Clinton on the Daily Show
President Bill Clinton was a guest on last nights (Monday, August 8th 2004) “Daily Show with John Stewart”. It was an excellent interview and an interesting perspective from a man who basically knows about the shit behind the curtains and isnt happy with way things are going.
Although I didnt agree with all of his policies during his term, I think overall Clinton did a very good job. Besides being a very intelligent person, he is an excellent speaker and has a great sense of humor. He maintains the values that matter and is open to other peoples religious and spiritual perspectives. Yeah, hes made some mistakes, but we all do. Not all of us have the entire nation looking over your shoulder waiting for something press-juicy to happen. Infact, if you read international papers at the time, the rest of the world couldnt understand why we were obsessed with a mans extramarital activities.
One major discussion was the Kerry Viatnam attack. The characters in the interview during this interview say they “served with Kerry”, when they infact happened to be in Viatnam at the same time as Kerry; they did not serve under the same command, and never saw Kerry in battle. Another attack in the commercial a doctor who treated Kerry stated he did not earn his first purple heart. He claims that Kerry had a piece of shrapnel in his arm “about the size of a centemeter”. How and why would he remember this specifically in a war of carnage is beyond me. But of course his claim is unfounded because nowhere on Kerrys medical records was this doctors signature. Big suprise.
The difference between the Democratic election when Clinton was the candidate and now with Kerry as the candidate is the mudslinging. Clinton was not afraid to defend himself when the opposing party would attack him. Clinton said he actually preferred being on the defensive because it allowed him to debate because “Youre not being negative in a debate.” and the outcome is more positive for the defence and negative for the offence. The Republicans have issued attack after attack on Kerry, with no response on the defensive from Kerry. I can understand how he wants to come off as the good guy, but there comes a certain point where you have to defend yourself. If you dont, youll look like a wuss.
The media was another topic of discussion. After Watergate, the media felt like they had a civic duty in order to serach and destroy evil doers in the political landscape, and it escalated to where they needed an attack during every election cycle, and that “was no good”. After 9/11 the media self-censored itself and was afraid to criticise any political decision, but now things have balanced out and the media is back to reporting on balanced issues.
This election is important because were in a new cycle, were changing from an Industrial Economy to a World Information Economy. More people need to register to vote and pay attention to the arguments of the candidates. There are plenty of websites which will help you register to vote including: Rock the Vote, Declare Yourself, Your Vote Matters and the Federal Election Commision