In a scathing piece in Harper’s Magazine, Doug Henwood writes that it is hard to find any substantive political argument in Hillary Clinton’s favor, other than that she has experience, she is a woman and it’s her turn. Of her email scandal, Hillary’s apology is, “At the end of the day, I am sorry that this has been confusing to people.”
Mr. Henwood refers back to other scandals—Whitewater and the missing Rose billing records—in which he notes, what makes these scandals so interesting is how Hillary handled them: “with lies, half-truths, and secrecy.”
She (Hillary) initially claimed during the 1992 campaign that she hadn’t represented clients before state regulators. She then backpedaled and said that she had “tried to avoid such involvement and cannot recall any instance other than the Madison Guaranty matter in which I had any involvement, and my involvement there was minimal.” In fact, Madison wasn’t the only instance. Another was the Southern Development Bancorporation, which paid Rose more than $100,000 in fees and received $300,000 in state investments.
Hillary also claimed the Rose billing records for the Madison case, which were under multiple subpoenas, had disappeared. Then they suddenly reappeared, discovered by a personal assistant in a room in the residential quarters of the White House. When asked about this mysterious turn of events, Hillary responded as if she, too, were an injured party: “I, like everyone else, would like to know the answer about how those documents showed up after all these years.” The records showed that far from having a trivial role in representing Madison, she had actually billed for sixty hours of work.
Hillary has devoted herself to what can only be called Clinton, Inc.—a fund-raising, favor-dispensing machine. Read more from Mr. Henwood here who challenges the notion of Hillary’s “substantive legislative achievements.”
