But wasn't he responsible for both Don't Ask, Don't Tell and the Defence of Marriage Act?

At least my childhood in the 90s was not shitty and before you ask no i am not anti gay

In that case I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest you had far less concerns as a child, that might have had more to do with it all. Clinton was amusing but presided over a lot of the deregulation (while the Republicans cheered) that has landed us in the state we are today. Of course you'd have to go back to Reagan to find one of the most dipshit ideas in the last 50 years or so: Trickle Down Economics. I like how there's all the pseudo science sounding bullshit about it now (Laffer Curve, yeah like even 1% of the people saying that know fuck all of what they're talking about).

Yes I am aware that it was Reagen who started the shit that is the recession and all he did to at least "fixed" it was put sprinkles on the shit

Lucky you. He made a lot of other lives shitty. And that isn't what I was going to ask: rather, I am curious how much US federal policy affects Puerto Rico.

Well my mother went to the army in 1994 and took me and my brother when I was still barely 2 years old (she did not went to combat mind you) we lived in Fort Bragg for a moderate time I don't remember and then another time I went to the US with my mother for more army related things we were in missouri from 1997 to 9 I think I was in a daycare for kids with soldier parents and after mother's service is up we went to america again in 2003 we went to Medieval times and then the usually fun fair park with roller costers and all the stuff

and now thanks to my mom's service she, me and my brother got Army veteran's pensions (we get them aswell because we are army brats as mom says)and because of that my brother and I was able to afford the best desktop which we have today so yeah I'm living well to this day I am gonna go to college to study politics and history so if I get lucky I might get a position in the U.N.

And I know people who don't get a pension at all because the military outed them. That's not your fault, of course. But god damn Clinton was a giant douche!

yeah its times like this I should be thankful that I did not end up like the Colonel

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_One_Writes_to_the_Colonel

"Don't Ask, Don't Tell" was, believe it or not, a step forward for gay rights in the military when it was originally put forward. The tragedy was not that we took that step, but that it was 18 years before a taking another. It was meant to be a half-measure compromise that would eventually evolve into full rights. That unfortunately never occurred and instead of being a stepping stone towards greater equality, "Don't ask, Don't Tell" became the new norm that had to be fought to get more rights.

Defense of Marriage and Gramm-Leach-Bliley were both passed by completely republican controlled legislatures. Especially by the time GLB passed, the Clinton administration had little political power left to play. He may have survived the impeachment, but don't forget Clinton was impeached. While Clinton had outmaneuvered the Republicans over the budget fights, by 1996-7, the Republican Congress under Gingrich was where most of the legislative power was held. In order to fulfill his agenda, he had to allow Republicans to fulfill theirs. Compromise. If those had been Democratically-controlled legislatures, neither bill would have even been brought up. However, in what was to herald Barack Obama's first term of office, attempts to reform health care and fights over taxes brought the Republicans sweeping back into power as the Democrats were unable to articulate a coherent, powerful stance.

Clinton has tried to defend his record on both, but I suspect he knows that even if he felt he had no choice but to sign those laws, they were a mistake.

If we can bring it back to gaming terms, Clinton definitely turtled his last two years:)

I would say that with a few legislative exceptions the Democrats have been turtling for the last few decades :)

Umm, yeah guess so, I kind of forget there's a difference most days, I mean we have the conservatives, then we have the Republicans (not a typo).

You honestly think any of them believe in anything anymore?

We talked about this in that other thread - for the most part Democrats are on a bungie cord, yes they tend to move more conservative every election, but that's because the Republicans have gone further to the right. So there is still a difference. The modern Democratic politician espouses ideas that wouldn't have been out of place from a moderate Eisenhower-era Republican. But Eisenhower himself would be called a socialist by today's Republican party.

I'm still not sure if this is because the whole country has moved rightward or because Democrats simply get their balls removed before entering politics, but sadly I suspect the conservatives crowing on Fox News are actually right and it's the former. They've played the media game better than the Democrats and done so for longer. Gay rights is (very) slowly becoming a reality, but otherwise Democrats are having to defend the New Deal and Great society reforms and little-by-little they give one thing up to save something else. The great Republican fear is that Barack Obama would be another FDR and set up another 40 years of dominant liberal economic policies. So far that hasn't come to pass, health care being somewhat an exception though barely. But they hate him more for his potential than anything he's actually done (despite the virulent protestations to the contrary) just as liberals are disappointed that he isn't the savior of the left they hoped they were getting. Obama is more JFK than Johnson.

I understand your cynicism. Most days I share it. I actually do think most people going into government, yes even conservatives, do do so because they believe they have the answers. That said, the system is tilted to where all politicians of all political stripes have to spend the vast majority (especially congressmen) of their time kowtowing to the monied-interests to pay for re-elections. I still think the system is repairable, but it will be a hard fight to do it.

And 12 int for Arithmetic !