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Thursday, September 09, 2010
What does Bill Clinton’s support of Lee Fisher say about Fisher?
Posted by Justin Jeffre
Photo courtesy of here.
Bill Clinton will be coming to town to raise money for Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher’s campaign for Ohio’s open Senate seat. Bill Clinton represents the corporate supremacist mindset that has totally infected the Democratic Party. Clinton’s record was horrific and his strategy of “triangulation” devastated our country.
There’s always an effort to rewrite history after a President leaves office but what they won’t tell you is that Clinton laid the ground work for the Bush administration when he imposed sanctions on Iraq that killed one million innocent Iraqis—half a million were children—and he made “regime change” in Iraq official US policy. Beginning in 1998, Clinton dropped more bombs on Iraq than all of the bombs dropped on Vietnam.
So here’s a little reminder of what the Clinton-Gore administrations record really looked like.
What the Clinton-Gore administration did:
1. Promoted welfare reform that ended the federal safety net and put many children at risk.
2. Lobbied, with big business, NAFTA and GATT into law against labor, consumer, environmental and human-rights groups.
3. Expanded corporate welfare programs.
4. Approved dozens of giant mergers in the chemical, oil, drug, defense, agribusiness, media, HMO, hospital, auto, banking, and other financial institutions.
5. Encouraged larger military weapons exports by the private munitions companies using taxpayer subsidies and approved many costly and redundant weapons programs.
6. Supported a bloated military budget, post-Soviet Union, driven more by defense industry greed than national defense needs.
7. Failed to enforce laws against corporate crime, fraud and abuse.
8. Gave away to corporations massive taxpayer assets in natural resources, scientific, health, space, and other R&D areas.
9. Bailed out, with taxpayer billions, reckless governments and oligarchies through the IMF.
10. Opened up large areas of Northern Alaska for oil and gas drilling and supported the destruction by coal companies of mountaintops in Appalachia.
11. Gave the auto companies an eight-year holiday from higher fuel efficiency and auto safety standards.
12. Signed legislation eroding civil liberties and produced a record that commentators called “abysmal.”
13. Under-enforced the civil rights laws while orating for them.
14. Backed large corporate prison expansions and failed to address discriminatory patterns of criminal justice enforcement.
15. Supported dictatorships and oligarchies that suppressed their people.
16. Continued the deep sleep of the regulatory agencies at the expense of health, safety and economic assets of consumers and workers.
17. Favored big agribusiness over the family farmer.
18. Subsidized and gave the biotechnology industry insulation from regulation.
19. Raised large amounts of money from almost every corporate interest and let big money continue to nullify honest elections.
20. Opposed ways and means to facilitate consumers, workers, taxpayers, and investors banding together for self-defense.
(*Ralph Nader -Crashing the Party)
(I won’t even get into the records of the Gore-Lieberman, Kerry-Edwards and Obama-Biden teams. Obama has filled his administration with Clinton retreads like Rahm Emanuel and Larry Summers etc.)
Clinton supports Fisher because Fisher is also a corporate shill. Lt. Governor Lee Fisher is taking money from the very corporations that control both of the corporate parties. And that means that Lee Fisher will continue to stand with the corporations and against the people of Ohio.
The Democratic Party and their operatives like Clinton and Fisher will continue to lie to the progressive community and try to convince them that they are on your side. But the Democratic Party has always stood for the special interests and against the American people.
They continue to suck the life out of the anti-war movement while continuing to expand the number of wars and expand the bloated Pentagon budget. They continue to push the lie that King Coal is clean because they take dirty money from those fat cat polluters.
They continue to take the labor movements votes for granted while imposing job-killing corporate trade policies like Clinton’s NAFTA. They shred our constitutional rights by supporting warrantless wire-tapping and the Patriot Act.
Progressives should protest Clinton’s visit and his policies that caused the market meltdown etc. They should send a strong message to Lee Fisher and the rest of the corporate Democrats.
If you want our support you must earn it. That is why we will give our votes to anti-war candidates-like Dan La Botz—who stand for We the People and against corporate control of our government.
(*Update: Thanks to the anonymous tipster for the heads up on my failure to cite the Nader source and thanks for reading the Cincinnati Beacon.)
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10 Sep 2010 at 08:17 am | #
“If you want our support you must earn it.” Can you help me then with what LaBotz has “EARNED”? So far I have only seen opinions and positions on issues.
