Last week, the Harris campaign announced that they were sending former president Bill Clinton down to Georgia to court rural voters. On Sunday, that’s exactly what happened. I don’t know how hot it was in Georgia this weekend, but Clinton’s face immediately turned bright pink, and I think there was some kind of makeup situation happening on the right side of his face. Still, people love Bill Clinton. That man walked into a Baptist church and preached, he stopped by a local fair, and in a classic nod to the good old days, he stopped into a Georgia McDonald’s. They also gave Bill one of those sought-after Harris-Walz camo hats, and he totally rocked it. Here’s the McDonald’s video:
The boss was stumping for @KamalaHarris in Georgia and had to stop by the old stomping grounds, @McDonalds. pic.twitter.com/CannimWqJB
— Angel Ureña (@angelurena) October 13, 2024
They’re already trying to make it into a thing that the woman in this video didn’t immediately recognize Bill – you can hear her say “Joe? Mr. Joe?” To that I say… she knew that he was an older white Democrat, and when she learned that it was Bill Clinton, she was so excited. Bill inspires that kind of reaction from certain demographics, and I’m not just talking about Black folks – people over the age of 40 love him. Rural people love him. “Country” folk love him. It’s crazy to think that Bill Clinton has been out of the White House for nearly 24 years and he’s three years younger than Joe Biden. Also: you can tell from the Republican reaction to Clinton’s Georgia visit that they’re still afraid of the power of Bill Clinton. I really hope they send him to Pennsylvania and the Rust Belt too.
President @BillClinton in Albany during his South Georgia swing campaigning for VP @KamalaHarris and @Tim_Walz.
“I told the campaign, send me to the country” he said to a crowd of energized canvassers!!
Let’s win this Georgia 🍑! pic.twitter.com/9bUUSwH1yr
— Daniela Campos López (@DanielaCamposL) October 13, 2024
Photos courtesy of Getty.
If not for Gingrich Republicans, the nineties during WJC’s administration, would have been a golden age for America.
I can’t let that totally slide. Gingrich and the GOP were horrid. Impeachment was absurd. But what the Clintons did with and to Monica Lewinsky is not some moment to be glossed over. I love how strong she has come out over the last several years. She deserves it.
I agree. Clinton was arguably the most powerful person in the world at that time. His lack of judgment (or arrogance) was so consequential to Monica Lewinsky—it follows her to this day. For Clinton, it’s basically been a slap on the wrist.
@sarahlee – yeah, Clinton’s behavior with Monica was really inappropriate and gross, as was the public reaction to it. I have extremely mixed feelings about him.
The Starr Report came out in the very early days of the internet and 16 year old me found it and read it and I am still today grossed out by Clinton’s behavior AND the Republicans gleefully releasing those details.
My comments referred to the policies of the administration and the best economy of my very long lifetime. And yes, his behavior with Lewinsky was inexcusable. But since you went there, I have to say her role in the whole thing was delineated in her testimony in the Starr Report. Some people here may be too young to remember the details. But she wanted to be a WH intern in order to seduce the president. And she made great efforts to do so successfully. Let’s not infantalize her as a victim. She was over 21, with agency which she exercised without any care. She has, to a certain extent, revised her own history. Unfortunately, she is the one who can’t let it go. The only people I sympathize with in this sad tale are Clinton’s wife and daughter. Lewinsky certainly never thought of them any more than Clinton did.
The reaction to his affair with Monica Lewinsky was hardly a slap on the wrist. He was impeached over it and lost the respect of millions of supporters. The very fact that it was brought up here proves how that story continues to follow him and will do so in death. Make no mistake, what he did was wrong but it takes two to tango.
Speaking of things we can’t let slide, let’s focus on the phony moralist Ken Starr for a bit. Recall the small-time “Whitewater” land swindle that apparently burned the Clintons and was initially investigated by special prosecutor Robert B Fiske? Seems congressional right wing Republicans got lucky with changes in independent counsel law — unhappy that non-movement-approved Fiske couldn’t find more dirt on the Clintons after he’d finished his investigation, they pressed for more investigation by their preferred replacement. Kenneth Star turned Clinton’s sex life into his own personal quest, costing $70M in public funds, not to mention the cost to Ms Lewinsky in compiling the Starr Report. (It came out later, that Starr, like Clinton, was also guilty of his own sexual peccadillos with Judi Hershman.)
With the passage of time, we next find Ken Starr up to more shenanigans of a prurient nature, when he became “the most powerful force” in the effort to let Jeffrey Epstein avoid prison when he was originally caught in FL, per Miami Herald reporter Julie K Brown.
