Hillary Says She’s Best Equipped to Run Against a “Legend”
At the University of Maine in Orono, Senator Clinton continued to battle on two fronts: attacking her Democratic rival Barack Obama and the presumptive GOP nominee John McCain, who she hopes will be her rival in the general election. Today, however, there was praise for McCain in her jabs at Obama — if only to build up a worthy adversary that she argues only she can beat.
“We all want change. But talking about change is easy. Making change is hard,” she said, making the case that the Senator from Illinois is all talk, no action. “So we need a nominee and then a president with the strength and experience to make the changes we want. That’s what I’m offering.”
“It will be even more important if our nominee is running against someone with the record and the legendary background of John McCain,” she said.
Clinton argues that her long record of public service — and of sparring with Republicans — make her the only candidate tough enough to take on McCain. “You’ll never have to worry about me being knocked out of the ring. I think I can go toe to toe with John McCain every single day.”
While Clinton focused her speech on the economy, a large part of her electability argument against the Arizona Senator and war hero centers on foreign policy — an area where she’s built credibility for the last 6 years as a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee (where she serves with none other than Sen McCain).
Advisers have spent considerable effort toughening up her image and her record on national security issues, knowing that a woman seeking the presidential nomination in the US has to pass the Commander in Chief test. And while Iraq has become less of an issue in the primary race, McCain’s identification with the surge and the Democrats’ firm stance on troop withdrawal means it will be an issue in the general election.
At the end of her remarks today, Clinton said the GOP will make this election “about national security, foreign policy, making the decisions necessary to protect and defend the United States.”
If that’s the case, she asked, “who do you want to stand on that stage with Sen McCain?”
Maine holds its caucuses tomorrow, and is the one state voting this weekend where Sen Clinton is thought to have a good chance at beating Obama. Later tonight, she travels to Richmond, VA for a Democratic dinner in another important state for her; she’s focusing on stealing a win in Virginia when VA, MD, and DC vote next Tuesday. All are expected to go for Obama.
Tags: barack obama, hillary clinton, john mccain, Maine
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I do have to say Clinton talks a good talk but for her she will need a big surprising endorsment to win the nomination from some remaining states,I hope the good people of Maine show her the love on sunday and Washington too .Im from Wisconsin and our turn comes Febuarary 19 and I hope she does good here too ,Go Hillary,Where art thou Hillary!We need you!
That she is! GO HILLARY!! To all those girly-boys, hide your pride, vote for Hillary!! Now is the time that all gays and lesbians stand beside Hillary. To all the men that need their ego and manhood, forget it–remember your wife, mother, and sister’s. What would you do if one of them were running. PLZZZZZZZZZZ, give me a break.1
I NOTICE ONE IMPORTANT FACT, HILLARY SPENT AN HOUR PLUS ANSWERING QUESTIONS, OBAMA ONLY PREACHES AND HYPES HIS RALLY. VERY CLEAR DIFFERENCE OF A CANIDATE WITH SUBSTANCE VS HYPE.
JUNIOR SENATOR SHOULD NOT EARN THE SUPER DELICATES UNTIL HE WINS STATES BY GREATER THAT 5%, NOT 1 OR 2% CALLING IT A MAJORITY, SORRY NOT TRUE.
I AM SURE VOTERS IN FUTURE STATES WILL CLEARLY REALIZE FACTS OVER HYPE.
MAINE, WASHINGTON AND NEBRASKA , WISCONSIN, VIRGINA, MARYLAND VOTERS ARE SMART AND SHOULD PUSH AT CAUCUSES, PRIMARIES THAT THEY VOTE FOR SUBSTANCE AND EXPERIENCE NOTHING ELSE.
GOP WILL CERTAINLY DEBATE FACTS, OBAMA’S WEAKNESS WILL SURFACE FOR SURE.
Billary does not deserve my vote. Mago, why should she get a break..she crooked.
after all the dusts and smoke clears up, Obama will be reduced to be nothing but an empty suit–a broken robotic signpost with flickering light showing the barely visible words “change” and “hope’. He may fool a lot of people for some time but his tricks will do him in when he is out of his ruse in the long run.
Hillary Clinton - Same old 90’s politics, republicans despise her, independents don’t like her, and who knows what shenanigans Bill will get into in the White House this time. It’s so nice to know we have an “experienced” woman and her cheating husband in the race. It’s just so exciting!
