LEE DRESSELHAUS

Snake in the grass Clinton hasn’t changed ways – but still fools us

So….don’t you just love it when you have faith in someone and they don’t let you down? I have had absolute faith in the character, or rather the total lack of character, of Bill Clinton for several years now and I’m pleased to see my faith being further justified. It does the heart good. And even better, many of those who had been his pom-pom waving cheerleaders, casually ignoring issues for which a Republican would have been burned at the stake, are falling silent in the face of Clinton’s pardon of Mark Rich. Their pom-poms appear to have wilted just a bit in this latest storm of controversy involving Bill Clinton. In what now is being investigated as a possible misuse of presidential power Clinton pardoned one Mark Rich, financier, businessman, and felon. Okay, presidents can do that. Ford pardoned Nixon, after all. But there’s a bit of difference here. It turns out that Rich, either directly or through his wife, Denise, had contributed thousands of dollars to the campaigns of either one or both of the Clinton gang, Bill and Hillary. And now he’s pardoned by Clinton in his last few hours in office. Can you say “conflict of interest”? Good. The fun part is this: Both Bill and his sidekick Hillary are vehemently denying that those campaign contributions had anything at all to do with the pardon. OK, let’s see a show of hands. Does anyone out there really believe that? Because if you do, hoo boy, you’re right up there with the voters of New York who put Hillary in office. And I’d watch buying any real estate if I were you because they’ll see you coming a mile away. I’ve been asking myself just when the American people are going to snap to the fact that Bill and Hillary Clinton are two of the slipperiest characters ever to weasel their way to the top of the American political ladder. But it seemed that no matter what they did they had support, if not out-and-out defense, from the loudest liberals in the land. Bill was a proven philanderer and perjurer. He was even impeached, for Pete’s sake. Did it matter? No. He remained the darling of the liberal media and the Hollywood types throughout the entire circus. And these are the same people who would have howled to have a Republican’s liver on a stick for the same offense(s). And here’s more fun: Even his most ardent defenders are suddenly silent, if not out-and-out angry over this whole pardon thing. Why? Why now, after all he’s done and gotten away with? Well, it’s kind of like hanging with that buddy you used to have. You remember the one, back in college or in the service. The guy who was just outrageous, who said and did all the things you would never say or do, so you hung around with him because he was fun. Then, one day, he does something so blatantly stupid and tasteless that he suddenly seems much less charming. He goes from being unusual and fun to being an embarrassment and you begin backing away from him because you now recognize the fact that he’s an idiot, and you don’t want people thinking you’re an idiot, too. That’s pretty much the case with all those former Clinton supporters right now. But there’s a short fable I saw somewhere that I think fits the whole Clinton thing even better than the above analogy. All you now disappointed Clinton supporters should take heed. A little girl was walking on a path one cold winter day and she happens upon an almost-frozen rattlesnake. The snake, near death, begs the girl to pick him up and put him in her pocket so that he can warm up. Oh, no, says the girl, you’ll bite me. You’re a snake. The rattlesnake protested, no, I won’t, I promise, I’ll be good if you help me. I’ll surely die if you leave me here. The little girl, being of good conscience, couldn’t just leave the snake to die so she took him at his word and put him in her pocket. The snake was warmed and his life saved. Then suddenly the girl feels a sharp sting and cries out in pain. But you promised you wouldn’t bite me if I helped you! Hey, hissed the snake as he slithered away. It’s not my fault. It’s yours. You knew what I was when you picked me up. Well, we knew what Clinton was when we re-elected him, but we did it anyway, didn’t we? His enablers, the media and Hollywood, put him in their pockets when he should have been left out in the cold. No matter what he did, it was either defended or ignored. And now they’re stunned that he’s shown his colors again, this time with the misuse of the presidential power to pardon. It’s actually kind of funny when you think about it. And I have a question for all you liberals who have supported him all along. Did you think they called him Slick Willie for nothing? LEE DRESSELHAUS writes this column every Wednesday for L’Observateur.