Bradley: Bill Clinton's Financial Backers Could Pose Big Problem

Though known for his soft-demeanor, former senator and current Obama supporter Bill Bradley let off a bit of steam at the Clinton campaign during an appearance on NewsHour Wednesday night.

Calling into question the known unknowns (channeling my inner-Rumsfeld) of former president Bill Clinton's financial backers, Bradley raised the specter of down-the-road quid-pro-quos and one-hand-behind-your-back general election fights against Sen. John McCain. As he explained to host Jim Lehrer:

"I think Barack Obama has a much stronger chance of beating John McCain in the general election. I think Hillary is flawed in many ways, and particularly if you look at her husband's unwillingness to release the names of the people who contributed to his presidential library.

And the reason that is important -- you know, are there favors attached to $500,000 or $1 million contributions? And what do I mean by favors? I mean, pardons that are granted; investigations that are squelched; contracts that are awarded; regulations that are delayed.

These are important questions. The people deserve to know. And we deserve, as Democrats, to know before a nominee is selected, because we don't want things to explode in a general election against John McCain."

Here is the video:

Tip of the hat to goldmj at Daily Kos for first noticing this.

Comments

[pheepher]

Great point! Of course Bill Bradley will be accused of being Ken Starr for asking these questions of the Clintons. Hillary is deeply flawed in such a personal level, no one knows what neurotic Hillary will answer that phone at 3:00 a.m..

[armadillious2002]

Come clean Sybil - fork over the returns.

[kennedy]

VOTE OBAMA / BUSH / CHENEY 08

ON DISASTER AFTER ANOTHER AFTER ANOTHER AFTER ANOTHER.

I AM OBAMA AND I APPROVE THIS DYNASTY.

[nazgul]

You obviously haven't read about the links between the Bush and Clinton crime families. Do some research on BCCI, for starters.

[nazgul]

Obama is a dynasty? In what parallel universe?

The Clinton family, now that is a dynasty in the making.

Um, you need to take a look into the Bush-Clinton family ties. Start with BCCI, the largest ($20B) bank heist in history. It's also the best kept secret.

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/leveymg/347

[messy]

There's going to be a civil trial in October Paul v. Clinton

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=56868

This ensures McCain's victory unless they are aquitted big time, in the meantime, it's possible that it could disrupt the camaign.

[PLUMPLUM]

Rahtid!(Jamaican exclamation). How the hell do these people(Clintons) get off trying to piling on Obama about Rezko?

The same little clique that is mentioned her is comprised of the same characters fawning over her campaign. They are looking at possible sh.. hitting the fan if they don't get her elected. That is why they will do any and everything to get her in. What does Joe(CIA)Wilson have to say about this?

You have any more where this came from? Let it flow!

[kennedy]

It is amazing how many lies you Obama cult people will come up with to get the heat off of your GOD Obama.

Did you happen to notice how far this case goes back? Probably didn't cross your mind to actually read the article. This nut is throwing everyone in the pot to gain cash. I heard about this back in 2004. The media at the time said it was a money grab by a disgruntled man who hates the Clinton's.

Now lets get back to Rezko the Syrian born man that has been best friends with Obama for 17 years. Obama and Rezko now that is a scandal and more.

Rezko fund raisers in mansions for Obama

Rezko buying property for Obama

Obamas fishey investments

Obamas fishey stocks

Obamas wife working with walmart after he was running for president and making a ton of money doing so. Only leaving after reporters started sniffing around.

Rezkos down payment on Obamas mansion

Rezko owning and being a slum lord of several ruin downed buildings in Obamas district that Obama knew about and allowed to happen.

Obama backed the effort by Rezko and Allison Davis who is Rezko's partner and Obama's former boss to win taxpayer funds. The funds were to go to building the Cottage View Terrace apartments. And it did thanks to Obama. He wrote letters to city and state officials supporting his political patron Rezko's successful bid to get more than $14 million from taxpayers to build apartments for senior citizens. The deal included $855,000 in development fees for Rezko and his partner Davis.

Rezko backed Obama's election to the Illinois Senate in 1996, his successful re-election bids and his 2004 election to the U.S. Senate.

Larry Sinclair saying there is a bomb shell still to be released about Obama.

and on and on and on. Any of this ringing a bell???

The Obamas are the biggest cons in D C.