If Hillary did not deliver the universal healthcare decade ago, how can she do it now? Voters, please do not believe her hype. She could argue that she had learned from her mistake and will do better this time. Does that sound familar? We need a president to be right on day one. She had her chance to do a good deed for American people and she failed. How many chances do you want to give her? These chances cost American people the lives of their sons and daughters, like her vote on Iraq war. We need intergrety, good judgment and character in the White House, not so-called “experience” that does not deliver.
In one of the debate, Hillary touted the Oakland Mayor for his green jobs. It made my heart sick. I live in a small town very close to Oakland. Everyday our local news broadcasts murders and shootings on Oakland streets. This Oakland Mayor, instead of tending to his city’s crime crisis, spends all his time on Hillary’s campaign trail, wooing votes for her. Hillary used him as an example for creating green jobs, which I do not see any. All I see is the “bloody jobs” that this Mayor fails to stop. Hillary’s spinning of red to green shocked me. This is what Hillary’s presidency will do to America as it is doing now to Oakland.
Sen. Obama simply is all talk. He has no experience in domistic or foriegn policy, he lacks expedrience in most fronts. It is so easy to talk about change. Talk is cheap its so easy to talk about the OMB without knowledge as to how it operrates its boundries, scope. He is a kid whom is playing on the emotions of the American people especially the african-american peoples. Are we going to have still another welfare state?. Sen. Hillary R. Clinton has more experience just being a senator for eight years then San Obama. I wish I could count the many political figures that talked about up sweep change and when elected fell on their faces. President Bush is an excellant example of my points. Pointedly, Sen. McCain would be a rough one to beat. His long term experience, being a veteran, a prilsioner of war and so much more. But, his standing with resident over the Iraq war is going to hurt him bitterly. Apathatic example of Presidents stimulis bill is how one moment he loves our disabled and old veterans yet he leaves them out when it comes to payment for them. We have ljackasses so many its such a sad song and we Americans must suffer the incompitence of our political leaders. Oh God not another four years of l GEORGE BUSH AREA. This country simply can begin to afford that one. Come on Hillary you can do it.
I have always supported the Clinton’s but…
If you take the time to do a little unbiased research you will find that one of the things the Clinton campaign blows the most smoke about is her superior experience.
Senator Clinton was the first lady for eight years. She has the experience of continous media coverage and the benefit of face and name recognition. Her vast lead in experience in creating or causing “positive outcomes” is not as great as her campaign would have us believe. If you consider actual personal and professional accomplishments in the public sector she doesn’t come out so well.
When Hillary said this was “personal” it really made me stop to take another look. The Clintons were taken through the ringer while her husband was in office. He was impeached. She was villanized (Whitewate scandal). It was a big waste of time, effort, and tax dollars no matter what side you took. This was her experience.
It was personal for George W.. He had unfinished business from his president dad. The avenues the Clintons have taken in their effort to regain the White House suggests that there would only be more of the same.
Maybe that’s why we keep hearing the word “CHANGE”.
By the way, both Senator Clinton and Obama are junior senators.
Another Election Night Blunder - Emily Carlson
Another election night, another wrong projection.
Late Super Tuesday, the Associated Press jumped the gun, calling Sen. Hillary Clinton the Democratic primary winner in the state of Missouri.
An hour and twenty minutes later, they withdrew their call. Another hour and twenty minutes later, the AP gave the state to Sen. Barak Obama.
The blunder brings back memories of the 2000 presidental election, when the media declared Florida to Al Gore, then withdrew the call and awarded the state to George Bush, only to then declare the state undecided.
The aftermath of the mistake was ugly. Democrats and Republicans alike were irate at the media. Many voters went to bed thinking Al Gore was the winner, only to wake up to see the state was undecided. The public couldn’t understand how the media could screw up so bad.
Eight years later, many viewers are still skeptical when the networks declare a “projection.”
