And the money kept rolling
in from every side
Her pretty hands reached out
and they reached wide
Now you may feel it should
have been a voluntary cause
But that's not the point my friends
When the money keeps rolling in,
you don't ask how
Think of all the people guaranteed
a good time now
She's called the hungry to her,
open up the doors
Never been a fund like the . . .
Clinton Foundation. The words are from the musical Evita, but they bear a striking resemblance to the operating strategy of that vast money-raising apparatus known as the Clinton Foundation, complete with all its political uses and, shall we say, informal bookkeeping.
There are so many self-serving contradictions and rationalizations in the long political career of Hillary Rodham Clinton, our own Eva Duarte Peron, that it seems hardly worth it to point out the latest, no matter how glaring. This time the vast money machine that has come to be known as Clinton, Inc., is busy defending its practice of accepting millions--tens of millions--from various contributors who would have a stake in the next Clinton administration's decisions, from where an oil pipeline should go to its trade policies and who would benefit by them.
It's been going on for years now, ever since the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its landmark decision (Citizens United) recognizing the constitutional right of corporations and other groups--like labor unions--to donate to political campaigns. Critics of the decision, notably Hillary Clinton and other leading lights of her party, have pointed out that, wherever money goes in politics, influence is sure to follow. Even if it's just access to the politically powerful. For what politician who knows his business is going to refuse to meet with one of his big givers? At the least.
But now Hillary Clinton and Company claim they won't be influenced by such gifts, not to mention the more than $25 million in fees for speeches and other public appearances around the world that Bill and Hillary Clinton have been paid just the past couple of profitable years. After all, the money goes for a good cause. (Like their own.)
But neither Clinton is going to be influenced in the slightest by all that money. Do you believe that? Neither do we.
Editorial on 05/20/2015