Just Because They Can

Show your support.
Buzz this article up.

• Share
• Print View
• Comments

I did something for the worst possible reason. Just because I could. And I think that's the most morally indefensible reason that anybody could have for doing anything. - Bill Clinton speaking in 2004 on his affair with Monika Lewinsky

Here we are again. The media is full of images of the Clintons struggling to put out fires this weekend, while the rest of us are stuck with the tired old question of why the Clintons and those around them seem to be addicted to risky behavior. It's déjà vu all over again.

Take the Clinton finances. Their tax returns show that since leaving the White House, Mr. Clinton has raked in $35.9 million from writing books, while Mrs. Clinton made $10.5 million from her books. As authors, the couple made over $46 million from book writing.

Writing books is such a safe activity. You make money because people want to read what you have to say. Selling lots of books is a constant reminder to the public of your continuing popularity, your name shines out like a beacon from the New York Times Bestseller List. Lots of former presidents write books. No one minds. We're talking milk-and-apple-pie here.

Most of us could manage to live quite comfortably on $46 million. For the Clintons, their book income could have provided a cush life and a safe home base that would never come back to bite them from which to launch their various political endeavors. And don't forget Hillary Senate salary that has totaled over a $1 million, and Bill's presidential pension of several million.

But no! Since leaving the White House Bill has raked in over $50 million more from speeches, often collecting $250,000 an hour for his services. Here he leaves the safe harbor of book writing and enters politically treacherous waters. Many of these speeches are overseas and those who foot the bill clearly believe they will receive much more than an hour of gab from the former president of the most powerful country in the world. Bill's one-man speech industry takes the "revolving door government" out of the realm of lobbyists, senators and cabinet secretaries and right into the oval office. But hey, he got $50 million! Surely that is worth a political headache or two.

Adding the speeches and the books and the pension and the senate salary the couple has a nice little nest egg approaching $100 million.

Apparently almost $100 million just wasn't enough.

So the ex-prez entered added two politically shady business partnerships. The first, with billionaire Burkle Yucaipa Companies of, has now become a major political problem for the Clinton campaign, which has yet to disclose what Bill actually did to shake some $15 million from the Burkle tree. Campaign insiders are already openly fretting to the media off the record.

The second deal was with InfoUSA, a consumer database company which paid Mr. Clinton $3.3 million for some sort of "consulting." Which resulted in a shareholder lawsuit which held that the big fee for Clinton, and the private jet the company provided for Bill and Hillary, were improper. Nice.

What on earth would compel a savvy couple with a hundred million safe dollars to risk their political necks for a few million more?

Was it the same thing the led Hillary to embellish the tale of her visit to Bosnia, when she must have known that the presence of reporters and cameras at the actual event would come back to bite her?

Or same thing that led her to take a bogus, second-hand rumor about an uninsured woman dying of childbirth complications after being denied treatment and making it a centerpiece of her stump speech on health care? She's got a staff that is paid big money to take a magnifying glass to every thing Barack Obama has ever done or said, every person he has ever associated with. Yet she just grabs rumors she hears on the trail and repeats them day in and day out, undermining her alleged grasp of the nitty gritty details of her signature issue?

Perhaps it was the same thing that led her top operative, Mark Penn, to take time off from the campaign to work as a hired gun advising the Colombian government how to pursue a free trade deal that President Bush supports but candidate Clinton opposes?

Why do the Clintons and those around them do this stuff?

In one of those classic Clinton moments when the political calculus of them moment suggested that candor was the best way to defuse a nasty situation, Bill gave us the answer in 2004: they "do it for the worst possible reason. Just because they can." And Bill thinks "that's the most morally indefensible reason that anybody could have for doing anything."

Comments

[mommadona]

"Si se Pueda!"...oh, wait.....

Here's the links:

Poppy Bush
DLC
Business as Usual
"Don't Blame ME"
"Let them eat cake"
"Shut up and drive"
"I feel yer pain"

"IT'S ALIVE! IT'S ALIVE!!"

[Shortyfuse]

What do the candidates think of the expansion of NATO?

[Gma11]

I've thought of those words often recently. Because they could/can. I certainly don't want our nation going back there again!