More time passes, and what’s this? We’re hearing about rape and sexual abuse by football players at Baylor University being covered up by President Ken Starr. Despite bouncing around in various Baylor administrative positions, Starr couldn’t stop getting termination after screwing up interview. And then of course, he defended tRump in impeachment proceedings…
Why exhume Ken Starr? Bringing him up now is the equivalent of republicans screaming “Hilary’s emails!” any time Trump is criticized. All it does it place focus back on Clinton’s shenanigans. I’m with Kamala on this 100%: it’s time to turn the page.
@Aerie – Disagree. Somebody else brought him up here, but only in the context of the Starr Report involving Clintons. IMHO we need to be crystal clear about what right-wing Republicans have been doing all along. “Bringing him up now” is NOT equivalent to anybody referencing “Hillary’s emails.” Epstein’s accusers didn’t get justice when Starr (& Acosta) worked out 2008 sweetheart deal for him that extended beyond his 13-month jail sentence, during which he came and went freely from his unlocked cell. Female Baylor students who had been abused by football players certainly saw no relief while Ken Starr was in power there. Although Starr’s letter pleading for leniency for child molester, Christopher Kloman, didn’t persuade the judge; Starr did act as one of tRump’s impeachment lawyers, so he’s not an irrelevant personage in this election cycle. Just because he’s dead doesn’t mean his actions should be discounted.
This was an excellent idea by the Harris campaign. Lots of rural folks love Bill. I too hope he goes to some other swing states!
The Big Dog still has it. I wish he’d talk to the folks in Macomb County, Michigan. So many, many T signs everywhere.
For the young folk here, please, please look up the old Saturday Night Live skit of Phil Hartman playing Bill Clinton doing a campaign stop at the McDonalds. Classic. You’re welcome.
This is the first thing that came to mind! 😂
The BEST! Anyone here too young to have seen Phil Hartman in anything (not just SNL) has my sympathy.
Big Dog looks pretty rough in these photos.
Life long Dem here, we really need to move up some new leaders for the future soon.
Having Clinton and Obama out, strikes me as a Greatest Hits tour. I can’t see the under 45s being moved by Clinton. Obama maybe.
Obama. I could weep for the Hope I felt when he won.
KH/TW have so many huge issues to take on, and the Trumpers will not go down quietly.
As the election gets closer, I think the crimes and dirty tricks will keep coming from MAGA.
OMG remember the old SNL skit with Phil Hartman as Bill in a McD, glad handing everyone and stealing their food? 😄
Do I love Bill Clinton (speaking for someone close to 50)? No. But right now our VP is trying to beat a former president who has been far worse of a predator, was also an Epstein buddy, and apart from Agent Orange’s depraved private life, he’s trying to destroy the Constitution and turn our country into a dictatorship. Bill Clinton is a Southerner who knows how to speak to a demographic that Kamala Harris is not doing as well with. If he can get rural voters, men, white people, people without a college degree, etc, to cast their ballots, his help is appreciated here. If BC is helpful to make sure the government can’t discriminate against my child because she potentially could bear children, fine. If he makes it possible for my queer kid to be protected by the law, great! I’m aware what it’s like to be part of the sandwich generation and I struggled to get my dad help at home when he was ill. Harris wants to change that. If Bill Clinton gets Kamala Harris necessary swing state votes and she becomes Mme President, she might lead the only branch of government that isn’t controlled by Republicans or conservatives. I hope BC is successful on her behalf and I’ll take it.
It’s giving 1992 energy and I love it!
Clinton’s behavior with Monica Lewinsky was awful but people my age 50+ must remember what an absolute disaster our economy was when he took office. We were in a recession and nobody could get a job. My sister couldn’t find a teaching position for 2 years after graduation. He turned that all around even as Newt Gingrich did everything in his power to stop him. He also warned us about the terrorist threat to our country and he was accused of trying to change the narrative away from impeachment.
OMG – this reminds me of when I was a transfer undergraduate student at Kent State University in Ohio and was working at the McDonald’s in the campus food court. Someone came to the register who looked uncannily like Bill Clinton and I said to him you know you look just like Bill Clinton. He just smiled and looked at the menu above – I don’t remember what he said.
I just asked chat gpt if he was in Ohio and here is the response: “Yes, Bill Clinton visited Kent, Ohio, in the mid-1990s. On November 2, 1996, during his re-election campaign, President Clinton made a stop at Kent State University as part of a tour through Ohio. He was campaigning in swing states to rally support just before the November 5th presidential election, which he eventually won. His visit drew a significant crowd, as Ohio was considered an important state in the election.”
I think it was him! I always thought he was someone who just looked like him because what would the president of the U.S. be doing here. I must say he does have an incredible charisma and magnetism or at least the person who I attended did!
Sorry for a shallow comment, but I had to say this: what happened to BC? Haven’t been following him closely since a long time, but he looks so different – not specifically old, just *very* different: is he okay? At first I thought he was the spitting image of Dick Van Dyke…