Don’t Tell Me The Dems Don’t Fear “The Norman Hsu Affair”
[Posted by WLS — for however much longer Patterico will allow]
Was watching MTP on Sunday, and was struck by the Jedi Mind Trick that Bob Shrum tried to pull when the conversation turned to Norman Hsu:
MR. RUSSERT: One of the issues that Mary Matalin raised was financing the campaigns. This is a picture that appeared all across the country this week. Norman Hsu and Hillary Clinton. He’s a fund-raiser from California. It turns out he was on the lam for a charge that he’s now turned himself in for. The Clinton campaign originally said that there was no question about his integrity. They’ve now changed their mind, have returned. They’re giving the contributions to charity.
The Republicans have seized on this, Mary Matalin. Here’s the—Hillary Clinton’s biography called “Living History.” And now the Republican Web site has renamed it “Re-Living History,” and they’re alluding to this man, Johnny Chung, a fund-raiser for the Clintons back in the first Clinton term who was infamous for this quote, “I see the White House is like a subway. You have to put coins to open the gates.” Is this the kind of issue that is going to create difficulty for Hillary Clinton, or is it something that all politicians do?
MS. MATALIN: Well, the reason she has run a near-flawless campaign is because she has to. She has to. And the things that she is most vulnerable on is she has to be, to be a credible change agent. She has to keep moving forward, looking forward. And anything that references the past, the Craig and the Clinton connection, which is ridiculous. But this, that re-raises the Johnny Chung issue and all the scandals, which are just symbolic of all the scandals of those years, is the thing that she has to stay away from…. She, there’s an extra onus on her to not repeat scandals that are related to that with which she’s trying to avoid people thinking about.
MR. SHRUM: I don’t—this is, this is going nowhere.
……
MR. SHRUM: She didn’t do anything wrong, Mike. Nothing wrong.
MR. MURPHY: And there’s more, there’s more on this guy, too. We don’t really know where the money came from, this mystery guy. All this dough, this thing is not over.
…..
MR. RUSSERT: Hillary Clinton is the front-runner for the Democratic nomination.
MR. CARVILLE: Right.
MR. SHRUM: Nobody, nobody, nobody, thinks that Hillary Clinton knew about this. Nobody held Hillary Clinton accountable for this…. Hsu’s given money to lots of other candidates. The biggest story, by the way, in terms of the primaries, is the Democrats agreeing now not to campaign, all of them, in Michigan and Florida if they go ahead in Iowa…..
There was about 30 seconds of Carville defending Clinton on the same grounds mentioned by others — that these campaigns have thousands of individual contributors, and there is no way to vet everyone who gives or raises money, blah, blah, blah.
But, while the topic was still clearly on Hillary and the Hsu contributions, Shrum simply hijacked the conversation and launched off into a discourse on the changes to the primary calendar.”
The Dems know the only way to deal with this story is to deprive it of oxygen, and as soon as the subject of the source of Hsu’s money was raised, Shrum couldn’t have changed subjects any quicker.
It’s better to air these issues now than on the day before the elections. If you really want the truth, you can strain it out.
Solar rays don’t discriminate between good bacteria and bad bacteria
Semanticleo (4741c2) — 9/4/2007 @ 2:56 pmYeah, WLS,
That’s a really big story compared to Iraq and Larry Craig.
Haha.
alphie (99bc18) — 9/4/2007 @ 3:21 pmWLS- I loved your allusion to the Jedi Mind Trick. The problem, as Jabba the Hutt learned too well, is that it often works.
MD in Philly (3d3f72) — 9/4/2007 @ 3:37 pmThat’s a really big story compared to Iraq and Larry Craig.
Just because Bob Shrum committed an attempted hijacking doesn’t mean it will work here, Staunch Brayer.
Hillary! has the most negatives of any of the Dem candidates, and yet another fundraising scandal will not help. Shrum and the rest know it.
Paul (09c70a) — 9/4/2007 @ 3:38 pmPosted by WLS — for however much longer Patterico will allow
What, are you kidding?
Paul (09c70a) — 9/4/2007 @ 3:40 pmHey — I’m just a guest here. Patrick has been a tremendously benevolent host, but this is his blog, not mine. I only wish I had seen the potential years ago like he did and started my own.
WLS (077d0d) — 9/4/2007 @ 3:48 pmMR. SHRUM: Nobody, nobody, nobody, thinks that Hillary Clinton knew about this. Nobody held Hillary Clinton accountable for this… Hsu’s given money to lots of other candidates.