[Herrington]

We have all seen it before. Power. One day you are just a regular guy and then you get 'the promotion'. Things change immediately. People start sucking up, tell you that you're right whether they believe it or not. The world is filled with enablers of hubris.

It is seductive to think you are better than most when you are just a regular Joe. When people start stroking you, it gets more tempting. And when there is a chorus of unconditional praise, I suspect it is irresistible. And it is all conditional on the supposition that praising you will yield a boon.

To a person who has succumbed to the temptations of power, all praise is competent and worthy and all dissent is incompetent and contemptible. It is the stuff of story telling from Homer to Oliver Stone. We know it in others but cannot see it in ourselves, because self is the exception, because self is the one that is better.

As far as I know, there is no cure but failure, rejection and ridicule. And that does not work for the deeply dependent on the adulation of others. Bush, for instance, fanaticizes an unprovable future in which he will be a hero, the ultimate denial. Better to just recognize the symptoms early and not start.

[austinobserver]

Good post. I would add that it is of course pleasurable to take in the positive feedback for oneself and painful to consider contrary information. So it is impossible for anyone to be objective about themselves and unless someone with power has the benefit of consistent objective or contrary input, such as the returning conquerors in Rome who had the slave accompany them in their parade to continually whisper "All glory is fleeting," hubris and overreaching become inevitable. So the most deluded and dangerous leaders are the most insulated ones, who are protected from objective and contrary input, and boy do we have a good example to remind us of that everyday!

[omaro]

Call me a cynical old grandma: I'm quite suspicious about the Clinton book income. Those sound like blockbuster sales figures to me, and I'm not sure I know anyone who has actually read either of the Clintons' books. I'm sure there must be plenty of readers out there who have, but considering that most of my friends are Democrats who read lots of books and have ample disposable income and buy lots of books, it seems strange that absolutely no one in my memory has mentioned either book or recommended it, nor have I noticed one on anyone's shelves. Who actually paid for all those books? How many were printed and sold, at what price, and what is the author's cut on them? Were some bought in bulk by various big-giver types as a way to hide big gifts to the Clintons? I'm trying to research this, but I'm no expert in such things, so if you or someone you know can research the topic, I have a feeling the answers might be of general interest.

[Herrington]

From a cynical old cowpoke to a cynical old grandma, It rings the same bell for me. It seems I have heard of book advances being given for gratuity now and then. And it is totally in keeping with a million dollars for a speaking engagement. Too much money for little or no dicernable benefit to the customer.

If I were going to pay a million dollars to hear someone speak, I'd want to be damn sure I was going to get back a million and one dollars, at least.

[SkipHarv]

Excellent post, so sad but true. those three words "Because they can" sums up Bill and Hill so well. somrthing else that I feel that ALL Clinton supporters should read is Peggy noonan's book, "The Case Against Hillary Clinton" now it is true that it is written by a person who could be considered a part of the "vast right-wing conspiracy" but even though it was written prior to her run for senate just about EVERYTHING in that book is happening now!!!

[OR55]

And as part of his millions, Bill is in bed with the Colombian president, along with her top adviser Mark Penn - while Hillary "says" she is against the Colombian trade agreement.

Google Bill Clinton and Uribe (Colombia's president). You will be shocked and the millions of dollars that have changed hands between those two and others.

[DoninJoisey]

Morals? They don't need no stinkin' morals.
The Clintons have never been burdened with integrity.
Bill has been busy doing deals using his connections and influence.

[tompoe]

The truly obscene point, out of all those presented, lies with Hillary's choice of healthcare horror story. Not because it was proven to be false. Not because she chose to lie. It's because we don't, and she sure didn't, need to look further than the next door neighbor, the neighbor in every main street community, anywhere in our great country, and the horror stories are never-ending. How much will every American have to spend to bring their teeth into good health parameters? How much will every American have to spend to bring their eyesight into good health parameters? How many health insurance plans include dental and eye care? http://wjz.com/local/dental.dentist.children.2.623940.html published in January of this year, touches on the enormity of the harm of the only country in the world that does not provide single payer insurance for its citizens.

Hillary needs one huge apology for her obscene disregard for Americans who need desperately a healthcare system that helps the needy, not the insurance companies.