Question Details	Asked By	Asked On
Why is/was President Clinton scorned so?	paulcporter	11/03/03
How were President Clinton's ethical/moral failings worse than those of any other president/politician? Mr. Clinton was the first president in my adult life, so I haven't much memory or Regan/Carter/Ford/Nixon, but I never understood why the man seemed to have so much venom directed at him. What was it about his ethical/moral failings in comparision to those of other presidents that cause people to hate him so? Yes, he was a womanizer, and he lied about it, but in my mind he did a lot of good for the country. If one examines the current president, one sees the same flaws: someone who dodged service in Vietnam; used drugs and avoids discussing it; tells lies; etc. The only thing he hasn't been caught doing to date is fooling around with women. Why all the ire for Clinton and not Bush, for example? I am interested in reasoned, objective responses.
Clarification/Follow-up by HANK1 on 11/05/03 1:37 am: Paul: I'm a Paralegal who can't assume anything. I deal in facts ... only the facts ... as Joe Friday used to say on Dragnet. (That applies to your comment to my answer.) Clinton is innocent of ALL assumptions until proven guilty. In re: Geography. I agree. In re: Your accusations about Bush. Can you prove what you said? If not, said accusations are bogus. I feel that President Bush is a man of principle and quite religious. All of us have skeletons in our closets but ... this is NOW and NOW is what counts. Besides, I could never say that Bush is a womanizer because of his great wife, Laura. What a 'looker' and a fine, fine woman! (You didn't call him a womanizer, Paul!) HANK Clarification/Follow-up by paulcporter on 11/05/03 6:19 am: Hank, I appreciate your diligence in dealing only with facts. I think the root of my question though deals with conviction in the court of public opinion, which sadly disregards such notions of innocence until proven guilty. The same sorts of accusations fly around about both men, with the exception of George Bush as a womanizer; but Bill Clinton seems to inspire much more hatred, even three years out of public office. And that is what I find confusing. Maybe the key point is that, like you said, people perceive Mr. Bush to be religious, and at least certain about those religious principles, whereas Mr. Clinton was perceived to be...actually I cannot answer that. If one puts the womanizing aside (which did in fact offend me), the only thing I can think of is that Mr. Clinton was not clearly motivated by religious convictions. Maybe he had a more relativistic frame of mind, and people hate him for that? Could it be that people in the USA sincerely want a composed of people who proclaim the bible as the Word of God, and are born again, etc? Back in 1996, when I finished college and got my first job, my boss was a very conservative independent Baptist (Southern Baptists were too liberal for him). He used to say things like, "Janet Reno should be shot and I would like to pull the trigger." Such words were shocking to me; I was raised as a Baptist too, but I do not rememeber the bible advocating murder. But maybe I am very much in the minority in this country, and I still haven't figured it out yet. Clarification/Follow-up by HANK1 on 11/05/03 6:47 am: Thanks, Paul, for your follow-up. You're right on track. I'd say you're a fine young man. (However,I think I would stick with the facts of a matter, especially in the business world!) HANK
Answered By		Answered On
HANK1		11/04/03
Some people scorn Clinton because they're jealous of him. His relationship with Monica was the only black mark on his reputation while being president. If you can tell me a President who doesn't have a skeleton in his closet, I'll sell you a bridge! HANK

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