Daddy, Billy Clinton was mean to me

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa....

You always know you've hit pay dirt with the Republicans when they flip out on you.

It's the same pattern every time. A Democrat says something or does something to finally stand up to some Republican outrage. The Republicans respond by doing anything and everything in their power to convince the Democrat NEVER to stand up again. Why? Because you've just made a very effective argument and they need to stop you from every doing it again. Usually the Republican counterstrike takes the form of one of the following:

1. Democrat X is MEAN.
2. Democrat X is angry.
3. Democrat X is crazed.
4. Democrat X has complaints but no solutions.

Of course, what they're describing is the very Republican attack that the Dems are forced to respond to. I.e., the GOP goes mean, crazy, vicious (e.g., Ann Coulter, Rush Limbaugh, Ken Mehlman, Rick Santorum), so when we respond forcefully they accuse us of doing exactly what they just did - the goal, to shut us up next time they go mean, crazy and vicious.

The only problem here? President Clinton, being a REAL president, doesn't put up with people's crap. When he's attacked he doesn't jump into an airplane and fly around the country, hiding in bunkers. He takes his attackers on publicly and fiercely.

Just look at the latest story of President Clinton ripping FOX News' head off for lying about September 11. Clinton eviscerated FOX host Chris Wallace for, among other things, lying to Clinton about what the show was going to be about. But then Wallace went one step further, a la Disney/ABC he started lying about September 11 and the events leading up to it. Clinton, having a backbone, called bullshit. (Clinton also made it quite clear that George Bush is the one who never tried to take out bin Laden, or respond to the Cole attack or any other attack.)

And now FOX and the GOP are all freaked out because the bad man was mean to them. Waaaaaaaaaaaa...

Which goes to a larger lesson that Joe in DC often reiterates. Bullies don't know how to handle someone who gets in their face and calls them on their bs. So in the case of the Republican bullies, they try to convince you that fighting back is BAD so that you'll never fight back again.

Sorry Charlie, this time you picked on the wrong Democrat.