http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2002/10/03/clintonspeech/index.html Bill Clinton electrifies a British Labor Party conference with a more sweeping vision for global peace and progress than the current president has been able to muster. The speech, which ranged from Africa to Iraq to his differences with Bush conservatism, was hailed in the Guardian as the work "of a true political master ... At times, it was as if Mr. Clinton was calling on Mr. Blair to rescue America from Bushism ... What a speech. What a pro. And what a loss to the leadership of America and the world." The Mirror was even more exuberant: "It was a magnificent speech from a man who is rapidly becoming the greatest figure in world politics, second only, perhaps, to Nelson Mandela."
Actually being from Britain I can say with no doubt at all that we all over here think he talked a load of bollox. He is a has been who's most memorable moment was being only the second president to be indited while in office. He is a laughing stock.
Bush is even worse than nacy boy Clinton, instead of wanting to shag the life out of every whore in town he wants to nuke the fcuk out of every nation that wont sell him oil.
The Guardian's special correspondent was more rational: "Just as I'm thinking that it's time to be somewhere else, enjoying corporately funded titbits and Shiraz - somewhere showing a bit of private finance initiative in short - the place goes into an uproar, a dozen security men the shape of sugar cubes appear from nowhere, and Tony and Cherie Blair arrive in company with Bill Clinton. And not only that but Bill Clinton's hand is out and my hand is in it." "Grown men and women of principle and restraint are said to lose their heads when they come within a mile of Clinton, so I reckon there must be something wrong with me because all I can think about are the chains on his shoes, the queer north American indian bead bracelet he is wearing, and the fact that he looks like some large disproportioned bird, hitherto presumed to be extinct. The dodo, or something similar." Full text (mostly about the conference, not Clinton; Kevin Spacey also made an appearance): http://politics.guardian.co.uk/labour2002/comment/0,12294,803498,00.html The Times editorial of 10/3 provided a useful corrective (excerpts; no link, registration required): "America once had founding founders. It now has shameless sons. In a spellbinding performance of extraordinary audacity, Bill Clinton did not so much rewrite history as transport it to a parallel universe." "The comeback kid became the throwback kid in a triumph for charm over credibility, revisionism over record and chutzpah over substance." "And the audience loved it. They were not so much eating out of his hand as all but throwing their underwear at him. It was more Tom Jones than Thomas Jefferson." "Towards the end of his remarks, the former President admitted that politics was “a combination of rhetoric and reality”. There was rhetoric aplenty available yesterday. Reality, by contrast, must have taken the afternoon off." Here's another link to the full text (Labour Party site): http://www.labour.org.uk/clintonconfspeech/