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Jewish World Review May 1, 2000 / 26 Nissan, 5760

David Limbaugh

David Limbaugh
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The resurrection of outrage


http://www.jewishworldreview.com -- WHY AREN'T WE NUMB by now? What distinguishes this act so much that we can't let it go?

I believe this Elian issue -- the whole thing, not just the raid -- crystallizes for us all that is repugnant about Bill Clinton and his sordid administration. It is the culmination of seven long years of corruption.

Our chief complaint is not that he has committed crimes while serving as chief law enforcement officer of the nation or even that he has been the most corrupt president in history. The nation is resilient enough to endure and survive his criminal acts.

But he's done much more than break the laws. He has also distorted the law and subverted the Constitution to save his skin and serve his political ends. And in the process, he has corrupted everything and everyone around him.

He broke numerous campaign finance laws, then proposed new laws to create a diversion from his crimes. He refused to enforce existing gun laws but then called for more laws that would do nothing to prevent the violence he decries.

Far more damaging than his impeachment crimes were:

  • His enlistment of law professors to contort the plain meaning of the Constitution as to what constitutes an impeachable offense, significantly raising the bar of misconduct and establishing the odious precedent that the president is above the law

  • His surreal public and grand jury denials that his lies weren't lies because sex isn't sex and is isn't is

  • His defamation and demonization of his accusers and political opponents

  • His persuasion of fellow Democrats that it was worth dishonoring the nation to prevent any political benefit that may accrue to Republicans in the event of his removal from office

While most of us regard the Constitution and the law as sacred institutions, as foundations to ordered liberty, Bill Clinton views them as convenient instruments for political manipulation. And this couldn't be more clear in the case of Elian Gonzalez.

When the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals refused his request to transfer custody of Elian to his putative father he publicly misrepresented the Court's ruling. Then he fabricated a false affidavit to procure an illegal search warrant to justify an illegal and violent raid on someone's home. Then, after further corrupting the Justice Department and the federal officers assigned to do his dirty work, he audaciously claimed that he did it not to break the law, but to uphold it.

Bill Clinton has bequeathed us a corruption so pervasive and contagious that it has tainted an entire party -- an entire political ideology. Has it ever occurred to Democrats to ask themselves what precisely is the limit of corruption they will tolerate from Clinton and his administration? The fact that only a handful of liberals have denounced Clinton's obliteration of the Fourth Amendment is proof positive that he has corrupted them beyond recognition. Say what you will about liberals, but before their Clintonization most of them were Fourth Amendment hawks. No longer, because our right to be secure in our own homes had to be subordinated to Clinton's nefarious purposes. It is just one more in the long list of our freedoms that have been sacrificed in the outworking of Bill Clinton's dubious legacy.

The Miami raid represents the unbridled abuse of presidential power accelerated to a terrifying crescendo. It is emblematic of an America that has fundamentally changed while under the stewardship of an unrestrained, unaccountable adolescent leader. It symbolizes the death of the rule of law inflicted by the law itself -- the Chief Executive and his dutiful enforcers. Clinton has even made flag-wavers ashamed of America.

But I refuse to end on a negative note. On the positive side, Elian will forever remind us of what is at stake as we fight over the future direction of this country. Let not Clinton's despicable sacrifice of Elian be in vain. Let it serve to reinvigorate patriots to redouble their commitment to resurrecting the principles and values that form the underpinnings of this Republic.


JWR contributor David Limbaugh is an attorney practicing in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, and a political analyst and commentator. Send your comments to him by clicking here.

WND

Up

04/28/00: A picture of Bill Clinton's America
04/19/00: President Clinton: Teaching children responsibility
04/17/00: Elian, Marx and parental rights
04/12/00: Elian, freedom deserve a hearing
04/10/00:The fraying of America
04/05/00: Noonan: End Clintonism now
04/03/00: Bush: On going for the gold
03/29/00: Phantasma-Gore-ia
03/27/00: Treaties, triggers, tobacco and tyrants
03/22/00: Media to Bush: Go left, young man
03/20/00: Stop the insanity
03/15/00: OK Al Gore: Let's go negative
03/13/00: Deifying of the center
03/08/00: The media, the establishment and the people
03/01/00: McCain's coalition-busting daggers in GOP's heart
02/28/00: Bush's silver lining in McMichigan
02/24/00: A conservative firewall, after all
02/22/00: Bush or four more of Clinton-Gore?
02/16/00: Substance trumps process
02/14/00: The campaign finance reform mirage
02/09/00: President McCain: End of the GOP as we know it?
02/07/00: From New Hampshire to South Carolina
02/02/00: SDI must fly
01/31/00: Veep gores Bradley
01/26/00: The issues gap
01/24/00: GOP: Exit, stage left
01/20/00: Nationalizing congressional elections
01/18/00: Do voters really prefer straight talk?
01/12/00: Media's McCain efforts may backfire
01/10/00: Conservative racism myth
01/05/00: Just one more year of Clintonian politics
01/03/00: McMedia?
12/27/99: Al Gore: Bullish on government
12/22/99: Bradley's full-court press
12/20/99: Bush: Rendering unto Caesar
12/15/99: Beltway media bias
12/13/99: White House ambulance chasing
12/08/99: Clinton's labor pains
12/06/99:The lust for power
12/01/99: In defense of liberty
11/29/99: Are Republicans obsolete?
11/24/99: Say you're sorry, Mr. President
11/22/99: Architects of victory
11/17/99: Trump's tax on freedom
11/15/99: GOP caves again
11/10/99: Triangulation and 'The Third Way'
11/08/99: Sticks and stones
11/03/99: Keyes vs. media lapdogs
11/01/99: Signs of the times
10/27/99: The false charge of isolationism
10/25/99: A matter of freedom
10/20/99: Clinton's mini-meltdown
10/18/99: Senate GOP shows statesmanship
10/13/99: Senate must reject nuclear treaty
10/11/99: Bush bites feeding hand
10/06/99: Jesse accidentally opens door for Pat
10/04/99: Clinton and his media enablers
09/29/99: Reagan: Big-tent conservatism
09/27/99: The Clinton/Gore taint?
09/22/99: Have gun (tragedy), will travel
09/20/99: Hillary's blunders and bloopers
09/15/99: GOP must remain conservative
09/13/99:Time for Bush to take charge, please
09/10/99: Bush's education plan: Dubya confounds again
09/07/99: Pat, savior or spoiler?
09/02/99: Character doesn't matter?
08/30/99: Should we judge?
08/25/99: Dubyah's drug question: Not a hill to die on
08/23/99: Should Dubyah start buying soap ... for all that mud?
08/16/99: 'W' stands for 'winner'
08/11/99: The truth about tax cuts
08/09/99: Hillary: Threading the needle
08/04/99: What would you do?
08/02/99: No appeasement for China
07/30/99: Hate Crimes Bill: Cynical Symbolism
07/26/99: It’s the 'moderates', stupid
07/21/99: JFK Jr. and Diana: the pain of privilege
07/19/99: Smith, Bush and the GOP
07/14/99: GOP must be a party of ideas
07/12/99: Gore's gender gap
07/08/99: Clinton’s faustian bargain: our justice
07/06/99: The key to Bush's $36 million
06/30/99: Gore: a soda in every fountain
06/28/99: 'Sacred wall' or religious barrier?
06/23/99: GOP must lead in foreign policy
06/21/99: Crumbs of compassion
06/16/99: Compassionate conservatism: face-lift or body transplant?
06/10/99: Victory in Kosovo? Now What?

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