MORE WHITE HOUSE GIFTS GO BACK Saturday,February 10,2001

By DEBORAH ORIN

In a new twist on the gift-grab saga, Bill and Hillary Clinton yesterday returned six more goodies they'd never acknowledged taking out of the White House in the first place.

That news came amid a report the Clintons began moving furniture out of the White House for their new home in Chappaqua more than a year ago, without revealing it.

The extra items the Clintons grabbed include a gaming table inlaid with the presidential seal, a television armoire, two prints - one of houses with an American flag and another of a boy reading with a woman on a porch swing - and two tables.

A source close to the Clintons said the ex-first couple thought they could keep those gifts without telling anyone because they were given while Bill Clinton was president-elect.

"They returned them because they were on a list identified by the National Parks Service [as gifts to the White House rather than personal gifts to them], just to be safe," a source said.

The Clintons also returned $28,000 worth of gifts that they did report taking, after several donors complained those gifts were intended for the White House, not the Clintons.

Meanwhile, the Clintons began moving furniture out of the White House early to furnish their Chappaqua home, NBC News reported, citing The Washington Post.

A source close to the Clintons said if that report is correct, there's nothing wrong since they were free to take items given to them at any time, and gifts are reported only at the end of the year.

If true, the report means the Clintons were taking items out of the White House while Hillary Clinton was running for Senate, which might have been an explosive campaign issue had it been known at the time.

‘Look Hillary, the movers accidentally put White House furniture in the truck!’

-- Ain't Gonna Happen (Not Here Not@ever.com), February 12, 2001

Answers

Response to ‘Look Hillary, the movers accidentally put White House furniture in the truck!’

THE CLINTON ATTACKS ARE A DIVERSION FROM THE TRUTH: WE HAVE A FAKE PRESIDENT

With words like "civility" and "bipartisan cooperation" President Bush is courting the Democrats and trying to assure the public he can bring a new tone to politics in Washington. The words and tone are sweet and giddy, and the GOP and the compliant corporate media are obviously charmed. But I am not so sure that either the congressional Democrats, or the public, are feeling so warm and fuzzy.

To show how nice they can be, Bush's congressional GOP allies are still trying to impeach Clinton in the court of public opinion by holding a hearing over Clinton's pardon of Marc Rich. Certainly the same gang that watched Caspar Weinberger get a presidential pardon a few days before George Bush Sr. was to testify at his hearing, could not suddenly be worried that a president might abuse the pardon power.

You would think that the GOP would want to concentrate on making sure that they and their rich contributors get a cash payback boondoggle by passing Bush's tax cut. Instead, the news is filled with the hearing on the Rich pardon. Why is the GOP stepping on their own priorities by beating a dead horse?

The truth is the GOP does not want Clinton to fade away because he provides a distraction from the Bush Presidency itself. If they take the heat off Clinton, they are afraid the real heat may begin on Bush.

One wonders what Bush must have been feeling when he saw more demonstrators along the inaugural parade than spectators. How does he feel now about the polls showing him with the highest disapproval rating of any new president in modern times? Sure he is the one who is in the White House, but he has yet to win the hearts of anyone but those who voted for him. It is hard to act presidential when you know that more Americans voted for your opponent.

The problem is for Bush, and his supporters, is that no matter how red-faced and indignant they become when question of Bush's legitimacy is raised, Bush does not know like what it feels like to be a legitimate president. Because that legitimacy can only come from the will of the people, and the will of the people was that they wanted Al Gore to be president.

No army of politicians armed with subpoenas and hearings and no amount of paid political pundits expressing disgust with Clinton, can ever overcome that basic fact. It does not matter that you live in the White House with all its power and glory, when you know deep down that the victory belonged to another man.

This is why Bush must continue to kiss up to the Democrats while allowing his party to keep the heat on Clinton in the news. It is the only way he can keep that one nagging problem buried from himself and the public. No wonder he stares at his cue cards and keeps Dick Cheney at his side when he speaks. He is not confident enough in his own legitimacy to talk to the people straight on.

The age-old question of what price must be paid for glory comes to mind. How disappointing it must be to know that the people did not elect you president. And how shallow it must feel knowing that you won all that glory not by the legitimate intent of the voters, but instead by the will and power of your brother's and father's friends.

What really galls the GOP about Clinton, is that they know he twice won more votes than his GOP opponents, making him our last legitimately elected president. How painful it must be to know that the man they constantly tried, and continue to try, to destroy with countless investigations and hearings, still has the support of more Americans than Bush.

That is why they cannot let Clinton go now. They must continue to bash him until the people no longer feel he was a legitimate president. Clinton's legitimacy is something Bush does not have. Bush cannot even fake his own legitimacy very well. Therefore, the GOP will not stop their witch-hunts, until they have destroyed Clinton.

Joe Otterbein

-- Ain't is Pond Scum (pond@scum.com), February 12, 2001.

Response to ‘Look Hillary, the movers accidentally put White House furniture in the truck!’

Bush is President and he's getting things done. All Clinton ever accomplished for himself was getting blow jobs and trying to pull the wool over the American people. The chickens have come home to roost, ain't life sweet? Every nit picky thing the Republicans can put on the Clinton's is a step closer to btining them to justice.

-- go for it (goforit@getem.dog), February 12, 2001.

Response to ‘Look Hillary, the movers accidentally put White House furniture in the truck!’

The good news is that the Clinton’s and their close gang of scumbags are but a small group that can be properly dealt with.

The bad news is the larger group of mindless followers that permeate society and continue to make excuses for this sorry ass trailer trash of an Ex-President.

Those with any semblance of decency are distancing themselves from the Clinton stench. The rest of you Clintonites will just have to live with the odor.

-- Barry (bchbear863@cs.com), February 12, 2001.

Response to ‘Look Hillary, the movers accidentally put White House furniture in the truck!’

Bill got the Blowjob

Al had to pay for it!

-- Surfin' Sam (surfin@the.net), February 12, 2001.

Response to ‘Look Hillary, the movers accidentally put White House furniture in the truck!’

Bitterness wrote...

"You would think that the GOP would want to concentrate on making sure that they and their rich contributors get a cash payback boondoggle by passing Bush's tax cut."

I'll take that tax cut thank you very much, but I believe you should refuse yours (so you can sleep better at night, ha ha ha).

-- anotherangle@goreis.stupid (moreinterpretation@ugly.com), February 12, 2001.