Dan: It’s a distinction without difference in that both Bush and Clinton were following established covert protocols.
To whit: FISA (1978) begat the various programs that moved through NSA Carnivore/Echelon (1994) and culminated in the Patriot Act.
The idea somehow that Dubya “got off the reservation” and went rogue is arrant nonsense. It’s akin to folks claiming that if Gore had been President following 9/11 we would have seen a better script than the one Dubya followed. In terms of the Iraq II war, I would agree, but the idea that Gore would have pushed Saudi Arabia into some sort of regime change or handled Musharraf and Pakistan differently is risible.
Several posters on this board have bought into the patently absurd notion that Clinton was somehow this kinder, gentler President that was bookended by ghoulish Republicans. History tells a different tale and one that goes clear back to US involvement in the Banana Wars of the 1920s.
And, given the present state of relations with Vietnam and their movement (albeit somewhat jerkily) towards a free market economy, it is entirely arguable that we did, in fact, “win” the Vietnam War (if you buy into the “America as Empire/Trade Follows The Flag” trope).