[SeattleSistah]

Who are you!?! Just because you keep reporting these lies doesn't make them so. The sellers of the property said they did not give the Obama's a discounted price. The sellers said they wanted to sell both parcels. The seller said that the final price was a negotiated price.

The Obamas didn't need to get down payment money from Rezko -- remember, Obama had two best-selling books by that time.

Obama was a state senator not a city council member -- zoning and code enforcement is strictly the perview of the city -- therefore, Obama had no jurisdication even if Rezko had been found to be a bad landlord.

I can tell you are a Clinton supporter. You repeat the same kind of inflammatory remarks as though saying that it is so makes it so. All of these issues have been soundly debunked, yet you continue to state them as fact. We all know that the Clintons have more than a few skeletons in their closet. Lets get off of the flame-throwing and start talking about the real issues. This country has real problems that impact real people and this kind of kindergarten behavior is disgusting in light of the real pain so many Americans are experiencing. Clinton supporters need to reign her in before she ruins this for everyone for the sake of her political ambition!

[kennedy]

Obama being the most liberal senator in the senate and someone who votes for partial birth abortions will never be president.

[IndyStacey]

kennedy, stop drinking the kool-aid. Think for yourself.

[B0Bcat34]

Correct me if I'm wrong here, but, didn't Bill Clinton veto the ban on partial birth abortion TWICE? And, since Hillary's experience goes hand-in-hand with Bill's presidency, she was in favor of this bill.

[kennedy]

(Obama supporter Bill Bradley )

Enough said. Obama is losing his mind bringing out the "curse" to lie for him. I wonder why or why Bradley who is backing Obama would say the guy he is backing would beat Mc Cain??????????

Thank GOD Bradley is backing Obama and not Hillary. That guy is a noose around anyones neck that he backs. Winning never follows whoever he endorses. Stay on Obamas side and keep lying. Tick tock, tick tock, tick tock the lies are about to catch up with your guy.

[nazgul]

Obama is running 12% ahead of McCain in head to head competition, twice Hillary's lead.

Bradley's comment re: the Clinton's backers is dead spot on. She would lose in the general election for many reasons, not least of which would be for the family's Bush-like and Bush-linked history of corruption.

Unlike, say, Terry McCauliffe, the WorldBank slime, Bill Bradley has always been a man of principle. The only reason he never rose higher was because his oratory is too cerebral and un-sensational for the average American.

[prestodan]

The only clock I hear ticking is the one running out on Hillary's campaign. You're done and you know it - or you should, but you just don't care. Bill Bradley is one of the most principled and brilliant democrats we've ever had - so naturally, he's not enamored with the Clintons, so you lash out at him and try to call him some kind of loser. What a joke. Maybe you should try reading his bio sometime. Clinton backers should not even bring up the word LIE. Just pretend it doesn't exist or something, because if you want to have it out with Obama over who has a better relationship with the truth, you're fighting a losing battle.

[IndieGirl]

I think the media is being bias to Obama now, in the past they were bias toward Clinton, but now the tide has turned. The media has so much dirt on the Clintons, so many questions they have to provide the American public with answers, the Clintons have several hundred Rezkco like personas in their pockets, well its time we heard about them.

She is vetted so lets hear it and we can re-vet her since we are in a new era. It is only fair, since she has been scream bloody murder to the media for not being fair to her.

Let's put everyone's dirt on the table...Obama's, Billary's, and McCain. Let the American people judge which politician's #$%! sticks more!

[MizLiz]

Hell, 75% of the people listening on TV don't even know what "vetted" means.

[MsLiz]

I had my cat vetted. They spade her.

[treadway123]

Here's the dirt. Go to www.judicialwatch.org/hillarywatch.shtml.shtml

[nerakami]

I am dumbfounded at our naivety ! How can we watch Hillary run her campaign the way she has.. blundering, in-fighting, negative attacks without substantiation and actually think that she would not run the White House the same way? She & Bill are the most scandal ridden candidate out there and yet again, we choose not to look at the energy around her. If we do not learn from our past mistakes, we are doomed to repeat them over and over again....

[kennedy]

You mean Obamas camp calling Hillary a monster. I agree.

[littlequeenie]

No matter how she felt about Clinton, she never should have said that outside a closed Obama campaign meeting. She made a huge mistake. She apologized and stepped down.

End of story kennedy.

What about the lies Clinton told about NAFTA just before the primary in Ohio?

[zundra]

A lot of us ARE paying attention. She's not going to win don't worry.

