Hillary Clinton Is Going To Really Regret Saying These 4 Words About Goldman Sachs - WaPo

[WillyT]

Hillary Clinton is going to really regret saying these 4 words about Goldman Sachs
Chris Cillizza - WaPo
February 4 at 9:41 AM

<snip>

Hillary Clinton spent an hour talking to CNN's Anderson Cooper and a handful of New Hampshire voters in a town hall on Wednesday night. For 59 minutes of it, she was excellent — empathetic, engaged and decidedly human. But, then there was that other minute — really just four words — that Clinton is likely to be haunted by for some time to come.

"That’s what they offered," Clinton said in response to Cooper's question about her decision to accept $675,000 in speaking fees from Goldman Sachs in the period between serving as secretary of state and her decision to formally enter the 2016 presidential race.

The line is, well, bad. More on that soon. But, the line when combined with her body language when she said it makes it politically awful for her.

Clinton is both seemingly caught by surprise and annoyed by the question all at once. Neither of those is a good reaction to what Cooper is asking. Both together make for a uniquely bad response.

Here's the thing: I'm not sure there is a great answer, politically speaking, for Clinton on the question of her acceptance of huge speaking fees from all sorts of groups — from colleges and universities to investment banks. She took the money because these groups were willing to pay it. And who wouldn't do the same thing in her shoes?

The problem is that you can't say that if you are the front-running candidate for the Democratic nomination, a front-runner facing a more-serious-than-expected challenge from a populist liberal who has made your ties to Wall Street a centerpiece of his campaign.

<snip>

Link (w/Video): https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/02/04/4-words-on-goldman-sachs-that-hillary-clinton-is-going-to-really-regret/

[Fawke Em]

1. She didn't think she was going to run for president?

[ejbr]

12. That's when I

went too

[Ned_Devine]

32. Rick Perry said it best; "Oops"

[scottie55]

36. Hillary's Supporters Don't Care

About anything she does.

It's the idea of Hillary....

Sorry, someone had to say it.

[sabrina 1]

50. That may be, but the number one issue for Americans in polls, the scientific polls they love when

they favor their candidate, is 'the money in politics. This is probably the first time in a Presidential election that this issue is front and center in the campaign. And it's about time.

For a long time people wanted this to be a major issue. Now it is. Didn't Hillary's campaign expect, being it is such an important issue, that maybe since she planned on this run probably for eight years, she might want to refuse to accept all that money from Wall St.

[WhaTHellsgoingonhere]

61. Hillary has a carefully worded response to that. See if you can catch...

her omission.

"We need to fix our dysfunctional political system and get unaccountable money out of it once and for all, even if it takes a constitutional amendment.”

Sounds awesome! Doesn't it? This is how she fools people into believing she's going to do something when she's not going to do anything at all. You've got to pay attention to what she actually says, not what you think she's saying. Our minds trick us when we listen for what we want to hear.

[840high]

57. Yes

[hifiguy]

62. She could have a cozy little televised

get-together with Cheney where they barbecued and ate live kittens and the fanclub wouldn't even blink.

[greiner3]

75. I can't remember the OP screen name

The one who did those bizarre Photoshopped pictures. Anyway I got a mind flash of kitty tails as the last part of their anatomy slithering down their collective mouths.

[rhett o rick]

78. Exactly. She has accepted millions and millions of dollars but her fans don't care.

Ask them why they support her and watch them squirm. The best they have, as they have not a single issue to discuss, is that she is strong and tough and has experience. Well, her record for toughness has not favored the 99%. Tough on crime to the delight of the Prisons For Profits industry. Tough on the environment with her support for fracking and arctic drilling. She is not tough on the MIC, the Secret Security State, or the crooks of Wall Street. Her experience includes mistakes, huge mistakes like betrayal of the Democratic Party to help Bush and Cheney wage a war for profits.

So why do people support her? Some like to side with the big money as it makes them feel secure. Some would rather give up their freedoms, liberties and turn a blind eye to 50,000,000 Americans living in poverty, to let a strong authoritarian lead them. And ironically some that say they are fighting sexism support her because she is a women.

[snagglepuss]

37. Her claim that she accepted was based on her not knowing she'd be

running for president says to me that if she did know she would've refused. GIven that she thinks people running for president shouldn't accept huge windfalls then the ethical thing to do is for her to return it.

The meme should be "either give all back Hill or drop out now."

