He has signed a bill providing for federal funds to be distributed to "faith-based" charitable organizations.

He has expanded the number of federal crimes for which the death penalty can be given to a total of sixty.

He has signed a bill outlawing gay mar­riages and has taken out ads on Christian radio stations touting his opposition to any form of legal same-sex couplings.

In a short span of time, he has been able to kick ten million people off welfare — that's ten million out of fourteen million total recipients.

He has promised states "bonus funds" if they can reduce their welfare numbers fur­ther, and made it easier to get these funds by not requiring the states to help the ex-welfare recipients find jobs.

He has introduced a plan that would bar

any assistance to teenage parents if they drop out of school or leave their parents' home.

Though he is careful not to draw atten­tion to it, he supports many of the old pro­visions of Newt Gingrich's "Contract With America," including lowering the capital gains tax.

In spite of calls from Republican gover­nors like George Ryan of Illinois to sup­port a moratorium on capital punishment, he rejected all efforts to slow down the number of executions even after it was re­vealed that there are dozens of people on death row who are innocent.

He has released funds for local commu­nities to hire over a hundred thousand new police officers and supports laws that put people behind bars for life after commit­ting three crimes — even if those crimes were shoplifting or not paying for a pizza.

There are now more people in America without health insurance than when he took office.

He has signed orders prohibiting any form of health care to poor people who are in the United States illegally.

He supports a ban on late-term abor­tions and promised to sign the first bill to cross his desk that includes an exemption only if the life of the mother is in jeop­ardy.

He has signed an order prohibiting any U.S. funds going to any country to be used in helping women secure an abortion.

He signed a one-year gag order that pro­hibits using any federal funds in foreign countries where birth control agencies mention abortion as an option to pregnant women.

He has refused to sign the international Land Mine Ban Treaty already signed by 137 nations — but not by Iraq., Libya, North Korea, or the United States.

He has scuttled the Kyoto Protocol by insisting that "sinks" (e.g., farmlands and forests) be counted toward the U.S. per­centage of emissions reductions, thus making a mockery of the whole treaty (which was written primarily to reduce the carbon dioxide pollution from cars and factories).

He has accelerated drilling for gas and oil on federal lands at a pace that matches, and in some areas exceeds, the production level during the Reagan administration.

He has approved the sale of one Cali­fornia oil field in the largest privatization deal in American history, and he opened the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska (something  even  Reagan  wasn't  able  to do).

And he became the first President since Richard Nixon not to force the auto manu­facturers to improve their mileage per gallon — which would have saved millions of barrels of oil each day.

Yes, you'd have to agree, considering all of his above accomplishments, that Bill Clinton was one of the best Republican Presidents we've ever had.  There has been much hand-wringing since George W. Bush was given the office, with good people and liberals everywhere freaked out that the son-of-a-Bush would wreak havoc with the environment, turn back the clock on women's rights, and have us all reciting prayers in schools and at traffic lights. They are right to be con­cerned.   But Bush is only the uglier and some­what meaner version of what we already had throughout the nineties — except that back then it came dressed in a charming smile from a guy who played soul tunes on a sax and told us what kind of underwear he (and his interns) wore. We liked that. It felt good, normal. He could sing the Black National Anthem.  He Partied with Gloria Steinmen.  He watched my show!  I liked the guy!

          We were all relieved that the Reagen/Bush years were over, and it was kind of cool that we had a President who had smoked pot and called himself “the first Black President of the United States.”  .... The truth is, the choice between Bush’s “compassionate conservatism” and Clintonism is no more meaningful than the choice between castor oil and cherry-flavored Robitussin.... George W. Bush did little more than CONTINUE the policies of the last eight years of the Clinton/Gore administration. (pgs. 360-369)

Citations/sources

Chapter 10 — Democrats, DOA

For more information about Clinton's his­tory on faith-based charitable organiza­tions: New York Times, "Filter Aid to Poor Through Churches, Bush Urges," Adam Clymer, July 23, 1999.

