Blame Clinton!

All right, I think it’s pretty obvious by this point that I’m no huge fan of the Clintons. I don’t despise them or anything, but I certainly don’t lionize Bill (I loathed the Defense of Marriage Act and Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, and I thought he was a skunk for advising Kerry to throw gays to the wolves during the last election), nor a supporter of Hillary’s 2008 run (seriously—two families running the country for at least 24 consecutive years is ludicrous).

That said, I find very little for which to lay blame at their feet and am constantly amused at the lengths the Right will go to blame Bill for, truly, just about anything:

Why did Rafael Palmerio take steroids? It’s Bill Clinton’s fault!

Emmett Tyrrell, editor of the right-wing American Spectator, explains:

President Bill Clinton executed his presidential tasks exuberantly day in and day out while retaining subpoenaed documents from prosecutors, coaching witnesses to deceive and lying brazenly to his staff and the public. He compartmentalized, and to this day, there are public figures who admire his sang-froid…

Palmeiro is one of Clinton’s finest students. Under oath before a Congressional Committee on March 17, he declared: “I have never used steroids. Period. I do not know how to say it more clearly than that. Never.” He too glared and pointed his finger emphatically. Now that he is suspended after that failed test, he argues with Clintonian indefatigability: “I have never intentionally used steroids. Never. Ever. Period.”

It’s odd that Tyrrell tries to connect Palmeiro to Clinton. After all, Palmeiro and his wife gave George W. Bush $8,000 for his 2004 campaign. And it’s Bush, who, even after Palmerio tested positive, still believes Palmerio never took steriods.

Right. I’m sure a professional athlete who used illegal substances to enhance his abilities, which I believe is commonly called cheating, would never have had the inclination to lie until that dirty old Bill Clinton came along. Give me a break. Clinton may have been a liar, but he didn’t invent it.