(crosses fingers)

[kennedy]

IN TEXAS EXIT POLLS:

Over 65 years old:

67% Hillary

30 % Obama


Worried about own financial situation ( TEXAS)

56% Hillary

43% Obama


Decided in last 3 days: ( TEXAS)

61% Hillary

38% Obama


Who has a clear plan to deliver (TEXAS)

66% Hillary

53% Obama


YOU DID GREAT HILLARY! THANK YOU TEXANS!

[JavaCityGal]

Wonder what Pennsylvania will think about the Clintons getting millions of dollars from the Arabs and then pushing the sale and security of US shipping ports to the United Arab Emirate?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/02/09/wus609.xml

[dutchess2]

I dunno what you're celebrating here.. This morning, the caucus count in Texas is running
56% for Obama, and the remainder to Hillary....

Doesn't sound like she's winning Texas...

Its also known now that Hillary is the one that contacted Canada to say that HER comments on Nafta was political manouvering, and not to take it seriously... So she won Ohio with a lie...

And you expect her to handle the White house differently than she's handled her own campaign?

Tain't likely.

[SDgirl]

Then you lost the caucus and got fewer delegates out of Texas, even though Obama had to come from 20 points behind and you had to act like an insane lying witch with multiple personalities. You keep bragging you won so big on Tuesday yet your no further ahead then you were in comparision to delegate count and Obama has gained like 7 superdelegates since then.

[brwnizofmine]

Who won the most delegates? Thank you, Obama!

[Darnamell]

So let me clarify this:

Fearful of positive change:

67% Hillary

30 % Obama

Broke or worried about being broke, but still voting for a Democrat:

56% Hillary

43% Obama

Scared into voting for Hillary:

61% Hillary

38% Obama

Inertia made me do it:

66% Hillary

53% Obama

That's alright though. I hope they all come around when it is time to vote for Obama in the fall. And THANK YOU Texas caucus goers for not buying into the hype.

[midwesthousewife]

I still think her win in the primaries was due to Limbaugh's dittoheads following his directions to throw the race to Hillary just to mess with the Democratic primary and yup, it's worked.

[PigsOnSoma]

At first I supported Kucinich, then Edwards, and when there were only two left standing I went with Obama - for at least he gives a mean speech, doesn't have the corporate commitments, and the large scale scandals plaguing the Clintons.

That being said, I remember watching on the sidelines for the last few years, snickering to myself about the fracturing of the Republican party. Hillary's backing of McCain just made my stomach lurch, and I'm sure many felt the same. She is fracturing the party singlehandedly, with her overwhelming desire to win, and if she can't have it, then nobody can. Prior to the last week I would have voted for either as nominee, against McCain, but now I am just too disgusted. If Obama isn't the nominee, all one can hope for now is a viable third party candidate.

[dutchess2]

The only way Hillary can win is if we allow it.

Tell them, write the campaign, post it on every message board you can...that you're not voting for her because of these tatics...

She has about 45% of hard core supporters...not enough to win anything from now until November.

The rest of us need to let her know its time for her to go home....

We'll need a dependable Senator in New York, and an Elder Statesman. The Clintons need to
rest up and try to recapture those roles for the good of the country.

[JavaCityGal]

Agree, if she is the nominee, I will write in a protest vote for Obama. You just cannot condone this behavior, sets a bad precedent.

[MizLiz]

I listen to Air America while driving home. Randi Rhodes has a theory that HRC wants McCain to win if she can't. In 4 years, she'll have another chance. If Obama wins, there goes 8 years down the tubes and by then people will think she's too old. Men get a free pass on the aging thing...women? Forget it. Sounds like a good theory to me.

[bish66]

You do have a bad streak at picking heroes... and you obviously have not heard him speak without a teleprompter or a script written by Deval Patrick. Watch the Texas debate, he was awesome....ly bad.

[tanders]

I absolutely agree with you. I am a (far) left leaning female Independent. If the Democratic Party selects Obama, I'll continue sending him donations and happily vote for him. If, however, the Democratic Party backs yet another MOR candidate then they can count on me (and perhaps at least a few others) to vote for Ralph Nader. The Democratic Party can complain all it wants about Nader, but the reason why I (a former Democratic) vote for third party candidates like Nader in lieu of a Democratic is that I have no desire to vote for conservatives like Clinton. She may be a little less conservative than some Republicans, but that's not enough for me.

