Ah, memories. It seems like just yesterday that the conservatives had unleashed their attack dogs in a concerted effort to bring down President Bill Clinton. Actually, it was yesterday. That’s because the Citizens United group is running a commercial entitled “My Fault” criticizing Clinton’s handling of terrorism. All of this is a reaction to Clinton’s new book My Life. And it has brought out all of the conservatives trying to pin the blame for 9/11, terrorism, and any other bad thing they can think of on Clinton. So for those of you who miss the petty whining of Republicans, enjoy this moment.

The Citizens United ad asks, “When terrorists bombed the World Trade Center in 1993, what did Clinton do?” They don’t answer the question because that would just be embarrassing for them. So what did Clinton do? Well for starters, Ramzi Yousef along with five others involved in the bombing were sentenced to life in prison. In February 1995, the Omnibus Counterterrorism Act, a bill drafted by the Clinton administration, was passed by Congress. The act, in many ways the grandfather of the Patriot Act, expanded the government’s powers in fighting terrorism. And what did Clinton do about the embassy bombings? In addition to tracking down and destroying a number of terrorist cells, Clinton ordered the bombing of terrorist targets in Afghanistan and Sudan. And under Clinton, the government managed to prevent many terrorist attacks, like the attempted millennium bombing of Los Angeles International Airport, without the need for the intrusive legislation of the Patriot Act.

Under Clinton, fighting terrorism was the number one priority. He even told Bush as much when they met during Bush’s transition into office, according to an October 2003 Reuters article. “In his campaign, Bush had said he thought the biggest security issue was Iraq and a national missile defense,” Clinton said in the article. “I told him that in my opinion, the biggest security problem was Osama bin Laden.” Yet when Bush came into office terrorism was hardly given any thought at all. Even after the September 11 attacks, the Bush administration has done little to actually fight terrorism despite the fact that they talk about it a lot more now. Instead, most of their focus has been on invading Iraq, an act that has actually helped al Qaida who have wanted Hussein out of power for a long time.

The point is this. Say what you will about Clinton, and I can say quite a bit. But to say that he didn’t do a good enough job fighting terrorism is just ridiculous. Clinton did more to fight terrorism than any president in U.S. history. So if he’s a failure in terms of fighting terrorism, then Bush doesn’t even rate the title of incompetent retard.

True, Clinton did not catch bin Laden. But that’s not so much of a stinging criticism coming from an administration that also did not catch bin Laden. So I guess if there’s a difference between the two men it’s this. Clinton tried to catch bin Laden.