10 Sep 2010 at 02:28 pm | #
Candidates put out opinions and positions on the issues. You earn votes by representing people’s views not just giving them lip service. La Botz not only says he opposes the wars, he has a long history of protesting and educating people about the wars and our imperial foreign policy.
Fisher says he supports the Obama Administration’s efforts to responsibly end the war in Iraq and defeat al-Qaeda and other terrorist networks around the world. But Obama isn’t ending the war in Iraq and that is just a lie. He doesn’t mention Afghanistan or Pakistan but you can be sure he supports the foolish wars there.
Fisher supports dirty coal. He lies and says it is clean. La Botz wants us to move away from coal, oil and nuclear.
La Botz has written about the labor movement and been an organizer. Fisher just gives them lip service while taking corporate money and serving the corporate agenda.
You earn votes by taking the right positions and showing you have a record of supporting those positions.
10 Sep 2010 at 09:23 pm | #
Actually, that statement is a lie. What you meant to say is probably: “Obama isn’t ending the war in Iraq the way I want him to”. You see? There’s a difference.
He’s laid out a timeline, and we’re reducing our responsibilities and manpower there. Just because you disagree with the timeline and the method doesn’t mean that he’s not ending it. It’s just going slowly.
I don’t every remember Fisher claiming “dirty coal” is actually clean. I do remember him being in support of what the industry has termed “clean coal”, which could be more appropriately named “cleaner coal”.
Now, calling it “clean coal” might be a misnomer as it still produces a waste byproduct of some sort… but then aren’t you being even more disingenuous when you actually refer to it as “dirty coal”? I mean, coal burning can be really really dirty. It is still dirty now even though EPA regulations have forced energy generators to seriously clean up their operations compared to what they were like in the 1950’s.
I’ll take the guy who’s interested in building more wind farms, solar farms, and “cleaner” coal plants to transform our energy production over letting the guy who would sees EPA regulations and fines as nothing more than an “extra tax” on people.
If that means that I need to compromise so that Appalachia can have a phase-over crutch to keep them viable over the next few decades that’s fine. From what I can tell, Fisher’s energy proposal is basically identical to LaBotz’s except he also advocates for “clean coal”.
Fisher wants to phase out the old, phase-in the new. Portman wants to keep the old (including generous tax breaks), bring in the new (with more tax breaks), and is hoping you don’t ask him how he plans to pay for all those tax breaks without raising revenue.
10 Sep 2010 at 11:30 pm | #
The Hillary fanatics out there who are screaming that Clinton would have done a better job and gotten more accomplished than Obama has just kill me; The Clintons are the biggest corporatist whores out there. Obama is a close second. Colour me bitterly dissapointed in Obama, and the Democrats as well. The only thing worse than the dems is the pathetic GOP and their little teabagger freinds. I’m only supporting progressives hence forth, folks like Russ Finegold, Bernie Sanders, Sherrod Brown, Alan Grayson and progressive 3rd party candidates. It’s time to break the hold that the two harties have on our political system-they are killing our nation.
11 Sep 2010 at 07:24 am | #
Yes, we’ve been saying that for years.
11 Sep 2010 at 01:25 pm | #
Coleman you are shoveling it pretty well today.
No. Obama isn’t ending the war. He is acting like George W. Bush with his mission accomplished BS propaganda. We have over 50,000 troops there and they are still dying and killing. Obama increased the number of private contractors like Blackwater and Halliburton. The occupation continues, just ask the Iraqi people.
He has always left it open. He has said he will listen to the generals and the Iraqi’s-meaning the puppet regime on the ground. We built a billion dollar base (with slave labor) they call an embassy. If you look at what the Iraqi’s and the generals are saying we are going to be there for another decade. Obama knows this and he is just rebranding the war and occupation.
And Fisher obviously supports the war in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia. I guess those aren’t worthy of mention though.
Clean coal is corporate propaganda. In other words, it is a lie. There is nothing clean about coal. They blast mountain tops and create tons of toxic coal ash before they even burn it and there is no clean way to burn it.
And I’ll take the guy that isn’t a corporate shill and hasn’t taken big money from King Coal. Fisher is just as beholden to the corporations as Portman.