[Richard729]

If you go back less to than a year ago Democrats were the ones expected to be united and in a position to clean out the vermin now occupying the White House. That has all changed. Democrats are once again acting like cannibals and offering sound bites that Republicans and their nominee, John McCain, could only dream for a few months back. Now, we have Bill Bradley echoing the "fatally flawed" bromide spouted by Karl Rove in referring to Hillary Clinton's chances to be president.

Bradley stated, "I think Hillary is flawed in many ways, and particularly if you look at her husband's unwillingness to release the names of the people who contributed to his presidential library."

Republicans will be screaming at Hillary to release her tax records as well as exploiting the delectable item of the Bill Clinton baggage surround the pardoning of Marc Rich, a huge contributor to the Clinton Library.

Hillary Clinton keeps adding fuel to the fires raging around her self-perceived superior qualifications over Barack Obama to be Commander-In-Chief saying, in effect, that she, like John McCain, is tested and understands the responsibilities of being president. What nicer gift could McCain receive, especially when it is an endorsement from one of his chief Democratic Party rivals, Hillary Clinton? As some have asked, "Is Hillary Clinton just another Joe Lieberman Democrat?"

At the rate that the Democrats are self-destructing about the only thing they will be licking in the November election is their own wounds. Their recriminations and Monday morning quarterbacking will be inconsequential and ridiculed in the wake of their loss after John McCain takes the presidential oath of office in January 2009. Besides, who needs a Joe Lieberman Democrat in the White House?

At least John McCain understands the stakes. He should be jubilant that the Democrats are doing the groundwork for him by digging their own graves.

[jimchap]

I was an early supporter of Hillary. After watching this campaign from every angle (college professor,
touring musician, father, son etc...) I can no longer tolerate her divisive and ethically challenged campaign. She runs dirty and has dragged the party into the mud. She is a monster. Worse than that, we never know which monster will show up. This isn't a gender issue, it's about integrity and the ability to both inspire AND accomplish. Obama has those tools and is ahead in spite of the vast Clinton machine. There is very little difference in her hypocrisy and George W's.
Enough with this embarrassing display of self pity/glorification. She's a Republican in a pant suit.
Go Obama!

[joja]

Bradley is just pointing out something that the Clintonistas want everyone to forget: how radioactive the Clintons are -- and how disastrous it will be come general election time, when all the disturbing little details, like this, start dribbling out.

The Clintonistas want everybody to focus on Obama's warts while completley ignoring Republican are calls for renewed investigations into Whitewater, etc. How hypocritical!! And how arrogant!!

And how typical of the Clintons.

[PhyloSeFiser]

So much for her argument that she's been fully vetted.
There is no excuse for not releasing this information.
Democrats should demand it. Otherwise they risk nominating someone whose skeletons will come tumbling out of the closet during the general election.

We want transparency!

Phylo Hussein SeFiser

[JavaCityGal]

Notice that you don't read much of the Hillary people talking about their "experienced and qualified": candidate anymore? Even they know that charade is done.

[GayGrandpa]

The dynasty requires huge funds and huge obligations...all dynasties do! Remember how George promised anything and everything including an attack on global warming but boy did go to the way side when the electrical companies weighed in...nope no attention to global warming sorry! It is the same with the Clintons...the workers of Ohio just bought a big one...did they forget who signed in NAFTA?

Hillary said in the last debate no prob with showing taxes, WELL THEN WERE ARE THEY HILLARY? And who is building the Clinton library and what will the taxpayers loose for that??? Enough of the dynasties!

[Independent voter]

Dollar Bill's slimy financial ties to foreign governments is clearly a problem in the effort to get bill back in the White House. This is the reason that the clintons are hiding their tax returns and other documents.

Dollar Bill took tens of millions of dollars from the Arabs and then tried to push the sale and security of US shipping ports to the UAE.

The clintons have more secrets than Cheney.

[JavaCityGal]

Can you image what Rush will do with this? Selling out our national shipping ports, national security at stake....to the Arabs....

What do you think they'll call this...DubaiGate? Hillary will be Republican cannon fodder.

[midwesthousewife]

Here'e betting the Republican strategists know all this and are keeping mum until Hilliary is the nominee and they can blast her with it come October, right around the same time as that trial.

[richcpl]

Absolutely correct, but a little confusing since "Dollar Bill" was Bill Bradley's nickname, although here it's being used to identify the venal ex-president.