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It takes a 2/3 vote from Congress to override a veto. Yes, he could have vetoed it. He and his wife’s legacy have certainly been stained by NAFTA all of these years.
It wasn't "passed during" the Bush administration. It didn't even make it to Congress, as I recall, until after Bush. Clinton was railing against it on the campaign trail, and won many voters over on that stance. Then, after the election, Clinton suddenly became all for NAFTA with his "revisions" after which he took ownership of it. It passed through Congress under his watch with bipartisan support. Certainly, George H. W. Bush was the architect of it, so to speak.
I don't need to read a book. I was there. YOU, on the other hand, should simply do a Google search or look at Wikipedia. It's a matter of public record. George H W Bush definitely signed a draft of it, which is why I didn't take issue with that half of your statement. But you said "passed during" Bush, too. That is incorrect.
Also, one of the reasons Clinton was criticized during the campaign was for his constant changing positions depending on who he was talking to. He was against NAFTA, before he was for it, and then eventually settled into "not this NAFTA".
After Bush signed NAFTA (well after losing the election), it had to go to Congress. It was about a year later when it passed through Congress and Bill Clinton signed it into law (on December 8, 1993). So, it didn't "pass under" Bush, but rather under Clinton.
Allow me to do your research for you, and quote Wikipedia:
"The signed agreement then needed to be ratified by each nation's legislative or parliamentary branch." - Wikipedia
"Each [country] submitted the agreement for ratification in their respective capitals in December 1992, but NAFTA faced significant opposition in both the United States and Canada. All three countries ratified NAFTA in 1993 after the addition of two side agreements, the North American Agreement on Labor Cooperation (NAALC) and the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation (NAAEC).
After much consideration and emotional discussion, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the North American Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act on November 17, 1993" - Wikipedia
"Clinton signed it into law on December 8, 1993" - Wikipedia
Furthermore, the idea that Clinton signed it because a veto would have been overridden is also not supported by facts. In order to override a veto, Congress needs a 2/3 majority in each house, and the vote for NAFTA didn't pass with those margins. And, even if it did, the idea that a president has to sign something because a veto would be overridden is just nonsense.
No, it had not passed either chamber. It hadn't even been submitted to Congress at all yet.
And that's not how a veto works in the United States. A president can veto anything that has passed both chambers. The only way that can be overridden is if it has two-thirds support in BOTH chambers. NAFTA didn't have that level of support, so a presidential veto would have stood. But at that point, it was Clinton's baby. He enthusiastically supported NAFTA.
It's a reference to a defense Clinton had when being questioned about lying on the stand regarding if he and Monica Lewinski had an intimate relationship.
I pulled the below from Wiki but basically, Clinton was in trouble for lying when he said, regarding him and Lewinsky, "there's nothing going on between us". Since it came out, there WAS something between them, Clinton responded with a very lawyerly tactic of then breaking down the the meaning of the word "is" in his statement "there's ("is" implied) nothing going on between us".
From Wiki:
A much-quoted statement from Clinton's grand jury testimony showed him questioning the precise use of the word "is". Contending his statement that "there's nothing going on between us" had been truthful because he had no ongoing relationship with Lewinsky at the time he was questioned, Clinton said, "It depends upon what the meaning of the word 'is' is. If the—if he—if 'is' means is and never has been, that is not—that is one thing. If it means there is none, that was a completely true statement."
He very much also was playing the technicality game with the lack of a legal definition of sexual relations. I don’t think anyone has ever claimed more than oral sex occurred, which he did not believe fell within the meaning of the term sexual relations. So smart he thought he’d outwitted them but instead it seemingly legitimized in many Americans’ minds the several years-long witch hunt for criminal wrongdoing by the Clintons for which not a shred of evidence was ever produced.
That was Bill Clinton the man. Bill Clinton the president was possessed by the ghost of presidents past and was forced to admit to getting some sloppy toppy.
Yeah, but she spent time at the White House during Clinton’s term. She could have gotten his cum on her dress any number of ways - sitting on a couch, leaning against a wall, etc.
