I wonder what’s on Trump TV tonight?
6 Likes
I wouldn´t say that. Tripping a blind man isn´t that easy.
I mean… Erm, so I heard…
4 Likes
Indeed, this is the exact same dodge Hillary used last night - The Foundation does good things. It’s the using donations to it to buy access to Hillary and the State Dept that’s been the problem. Which leads back to the leaked emails, because while everyone’s always suspected it the emails are pretty open about it.
If this were a normal election it might be a problem, but not this time.
4 Likes
How is comparing her to the sorry mess that is the GOP not downplaying her abilities?
Trump’s loss doesn’t come down to these debates. It just doesn’t, and Klein very deftly and skillfully put that aside. Trump is outclassed. The debates had nothing to do with it beyond deepening the contrast. There’s giving her credit, and then stumbling into a bad thesis on your way there. Klein did the latter. And in doing so, he inadvertently backhands Clinton a little.
No one quite knows why Trump so loathes the sound of his first name, but he does.
Oh come on! Really?
2 Likes
Has pay to play been proven? Seriously asking. I had read a lot that said it looked bad, but there inevitably would be crossover between people the Secretary of State met with and the foundation would meet with. The AP story also omitted many meetings as I recall would have made the situation look different.
5 Likes
17 Likes
She deftly got lucky that Reagan began a 30 year process to undermine the intellect of the Republican base and she deftly got lucky to be running against the most obvious moron in the history of US national politics to get a nomination.
You can’t go on with the obvious truth that Trumpo is a major loser and then make it look like Hill had to go Super Sayan to beat him.
4 Likes
Apparently he’s being a complete arse at the Al Smith dinner right now?
7 Likes
6 Likes
Even the Clinton campaign doesn’t deny pay for access - they can’t, because the emails repeatedly demonstrate that Clinton people, especially Huma Abedin, got special access to Hillary and Bill to Clinton Foundation donors.
What they deny is that any favors were done because of it. And this is pretty much what sane sources seem to agree on - there was lots of pay for access, but no pay for favors has been proven.
In some cases people got what they asked for, like the Crown Prince of Bahrain who couldn’t get access to Hillary till he made a $32M donation, but there’s no email where anyone says ‘Okay, he coughed up, let him through!’ And in some cases demonstrably nothing was done, such as when Casey Watterman tried to get a Visa for a British guy with a criminal record so he could visit Vegas. That was too hot a potato for Barbara Boxer.
For more damaging stuff you have things like https://wikileaks.org/podesta-emails/emailid/22030 - again it doesn’t 100% prove anything, but it makes it pretty clear they know they’re being shady.
So, like the Russian government being the source for these leaks, you can’t prooooove it, but once is an accident, twice is carelessness, several dozen times is intent. It’s a massive ethical lapse to be selling access to the Secretary of State through her own charity, even if it’s perfectly legal.
At a basic sanity check level, Saudi Arabia’s been dumping tens of millions of dollars into the Clinton Foundation while the 9/11 Lawsuit bill was going on, and it certainly wasn’t out of the goodness of the hearts of the Saudi Monarchy. (And the the Republicans ended up shitting the bed on that one anyhow, har har).
5 Likes
In one of the Trump documentaries that came out this last year (I think it’s one from the BBC) there is a clip of a giddy Anne Coulter saying “Trump will mop the floor with Hillary in a debate!”
Of course, knowing how her mind works, I bet she still thinks Trump mopped the floor with Hillary.
[edit] Additional thought-- what did Coulter think Trump would do in a debate, hurl non-stop insults and jokes? Probably.
12 Likes
I can imagine that some or all of the foreign billionaires who have contributed either to the foundation or to the initiatives it funds (which BTW is a pretty tenuous connection, it would be like buying lots of Jelly Bellies to cozy up to Reagan) thought they should get some access in return. The fact is, foreign billionaires get facetime with the Secretary of State regardless of whether they give any money to organizations they support. The important issue is whether any marginal extra contact had an influence on policy. Since the right-wing press has been chasing after this for years - cf last year’s bestseller purporting to be an expose - and they haven’t found even the slightest odor of corruption, it is unlikely there is anything real to worry about. I agree that the optics are problematic, but that doesn’t mean there’s an actual problem.
Clinton’s one-time idol Saul Alinsky would have argued that this was a fiendishly clever way to tax the rich.
14 Likes
And McCain, don’t forget McCain. A loser because he got caught.
Endured more than 5 years in a North Vietnamese POW camp including torture and solitary confinement, refusing an early release unless his fellow prisoners were released as well.
And that fucking orange plated sack of shit has the balls to call him a loser.
26 Likes
I hear what you’re saying, but haven’t we just been shown exactly how well our new President will be able to handle recalcitrant House members, foreign dignitaries, etc.?
10 Likes
As I noted above, few people actually deny that people have been buying access to Clinton through the Clinton Foundation, but it’s legal as long as nobody can prove that they actually bought favors - and that despite years of trying, right wingers haven’t found a thing on that.
It’s still shady as fuck. This is exactly the sort of thing people here rage on with great glee as long as it isn’t their candidate and they have to pretend her shit smells like sundrenched kitten tummies till the election is over.
5 Likes
This week, I had private access (and a catered lunch) to a behind-the-scenes viewing at a museum I donate to, including a short meeting with the president. That’s standard procedure. And it doesn’t take millions of dollars, either, just more than the usual $50 or $100.
If there is proof that donating money to a private non-profit organization caused an actual professional effect…that would be important news to hear. We haven’t heard anything like that yet, so it’s probably not the case.
17 Likes
That Clinton reaction shot is pure gold.
4 Likes
13 Likes
29 Likes
