Bill Clinton vs. George W. Bush

Overview

Defenders of George W. Bush sometimes argue that Bill Clinton set a new (lower) standard for presidential behavior. While this is at best a "he did it first" argument, and more likely just changing the subject, it is worth setting the record straight on the matter in order to minimize the amount of time spent being sidetracked.

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Related Pages

• See the discussion page for substantial discussion on this topic.
• Balkans vs. Iraq: A comparison between one campaign under Clinton and one under Bush

Specific Points

Bill Clinton	George W. Bush
doubled the Border Patrol early in his first term	severely cut Border Patrol funds1
Lied about his personal life	lied about important matters of state
charged with perjury2 (lying under oath)	aforesaid lies were merely official statements and not under oath
charged with obstruction of justice2	informally accused of attempted destruction of Democracy

See also Balkans vs. Iraq

Note 1

"savagely cut funds [to the Border Patrol, and continued] cutting till the border tsunami began bothering even his most loyal redstate supporters"[1], leading to the 2006 immigration crisis

Note 2

These charges were made by Repulican-led congress but acquitted by the Democrat-led Senate, a decision which many (especially but not exclusively Republicans) disagreed with vehemently.

Bumper Stickers

"No children died / when Clinton lied." – seen 2006-09-22

Quotes

"Republicans used to observe derisively that Clinton had a difficult relationship with the truth. Bush has a difficult relationship with the truth, too. It's just a different – and perhaps more grave – kind of difficulty." – William Saletan