There is no excuse for these kind of mistakes. The public looks to the media for the facts. They want to know the truth. When colossial mistakes like calling a state for the wrong canidate happen, the media’s credibility chips away. Viewers don’t forget when huge blunders are made, and it takes a long time to earn that trust back. There’s really no excuse for it to happen again. This election could be the most watched/higest voter turnout in history. The media should be extra viligant to make sure the same mistakes don’t repeat themselves.
http://emilyacarlson.wordpress.com/
http://emilyannecarlson.tblog.com/
http://clearblogs.com/emilycarlson/
Hillary better not run her mouth about anybody this the most corrupt bunch there is I will NEVER vote for this unmorale bunch back in…
The Clinton Legacy
The Progressive Review
This list was compiled at the end of the Clinton administration. It was last partially updated in 2000
Our Clinton Scandal Index
The Clintons, to adapt a line from Dr. Johnson, were not only corrupt, they were the cause of corruption in others. Yet seldom in America have so many come to excuse so much mendacity and malfeasance as during the Clinton years. Here are some of the facts that have been buried.
RECORDS SET
- The only president ever impeached on grounds of personal malfeasance
- Most number of convictions and guilty pleas by friends and associates*
- Most number of cabinet officials to come under criminal investigation
- Most number of witnesses to flee country or refuse to testify
- Most number of witnesses to die suddenly
- First president sued for sexual harassment.
- First president accused of rape.
- First first lady to come under criminal investigation
- Largest criminal plea agreement in an illegal campaign contribution case
- First president to establish a legal defense fund.
- First president to be held in contempt of court
- Greatest amount of illegal campaign contributions
- Greatest amount of illegal campaign contributions from abroad
- First president disbarred from the US Supreme Court and a state court
* According to our best information, 40 government officials were indicted or convicted in the wake of Watergate. A reader computes that there was a total of 31 Reagan era convictions, including 14 because of Iran-Contra and 16 in the Department of Housing & Urban Development scandal. 47 individuals and businesses associated with the Clinton machine were convicted of or pleaded guilty to crimes with 33 of these occurring during the Clinton administration itself. There were in addition 61 indictments or misdemeanor charges. 14 persons were imprisoned. A key difference between the Clinton story and earlier ones was the number of criminals with whom he was associated before entering the White House.
Using a far looser standard that included resignations, David R. Simon and D. Stanley Eitzen in Elite Deviance, say that 138 appointees of the Reagan administration either resigned under an ethical cloud or were criminally indicted. Curiously Haynes Johnson uses the same figure but with a different standard in “Sleep-Walking Through History: America in the Reagan Years: “By the end of his term, 138 administration officials had been convicted, had been indicted, or had been the subject of official investigations for official misconduct and/or criminal violations. In terms of number of officials involved, the record of his administration was the worst ever.”
STARR-RAY INVESTIGATION
- Number of Starr-Ray investigation convictions or guilty pleas (including one governor, one associate attorney general and two Clinton business partners): 14
- Number of Clinton Cabinet members who came under criminal investigation: 5
- Number of Reagan cabinet members who came under criminal investigation: 4
Number of Reagan cabinet members who came under criminal investigation: 4
- Number of top officials jailed in the Teapot Dome Scandal: 3
CRIME STATS
- Number of individuals and businesses associated with the Clinton machine who have been convicted of or pleaded guilty to crimes: 47
- Number of these convictions during Clinton’s presidency: 33
- Number of indictments/misdemeanor charges: 61
- Number of congressional witnesses who have pleaded the Fifth Amendment, fled the country to avoid testifying, or (in the case of foreign witnesses) refused to be interviewed: 122
SMALTZ INVESTIGATION
- Guilty pleas and convictions obtained by Donald Smaltz in cases involving charges of bribery and fraud against former Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy and associated individuals and businesses: 15
- Acquitted or overturned cases (including Espy): 6
- Fines and penalties assessed: $11.5 million
- Amount Tyson Food paid in fines and court costs: $6 million
CAMPAIGN FINANCE INVESTIGATION
- As of June 2000, the Justice Department listed 25 people indicted and 19 convicted because of the 1996 Clinton-Gore fundraising scandals.
- According to the House Committee on Government Reform in September 2000, 79 House and Senate witnesses asserted the Fifth Amendment in the course of investigations into Gore’s last fundraising campaign.
-James Riady entered a plea agreement to pay an $8.5 million fine for campaign finance crimes. This was a record under campaign finance laws.
CLINTON MACHINE CRIMES FOR WHICH CONVICTIONS WERE OBTAINED
Drug trafficking (3), racketeering, extortion, bribery (4), tax evasion, kickbacks, embezzlement (2), fraud (12), conspiracy (5), fraudulent loans, illegal gifts (1), illegal campaign contributions (5), money laundering (6), perjury, obstruction of justice.
