Bill Clinton
April 7, 2016 — Paul Mirengoff
If you’re a Democratic politician, you uncomplainingly take crap from militant African-Americans; it’s what you do. Unless you’re Bill Clinton. He’s a former U.S. president. He doesn’t take crap from anyone. Thus, as Steve Hayward notes, the Big Dog barked back today at Black Lives Matter protesters who interrupted his speech. Clinton shouted over the protesters for more than ten minutes, rejecting their claim that Hillary’s use of the term
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April 7, 2016 — Steven Hayward
My goodness, while everyone is looking at the Donald Trump circus in the GOP, are we taking in the unraveling of the Democrats? First up, Chris Matthews takes his horse’s ass act to former Wisconsin Lt. Governor Barbara Lawton on who will pay for all this “free” college Bernie (and also Hillary) wants. The result is not pretty: https://youtu.be/S7nkibfMO5U But the big story of today is the Big Dog himself,
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April 6, 2016 — Scott Johnson
The so-called Panama Papers have made a big splash in the news this week. The New York Times backgrounder on the Papers is here. Yesterday the Panama Papers led to the resignation of Iceland’s prime minister. A knowledgable reader writes to explain that the Papers revolve around shell companies, which are a Panama specialty, and predicts that there will be disclosures with serious consequences for the people who are exposed
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March 22, 2016 — Steven Hayward
We know the Clintons privately despise Barack Obama, because he blocked Hillary’s path to the White House in 2008. Obama made her secretary of state for the old Machiavellian reason that you should keep your friends close and your enemies closer. Hillary might have challenged him for the 2012 Democratic nomination if he had been in trouble, which he was of course, but as the first black president no ordinary
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March 5, 2016 — Scott Johnson
The Clinton death march back to the White House continues. Appearing in advance of the Nebraska caucuses today, Bill Clinton campaigned yesterday on behalf of Madam Hillary in Omaha and Lincoln. The Clinton death march back to the White House continues. The Omaha World-Herald reports here. Clinton also campaigned in Lincoln. The Lincoln Journal Star report is here. Omaha attorney David Begley reports from Omaha below. I have taken the
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February 16, 2016 — Paul Mirengoff
Campaigning in South Carolina on behalf of his wife, Bill Clinton said today that that the married coupled that engaged in the deadly mass shooting San Bernardino, California, had never been to the Middle East. But as Nathan McDermott of BuzzFeed points out, one of the shooters was raised in the region and the other had made several trips there. Tashfeen Malik was born in Pakistan and lived in Saudi
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February 8, 2016 — Steven Hayward
I was indisposed most of the weekend at a conference (about which more in due course), so I have a lot to catch up on. Let’s look at a few headlines from the morning papers: From the Washington Post sports page print edition (I can’t seem to find it online), a story about women’s professional soccer: U.S. Women’s Strike Might Be Brewing Now, if I was a hacker, I’d correct
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February 7, 2016 — Scott Johnson
CNN has done the math on the speaking fees the Clintons has collected since Bill Clinton left office “dead broke.” The numbers are mind-boggling. The Clintons have done very well by themselves as class warriors for the common man: Hillary Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, combined to earn more than $153 million in paid speeches from 2001 until Hillary Clinton launched her presidential campaign last spring, a
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January 20, 2016 — Paul Mirengoff
Last month, writing about the possible role of Bill Clinton’s sex scandals in this year’s presidential campaign, I said: There are dozens of lines of attack against Hillary Clinton, nearly all of which will resonate with folks who already dislike her. The trick for the GOP nominee will be to select the handful that are likely resonate with other voters. I’m not certain what these lines of attack are, but
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January 17, 2016 — Scott Johnson
Nebraska attorney David Begley has reported for us on the appearances of the presidential candidates in Iowa over the past several months. The Iowa caucuses will take place on February 1. Dave anticipates that this may be his last Iowa report for us this cycle as the Des Moines Register calendar notes no further scheduled appearances of candidates in western Iowa before the caucuses. If this is his last report
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January 15, 2016 — Paul Mirengoff
I wrote here and here about David Brock’s 1996 book The Seduction of Hillary Clinton. This would be the same David Brock who, via Media Matters, now runs interference for Hillary Clinton on scandals large and small. Although not a hatchet job, The Seduction of Hillary Rodham does not go easy on Hillary Clinton. Brock wrote: Hillary’s story is that of an intelligent, talented, ambitious, and very determined woman who
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January 11, 2016 — Steven Hayward
Question: Would Bill Cosby be facing criminal charges if he hadn’t departed from liberal orthodoxy? Keep in mind that the old rumors and ugly stories were reignited by a liberal black comic, Hannibal Burress, who objected to Cosby’s controversial speeches from a few years ago criticizing urban black culture. If Cosby had kept to the politically correct line, I doubt he’d be facing charges. After all, look at the pass
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January 3, 2016 — Paul Mirengoff
The Wall Street Journal reports that more than two dozen companies and groups and one foreign government paid former President Bill Clinton a total of more than $8 million to give speeches around the time they also had matters before Hillary Clinton’s State Department. In addition, fifteen of these companies/groups donated a total of between $5 million and $15 million to the Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation. In some
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December 31, 2015 — Paul Mirengoff
Ruth Marcus, a liberal Washington Post columnist, has argued that Bill Clinton’s sex scandals are “fair game” for his wife’s fellow presidential aspirants now that she has (1) enlisted Bill to campaign actively for her and (2) accused Donald Trump of sexism. Is Marcus right? In her terms, perhaps. “Fair game” in this context apparently now corresponds to the concept of “opening the door” in the context of the rules
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November 26, 2015 — Paul Mirengoff
John Sears, Ronald Reagan’s one-time campaign manager, once said “discipline is nine-tenths of politics.” And, as Tevi Troy reminds us: Candidate Reagan put Sears’ dictum into action, running a relentlessly focused communication operation that kept to its message of the day, often to the consternation of the reporters following the campaign. This approach continued into Reagan’s presidency. As the authors of All the President’s Spin put it: “Ronald Reagan’s administration
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September 27, 2015 — Scott Johnson
The era of quiet Bill Clinton is over. The Big Dog has emerged from a brief period of verbal dormancy to do for Madam Hillary in connection with her email scandal what Madam Hillary did for him in connection with the Monica Lewinsky scandal. Mr. Bill all but declares the scandal related to the Mrs.’s private, insecure email setup for her official business as Secretary of State to be the
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September 4, 2015 — Paul Mirengoff
A friend who has been closely following Hillary Clinton’s career for years writes: Add Bryan Pagliano to the list of Clinton “friends” who are left to clean up the mess made by the Tom and Daisy Buchanan of American politics. At least Pagliano is still alive. Other “friends” include: Jim McDougal (Clintons’ business partner; convicted felon who died in prison), Susan McDougal (Clintons’ business partner; convicted felon), Vince Foster (avoided
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