PrintAugust 28, 2007
Hillary's Ironic Use of the Word 'Unscrupulous'
That Hillary Clinton has managed to straddle both sides of the corporate fence for 3 whole decades now, while the lesser of her cronies have ended up in jail, is the most over-the-top chicanery I think I've seen in - well, perhaps my entire life.
Hillary Clinton is now pitching her multi-billion dollar bailout plan for the "victims" of "unscrupulous" mortgage brokers who act "dishonestly and try to take advantage of people". And what will fix the problem of "unscrupulous" business people? Why, more government bureaucracy and our money, of course. It's as if Madame Hillary thinks we taxpayers won't mind one little bit just eating cake, while she gives away a billion here and another few billion there; after all it's not her money.
But Hillary Clinton is certainly in a position to know about "unscrupulous" business practices that end up costing taxpayers lots and lots of money. After all, as Barbara Olson so nicely pointed out in her 1999 account of the prelude to Hillary Clinton's political rise, Hell to Pay, Ms. Rodham was up to her armpits in "unscrupulous," corporate wheeling and double-dealing long before she became First Lady.
Evidently, the entire Democratic Party, the Mainstream Media moguls, and every Harry, Dick and Jane American have collectively lost their memories. We all need a refresher course, and quick.
The year is 1978. Bill Clinton is Attorney General of the State of Arkansas. Ms. Hillary Rodham (married to Bill Clinton, but still using her maiden name) has become an associate in the Rose Law Firm.
According to Carl Bernstein (A Woman in Charge, page 128):
Rose was the ultimate establishment law firm, representing the most powerful economic interests in the state: Tyson Foods, Stephens, Inc. (the state's biggest brokerage firm), Wal Mart, Worthen Bank, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, and the Hussman media empire in southwest Arkansas. In the capital of a small state in which business was a matter of backslapping and backscratching, its primacy was undisputed.
Take it from a Southerner who knows: Ms. Rodham, married to the Arkansas Attorney General, was taking the shortest short-cut possible to scrapping her principles and lining her purse with gold. Her association with this particular law firm ensured not only a nice income, but a backdoor route to insider deals, mountains of under-the-table perks, and the golden parachute that comes with on-the-ground-floor speculating - whether in land development or cattle futures. She and Bill, as well as the Rose partners, knew it was a shady conflict-of-interest setup; they obviously didn't care.
But in 1978, Hillary and Bill entered into a speculative land deal with Bill and Susan McDougal, one that would eventually go very sour to the tune of $60 million United States' taxpayer dollars. (Hell to Pay, p. 162).
Barbara Olson details the Clintons' "unscrupulous" plan:
The McDougals were small-town versions of their more powerful friends, the Clintons. The McDougals had access to money, something Bill and Hillary wanted very much. The Clintons had growing access to power - the ability to ease restrictions, cause a regulator to wink, or keep a sticky matter at the bottom of a state auditor's pile - which would be helpful to the McDougals.
The Clintons put up no money....Having Bill Clinton's name on the deal was a great way to secure the loan for such a bold investment, and a good way to attract customers. (Hell to Pay, p. 158, 159)
In other words, the Clintons put in their names, the authority of the Attorney General's office (known as "political influence"), and Hillary's law firm ties (known as "connections"), and the McDougals put up the money. Sounds like a foolproof venture with all the right elements.
Except that, "perhaps to keep his early venture (White Water Estates) afloat, Jim McDougal went into a far more lucrative business, the savings and loan (S&L industry. He bought a rural S&L and dubbed it Madison Guaranty." (Hell to Pay, p. 160) This was a very, very unscrupulous business, that eventually, by the mid-1980s, threatened the whole U.S. banking system. Jim McDougal's enterprise was right in there with the best of the scammers and speculators.
By 1984 Madison was warned by federal regulators to tighten its practices, strengthen its management, and add $3 million to its capital base. McDougal did strengthen management - by hiring the federal regulator as Madison's vice president. (Hell to Pay, p. 160)
Then, it was time to pull in the Clintons' promised "political influence." So, in January 1985, Bill Clinton, now Arkansas' Governor, "replaced the state securities commissioner with Fayetteville friend and longtime supporter Beverly Bassett" (Hell to Pay, p. 160).
In April, Jim McDougal "hired" Hillary as legal counsel for Madison to represent his interests before the state securities commission.
"By now, the Clintons had managed to create a parade of friendly faces all along the way for their business partners. Six days later, Hillary contacted (friend and long-time Clinton contributor) Bassett on behalf of Madison." (Hell to Pay, p. 161)
And, of course, since the "fix" was in, "the recapitalization plan, selling stock that was essentially worthless, was approved" (Hell to Pay, p. 161)
Now, I don't know what Mrs. Clinton calls victimizing an unsuspecting public by selling them "worthless" stock in a plan approved by government headed by a spouse, but I call it far worse than "unscrupulous". I call it a conspiracy to defraud the public and the F.D.I.C. (that's us, the people of the United States).
As I said in the beginning of this piece, how Mrs. Clinton has avoided prison this long is a positively amazing credit to this Country's gullibility. But it looks like she has learned well from her mentor, Mr. George Soros, who has long practiced the creed he now says he scorns. Anything goes, as long as you can get away with it.
Here's how Carl Bernstein summed up her fall from Wellesley grace:
She could justify in her moral construct financial opportunities that increasingly made her uncomfortable (judging from her subsequent, almost frenzied efforts to hide them) or perhaps led her into some state of denial in which she rationalized that ‘everyone' did it. Moreover, the Clintons certainly had the friends and the opportunities to skirt rules and procedures required of less-well-connected individuals. (A Woman in Charge, p. 134-35)
However one cares to explain it, one thing is certain: Hillary Rodham may have once been imbued with visions of bettering our world through the sacrifice of public service, but she long, long ago renounced those ambitions on the altar of profiteering. And in what may well become known as the most sardonic irony of the current Presidential campaign, she now hurls insulting charges at "unscrupulous" mortgage bankers, who for all we know now, have done nothing even half as "unscrupulous" as she has. And to top off that little chicanery, she even has the unmitigated audacity to herald her taxpayer-financed bailout like an angel from on high.