HISTORICAL CONTEXT
- Number of independent counsel inquiries since the 1978 law was passed: 19
- Number that have produced indictments: 7
- Number that produced more convictions than the Starr investigation: 1
- Median length of investigations that led to convictions: 44 months
- Length of Starr-Ray investigation: 69 months.
- Total cost of the Starr investigation (3/00) $52 million
- Total cost of the Iran-Contra investigation: $48.5 million
- Total cost to taxpayers of the Madison Guarantee failure: $73 million
OTHER MATTERS INVESTIGATED BY SPECIAL PROSECUTORS AND CONGRESS, OR REPORTED IN THE MEDIA
Bank and mail fraud, violations of campaign finance laws, illegal foreign campaign funding, improper exports of sensitive technology, physical violence and threats of violence, solicitation of perjury, intimidation of witnesses, bribery of witnesses, attempted intimidation of prosecutors, perjury before congressional committees, lying in statements to federal investigators and regulatory officials, flight of witnesses, obstruction of justice, bribery of cabinet members, real estate fraud, tax fraud, drug trafficking, failure to investigate drug trafficking, bribery of state officials, use of state police for personal purposes, exchange of promotions or benefits for sexual favors, using state police to provide false court testimony, laundering of drug money through a state agency, false reports by medical examiners and others investigating suspicious deaths, the firing of the RTC and FBI director when these agencies were investigating Clinton and his associates, failure to conduct autopsies in suspicious deaths, providing jobs in return for silence by witnesses, drug abuse, improper acquisition and use of 900 FBI files, improper futures trading, murder, sexual abuse of employees, false testimony before a federal judge, shredding of documents, withholding and concealment of subpoenaed documents, fabricated charges against (and improper firing of) White House employees, inviting drug traffickers, foreign agents and participants in organized crime to the White House.
ARKANSAS ALTZHEIMER’S
Number of times that Clinton figures who testified in court or before Congress said that they didn’t remember, didn’t know, or something similar.
Bill Kennedy 116
Harold Ickes 148
Ricki Seidman 160
Bruce Lindsey 161
Bill Burton 191
Mark Gearan 221
Mack McLarty 233
Neil Egglseston 250
Hillary Clinton 250
John Podesta 264
Jennifer O’Connor 343
Dwight Holton 348
Patsy Thomasson 420
Jeff Eller 697
FROM THE WASHINGTON TIMES: In the portions of President Clinton’s Jan. 17 deposition that have been made public in the Paula Jones case, his memory failed him 267 times. This is a list of his answers and how many times he gave each one.
I don’t remember - 71
I don’t know - 62
I’m not sure - 17
I have no idea - 10
I don’t believe so - 9
I don’t recall - 8
I don’t think so - 8
I don’t have any specific recollection - 6
I have no recollection - 4
Not to my knowledge - 4
I just don’t remember - 4
I don’t believe - 4
I have no specific recollection - 3
I might have - 3
I don’t have any recollection of that - 2 I don’t have a specific memory - 2
I don’t have any memory of that - 2
I just can’t say - 2
I have no direct knowledge of that - 2
I don’t have any idea - 2
Not that I recall - 2
I don’t believe I did - 2
I can’t remember - 2
I can’t say - 2
I do not remember doing so - 2
Not that I remember - 2
I’m not aware - 1
I honestly don’t know - 1
I don’t believe that I did - 1
I’m fairly sure - 1
I have no other recollection - 1
I’m not positive - 1
I certainly don’t think so - 1
I don’t really remember - 1
I would have no way of remembering that - 1
That’s what I believe happened - 1
To my knowledge, no - 1
To the best of my knowledge - 1
To the best of my memory - 1
I honestly don’t recall - 1
I honestly don’t remember - 1
That’s all I know - 1
I don’t have an independent recollection of that - 1
I don’t actually have an independent memory of that - 1
As far as I know - 1
I don’t believe I ever did that - 1
That’s all I know about that - 1
I’m just not sure - 1
Nothing that I remember - 1
I simply don’t know - 1
I would have no idea - 1
I don’t know anything about that - 1
I don’t have any direct knowledge of that - 1
I just don’t know - 1
I really don’t know - 1
I can’t deny that, I just — I have no memory of that at all - 1
ARKANSAS SUDDEN DEATH SYNDROME
- Number of persons in the Clinton machine orbit who are alleged to have committed suicide: 9
- Number known to have been murdered: 12
- Number who died in plane crashes: 6
- Number who died in single car automobile accidents: 3
- Number of one-person sking fatalities: 1
- Number of key witnesses who have died of heart attacks while in federal custody under questionable circumstances: 1
- Number of unexplained deaths: 4
- Total suspicious deaths: 46
- Number of northern Mafia killings during peak years of 1968-78: 30
- Number of Dixie Mafia killings during same period: 156
It is important in considering these fatal incidents to bear in mind the following:
The fact that anomalies need to be investigated further carries no presumption of how a death actually occurred, only that there remain serious questions that require answers.