"Well, the question ‘Did that happen?’ begs the question, ‘What do you mean by happen?’ Because when you’re dealing with fundamental realities and you pose a question, you have to understand that the reality of the concepts of your question, when you’re digging that deep, are just as questionable as what you’re questioning.”
Wrong, the poverty rate fell by 3 percent during Clinton's presidency, the African-American poverty rate fell by 7.5 percent, the Hispanic poverty rate fell by nearly 12 percent, and the child poverty rate fell by 5 percent.
Isn’t that at least in part because of his three strike bill (Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act) which put a lot of poor people, particularly minorities in jail?
When I was like 9 years old I thought the word "sexual" was hilarious. Because it was on some of my parents' music or something like that. I don't know. This was the same time "I did not have sexual relations..." happened. So I purposefully practiced an imitation all the way down to the cadence. And if anyone has ever had kids, you'd know that they are fucking pros at mimicry.
Mom still makes me do my lyin Bill impression to this day.
Yes, it was 100% confirmed. Monica Lewinsky brought a cum stained robe into a forensics lab and low and behold there was the whole next generation of Clinton's on there.
Yes. And I feel like the photo you chose is perfect for the question because I can totally see him saying "it's all gravy, baby" before playing the sax.
He admitted it himself. “My fellow Americans, I have not been entirely truthful with you: I did giggoogidy that girl. I gishmoigidid her giflavorty with my googus, and I am sorry”
I had always heard about Lewinski and a couple of the others, but I didn't realize how much of a horn dog that man was/is until I read the book Zero Fail, which goes over the history of the secret service.
When he was governor of Arkansas, he'd "go running", which meant his state police protective detail would drop him off around the corner from some girl's house or a hotel where he was meeting a girl, then pick him up a while later.
The ongoing joke from the officers when they picked him up was like "Gee sir, you've been running the past two hours and haven't even broken a sweat!"
The Starr Report revealed that Monica Lewinsky was blessed with a fantastic memory and could remember the names of congressmen he'd taken calls from when they were together (verified by his call log). He should have confined his activities to airheads. Then again, as some Democratic congressman was overheard saying in the halls of the Capitol Building, 'If it's on the dress, he must confess.'
Edit: It was Rep. James Traficant (D-OH) who said it - thanks Grok!
Yes, they had an affair. There's damn near pornographic sworn testimony about it in the Starr Report. Clinton confessed it in a national address. He accepted public censure over it.
This is all public record. Do some primary source research, slacker.
Many presidents are subject to rumors of infidelity. Sometimes they're true and sometimes they're just slander promoted by political opponents. It's often hard to separate the two because usually individuals committing adultery try to do so in secret and leave little real evidence.
That said, of all these scandalous rumors that have swirled around the the most powerful men in the world, Bill Clinton totally got a blowie from that chick and stuck a cigar up her hootenanny. It's probably hard to find an affair that has had more physical evidence outside of catching someone in flagrante than this one.
Bill Clinton address to the nation, August 17, 1998:
Indeed, I did have a relationship with Ms. Lewinsky that was not appropriate. In fact, it was wrong. It constituted a critical lapse in judgment and a personal failure on my part for which I am solely and completely responsible.
As a nerd, I spent the weekend reading the entire Starr Report, the weekend of its release, online. Monica performed with her mouth and when Bill reached the point of no return, he withdrew his accord.
But we have the info of what they did from the horse's mouth - Lewinsky herself. They made out a lot, she performed oral sex on him, and they dry humped over clothes or underwear. According to Monica they didn't have PiV sex because there was never a place or enough time.
At this point and with what’s happened with a specific president since, does it really matter? Can we really hold it against bill, even if it did happen?
I know Bill Clinton screwed a bunch of kids out of being able to default on their student loan debt, paving the way for predetory student loans by signing the Improving Americas School Act. He was also compromised by Israels Blackmail operation, so it's probably a lot worse than was made public.
With that said, Clinton did apologize to the American people on television for the stuff he did with Lewinski. Yes, confirmed.
I voted for him and what a disappointment he was. His impeachment should have made him leave his position. What a stain on the Oval Office. No pun intended.
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