RateItAll: The Opinion Network

George W. Bush has almost made me a Clinton fan.

In fact, he's very nearly made me a Nixon fan.

Adding or subtracting will amount to little. You are a Clinton fan or you aren't.

When I think of the expression sacred cow, this means to me 'who is the most strongly defended on RIA or what is the 'do not touch' subjects ie people have such strong opinions about them and to some, you better dare not say anything bad about them.' Bill Clinton is one of them. Any political subject is a sacred cow or which people may really love or really hate.

Most everyone seems to either love or hate the guy, which I suppose is indicative of the lack of objectivity that plagues this site.

Bill Clinton is a sacred cow on RIA to those who are drunk on the blue kool-aid. They attempt to call him a social and fiscal moderate, but he was (is) neither. His unflagging support of feminists in their pro-abortion zeal has never been matched by any previous president. His open contempt (and that of nearly all of his administration) for the US military and its members was well known, by his supporters, his critics and military personnel. He proposed, and signed the largest tax increase in the history of the US, mere months after his inauguration, after (I'm not kidding) campaigning on the promise of a middle class tax cut, and having won only 43% of the popular vote. Look it up. He is still known today as the first black president for his consistent devotion to the NAACP, he forced gays in the military to the forefront of American politics by his incredibly stupid don't ask, don't tell policy, without the least consideration to its potential impact on morale and military discipline. He attempted, through secret, non-recorded meetings, conducted by his wife (someone of absolutely no political or medical experience) as chairperson, to take over the entire health care/health insurance industry of the US, fully one seventh of the US economy, and failed miserably. And he conducted the worst US Foreign Policy since Jimmy Carter, resulting in a complete lack of respect for US military strength and willingness to defend itself, which made 9/11/01 not only possible but inevitable. He lied directly to the American people, on camera and under oath, and pardoned, on the very last day of his presidency, some of the worst criminals this country has spent its time and treasure to put behind bars. No, it's not about sex.

I'll take the sleazy southern weasel over the Texas asshole that is incapable of doing anything right. While under Clinton's watch (1) we weren't attacked, (2) I paid less in total taxes, (3) my stocks were higher, (4) we were less of a target. Anyone else had enough?

I miss him. I don't care if he chased all those women. He was a good president.He never claimed to be a saint. UPDATE: Thanks for the rant on Clinton, Pbeavr(aka Endora). Blah Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah....

People often refuse to judge Clinton on his policies and actions (non-sexual). They only think of Monicagate. There is so much more to the man than that, but it is tough to get people to take a considered look at this president in sum. No matter what you say, love him or hate him, you are bound to get a slew of unhelpful ratings, and bound to offend someone.

I don't know why, but almost everyone on this site loves The Cigar. Whoops, looks like I'm going to get 20 unhelpfuls now. Face it all you Clinton lovers, we sould be able to call him The Cigar without being slammed for it.

Bill Clinton deserves every defense he gets. He was and is a wonderful man. Possibly the greatest leader this country has ever had and probably will ever have. A superb president in every way. He is missed by many....and especially by me. HOWEVER...I am NOT against anyone else who hates him. This is a free country..you have the right to like or to vote for whomever you want. You even have the right to tell me how horrible President Clinton was...but I also have the right to defend him.

It's very true that you really can't find any balanced opinions about Clinton on this site. I can't even find a book that gives a balanced perspective on Clinton. He's a polarizing figure because in many ways he represents the excesses of the baby boomer generation; free love, liberal thought, etc. A lot of conservatives were disdainful of these values and they took it out on Clinton. It's more about the politics of polarization than anything else. When you look at Clinton's record he was by and large a moderate on social and fiscal policy, nothing to get really excited over. I have a low opinion of his foreign policy (again that's for another topic). I was never a supporter of Bill Clinton, but lets try to put his years in the White House in proper perspective. You still have a lot of people getting mad over Clinton's zipper problems, but I think that maybe it wouldn't be fair to judge him solely on this. He's definitely not the only president to have issues with this. Judge him for his policy successes and failures.

An extremely intelligent man, with deep and lasting character flaws; in some ways he was a fine president, but his flaws were serious enough to interfere with his statesmanship on occasion. It amazes me how few people on RIA are able to take a balanced view of Clinton --people are still very emotional about him. People who reason with their emotions bother me far more than Clinton and Bush ever will.

Say this guy wasn't the worst president, get 11 unhelpfuls. Say he was a guy who couldn't keep his pants zipped, get 11 more. Another item that draws fire, interesting in that its virtually immaterial which side you take.