The possibility of foul play must be taken seriously in a major criminal conspiracy in which over two score individuals and firms have been convicted and over 100 witnesses have pled the Fifth Amendment or fled the country.
If foul play did occur in any of these cases, that fact by itself does not carry the presumption that the the Clinton machine was involved. Given the footprints of organized crime, drug trade, foreign espionage, and intelligence agencies on the trail of the Clinton story, such a assumption would not be warranted. It is also well to keep in mind the classic prohibition era movie in which the corrupt poitician’s job was not to engage in illegal acts but to avoid noticing them.
ARKANSAS MONEY MANAGEMENT
- Amount of an alleged electronic transfer from the Arkansas Development Financial Authority to a bank in the Cayman Islands during 1980s: $50 million
- Grand Cayman’s population: 18,000
- Number of commercial banks: 570
- Number of bank regulators: 1
- Amount Arkansas state pension fund invested in high-risk repos in the mid-80s in one purchase in April 1985: $52 million through the Worthen Bank.
- Number of days thereafter that the state’s brokerage firm went belly up: 3
- Amount Arkansas pension fund dropped overnight as a result: 15%
- Percent of Worthen bank that Mochtar Riady bought over the next four months to bail out the bank and the then governor, Bill Clinton: 40%.
- Percent of purchasers from the Clintons and McDougals of resort lots who lost the land because of the sleazy financing provisions: over 50%
THE MEDIA
- Number of journalists covering Whitewater who have been fired, transferred off the beat, resigned or otherwise gotten into trouble because of their work on the scandals (Doug Frantz, Jim Wooten, Richard Behar, Christopher Ruddy, Michael Isikoff, David Eisenstadt, Yinh Chan, Jonathan Broder, James R. Norman, Zoh Hieronimus): 10
FRIENDS OF BILL
- Number of times John Huang took the 5th Amendment in answer to questions during a Judicial Watch deposition: 1,000
- Visits made to the White House by investigation subjects Johnny Chung, James Riady, John Huang, and Charlie Trie. 160
- Number of campaign contributors who got overnights at the White House in the two years before the 1996 election: 577
- Number of members of Thomas Boggs’s law firm who have held top positions in the Clinton administration. 18
- Number of times John Huang was briefed by CIA: 37
- Number of calls Huang made from Commerce Department to Lippo banks: 261
- Number of intelligence reports Huang read while at Commerce Department: 500
UNEXPLAINED PHENOMENA
- FBI files misappropriated by the White House: c. 900
- Estimated number of witnesses quoted in FBI files misappropriated by the White House: 18,000
- Number of witnesses who developed medical problems at critical points in Clinton scandals investigation (Tucker, Hale, both McDougals, Lindsey): 5
- Problem areas listed in a memo by Clinton’s own lawyer in preparation for the president’s defense: 40
- Number of witnesses and critics of Clinton subjected to IRS audit: 45
- Number of names placed in a White House secret database without the knowledge of those named: c. 200,000
- Number of women involved with Clinton who claim to have been physically threatened (Sally Perdue, Gennifer Flowers, Kathleen Willey, Linda Tripp, Elizabeth Ward Gracen, Juantia Broaddrick): 6
- Number of men involved in the Clinton scandals who have been beaten up or claimed to have been intimidated: 10
THE HIDDEN ELECTION
USA Today calls it “the hidden election,” in which nearly 7,000 state legislative seats are decided with only minimal media and public attention. But there was an important national story here: evidence of the disaster that Bill Clinton was for the Democratic Party. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, Democrats held a 1,542 seat lead in the state bodies in 1990. As of 1998 that lead had shrunk to 288. That’s a loss of over 1,200 state legislative seats, nearly all of them under Clinton. Across the US, the Democrats controled only 65 more state senate seats than the Republicans.
