Bill Clinton is serving up a grand feast of false accomplishments and just plain bull to his adoring fans at campaign rallies, thus giving new meaning to the old Ozark term “chutzpah.”
He told a crowd in Little Rock that on his watch “15 million of our hardest pressed Americans have gotten a tax cut to raise their kids.” (Of course, tens of millions of Americans never got a tax cut to raise their kids because of Clinton vetoes.)
His anti-tax-cut logic is interesting: “Folks, we’ve tried this once before. Would you go to the bank yourself and borrow money to give yourself a tax cut?” Apparently, the president believes that if you keep more of your paycheck, the IRS is loaning you your own money.
The man loves to brag: “I’m the first president since John Tyler before the Civil War to reduce the deficit in all four years of his term.” Tyler was president from 1841 to 1846. Robert Samuelson points out that Clinton’s claim is “completely irrelevant” because between 1800 and 1996 there have been over 70 budget surpluses.
Clinton even claims Godlike healing powers. “We’ve doubled the life expectancy for people with HIV in four years,” Clinton roars. We thought it was the American pharmaceutical industry and medical system that deserved the credit — both of which Bill and Hillary tried to destroy in their health- care plan.
And he has even scrubbed the dirt out of our oxygen: “We’ve got 50 million more Americans breathing cleaner air than we had four years ago.” What does that mean, exactly? Are 215 million Americans breathing dirtier air?
Every now and then, you have to sit up and wonder: This guy is president?
