Bill Clinton sums up party differences rather well
Apparently Bill Clinton meant this as a joke during an appearance at ASU last night:
“Republicans will have you believe that Democrats will tax you into the poor house and that you’ll meet a terrorist around every corner and trip over an illegal immigrant on the way there.”
He forgot the parts about personal liberty and pro-life, but other than that, it was a reasonably good summary. We are in a period — sometimes enjoyable, sometimes painful — of party realignment in the United States. “All politics is local” is often not the sufficient formula during such periods; overarching themes tend to define the sides. The students laughed at Bill Clinton’s “joke” — but then again, they’re very young.
UPDATE
Jack Kelly notes another Clinton insight in a speech in San Francisco:
“The reason we are here at this moment is that they do not represent faithfully the Republicans and the more conservative independents in the country,” Mr. Clinton said.
We’d be remiss if we did not include Kelly’s parting comments in his column about underdog Senator Rick Santorum: “If the cipher beats the senator, I hope Rick Santorum will seek a more difficult job. Currently, no conservative is planning to seek the GOP nomination for president, certainly none with Mr. Santorum’s rhetorical skills or record of accomplishment. Yeah, he’d be a loser. The last Republican candidate for the Senate to so articulately address the dangers confronting our nation also lost. But two years later, Abraham Lincoln was elected president of the United States.” Senator Santorum should feel flattered.