What the fuck? And that’s not the first time I’ve asked this about him over the past few years.
Former President Bill Clinton tells Newsmax that Washington should not raise taxes until the slumping economy is turned around — and says President Obama’s plan to increase taxes on the wealthy won’t solve the debt problem.
Maybe it’s time for him to step away from things for a while.
Update. Newsmax misrepresented what Clinton said…but my point here is less “why did he say that” than “why is he giving interviews to Newsmax”.
fasteddie9318
You mean the guy whose administration brought you “FREE” TRADE BITCHEZ, welfare “reform,” and banking deregulation isn’t really a liberal icon? Inconceivable!
Wee Bey
It’s Newsmax. Let’s just see.
Maude
Clinton is at it again. He does this from time to time. He is sabotaging Obama. He wants to be the center of attention, very important and the go to guy for the Democratic party.
He did this just before Obama’s first speech to Congress. He was all over the place telling anyone who would listen that Obama should put a smiley face on about the economy.
Bill Clinton did as president what Reagan only dreamed of.
Steve M.
Read what he actually said: “I personally don’t believe we ought to be raising taxes or cutting spending until we get this economy off the ground.” (My emphasis.) If he’s critiquing Obama, he’s also critiquing Teabag Year Zero Hoovernomics. But that’s not as sexy a lede.
(And he thinks we should work harder to get underwater homeowners some relief, which works for me.)
BGinCHI
Bill Clinton, the Ralph Nader of ex-Presidents.
aisce
conservative, corporatist democrat remains conservative and corporatist. how ’bout that.
he is right though that the current obama plan doesn’t and can’t close the deficit on taxes alone.
benintn
Let’s remember the sources. Newsmax? Is there video? Audio? Let’s check the tape. These are the same people who post James O’Keefe videos as gospel.
benintn
Let’s remember the sources. Newsmax? Is there video? Audio? Let’s check the tape. These are the same people who post James O’Keefe videos as gospel.
Wee Bey
It’s a shitty Newsmax headline, Doug.
Lydgate
@fasteddie9318: No shit.
Been getting a free ride too long. Clinton left us with surpluses!
Clinton rode one bubble and then the next. He managed to get out before the last burst.
Big Baby DougJ
@Steve M.: @Wee Bey:
Why is he giving interviews to Newsmax in the first place?
beltane
I see that Bill Clinton took Mark Penn’s advice to heart. It worked out so well for the Clintons in the primary that he just couldn’t pass up the wise man’s counsel.
Wee Bey
@Big Baby DougJ: Pimping the Global Initiative, I’d guess, but your point is well taken.
beltane
@Big Baby DougJ: Because Glenn Beck is unavailable?
NonyNony
@fasteddie9318:
I’ve been assured by liberals that Bill Clinton was someone who knew how to fight Republicans and never used Republican talking points. So this story is unpossible.
That said – it’s Newsmax. If it’s up to their typical standard the every word in it might be spin including “and” and “the”.
fasteddie9318
@Big Baby DougJ: Because TRIANGULATION, dude! It’s like, you’re floating above the parties, man! Totally trippin!
gene108
DougJ, please warn us in future that the link you have embedded using the HTML, will direct us to Newsmax.
If there was ever a more wretched hive of BS and villainy in the galaxy, I have yet to find it.
cat48
I don’t think it hurts anyone b/c the tax increase wouldn’t be effective until the deficit package is implemented which Obama said would be deferred until the economy recovers, atleast 2013.
DonkeyKong
Newsmax quotes Jesus from scriptures, “The moneychangers have the best booze, hookers and nubian blow!”
wrb
Technically he’s right. In the short term get as much cash as possible into the economy by whatever means possible. And with negative real interest rates, even relatively inefficient means (low taxes on the wealthy) help more than they hurt.
Politically, however, Obama is right. A stand for tax increases on the wealthy, even though it is only a stand,-since the increases won’t pass- is a great thing to run on.
The rub will be if taking this stand will prevent real stimulus that might have passed (payroll tax break etc.) from passing.
Hopefully it won’t turn out to be a choice of bully goodness over real jobs & real recovery.