This sums up the Bill and Hillary Clinton’s entire life — they are not accountable, it is someone elses fault, everybody does it, etc.
Get ready for eight more years of excuses.
Perfect Sense (b6ec8c) — 9/4/2007 @ 3:50 pmWLS,
Didn’t you see the line from Patterico’s “I’m Back, Suckers?” post?
I’m ready to retire and turn over the reins. Hearing no objections, the motion carries.
I think you, DRJ and Justin Levine will be around for quite awhile.
Paul (09c70a) — 9/4/2007 @ 3:52 pmWLSDJRJUSTINERICO’S just doesn’t have the same panache.
WLS (077d0d) — 9/4/2007 @ 4:00 pmPatterico just needs some time to recover from his vacation. In the meantime, WLS, I hope you keep posting on topics like this one, Larry Craig, Novak, etc. Your posts are always topical, thoughtful and interesting.
DRJ (bfe07e) — 9/4/2007 @ 4:05 pmYou gotta love Schrum, a guy who can’t win elections, who wouldn’t recognize the truth if he stepped in it, and is as intelligent as A;phie, the serial brayer.
Alphie tell us how does a boneless wonder manage to use a computer or do you just dictate it all?
Thomas Jackson (bf83e0) — 9/4/2007 @ 5:10 pmThat was actually the best Sunday morning talk-show round table I’ve seen in a long time, in part because all of the commentators were so colorful in their own rights, apart from what they were saying. Watching Mary Matalin and James Carville argue in public is always entertaining and, to me anyway, vaguely heartening. Shrum was sort of like Bilbo Baggins after he’d gotten all toxic from fondling the Ring so many years — sort of fussy and evasive, tormented by internal demons, but still very interesting to watch and listen to.
Beldar (bdd5c6) — 9/4/2007 @ 5:19 pmHaha, Thomas,
I think anyone who thinks “The Thomas Hsu Affair” is gonna hurt Hillary at all secretly hates themselves.
And if anyone on that show looked like they’d been fondling the one ring too long, it was Matalin.
Must suck to realize you’re destined to work for losers from here on out.
alphie (99bc18) — 9/4/2007 @ 5:58 pmAlphie, explain to us please how a felon on the lam gets such access to a presidental candidate, providing hundreds of thousands of dollars in contributions that get returned, and the candidate herself not know about it….we already know why it won’t be a big deal, since the MSM won’t touch it, cowards that they are….
P.S…I only hope someone follows the money backwards….
reff (4e3fcd) — 9/4/2007 @ 6:48 pmP.S…I only hope someone follows the money backwards….
I’m afraid that we won’t know about that either because China is too important a “trading partner”. Hell, they can hack into the Pentagon’s computers and we’ll apologize for letting them.
nk (a6ecc6) — 9/4/2007 @ 6:52 pmreff,
Shall we scrutinize the records of every Republican that took money offa Jack Abramhoff?
Or every one that associated with Larry Craig(who may be stayin’in the Seante, btw) since June?
alphie (99bc18) — 9/4/2007 @ 7:03 pmMitt Romney’s national finance committee co-chairman
AF (e7839e) — 9/4/2007 @ 7:15 pmThe Hsu case will matter only if there is evidence that the Hillary people had reason to know he was a fugitive.
Also, since Hsu gave to other Democrats there is the potential for the scandal to go partywide.
But more likely the fundraising contingent adopted an “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy: give money, and they don’t care.
Speaking of Carville, I think he gave the prize line regarding the GOP reaction to Craig: “They didn’t just throw him under the bus, they drove the bus right over him.” (Quoted from memory.)
Furthermore, while Shrum may have simply intended to divert the topic (although I don’t see how much more could have been said at this point, since information isn’t really there), he may have pointed to another sign of systemic corruption: the Democratic (and GOP, for that matter) kowtowing to Iowa and New Hampshire. Given that Florida probably has more Democrats than Iowa has people (and the same applies to Republicans), and given the fundraising possibilities in Florida, one would think the political establishment would be more mindful of Florida. But obviously they like the way the current setup plays out.
(And indeed, the Democrats have carefully ensured that while the candidates will not campaign in Florida, they will actively fundraise in the state.
