In a fantastic article over at National Review, Victor Davis Hanson serves up a lengthy but beautifully written piece about Bill and Hillary’s quest for money and power.
Seriously, you should read the whole thing, but I want to share some of the best quotes.
On how the Clinton’s money schemes have changed over time:
“Long gone was the Scrooge-like need to write off used underwear as charitable tax deductions or to play 4-trillion-to-one odds in rigging a $100,000 cattle-futures profit on a $1,000 ‘investment,’ or Hillary’s decade-and-a-half as a corporate lawyer masquerading as a children’s advocate. How pathetic the minor league Whitewater cons must seem now to the multimillionaire Clintons — such a tawdry ancient example of amateurish shakedowns when compared with the sophistication of real profiteering through the humanitarian-sounding, high-brow, corrupt Clinton Foundation.”
On how Hillary’s position on a host of policies is malleable:
“Trade deals? Hillary is flexible given the fickle public mood. Fracking? It depends on where the money is. The Keystone Pipeline? What are the pros and cons in key swing states? Wall Street criminality? One has to distinguish a wink-and-nod political façade from a private flexibility. Gay marriage? She can reluctantly ‘evolve’ under pressure. Immigration? It hinges on Latino demography in swing states, and how bothersome, as their aides put it, ‘needy’ Latinos and ‘brown’ op-ed writers become. Black Lives Matter? Had the black vote not won Obama the 2008 and 2012 elections, Hillary would probably have persisted in Bill’s 1990’s mode (when he condemned rap singer Sister Soulja for her racism and her anti-white rhetoric) and in her own critique of black ‘super predators,’ as she called gang members in 1996.”
And how their greed allows them to break with their political ideology:
“For the Clintons, power is the narcotic of being sought out, of being surrounded by retainers, of bringing enemies to heel and enticing sycophants with benefits. Liberalism and progressivism are mere social and cultural furniture, the ‘correct’ politics of their background that one mouths and exploits to obtain and maintain political clout — and to get really, really rich without guilt or apology.”
Ashe Schow is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.
