Remember Whitewater?

[CC27]

Tommy Carcetti (42,666 posts)


Remember Whitewater?

Well, maybe we political nerds do.

Most ordinary Americans probably don't. Even those who were around in the 90s.

Whitewater was the byzantine, nebulous "scandal" alleged against the Clintons that lead to the appointment of a Special Prosecutor--first Robert Fiske, but subsequently the late and infamous Ken Starr.

Ask anyone what Whitewater was actually about and it's doubtful they'd tell you.

There was something about a land deal in Arkansas, a defunct savings-and-loan, bank records, billing records, and--wait, your eyes are glazing over already, right?

It all was terminally dull, confusing, and most importantly of all, didn't seem to actually implicate the Clintons in anything. The hope was that it would lead to something scintillating and shocking that would outrage Americans and turn them against President Clinton. Or at least mire them in rumor and innuendo of wrongdoing.

But nobody cared. Nobody had any sort of reason to care, because there was nothing to care about. It was the biggest non-story of non-stories.

Once Starr had commandeered the Special Prosecutor ship, he realized the Americans' complete sense of apathy towards the Whitewater story. And thus he somehow was able to parlay it from a vague, confusing two-decades old financial matter into allegations of more recent inappropriate personal behavior by President Clinton--namely the Paula Jones sexual harassment civil suit. How he managed that turn of events, I'm still not 100% sure. But nonetheless, it eventually lead to the discovery of a consensual relationship between Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky, which he subsequently denied under oath, and in turn which Republicans ultimately used for purposes of impeachment.

That scandal Americans do remember.

Of course, the economy was absolutely roaring under President Clinton, and most Americans didn't feel the need to make an impeachment issue over what was at most a personal failing by the President.

Still, the Republicans got the impeachment of President Clinton that they had always wanted, as laughable and unpopular as it was. And despite President Clinton's obvious acquittal in the Senate, the scandal did still leave an embarrassing mark on his personal legacy.

But it wasn't over Whitewater.

It's not exactly clear what Republicans want to impeach President Biden over. They've drudged up various bank statements and made references to his son and his financial dealings. There's references to supposed shell companies and beneficiaries and money transfers and--your eyes are glazing over again, right?

This all is just Whitewater 2.0--a confusing twisted-up financial story that most likely won't reveal any actual wrongdoing by the President, and won't actually grab the attention of Americans by storm because it is neither straight-forward and simple (as was the case in Donald Trump's two impeachments) nor salacious and sexy (as it was with President Clinton's impeachment).

The bad news for Republicans in this case, however, is that there's unlikely to be a Lewinsky story at the end of the proverbial rainbow that they can massage into it in order to spice it up.

And so this, like Whitewater, will eventually disappear into the ether, never to be remembered and never to be understood.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100218266435

The point of this stupid post is what?

[SVPete]

The point of this stupid post is what?

Tommy Carcetti is reminding fellow DU-folk that LIEden could be caught in bed alternately copulating a dead nude under-age girl and a dead nude boy and with a suitcase stuffed full of Benjamins labelled, "Thanks for your help," and loyal Senate Ds would still vote to retain LIEden.

[USA4ME]

The only thing this primitive sorta got right was that the average person doesn’t know enough about banking and real estate transactions to have found the Whitewater crimes interesting.

Basically the McDougal’s owned a S&L and were also partners with the Clintons in a land development company. The S&L made loans it shouldn’t have made to the land development company, but they also funneled money to the Clintons for political favors. They cooked the books in a way it wasn’t traceable, but this is one of those situations that you know what was going on, you just can’t document it. It’s the same as knowing Capone is a mobster, but you can’t get anyone that could convict him to admit it.

The Clintons are crooks, that’s not debatable. They just didn’t get caught. Won’t save them in the end.

.

[enslaved1]

There was something about a land deal in Arkansas, a defunct savings-and-loan, bank records, billing records, and--wait, your eyes are glazing over already, right?

It all was terminally dull, confusing, and most importantly of all, didn't seem to actually implicate the Clintons in anything.

Love the standard proggie stance "it's over you peon's heads, don't worry about it, we will tell you if you need to be concerned.  Back to your bread and circuses, now". 

[ADsOutburst]

Biden is missing the roaring economy and the public image necessary for people to overlook his flaws. He may never face punishment for any misdeeds he may have committed, but he will likely rightly be remembered as a disaster of a president.

[67 Rover]

They also conveniently leave out the >100 suspicious activity reports.

[zeitgeist]

I still cant get this tune outa my head:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXy7qYAKrfc

 

[Ralph Wiggum]

Love the standard proggie stance "it's over you peon's heads, don't worry about it, we will tell you if you need to be concerned.  Back to your bread and circuses, now".

It is the smugness of the left and the media (but I repeat myself) to assume that the public is too stupid to have long memories.

Was in my early to mid-20's during the Clintoon Presidency and a regular Rush listener. He covered all the shenanigans ad nauseum, as conservative TV hadn't even debuted yet.

Just for giggles, during that era there was a fun TV ensemble comedy on NBC called NewsRadio, which included the late Phil Hartman post-Saturday Night Live. For one episode, Phil was mimicking that PBS dude Mark Russell who would play the piano and make commentary. It isn't terribly long, but really damn amusing in my humble opinion. And appropriate for that Clinton period.

https://youtu.be/7FvW66hEjyo?si=25jer-HHhxRyKTcT

[DefiantSix]

I still cant get this tune outa my head:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXy7qYAKrfc

 

 

Funny; whenever I'm reminded of the Clinton's White Water fiasco, I hear the chorus to Paul Shanklin's Subpoena-ville in the back of my head.

[Drafe Hoblin]

Just for giggles, during that era there was a fun TV ensemble comedy on NBC called NewsRadio, which included the late Phil Hartman post-Saturday Night Live. For one episode, Phil was mimicking that PBS dude Mark Russell who would play the piano and make commentary. It isn't terribly long, but really damn amusing in my humble opinion. And appropriate for that Clinton period.

https://youtu.be/7FvW66hEjyo?si=25jer-HHhxRyKTcT

That's brilliant.

There weren't any spoofs about Vince Foster, but I remember ABC's Brit Hume (pre-Fox News) saying:  " You don't drive to a secluded park to kill yourself.  You drive to a secluded park to keep an appointment to meet someone. "

 

[SVPete]

Funny; whenever I'm reminded of the Clinton's White Water fiasco, I hear the chorus to Paul Shanklin's Subpoena-ville in the back of my head.

I can't find it on GoogTube, but his "I Don't Remember" song was classic.

[Ralph Wiggum]

I can't find it on GoogTube, but his "I Don't Remember" song was classic.

Ask and ye' shall receive:

https://youtu.be/noMiDpF-YZk?si=kcPeWEYY4wV8RzI0