Patterico (and others) I’d be interested in your opinion of this matter. But it deserves a full post of its own.
kishnevi (82a280) — 9/4/2007 @ 7:46 pmAF – Was Fabian named to his position on the Romney campaign after the indictment or investigation became public knowledge? If not, why is the situation relevant to this thread?
daleyrocks (906622) — 9/4/2007 @ 9:43 pmWhen do Hillary and Chelsea testify or get deposed in the Peter Paul litigation? I can’t wait to hear about that. I’m thinking that the Clinton’s wil try to disappear that one before it comes to that.
daleyrocks (906622) — 9/4/2007 @ 9:48 pmAlphie:
You only display your ignorance when you imply only Republicans accepted money from Abhramoff. But then again what can we expect from a zit faced 17 year old.
The scandal is simply the same old, same old. Just as the Clintionistas took campaign contributions from the head of the PRC military we now see that foreign powers can buy influence with the Hildabeast. No wonder the Iranians make a special effort to endorse the dhimmierats at every election. Now we need only wait for Castro and Chavez to give their blessings and contributions to the Hildabeast.
You know Alphie you sound like Gollum’s understudy more and more each day.
Thomas Jackson (bf83e0) — 9/4/2007 @ 10:56 pmHaha, Thomas,
I’m not a fan of Hillary, but you guys made her presidency inevitable.
Cowboy up and try to come up with a winning strategy for 2012 instead of riding the Rush Limbaugh flaming paranoia blimp into the ground, okay?
I don’t think I can take 8 years of her.
alphie (99bc18) — 9/4/2007 @ 11:05 pmShall we scrutinize the records of every Republican that took money offa Jack Abramhoff?
Hell if they didn’t. The Bee is still trying to pound John Doolittle into hamburger with the Abramoff bat.
papertiger (aea3ff) — 9/5/2007 @ 12:44 amThe Hsu case will matter only if there is evidence that the Hillary people had reason to know he was a fugitive.
Bernard Schwartz, Norman Hsu, Sant S. Chatwal, Abdul Rehman Jinnah, Tendo Oto.
Each of them is a large campaign doner to the Hillary ticket in the next presidential election. Two of them made the FBI’s “featured fugitives” wanted list.
papertiger (aea3ff) — 9/5/2007 @ 12:51 amTwo were or still are covert agents of the PRC. Two of them are officially bankrupt with no visible assets and yet are still able to contribute hundreds of thousands of dollars to various democratic campaigns, including California’s shame, Senator Barbara Boxer.
All are foreign nationals.
I’ve never bought into the argument that said “My guys are more honest/less corrupt than your guys.” Money and power = corruption, end of story. The real question is what we/they do when someone is caught with his fist in the cookie jar. To me, the answer makes my choice of whom to support quite simple. Maybe the Dems 2008 slogan should be “Just as corrupt! Twice as incompetent!”
oldirishpig (104338) — 9/5/2007 @ 2:05 amThat’s a really big story compared to Iraq and Larry Craig.
Perhaps they should make their blog abysmally boring by opining on the merits of restless leg syndrome? Of course, that’d get ’em around 10 visits per day (ahem).
Know your role.
rjwest21 (8f8726) — 9/5/2007 @ 5:43 amAlphie:
You need your meds. Especiually since your pal Craig is not going to be able to party with you any more. Why is it that all your comments have the same ring of truth to them that Slick Willie’s did?
Thomas Jackson (bf83e0) — 9/5/2007 @ 9:53 amNow that he’s again a no-show that’s really ratcheted this up a whole lot. Can you imagine the result if he’s fled to say China?
airedale (925226) — 9/5/2007 @ 10:03 amYou have to wonder why guys like Adbul Rehman Jinnah and Norman Hsu – both now fugitives from the law – are willing to risk so much to funnel money to Democrats.
They must really love the Democratic Party. All those Hollywood dingbats are a pale shadow of their devotion. Carville, Shrum, and all the rest? A bunch of f—king posers.
If they really loved their party they’d be in Hong Kong, far away from the federal warrants.
Glen Wishard (b1987d) — 9/5/2007 @ 11:55 amIn the earlier post by WLS I predicted that Hsu will post bail and then vanish without a trace.
Well …. toldya. And I mean it seriously — don’t order Hunan pork in Chinatown for a while.
nk (a6ecc6) — 9/5/2007 @ 4:04 pmWell just imagine what kind of scandals await if the Hildabeast is able to find enough pets and corpses to vote her in.
I guess we can see Alphie nominated to the Supreme Court given his credentials as someone whose main virtue is a persistant vegetative state.
Thomas Jackson (bf83e0) — 9/5/2007 @ 4:48 pm