On federal crimes and the death penalty: Bill Clinton, Be­tween Hope and History (Random House), 1996, p. 80.

On gay marriages: Washington Post, "Clinton Ad Touting Defense of Marriage is Pulled," Howard Kurtz, Oc­tober 17, 1996; and Washington Post, "Ad on Christian Radio Touts Clinton's Stands," Howard Kurtz, October 15, 1996.

On welfare: New York Times, "A War on Poverty Subtly Linked to Race," Jason DeParle and Steven A. Holmes, December 26, 2000. On teen-age parents and welfare and adoption tax credit: Minnesota Daily, "Clinton's Waffling Reaches New Levels," May 7, 1996.

On capital gains taxes: Re­publican National Committee news re­lease, "Statement by RNC Chairman Jim Nicholson on the Tax Relief and Balanced Budget Agreement," July 31, 1997.

On the death penalty: New York Times, "Charges of Bias Challenge U.S. Death Penalty," Raymond Bonner, June 24, 2000; and New York Times, "Clinton Is Urged to Declare a Moratorium on Federal Executions," Raymond Bonner, November 20, 2000.

On new police and three strikes law: Clinton, Between Hope and History, pp. 75-81.

On rates of the uninsured: the New York Times, "A War on Poverty Subtly Linked to Race," Jason DeParle and Steven A. Holmes, December 26, 2000.

On insurance to illegal immigrants: Time, "Clinton's Plan: DOA?," Michael Duffy, February 14, 1994; and the Orlando Sen­tinel, "Refusing a Helping Hand," Wendy Zimmerman and Michael Fix, September 20, 1998.

Clinton on late-term abortions, San Francisco Chronicle, "Clinton Message on Christian Radio Back to Haunt Him," Marc Sandalow, October 19, 1996; and the New York Times, "Deal on UN Dues Breaks an Impasse and Draws Critics," Eric Schmitt, November 16, 1999.

On the Land Mine Ban Treaty: Boston Globe, "US Should Sign Treaty Banning Land Mines," Susannah Sirkin and Gina Coplon-Newfield, August 11, 2000.

On the Kyoto agreement: New York Times., "Treaty Talks Fail to Find Consensus in Global Warming," Andrew Revkin, No­vember 26, 2000.

On drilling on federal lands: The Nation, "Teapot Dome, Part II: The Rush for Alaskan Oil," Jeffery St. Clair and Alexander Cockburn, April 7, 1997; and The Nation, "Al Gore's Teapot Dome; Occidental Petroleum Acquires Large Portion of Elk Hills," Alexander Cockburn, July 17, 2000.

On fuel effi­ciency standards: New York Times, "The Energy Plan: The Standards," Keith Bradsher, May 18, 2001.

On activity on the Kyoto Agreement right before the elec­tion: the Guardian, "Sinking Feelings: Cli­mate change is one of the greatest threats to life as we know it," Paul Brown, October 11, 2000.

Republican support for revising the ar­senic standards was reported in the New York Times, "House Demanding Strict Guidelines on Arsenic Levels," Douglas Jehl, July 28, 2001.

Information about the federal funding of faith-based organiza­tions is from the Christian Science Monitor, "War On Poverty Enlists Churches," Gail Russell Chaddock, June 19, 2000.

Sources for policies on overseas funding for abortions are the New York Times, "Bush Acts to Halt Overseas Spending Tied to Abortion," Frank Bruni and Marc Lacey, January 23, 2001; and the New York Times, "Deal on UN Dues breaks an Impasse and Draws Critics," Eric Schmitt, November 16, 1999.

Statistics about the availability of abor­tion doctors come from Planned Parent­hood/Family Planning Perspectives, "Fac­tors Hindering Access to Abortion Ser­vices," Stanley K. Henshaw, 27(2), 54-59 & 87.