Nevgu
What your update should have said was “Why the F**k am I quoting Newsmax in the first place”.
I mean really. News…fukkin max!….Seriously dude…wtf!
Cris (without an H)
IE: View > Toolbars > Status Bar
Firefox: View > Status Bar
I’ll give you a pass due to the Ben Kenobi quote, though.
Culture of Truth
Jimmy Carter was on tv this weekend supporting (& critiquing) Obama but also hand wringing about our big, big debt.
Culture of Truth
Technically he may be right but not only does this challenge all the wingnuts, blue dogs and beltway pundits who talk non-stop about the debt, but politically it helps with Obama’s base, or it should.
Culture of Truth
If there is one thing the Obots and Emoprogs should agree on, it’s that Mark Penn is perniciously useless tool.
FlipYrWhig
@Culture of Truth: Handwringing about the debt, though, may end up boomeranging into higher taxes on rich people. _That_ has been a long time coming. If it’s now possible to talk about higher taxes, under _any_ circumstances, that’s (sad though it may be) a remarkable development.
aisce
i’m very disappointed in you juicebaggers. passing up a perfectly good opportunity to rag on bill clinton to instead bitch about some website. the shame.
NonyNony
@Steve M.:
And it’s nonsensical because he then goes on to state:
So what he’s saying is that you have to get rid of the giant debt that is hanging over the US government’s head before the economy will improve, but you can’t cut spending or raise taxes to do it. And you should have a payroll tax cut in the short term to boost the economy too.
And he also throws in:
Notice that there are two ways to get rid of a big deficit – raise taxes or cut spending. But “normally” the Big Dawg is “very inclined to cut spending” when the deficit’s this big. Nevermind the context of the deficit – the Bush tax cuts, the two simultaneous wars the previous administration saddled us with, and the housing bubble – “normally” the way to correct for a big deficit is “cut spending”.
Now THAT’S a liberal icon, folks. Doesn’t he just sound like FDR or LBJ there? Much better than that namby-pamby Obama who entertains the possibility that maybe if you need to cover a deficit cutting spending isn’t just “normally” the go-to move every time.
Raven (formerly stuckinred)
wrb
@Culture of Truth:
Absolutely agree
Raven (formerly stuckinred)
“why is he giving interviews to Newsmax”.
Read the Slate article I linked to above.
beltane
@NonyNony: How can you say this? Bill Clinton was a master of the bully pulpit and of strong-arming Newt Gingrich into passing progressive legislation.
OzoneR
but Obama used the bully pulpit!
Seriously, can we stop with this delusion that what Obama says matters and his party is loyal to him?
Mnemosyne
@NonyNony:
I can’t help wondering where those people were from 1992 to 2000. In a coma? Too young to follow politics? Living in a country that didn’t have TV, radio, or printed media?
The whole complaint about Clinton was that he took Republican ideas and ran with them. Half of the problems with the financial sector we have right now can be traced directly to Clinton’s policies or the legislation he signed into law.
Culture of Truth
Carter and Clinton were on tv recently and I thought both were very good. I suspect Carter is still a little pissed that Reagan got away with throwing a 12-year party on America’s credit card.
Villago Delenda Est
The large question is why Clinton would EVER give an interview to the vile scum of Newsmax, which worked ceaselessly during his Presidency to slander him at every turn.
Miracle Max
I’ll leave to others the wisdom or ethics of talking to NewsMax.
But it is true that tax increases on anyone NOW would not be helpful for employment. I’d go as far as to say Fiscal Year 2013 is too soon too (FY2013 begins in 12 months & two weeks). It is also true that taxing the bejesus out of the rich (which I’m for) does not put the budget on a sustainable path (meaning the debt/GDP ratio would still grow without limit, because of health care spending).
Clinton is confused as usual about the debt because he and his boyz think their 1993 budget led to the surpluses seven years later. It was really the dot-com bubble. Their tax increase and spending restraint was helpful but not decisive. (See “Contours of Descent” by Robert Pollin)
Culture of Truth
Yes but Obama is worse because of DOMA, DADT, and NAFTA.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
I am shocked, shocked I tell you that right wing hacks distorted Clinton’s word’s to make it sound like he was supporting their retarded world vision.