Further, in 1992, the Democrats controlled 17 more state legislatures than the Republicans. After 1998, the Republicans controlled one more than the Democrats. Not only was this a loss of 9 legislatures under Clinton, but it was the first time since 1954 that the GOP had controlled more state legislatures than the Democrats (they tied in 1968).
Here’s what happened to the Democrats under Clinton, based on our latest figures:
- GOP seats gained in House since Clinton became president: 48
- GOP seats gained in Senate since Clinton became president: 8
- GOP governorships gained since Clinton became president: 11
- GOP state legislative seats gained since Clinton became president: 1,254
as of 1998
- State legislatures taken over by GOP since Clinton became president: 9
- Democrat officeholders who have become Republicans since Clinton became
president: 439 as of 1998
- Republican officeholders who have become Democrats since Clinton became president: 3
THE CLINTON LEGACY: LONELY VOICES
Here are some of the all too rare public officials, reporters, and others who spoke truth to the dismally corrupt power of Bill and Hill Clinton’s political machine — some at risk to their careers, others at risk to their lives. A few points to note:
- Those corporatist media reporters who attempted to report the story often found themselves muzzled; some even lost their jobs. The only major dailies that consistently handled the story well were the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Times.
- Nobody on this list has gotten rich and many you may not have even heard of. Taking on the Clintons typically has not been a happy or rewarding experience. At least ten reporters were fired, transferred off their beats, resigned, or otherwise got into trouble because of their work on the scandals.
- Contrary to the popular impression, the politics of those listed ranges from the left to the right, and from the ideological to the independent.
PUBLIC OFFICIALS
MIGUEL RODRIGUEZ was a prosecutor on the staff of Kenneth Starr. His attempts to uncover the truth in the Vincent Foster death case were repeatedly foiled and he was the subject of planted stories undermining his credibility and implying that he was unstable. Rodriguez eventually resigned.
JEAN DUFFEY: Head of a joint federal-county drug task force in Arkansas. Her first instructions from her boss: “Jean, you are not to use the drug task force to investigate any public official.” Duffey’s work, however, led deep into the heart of the Dixie Mafia, including members of the Clinton machine and the investigation of the so-called “train deaths.” Ambrose Evans-Pritchard reports that when she produced a star witness who could testify to Clinton’s involvement with cocaine, the local prosecuting attorney, Dan Harmon issued a subpoena for all the task force records, including “the incriminating files on his own activities. If Duffey had complied it would have exposed 30 witnesses and her confidential informants to violent retributions. She refused.” Harmon issued a warrant for her arrest and friendly cops told her that there was a $50,000 price on her head. She eventually fled to Texas. The once-untouchable Harmon was later convicted of racketeering, extortion and drug dealing.
BILL DUNCAN: An IRS investigator in Arkansas who drafted some 30 federal indictments of Arkansas figures on money laundering and other charges. Clinton biographer Roger Morris quotes a source who reviewed the evidence: “Those indictments were a real slam dunk if there ever was one.” The cases were suppressed, many in the name of “national security.” Duncan was never called to testify. Other IRS agents and state police disavowed Duncan and turned on him. Said one source, “Somebody outside ordered it shut down and the walls went up.”
RUSSELL WELCH: An Arkansas state police detective working with Duncan. Welch developed a 35-volume, 3,000 page archive on drug and money laundering operations at Mena. His investigation was so compromised that a high state police official even let one of the targets of the probe look through the file. At one point, Welch was sprayed in the face with poison, later identified by the Center for Disease Control as anthrax. He would write in his diary, “I feel like I live in Russia, waiting for the secret police to pounce down. A government has gotten out of control. Men find themselves in positions of power and suddenly crimes become legal.” Welch is no longer with the state police.