Democrats use progressive language because they need the votes of progressives. When they say we want universal health care they don’t really mean it and they don’t really fight for it. Obama gave us a Republican health care plan that increased the stocks of drug and insurance companies. We still don’t have universal health care. He never really wanted a public option and the corporations were at the table the whole time.
He went around saying he would end the war in Iraq and you can take that to the bank. But if you’re dumb enough to think that the war is over you will believe anything he says. Fisher will support coal, off-shore drilling and Nuclear just like Obama has. He who pays the paper calls the tune.
Follow the money Coleman and free your mind. If you continue to support corporate candidates we will continue to end up with corporate policies. Look at Clinton’s record. This is who Fisher looks up to.
11 Sep 2010 at 04:29 pm | #
Even Kucinich, Sanders and Sherrod Brown capitulate way too much. But at least they are mostly on the right side of the issues. I can see voting for them-I wouldn’t vote for Brown-but voting for Lee Fisher is something that real progressives shouldn’t do.
A real simple rule of thumb is don’t vote for pro-war candidates if you oppose wars. If you vote for the “lesser evil” pro-war candidate you will end up with more bipartisan wars. We must demand more and hold these corporate shills accountable.
11 Sep 2010 at 05:21 pm | #
I’m sorry, Justin, but I prefer to be part of the conversation rather than yelling from the sidelines. I know that the majority of America isn’t just like me. We’re all different and others aren’t just going to accept my worldview simply because I put them all down for being “corporate shills”. You can have all the good ideas that you want. Only when you put them to practice will others be convinced of the value of your ideas. Seeing the majority use progressive ideas and put them to work here and there is like planting seeds. Eventually the seeds will grow, and they will spread.
11 Sep 2010 at 05:33 pm | #
How long do we have to wait?
11 Sep 2010 at 07:02 pm | #
Coleman, how are you a part of the conversation? Were you at the table for any meaningful decisions? I only call them corporate shills because they shill for the corporations that fund their campaigns. There’s a huge gap between public opinion and public policy. This is what we call the democracy gap.
You think because they let you decide which corporate shill you like best that you are really having a say. But if you’re against the war and you vote for pro-war candidates and parties you are voting against your own interest. It might make you feel better knowing Obama is running the war machine, but it is just as bloody under him as it was under Bush. In fact their war policies are pretty much the same on Iraq and Afghanistan etc.
If we want real change and democracy we must wake up and stand up for candidates rights and voter rights-like the right to real free and fair elections instead the elaborate money laundering schemes we call elections. They try to exclude any anti-war candidates from the debates because they expose their bipartisan lies.
Those of us that speak the truth about power are planting seeds for real change. You’re just parroting lies created by corporate propagandists and feeling self righteous about it.
Obama and the Democrats won’t end the wars they helped lie us into. The American people must stand up and demand change. The unDemocratic party’s greatest function is to suck the life out of movements for real change. They convince people that oppose wars to vote for pro-war candidates. They are quite dangerous and very destructive. That’s why they must be exposed and challenged.
11 Sep 2010 at 11:26 pm | #
I can’t predict the future, Dean. However, one thing I have learned is that you don’t get your way immediately.
Justin, I’m not going to argue with your rant on self-importance. You seem to have the opinion that a majority of people voting share your point of view. I don’t happen to agree with that. Since I don’t agree with that, you’ve decided to label me a “parrot” and calls every candidate you don’t like a “corporate shill”. Sounds like a chapter out of the playbook of those “corporate shill” parties you are complaining about.
There isn’t a candidate out there that shares my point of view on every issue. You keep pushing the anti-war thing, but we’re already in Iraq & Afghanistan. Seems to me that I don’t much have use for an “I told you so” candidate.
12 Sep 2010 at 04:51 am | #
I’ve been voting since the early 90s. Is nearly 20 years long enough not to be guilty of wanting to get my way immediately?
12 Sep 2010 at 01:27 pm | #
Coleman, we could get out of the wars if the Democrats wanted too. President Obama is the commander in cheif and the Democrats were largely elected because they said they opposed the war in Iraq.
Polls show that not too many people self identify as Democrats or Republicans. The Republicans launched the Tea Party as a rebranding effort. Have you seen the approval ratings for Congress?