Mike in NC
Bubba can’t say no to the media. Any media. Classic Baby Boomer narcissist.
Cris (without an H)
Fuckin’ Ayatollah.
FlipYrWhig
@Miracle Max: Remember how the early-stage wingnuts got all in a dither about “midnight basketball”? Ah, the ’90s.
beltane
@Villago Delenda Est: Aren’t the Clintons best buds with Richard Mellon Scaife these days? They do have odd taste in friends.
Jay
Bill Clinton has been kissing up to Chris Ruddy, the guy who founded the tabloid trash site “Newsmax” since the ’08 primary, when the ex prez gave a much hyped (on the right) interview to him.
Also, the Big Dog called in to one of Limbaugh’s substitutes (Mark Davis?) to try to please THAT audience.
Obviously, it worked out well.
Doesn’t Ruddy still think Hilary killed Vince Foster? Jeebus.
General Stuck
If you follow what Obama has actually done on budget matters the past 18 months, it is being a crafty keynesian operating within existing political constraints. He consistently reframes the “austerity” blabbing of the wingnuts, into ‘long term deficit’ reduction, and has been slipping into the sausage about every dime he could, and get away with it.
Raising taxes on the rich is not anti recovery, or keynesian, because these people are rich in that they have already all the money they can possibly spend. But the lower income folks will spend the extra moneys from Obama extending those tax cuts of Bush, and adding onto several hundred billion extra in stimulus moneys. And this has been repeated in other laws passed, other than “THE” Stimulus Bill.
Democrats have since 94, worked very hard on changing their image from “tax and spend liberals” used by wingers to win elections, to a party of fiscal responsibility, and were rewarded for this “pay go” policy beginning in 2006. I think it would be stupid for Obama, and dems in congress to throw that hard earned political plus, by going hard left big government spend and tax, rather than parse and separate good spending from bad, and focusing tax policy on progressive turf, ie cuts for middle class.
It is really a maze of bullshit out there on economic and fiscal matters, but I think Obama has navigated it pretty well, to keep the government from truly going immediate full austerity, rather by agreeing to engage the issue and give the wingers, and dems some cover by signing onto long term deficit reduction.
You can think what you want
Zach
He’s sort of right even if it’s a misquote. See Orszag’s proposal to inversely peg the payroll tax to the unemployment rate. Automatic, countercyclical tax cuts could be very worthwhile; if tax hikes are included in some law that’s passed now, they shouldn’t go into effect immediately unless they’re coupled with an increase in spending or are somehow deemed necessary to prevent a decrease in spending.
flukebucket
I love my Newsmax breaking news stories. “OBAMA JUST BANNED ONE MILLION RIFLES!” comes in regularly.
opal
Because his wife tells him to.
keith
Same thing with politico. Headline is about taxes but the quote is taxes and spending cuts.
Ozymandias, King of Ants
Note to Bill Clinton: You’re not the leader of this party anymore.
marcopolo
So, I keep reading the increasing taxes on anyone in this economy would be bad crap. That is not the case if you are raising taxes on the folks who make enough money that they aren’t spending a big chunk of it–i.e. that money is not currently helping the economy anyways. If you make more than let’s say a $1,000,000 a year in income, the chances are you cover all your living expenses at around the first $400,000 then pay your normal taxes then have a good chunk of money left over. I have no problem with the government taking some marginal percentage of that and putting it into building schools, repairing roads/bridges, or whatever other infrastructure project needs to be done that will create jobs.
Corner Stone
No it isn’t. Your point was to set up another blog fest.
28 Percent
@Culture of Truth:
And then Obama brought the exact same Rubin-protogees back to the White House with him. I like Obama and prefer him to Clinton, but at least you can say for Clinton that when he hired Larry Summers he did so before Gramm-Leach-Bliley had bust out all over, before Summers made a general ass of himself at Harvard, before Summers had lost 30% of Harvard’s endowment by investing in derivatives and before Summers had repeatedly publicly derided the idea that there might be a bubble in the housing market. Obama hired him with all that already on his record. Which, as much as I do like the guy (and I really do) is not exactly a point in Obama’s favor.
