipping is actually against the rules. Is Bill implying that expecting adherance to rules in a primary is being a pansy.

Posted by taricha | March 26, 2008 5:12 PM

That Elongated Brown Turd from the Sewer of South Side Chicago has never had to win a fairly run political campaign in his life. Firstly the Chicago Mob eliminated his competition on a technicality over supporter registration lists. Then they kneecapped his next two most significant opponents in his Senate campaign, by digging up personal dirt that was supposed to have been sealed in Court Records.

A hollow, empty, suit devoid of character or substance. On a football team he would be the placekicker with the funny accent and the unpronouncable name who plays his pocket Nintendo for hours on end, waiting to prince and ponce his way onto the field for a couple of plays per game where he is not allowed to be hit.

Posted by robert ethan | March 26, 2008 5:20 PM

Marc, is there no way to IP ban this guy?

Posted by Klaus | March 26, 2008 5:50 PM

Since sports seems to be so important to Bill Clinton and robert ethan, I'll mention that Obama is a serious basketball player. Anyone who has played hoops knows it's a contact sport. I'm sure Obama could school either of those fat jackasses.

Posted by lifelong democrat | March 26, 2008 6:14 PM

Hope Muntz:3:33

Yes, Hope, Bill Clinton IS Satan.

His importance today relies on zealots
like you to forgive him, excuse him, shill for
him and to turn your fancy upon, and adore
his cuckolded wife.

People like you supply the sustenance that
keeps this hideous duo on the American stage.

Posted by interferon | March 26, 2008 6:40 PM

robert ethan:

He of the understated, nuanced prose. It's
always a pleasure to read the spawn of
your fertile mind. So...you seem to be
on the fence, slightly leaning to Obama,right?

Posted by interferon | March 26, 2008 7:00 PM

You gotta admire Bill. He's a fighter non-
pareil. In any crisis, he'll hunker down
doggedly...send out his wife..his daughter...
Lanny Davis....his cabinet...Carville...etc.
to face the threatening hordes. He's a hero
for the ages.

Posted by hombre | March 26, 2008 7:14 PM

First Hillbilly says, "“I think it would be a great thing if we had an election year where you had two people who loved this country and were devoted to the interest of this country...And people could actually ask themselves who is right on these issues, instead of all this other stuff that always seems to intrude itself on our politics.”

Four days later he says, "If a politician doesn't wanna get beat up, he shouldn't run for office."

Bill makes sure to raise the gender issue with, "Apparently it's okay to say bad things about a girl." Can you imagine a 60 Minutes segment where Barack is asked to confirm Hillary's gender and he answers, "she is a female...as far as I know."

Posted by cadmus | March 26, 2008 7:44 PM

Reagan solidified the Republican wave with the "11th Commandment" preventing personal attacks on fellow Republicans. I think Marquess of Queensbury rules should prevail over extreme fighting even in the general election, but more pulling of punches is necessary in the primary. Bill is engaging in his usual self absorbed narcissism seeing the party as his plaything. Just go away Bill.

Posted by TK in Texas | March 26, 2008 11:37 PM

Loyalty? Really? Do you mean the kind of loyalty that is earned and returned in equal measure. The kind that you give to people that you respect, and know that they're being as strong as they can while sticking to their principles? Do you mean the kind of loyalty where you get repaid in power and influence? Or the kind of blind loyalty that you get from a dog?

Posted by Lolo | March 27, 2008 9:31 AM

Loyalty? Really? Do you mean the kind of loyalty that is earned and returned in equal measure? Do you mean the kind of loyalty where you get repaid in power and influence? Or the kind of blind loyalty that you get from a dog?

As in almost everything else they've done, the Clintons have caused me to reexamine the term and I thank them for that.

Posted by Lolo | March 27, 2008 9:33 AM

Don't play football if you don't want to get tackled?

If the NFL was played like the Clintons play politics it would
be out of business.

But, ok, Bill. Let's use NFL rules. I give the Clintons several
15 delegate penalties for face-mask violations and unsportsman like
conduct. In fact, I would have sidelined the Clintons by now.

And oh yes, I won't be able to play next week's game but I will
send my 16 year old niece to play in my place. Remember, she is
only 16 so don't knock her down while she's carrying the ball.

I would have written this entry earlier but I was being fired
on by snipers.

It's not really too surprising that Bill Clinton wants to compare
political campaigns to NFL football. Just like Carl Rove, campaigns
are just games to them. Games, that is, without rules. They are
symbolic of the very thing the people supporting Obama want to change.

Posted by Bill | March 27, 2008 6:26 PM