Monday, June 21, 2004

Korean heads and Clinton's face

Just off Drudge: some fuckwads in Iraq are threatening to cut off a South Korean hostage's head. This would be a great opportunity for the SK Special Forces to show off why they were feared by the Vietnamese. I hope Mr. Kim is found and brought safely back to South Korea, and if a few terrorists lose their own heads during the hostage extraction, I won't lose any sleep.

Swinging back to the Great White West...

Whoa-- did you see the look on Bill's face? I've read plenty about the famous Clinton temper, but I've never seen a photograph of it. Day-yamn. Well, if he's concerned about his legacy, he'll need to remember that, even today, students learn that little ditty about Grover Cleveland: Ma! Ma! Where's my Pa? Gone to the White House! Ha ha ha! Sorry, Bill. You've chiseled a vagina-shaped groove into your service record. And that's too bad, because large parts of that record are... unstained.

Here's a snippet from a write-up of Cleveland:

While a bachelor, a love child conceived while he was a young man in Buffalo was brought up during his presidential campaign. He admitted paternity and his honesty helped calm the issue, despite the popular campaign chant against him: "Ma, Ma, where's my Pa? Gone to the White House, Ha, Ha, Ha!" Cleveland narrowly defeated Blaine in the election.

Arnold was pretty sly to tackle the Gropinator accusations with a general apology. He didn't really demonstrate full contrition, but he was undeniably more direct than Bill and his "I did not have sexual relations with that woman" bullshit.

However, I disagree with the conclusion that Clinton's anger during the British interview shows his general lack of contrition. I don't think the anger conclusively proves anything. Clinton's got a temper; this was established early in his tenure as president. Seeing it in full color for the first time is something of a guilty pleasure for me, but his blowup could have arisen for any number of reasons. Clinton's been hounded and mocked since T-minus Semen Stain. That's got to get to him; he's only human. Contrite or not, Clinton has a right to expect to move on to other things. Other people, even those in high places like Arnold et al., would expect the same.

I have trouble feeling sympathy for Clinton; he's the author of his own personal messes. But I don't think his temper gives us any indication, one way or the other, about his contrition.

OK, enough Bill. Too much Bill-talk makes my pubes uncurl.

Keep the South Korean hostage in your thoughts, whatever your politics.

_

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