Commenting at Ballon Juice since 1937
Clinton needs to get a nice big mug of warm milk and sit in the rocker next to John McCain.
Cris (without an H)
no I can’t
4tehlulz
This just shows that Newsmax is part of the liberal elite.
It’s getting harder to know who to trust; just yesterday, someone told me that Chris Wallace is related to Mike Wallace. I told him he was full of shit of course, but imagine if that were true? Even Fox News would be infiltrated by the liberal octopus!
nepat
@NonyNony:
Don’t tell Paul Krugman. His head might explode if he’s forced to defend Obama against Clinton.
Cris (without an H)
Oh man, totally off topic, but that reminds me of a letter to the editor that was in my local weekly (the letter’s not online).
Shorter wife-of-GOP-State-Senator: “Gun rights are weaker under Obama! My evidence? Something in wikipedia gives me that vague impression. QED!”
opal
@28 Percent:
Is there a “top 10 liberal financial experts that were never involved with Wall Street ever” list somewhere?
If not, someone should start one.
Miracle Max
People say the rich already buy anything they want, so a tax increase has no negative effect on their spending. Anything is possible, but you could also say that the rich can already shelter all the savings they want, and after all being rich means accumulating wealth, so a tax cut could reduce their discretionary purchases — things they don’t need but are nice to get.
Taxing the rich a little bit more — and a little bit is what we’re talking about here — is pretty small potatoes from a progressive standpoint. It only looks great because of where we’ve been.
Mike G
Slightly OT but as a contrast with right-wing trash media, this is one of the best examples of a news interview I can remember seeing.
http://tinyurl.com/44os63m
It’s an interview with a young woman who survived an airliner crash in the Canadian Arctic last month. A highly articulate interview subject, with intelligent questions and a calm, compassionate manner from the interviewer, Peter Mansbridge of CBC.
No strident, sensationalist crap; no weepy, vaseline-smeared-lens blatant emotional manipulation, just clear, incisive laying out of the story.
And it makes me sad for the inescapable idiot-sewer media the ‘free market’ has given us in the US.
Mnemosyne
@28 Percent:
I’m still convinced that one of Obama’s biggest political mistakes was bringing so many Clintonistas on board with his administration. I understand why he did it — they’re the ones who are highest-up in the Democratic Party and have the most experience — but many of them seemed to think that all we had to do was re-implement the exact same policies that worked in the 90s and we would be golden. They didn’t get that the DLC-style policies had failed and we needed new ones.
The fact that some of them are now running around claiming to have seen the light (I’m looking at you, Larry Summers) doesn’t change the fact that they gave the president bad advice while they were actually working for him.
Alex S.
Eh, I don’t think that an interview to Newsmax is anything to get excited about. Clinton might reach people there who would never set foot on any less extreme site.
Wilson Heath
The real issue may not even be getting taxes committed to reducing the deficit and debt. If deficit attention disorder costs the wealthy and the powerful personally, well, they might back off their pain caucus lobbying efforts and free the government to act to stoke a robust recovery. They’ll come around because now it’ll be “for the good of the country” when austerity had that character mere weeks before.
burnspbesq
The deficit is a problem.
It’s not the most immediate problem.
It disappoints me that so many people can’t seem to keep both of these ideas in their heads at the same time.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
The answer to pretty much any question about Bill Clinton: Bubba wanna be loved, especially by those who hate(d) him.
Hear, hear. And our unemployment crisis is the worst thing for our deficit problem. This O-Bot’s chief complaint about Obama was that he didn’t take this line from the start of the “debt ceiling” debate.
piratedan
@burnspbesq: but Immigrants! Teh Gay! Muzlims!
tofubo
“… It is often tragic to see how blatantly a man bungles his own life and the lives of others yet remains totally incapable of seeing how much the whole tragedy originates in himself, and how he continually feeds it and keeps it going. Not consciously, of course—for consciously he is engaged in bewailing and cursing a faithless world that recedes further and further into the distance. Rather, it is an unconscious factor which spins the illusions that veil his world. And what is being spun is a cocoon, which in the end will completely envelop him… .”