[840high]

58. Excellent point, Bernie

should use it.

[Betty Karlson]

88. She didn't think Brnie was going to run for president, more likely! eom

[Chemisse]

90. We all knew it. And she didn't???

That's the kind of comment that makes people distrust her.

[nichomachus]

2. Hillary is not good at dealing with anything

That is not on her focus-group approved and finely-crafted script. Ask her a question that she's not prepared for and she starts flailing.

[dixiegrrrrl]

82. Yep, that is the overall impression she gives.

I noticed her hair, make up and clothes are very well crafted, and I do applaud that effort, cause "best foot forward" IS important.

Unfortunately, she does not demonstrate sincerity, and her anxiety really comes across.

[zazen]

3. she should have said, "should I have worked for free because I'm a woman?"

I'm completely in agreement that we don't need another neoliberal POTUS and I detest the DNC's tactics.

However, in this case, I don't like a woman being called out for earning a percentage of what jerks with half her brains earn on Wall Street.

The problem as you suggest is she's claiming this anti-Wall Street cred, which is gross, since it seems she'll say whatever the last focus group tells her to say.

But if she'd said--what of it? Every guy charges huge speaker fees and they've got shit for brains, I'd have respected her more.

[roguevalley]

6. no, she should have told the truth. I took the money because it was good

and who wouldn't. Or she should have said it was a down payment on future services. Her remarks were terrible and backing up trying to explain was worse. There is no good answer for that question. She will regret it.

[appalachiablue]

20. Couldn't be 'the 47%' Mitt type thing though.

[frylock]

42. Yeah, the literal backpedaling just made it all the worse.

[dixiegrrrrl]

81. That WAS interesting body language.....indeed. n/t

[CaliforniaPeggy]

4. I think this article is right on.

Those four words draw attention to her taking what's offered from Wall Street.

And that's just what Bernie is focused on.

Does she really want to give him that much opportunity?

[ErisDiscordia]

10. She's Unstoppable!

and I'm sure there are advisors who wish they could...stop her, I mean, from shooting her foot off.

[Uncle Joe]

5. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, WillyT.

[EndElectoral]

8. So Republicans are affected by Koch Brothers money, but she is not by Wall St. money?

[mindwalker_i]

38. Exactly, and we call them what?

Koch suckers. And rightly so. So Hillary is a Goldman's Sachs ...

[arely staircase]

9. The correct answer is 'I speak to all kinds of groups."

[ErisDiscordia]

11. As long as they pay me.

Not a winning slogan, IMHO

[arely staircase]

13. Speaking fees are normal. nt

[magical thyme]

14. outrageously high ones to people planning to run for President and with a track record

of pretty blatant pay-for-play as SOS are not.

The smart (and decent) thing for her to have done is donate the damn fees to charity. It's not like they don't have a ton of money between the two of them. She has plenty in her own right. Leave a little something for somebody else, for god's sake.

It's greed, plain and simple. Gluttony. Greed. Grotesque.

[arely staircase]

21. Pay for play? What are you talking about?

[magical thyme]

31. large speaking fees and donations to Clinton Foundation in exchange

for arms sales. Supposedly also under FBI investigation per anonymous insider sources, although they won't confirm or deny.

Hillary's all against guns...until she's approving weapons sales all over hell.

The Saudi deal was one of dozens of arms sales approved by Hillary Clinton’s State Department that placed weapons in the hands of governments that had also donated money to the Clinton family philanthropic empire, an International Business Times investigation has found.

Under Clinton's leadership, the State Department approved $165 billion worth of commercial arms sales to 20 nations whose governments have given money to the Clinton Foundation, according to an IBTimes analysis of State Department and foundation data. That figure -- derived from the three full fiscal years of Clinton’s term as Secretary of State (from October 2010 to September 2012) -- represented nearly double the value of American arms sales made to the those countries and approved by the State Department during the same period of President George W. Bush’s second term....

....The Clinton-led State Department also authorized $151 billion of separate Pentagon-brokered deals for 16 of the countries that donated to the Clinton Foundation, resulting in a 143 percent increase in completed sales to those nations over the same time frame during the Bush administration. These extra sales were part of a broad increase in American military exports that accompanied Obama’s arrival in the White House. The 143 percent increase in U.S. arms sales to Clinton Foundation donors compares to an 80 percent increase in such sales to all countries over the same time period.

http://www.ibtimes.com/clinton-foundation-donors-got-weapons-deals-hillary-clintons-state-department-1934187

[arely staircase]

73. oh those ol' anonymous sources.

