Ahhh, Clinton, why could it have not just gone on....?
First, I'll do the Kerry vs. Clinton vs. Bush thing, then come back to who's "meaner" (hint: it's Cheney).
Kerry, as much as we all know - kidding, obviously, James, you don't know just yet - that Bush needs to be out of the whitehouse and he desperately needs to take his band of thugs with him, it's difficult to say whether he will be able to change America too much for the better after the ransacking Bush has given its image.
He'll be able to roll back the tax cuts that Bush still can't seem to explain - mmmm, yeah, those tax breaks for people outsourcing jobs has done f***ing wonders for job creation (data's in folks: first president in 7 decades to lose jobs during his presidency) - and he may be able to regain some of the stature that 'Merka of old used to sustain, even with its foreign policy debacles, but, truly, Bush has f***ed you guys into a hole so deep and so profound it may take more than a Kerry to save it. If he comes in, he won't be able to sway an international coalition into Iraq, face facts. He may be able to do something about the amount of money flowing into America through reconstruction, and with it he might intice other countries to bear some of the burden in-country (While I'm on it, Cheney and Bush touting the Coalition of the Willing is f***ing bogus. Like Kerry said, if Missouri's military counted as a country, it would be the third largest operating in Iraq. How much is the Afgani Army contributing, Mr Cheney? And Denmark's submarine? How is that working out?) the way America used to instead of hogging all the profits to itself. The list is too long, and the mistakes too large to just be swept under the rug by switching to someone whose public character has been degraded with lies the way Kerry's has will allow - yes, lies like taxing small business owners and voting 98 times to raise taxes. These are outright lies, and, again, the need that I need to repeat them as your nations' news companies (maybe that's the problem, news is trying to sell itself!) have yet to run them up the flag pole alongside countless other Bush travesties and falsehoods is unsetlling to say the least. These numbers that your republicans are often touting are complete fabrications, as in those 98 votes, nearly two dozen were repeated votes on identical legislation that was run through more than once. Voting twice for the same thing counts as two separate votes, now does it? I wonder how many times Cheney voted against a holiday for Martin Luther King. Taxing small businesses, like Mr Bush's small holding in a lumber company... of course it's true, don't let the Commander and Theif's dimwitted expression tell you otherwise.
What Clinton managed to do was unprecidented in your nation's history. He managed to deliver the material possessions Americans will not live without - oil, for instance - and did it in a way that didn't tarnish America's accountability on the world stage. Did he alienate and destroy the United Nations' credibility? No, he allowed a masacre in East Timor instead. Did he lie about a man he used to do business with, assemble all of his friends and give them jobs that would allow them an inside seat on some of the most lucrative business deals in modern history and misrdirect an outpouring of global sympathy as well as domestic presidential trust during a time of need into an excuse to control the 2nd largest oil reserves on the planet while at home re-regulating what it means to be a "small vehicle" or how many toxins companies are allowed to dump into the atmosphere before penalty? No, he created jobs, balanced the budget, disarmed one of the worst offenders toward humanity without putting a f***ing man on the ground in Kosavo - none of which Bush II comes close to accomplishing in his ridiculous economic and military failures - and banged his intern, something you'll find has a long history in the whitehouse if you'll read some of what your forefathers were doing. Not to mention Kennedy, though his b****es were better looking (that is forgetting of course, that Kennedy, widely perceived as the greatest American president by some 90% of the world is seen as a total failure to conservatives tuning into Rush Limbaugh's pain-pill soaring diatribes).
As for meaner.... The straight-facedness with which the BushCheney administration lies is horrifying, though this, I suppose techincally isn't being "mean."
From "The first time I met you, Senator, was when you walked on this stage tonight," to "He's going to raise taxes on 98% of small business owners," these guys peel off outright untruthes like their livesjobs depended on it.... oh.
Kerry's attacks... What? Hold on, I'm not done with the distortion practiced by his opponents:
Telling Americans that they will be attacked if they elect Kerry is not only fear mongering bulls*** that should be stricken from any public consciousness and filed under the lunacy that has become stock and trade under Bush. "He has weapons." "Weapons." "Weapons." "Bulletproof intelligence." "We know he has weapons." "They might reach the US."
"What are you talking about? We never said he had weapons! We said he had gassed his own people with our concent in the 80's right before Rummy went on a diplomatic visit with my dad! We said he was evil. I don't recall ever saying he had weapons!" Unless you think it's funny, of course: "Are there weapons under my podium? Nope, guess I haven't looked everywhere..."
Hilarious that the view Bush and Co. presented to the world more than a year ago, the very lie that has cost your country more than a thousand of its best and bravest, is now fodder for jokes in the Republican Administration.
Who's meaner? Are you out of your mind?
Kerry, I admit, tries to stay civil, even when Bush is lying through his teeth on national TV. His supporters should be jumping up and down when Bush says, "Senator Kennedy has done blah blah blah..." Dude, you're debating Kerry, pay attention! Kerry has got to keep a straight face and fight clean, even though the Republicans do nothing of the sort - "The Mission Accomplished banner was made by men aboard the ship. The White House had nothing to do with it." Ten minutes later: "Check that. Sure, we brought it, hung it, and made sure it was over Bush's shoulder the whole time he was on deck." - lest he be painted in some other false way. His supporters aren't fearing a smear campaign against themselves, because Rupert Murdoch and Ted Turner - responsible for 90% of the news you guys watch - have bigger fish to fry, like keeping their friend W in office.