Statuesque

By Baxter

We cats think that yesterday's appearance by Bill Clinton and The Worst Person Who's Ever Lived at the Bush Presidential Library was interesting on a lot of levels.

First, there's this hilarious photo of Bill with these stupid Bush sculptures. (Gosh — now we know there's something worse than the Reagan statue at Washington's National Airport, right?) Bill Clinton may be good buds with the Bushes now, but as this puckish pose implies, there's always a lot more to 42 than appears on the surface.

And then there's that question-and-answer session that everyone is clucking about. Yes, 42 and 43 appeared to diss 45, without ever mentioning his name. It kind of makes us wonder if, compelling as that former Presidents' club is, Donald Trump will ever be welcome in it when his time comes. We'll see.

But let's go back to that Q&A. The Worst Person, whose manufactured war in Iraq killed nearly 5,000 Americans and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis, complimented his predecessor for "being gracious in victory," and urged all Presidents to act accordingly.

There is no doubt to that statement, even when it comes from somebody we think of as a war criminal: Bill Clinton was, indeed, humble in victory. But what did his graciousness get him from the GOP? Years of harassment, investigations and, ultimately, impeachment for something that did not remotely rise to the level of a high crime or misdemeanor — all from Republicans who, by Clinton's own admission, couldn't handle the fact that he'd won the 1992 election.

What we're saying is that long before the atrocity that is Trump, the Republican Party was dealing in intransigence, demonization, distortion, bigotry, vilification, racism, self-entitlement, obstructionism and lies. If you don't believe us, ask conservative Republican pundit Jennifer Rubin.

So forgive us cats if we find The Worst Person's statement about Bill Clinton's graciousness a little hollow. His party has behaved abominably these last 25-plus years — so badly, in fact, that in 2016 they nominated, and elected (with Russian help), somebody who has probably knocked the previous Worst Person Who's Ever Lived off his perch for all eternity. We cats HISS.