Wednesday, May 5, 2010 - Ostensibly for agricultural purposes, the credits... |
| Ostensibly for agricultural purposes, the credits had been siphoned off by Saddam Hussein to rebuild his military and weapons program after the Iran-Iraq warTwo billion dollars of the credits were never repaid, leaving Utaxpayers with the billThe banker in Atlanta who was indicted for his role in the fraud negotiated a sweetheart plea bargain with the Uattorneys office, which, unbelievably, was headed by a Bush appointee who had represented Iraqi interests in the credit flap shortly before his appointment, although he said he had recused himself from this investigationBy the time Al and I mentioned it, the FBI, the CIA, and the Justice Department were all investigating each other for what they had or hadnt done in the affairIt was a real mess, but probably too complicated to affect any voters this late in the campaign
Perot was still the wild cardOn October 29, a Reuters news article began: If President George Bush wins reelection, he will owe a major debt of gratitude to a tough-talking Texas billionaire who dislikes himThe article went on to say that the debates had altered Perots image, allowing him to double his support, mostly at my expense, fendi handbag sale and taking away the monopoly I had had on the change issueThat days CNN/USA Today poll had my lead down to two points, though five other polls and Stan Greenbergs poll for our campaign had the margin holding at seven to ten pointsWhatever the number, the race was still volatile
During the last week, I campaigned as hard as I couldSo did President BushOn Thursday, at a campaign rally in suburban Michigan, he referred to Al Gore and me as bozos, a comparison to the clown Bozo, who probably found the reference more unflattering than we didOn the Friday before the election, Iran-Contra special prosecutor Lawrence Walsh, a Republican from Oklahoma, indicted President Reagans defense secretary, Caspar Weinberger, and five others, with a note in the indictment suggesting that President Bush had played a greater role in and knew more about the illegal sales of arms to Iran authorized by the Reagan White House than he had previously admittedWhether it would hurt him or not, I didnt know; I was too busy to think about itThe timing was ironic, though, considering the strenuous efforts the administration had made to dig into my passport files and the pressure they chanel body jewelry had been applying, which we didnt know about at the time, to get the Uattorney in Arkansas, a Bush appointee, to implicate me in the investigation of the failure of Madison Guaranty Savings and Loan
Over the last weekend, Bush directed all his paid media fire at meAnd Perot, believing 30 percent of my support was soft and could shift to him at the last minute, finally joined in, big-timeHe spent a reported $3 million on thirty-minute television infomercials, trashing ArkansasHe said if I was elected, well all be plucking chickens for a livingThe program listed twenty-three areas where Arkansas ranked near the bottom of all statesApparently, he no longer thought Arkansas was irrelevantOur team had a big argument about whether to respondHillary wanted to go after PerotI thought we at least had to defend ArkansasWe had done well by never letting any charge go unansweredEveryone else thought the attacks were too little, too late, and we should just stick with the game planReluctantly, I agreedMy team had been right about the big questions so far, and I was too tired and keyed up to trust my judgment over theirs
I began the weekend with a morning rally cartier ladies santos series replica watches that filled a high school football stadium in Decatur, Georgia, outside AtlantaGovernor Zell Miller, Senator Sam Nunn, Congressman John Lewis, and other Democrats who had stuck with me all the way were thereBut the big draw was Hank Aaron, the baseball star who had broken Babe Ruths home-run record in 1974Aaron was a genuine local hero, not only for his baseball exploits but also for his work on behalf of poor children after he laid down his batThere were 25,000 people at the Georgia rallyThree days later, I would carry Georgia by just 13,000 votesFrom then on, Hank Aaron loved to kid me that he had personally delivered Georgias electoral votes with his Saturday-morning plugHe may have been right
After Georgia, I campaigned in Davenport, Iowa, then flew to Milwaukee, where I did my last televised town hall meeting and cut my last television spot, urging people to vote, and vote for changeOn Sunday night, after campaign stops in Cincinnati and Scranton, the Rodhams hometown, we flew to New Jersey for a big rally at the Meadowlands, a musical extravaganza featuring rock, jazz, and country musicians and movie stars who were supporting meThen I played cartier santos watches sax and danced with Hillary before 15,000 people at the Garden State Park racetrack in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, where a horse named Bubba Clinton, the name my brother had called me by since he was a toddler, had recently won a race at 17-to-1 oddsMy odds were better now, but they had once been far longerOne man who bet 100 pounds on me in April with a London bookmaker when the odds were 33 to 1 made about $5,000Theres no telling what he could have made if hed placed the bet in early February when I was being battered in New Hampshire
Hillary and I woke up Monday morning in Philadelphia, the birthplace of our democracy, and the first leg of a four thousandmile, eight-state, round-the-clock campaign swingWhile Al and Tipper Gore campaigned in other battleground states, three Boeing 727s, decorated in red, white, and blue, took Hillary, me, our staff, and a horde of media on the twenty-nine-hour jauntAt Philadelphias Mayfair Diner, the first stop, when a man asked me what would be the first thing I would do if elected, I replied, Im going to thank GodWith my voice failing again, I said, Teddy Roosevelt once said we should speak softly and carry a big cartier replica watch ladies santos steel stic |
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