BILL CLINTON'S MIND

[searchingforlight]

I like Bill Clinton. I was very excited when he came into office as I thought he would break the Republican stranglehold that had existed in this country for years and put an end to the sense of entitlement they seemed to have. I was very disappointed in the Lewinsky fiasco, not so much by what happened because I didn't feel it rose to the level of any of the Republican crimes against the people. My disappointment was because I had waited so long to get a chance to move the country in a new direction and I felt he didn't recognize his higher obligation to keep that hope alive. I have always been impressed by his intellect and loved to hear him speak.

All that said, am I the only one that thinks he might be suffering from a growing mental deficit? When my father started suffering mini-strokes he became much more combative and unreasonable in his thinking and expression of ideas. The Bill Clinton I see and hear is not the Bill Clinton I remember.

[pinkpops]

1. He says he never inhaled

[flor de jasmim]

2. Possibly, but just as likely is that he's panicking over what he promised abroad "when" HRC's Prez

[babylonsister]

3. He also might be worried his speaking fees will sink. Poor Bill. nt

[MannyGoldstein]

4. I May Be The Only One That Sees Clinton As Pretty Much The Same

He was somewhat more skillful in the old days, but he's still very much a calculating narcissist. He never seemed to have any agenda other than himself.

Think back, for example, to when as a candidate and he returned to AR to preside over the execution of a severely retarded convict. (He followed up as president by starting the "extraordinary rendition" program (aka, outsourced torture). Or the way he handled the Lewinsky mess, first lying to everyone then blaming others. Or NAFTA and almost-free trade with China, which handed money to the Rich and doomed the Middle Class.

[Kahuna]

11. I agree with this. nt

[whistle]

5. On what reported facts are you concluding that Bill Clinton has had mini-strokes?

[TBF]

6. The OP said their father had strokes, not Bill Clinton. Stop being deliberately obtuse.

The OP is wondering whether Bill Clinton's heart condition (surgery and maintenance medication) may be affecting his mind in some way. I think it's entirely possible, as he does seem much more combative than he did in the 1990's. I would like to think it's a medical condition because we all loved Bill, and can't believe he has really turned so divisive and racially insensitive over night.

[whistle]

10. If anyone was being obtuse, it was the original poster, I only asked for clarification

...and just where has Bill Clinton become "more combative", divisive and racially insensitive than most other politicians and pundits? I think it has been a trend over the last 90 months and perhaps a reflection of national mental breakdown.

[TBF]

12. Oh please. This entire campaign - comparing Barack to Jesse

Jackson (racism), telling people to "chill" and let the primaries continue rather than stop when we had a clear winner (divisive - this does not pull the party together in order to beat McCain in the fall), and yelling at members of the audience (combative).

This is not the Clinton we knew in the 1990's.

[whistle]

13. That is your opinion and interpretation, please post Clinton quotes which as divisive and combative

[TBF]

14. Of course it's my opinion, hilbot, it's a forum and I expressed my opinion -

and I am happy to provide quotes with links:


RACISM: January 26, 2008 8:18 PM Said Bill Clinton today in Columbia, SC: "Jesse Jackson won South Carolina in '84 and '88. Jackson ran a good campaign. And Obama ran a good campaign here." http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/01/bubba-obama-is.html


COMBATIVE & DIVISIVE: "Don't you let anybody tell you that somehow we are weakening the Democratic Party by telling the people in Pennsylvania and North Carolina and Indiana and Kentucky and West Virginia and Montana and South Dakota and Oregon and Puerto Rico that they count, too," Clinton said in San Jose at the state party's annual convention.

"We are strengthening the Democratic Party. Chill out. We are going to win this election," he said. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=89231777

[MilesColtrane]

7. Power corrupts.

Once you start giving up part of your principles (NAFTA, Welfare "reform") it just gets easier the next time until, before you know it, you're playing golf with G.H.W. Bush and attacking your own party as undemocratic.

[Obamaniac]

8. I heard a theory that I found plausible...

That when he had heart surgery it affected his brain in an adverse way. Apparently there is a mental condition that is sometimes developed after heart surgery.

Not sure if it's true. But I think it's pretty clear that Bill Clinton isn't what he use to be. No one can fall that far that fast lest there be a medical explanation.

[Goodnevil]

9. He might be drinking

I've maintained that Bush started back a long time ago when he rubbed Angela Merkel's shoulders at the G8 conference a couple of years back.

That's just the type of thing somebody does when they've belted on a few. Lowered inhibitions in public just like the behavior Clinton seems to be exhibiting...do we have any psychologists in the house to analyze ole' Bill?