DAN SMALTZ: Smaltz did an outstanding job investigating and prosecuting charges involving illegal payoffs to Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy, yet was treated with disparaging and highly inaccurate reporting by the likes of the David Broder and the NY Times. Espy was acquitted under a law that made it necessary to not only prove that he accepted gratuities but that he did something specific in return. On the other hand, Tyson Foods copped a plea in the same case, paying $6 million in fines and serving four years’ probation. The charge: that Tyson had illegally offered Espy $12,000 in airplane rides, football tickets and other payoffs. In the Espy investigation, Smaltz obtained 15 convictions and collected over $11 million in fines and civil penalties. Offenses for which convictions were obtained included false statements, concealing money from prohibited sources, illegal gratuities, illegal contributions, falsifying records, interstate transportation of stolen property, money laundering, and illegal receipt of USDA subsidies. In addition, Janet Reno blocked Smaltz from pursuing leads aimed at allegations of major drug trafficking in Arkansas and payoffs to the then governor of the state, WJ Clinton. Espy had become Ag secretary only after being flown to Arkansas to get the approval of chicken king Don Tyson.
The most vulnerable candidate to confront McCain is Obama. Forget what pollsters say. We realized how worthy are they after NH.
Four more years of Republican rule are guaranteed if Obama gets the nomination. And that is why he is also getting Republican support these days. Obama revealed it himself at his speech in Seattle yesterday.
Another interesting factor is the free pass the big media has been given to him. Consider this! “Someone” payed Obama’s ten year old unpaid parking tickets since his time at Harvard only at the beginning of 2007! Nobody from the media bothered to ask him during any of the debates the simple question: “Mr. Obama - if you failed to obey the laws of the City of Cambridge while studying law at Harvard, how can the American people trust that you will uphold the US constitution when and if you will become our next President?
Chris that’s alot of info there. Either you have too much time on your hands or you’re on the other persons team. Who Cares anymore Get over it. People need to remeber as they go out and vote today, tomorrow. WHO will be the BEST for our GREAT NATION. I don’t get my chance until April, But I will vote for the person with Knowledge about what it takes to be the best President of the United States.
CHRIS NEEDS A LIFE… POOR GUY…. GO OBAMA…. BECUASE WE WOULD LOVEEEEE ITTTT IF YOU PEOPLE CHOOSE HILLARY. MY MOUTH IS WATERING JUST THINKING ABOUT IT HA HA HA HAH HA HA HA SO GO AHEAD CHOOSE HILLARY HA HA HA I BEG YOU
Vote for Hillary and send Obama back to the middle east where he belongs!!
I must first advise BlackRepublican that he needs to seek help.. wow, what a scary mind that man has! It should also scare people that he would vote for Obama. That should speak volumes to everyone!!
And to Chris… You need to find a life sir. You have way to much time on your hands and I honestly don’t think anyone is listening to you or the garbage you are copying and pasting on every blog page.
The Republican party is heading for disaster. You did not see Democrats change their core values as ludicrious as they are after they got their butts handed to them in 04′. Why did we? Until we get back to our core values of securing our borders,language, and culture is when we will gain control of both houses of congress and the presidency. As much as the republican establishment has moved left, it may never happen again. I feel there should be no parties and should elect a man or women based on their record and plans for future policy. I guarantee you our economy would be up and our congress would actually get the necessary things done. If there has to be a party system, then there has to be a third party called the ” American” party.
Chris, Best post on here by far. Great work! Have you read any of the items on http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/2/20/201332/807/36/458633 ? She has a great article with PROOF that Obama has a better record than hillary. Both hers and yours took an awful lot of work, and I want to thank you both for all the information. You will notice that hillary supporters really didn’t have an argument. Sort of, “Kill the messenger.”
Jam, Wow! You don’t care how much proof you have that the Clinton’s are the most corrupt couple to ever enter the white House, but would vote for them regardless???? Never occured to you that the TAXPAYERS paid, BIG TIME, for that corruption? You never did state ‘why’ you would vote for someone that immoral?
From some of the comments on here from the Clinton supporters, you sure can see that they are the least educated voters out there……
Comment to Anne: I totally agree. There isn’t anything about Obama that is as unsettling as Hillary’s past. There are things that have been brought to light by the media, and the spectacle his former Pastor has made is definitely one of the negatives, but at least he and his spouse haven’t had scandal after scandal. I have to ask what has changed the Clintons to the point that there will be no more surprises. The ones that have already occured, have been enough for all of us to endure for the rest of our lifetime if we go back and read all of the details, it is unimaginable that they could be in a position to live in the White House again. Sometimes things that happen are not remembered as they actually were because of time and who wants to dwell on the negative, but I have never seen so many things happen to one couple that were as negative as the scandals that the Clintons have brought us through.