Carl Gustav Jung. 18. The Shadow. Aion.
taylormattd
Doug, I apologize deeply for posting off-topic, but this needs some serious attention:
http://www.coloradosprings.com/articles/haggard-12129-wife-swap.html
All I have to say is, OMFG
. . .
Should I shoot my TV in the face now?
Uncle Clarence Thomas
.
.
@Culture of Truth:
Agreed, but the proper terms are “emObots” (or “balloonemos”) and “firebaggers” (or “truthseekers”).
.
.
Martin
@burnspbesq: A true liberal can’t keep two ideas in their head at one time. Pick the issue that’s rattling around the lizard brain, determine if the person is on the right or wrong side of it, other factors be damned, and label them accordingly. Go to sleep. Awaken with new issue. Repeat. Further, any negative label can never be shaken. Obama is always a homophobe because of Donnie McClurkin, and Clinton is always a sell-out because of NAFTA.
opal
@Alex S.:
Newsmax is nothing more than a quote farm for third-tier wingnut loons who happen to blog.
They understand their niche and do it well.
JGabriel
Breaking: R.E.M. Announces Break-Up
Not a huge surprise after 30-some years, but still a milestone. Murmur came out a few weeks before my 18th birthday, and it’s what I bought as present to myself that year — so I guess I was a pretty early fan.
Let’s talk about the passion.
.
wrb
@Mnemosyne:
Yep.
Another hidden cost of the crisis I suspect (although can’t know).
Things were so fragile at the moment he came in he pretty much had to pick the most reassuring and experienced people he could.
If the world wasn’t so close to such a precipice more adventurous picks would have been a lot easier to justify.
harlana
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: you got me on that one, i was frustrated as hell about us letting the repubs create a manufactured crisis during a real fucking crisis! only delaying some attention paid and some solution to the real crisis.
And I am still stunned that the administration underestimated the economic situation, if that is indeed the case. I have no reason to believe otherwise.
opal
@Uncle Clarence Thomas:
Fuck off.
JBob
I feel about Bill Clinton exactly like I did in 2008 – shut up and go away and stop petting yourself
harlana
i hate to sound so uninformed, but are we talking about cutting defense spending yet and, if so, how much?
opal
Hmm…
And so on…
harlana
@[email protected]:
::makes Bachmann eyes::
debbie
They definitely misrepresented Clinton. I saw a video clip of him last week, probably on the Newshour, where he basically reinforced and supported what Buffett had said. He may not think this moment is a good time to raise anyone’s taxes (hello, payroll tax haters?), but he definitely believes the upper rates should be increased.
Elizabelle
@JGabriel:
Rats. They have such a good catalogue. Looked forward to seeing them again. Have seen them three times; excellent each show.
Say it won’t stay so.
Elizabelle
I am thinking about Troy Davis, and about the MacPhails.
MacPhail could be a great two-syllable term for state-sanctioned murder by mistake.
Cameron Todd Willingham was a Texas MacPhail.
trollhattan
@Cris (without an H):
Gosh, those poor, under-armed Montanans, they’re sitting ducks for their griz population to snap up, like so many…ducks.
How shall I sleep, knowing this? Also, too, yay, Wiki searching.
Corner Stone
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
I find this a very interesting comment.
OzoneR
@Elizabelle:
meh, the man was murdered, I don’t know if we should use his name for it.
LanceThruster
Maybe he actually believes it, or maybe this will open a window for HRC to be a Dem primary challenger. Either way, it’s stupid to give FAUX or NewSMACKS any time or even appearance of credibility in news reporting.
Turgidson
@Cris (without an H):
To be fair, that’s a far more rigorous and detailed analysis than Republicans typically bother with before calling Obama whatever sort of monstrous tyrant suits them on that particular day.
And by that, I mean she did more than nothing.
Mr. Stagger Lee
I prefer the term NewsLaxitive, just like WorldNutDaily
Southern Beale
Did he give an interview to Newsmaxx or did they take his interview from CNN and use those quotes?
AA+ Bonds
cui bonoooooooooooooooooo
AA+ Bonds
because it’s not the Democrats when you whine about other Democrats