La Botz isn’t just saying I told you so. He is saying end the wars now and change our imperial foreign policy. Invest in Medicare-for-all and rebuilding the infrastructure of this country. His message is very different from Fishers. Fisher is scared to debate La Botz. He knows if progressives hear a real progressive message they will be compelled to vote against Fishers corporate policies.
If you’re going to quote me use the words I wrote. I didn’t call you a parrot but you are parroting corporate propaganda and lies about the ongoing war in Iraq.
So what did supporting Clinton and Gore get us anyway? More corporate policies.
13 Sep 2010 at 11:05 pm | #
Sure, I’ll bite. What lies are those, Justin? Where is your evidence?
15 Sep 2010 at 12:25 pm | #
He’s not ending the war. He’s escalated the number of private mercenaries in Iraq. He’s calling the troops still there non-combat troops and that is a lie. He has said he will listen to the Generals and the Iraqi’s about the final decision on withdrawal.
Yes the industry has termed dirty coal “clean coal”. That is called corporate propaganda which is being pushed by Lee Fisher. You think it should be called “cleaner coal”. Fisher is getting big money from King Coal. What is your excuse? Burning coal produces greenhouse gases and the extraction of it-which is often mountain top removal-itself has devastated the environment, streams, and drinking water. There’s nothing clean about it. Coal is still a major source of pollution no matter how much propaganda the industry and their minions spew.
In other words, ‘we need to keep using coal for at least a few decades for the poor people in Appalachia’. But that’s not true. If we invested in real clean technologies the people of Appalachia could have safer jobs that don’t destroy their environment and cause climate change. They could become part of a sustainable economy. “Good environmental policy is good economic policy 100% of the time” –Robert Kennedy Jr.
16 Sep 2010 at 01:47 pm | #
20 Sep 2010 at 11:42 pm | #
Justin,
Should we consider that there’s a war-zone going on in Lincoln Heights because of the recent violent activity there (I’d have a URL here, but guess what! WLWT’s website is black-listed from this blog!)? No, because that’s just silly.
In this case, U.S. soldiers were providing assistance on an Iraqi Security Force operation in Fallujah. Here’s a better article, which is much less summarized, and much more objective: LINK CENSORED
From the article:
This is not unlike the fighting that still continued following the occupation of any other country in which we engaged in war. To cite this event as evidence that the war isn’t over is just as absurd as the Republicans who claim that global warming doesn’t exist because there had been a record amount of snowfall in some parts of the eastern seaboard this past winter.
Really? Where’s your proof of that?
And how would that “sustainable economy” pop up overnight?—That’s my point. Any overhaul in our energy industry isn’t something that’s going to happen overnight. At least Fisher’s proposals result in promoting evolution of current technology while we re-tool for other generation methods. You need a plan, and the work will take time. You can’t make a reliable and efficient solar farm overnight (or even over a year), nor can you just throw up a wind farm overnight.
You are intentionally ignoring that Fisher’s position on this issue is basically the same as Dan LaBotz, except that Fisher also embraced other technology that Dan does not. You’ve warped your reporting of the issue to say that Fisher is “the ‘clean coal’ candidate” and nothing more, because that representation helps drive the narrative you are trying to write. That technique is not only wrong, it is irresponsible. If you keep it up, you’re well on your way to being the liberal equivalent of a tea party wingnut.
BTW, is there some reason why your blog is blocking all hyperlinks from relatively reputable news sources? I try to stay out of the habit of only citing democracynow.org as the supporting “evidence” for the point I am trying to make.
21 Sep 2010 at 03:33 am | #
Coleman, I’m sorry that WLWT can’t be linked. I’ll look into it. Rest assured we did nothing specific to block WLWT.
Our site does, however, download a “blacklist” from the company that created the CMS. Perhaps WLWT ended up on a blacklist somewhere along the lines?
In the meantime, I don’t think you can be blocked from providing a link from here:
tinyurl.com
So, please, post your link. Thanks.
21 Sep 2010 at 04:12 am | #
Coleman, I have no idea what the technical issue is with the links, the Dean is the Beacon’s tech guy and I’m sure he will figure out a way to fix whatever the problem is. I appreciate your willingness to have a serious and respectful debate on this. Though we may disagree on some issues, I respect your opinion and style of debate. I look forward to seeing your take on this issue and looking at your links. Please email me with the links so we can have this discussion ASAP. Thanks!