Just the most credible things ever.

I always believe anything from anonymous sources, don't you?

[magical thyme]

76. the donations and arms deals are public record; not according to anonymous sources

Only whether or not the FBI investigation has expanded to include them. I'm more than happy to wait and see whether or not, and who, the FBI recommends indictment.

But sure, try to discredit the post in your title

[Lordquinton]

86. Deep throat

Remember him? The anonymous source that brought down the Nixon administration? I wonder why people's desire for anonymity when uncovering details about powerful people has been attacked ever since then?

[John Poet]

92. "The appearance of impropriety"

used to be a thing politicians tried to avoid.

[restorefreedom]

63. this right here ^^^^^^^^^^^ nt

[stranger81]

79. Yes they are.

So is rampant corruption.

I wonder why?

[closeupready]

15. The real problem here is that such an obvious conflict-of-interest is met with

a shrug and 'who cares? everyone's crooked'.

Ask yourselves, are YOU crooked? None of us is perfect, but most of us know right from wrong.

Even the APPEARANCE of impropriety should be eschewed. But I guess if you are a woman, it's okay...?

[zeemike]

25. Yep, corruption has been normalized.

And scandal is just as normal. We don't think twice about it...they all do it so what is the big deal.

And that my friend is why we need a political revolution...and if we don't have one we might as well learn to love Big Brother Oligarchy.

[Voice for Peace]

49. Dishonesty -- blatent, televised, and generally

left unchallenged -- has become so much the norm, it flabbergasts me.

The honesty coming from Sen Sanders is..... like, familiar to people.... somehow....but strange, foreign...
but fresh, like a clear wind on a muggy day... and familiar .... somehow...
as if long long ago somebody told us lying was just plain wrong....
taught us something about conscience, goodness, right and wrong....
something so familiar
Has become so foreign

[Peace Patriot]

59. Very nicely put, Vote For Peace!

Thanks!

Peace

[mikehiggins]

67. That was beautiful

Maybe it is the Vicodan (suffering from gout) but it brought tears to my eyes.

It reminds me of that throwaway line in the Bourne movies--I think it went "look what they've made us do"

So much has been lost.

[jham123]

77. and that....

And that is the crux of the entire Bernie revolution.

He stands up there without a teleprompter, without prepared speeches and canned crazed dismissive cackling laughter, and tells it like it is....

Like it or not, it is what it is, he won't lie about it. We can change things that aren't perfect, but let's all be like Bernie and tell the truth of "What it is".....

Once we use his truth to identify "What it is" then we can maturely decide to leave it as it is or fix it.....but continued lies and obfuscations aren't helping anyone.

Your post, "Voice for Peace" very clearly sums it up

[Unknown Beatle]

91. This is another way of putting it.

[pacalo]

16. Oh, brother. She said she didn't know she would be running

for president when she took the money.

[Ned_Devine]

34. Great gif!

[whatchamacallit]

40. LMAO!

Perfect!

[demwing]

46. That line astounded me...

It's the kind of excuse the shifty slimeball bad guy says in a poorly written episode of CSI: Miami.

I half expected her to break out in a sweat and nervously fumble as she lit up a smoke.

[pacalo]

48. Even Cooper didn't believe that comment. Duh.

[Duval]

55. Love the gif! nt

[Duval]

56. Kicked and recommended. Thanks!

[rtracey]

17. she answered the question correctly

She was correct in her statement. There was no other way to answer except the truth. If she answered any other way, she still would have gotten grief. The only way she wouldn't have was if she donated the speaking fee to charity. She got paid after her government service was complete and was well paid. After 2017, we will be seeing Mr. Obama, Harry Reid, many doing the same thing. I have decided not to support any candidate at this time. I will look very close at both candidates before my primary in April. I was leaning toward Clinton, but pulled back to the intersection of both candidates. The tell-tale sign will be the future primaries, if she wins, she wins, if she loses, she loses...sorry for sounding too simple, but too me that seems to be the way it goes. I will support the nominee.

[freedom fighter jh]

18. "Who wouldn't do the same thing in her shoes?"

Bernie wouldn't.

[Nyan]

71. That we know for sure. nt

[dubyadiprecession]

19. She is soo going to crush him in the primaries.

[JoaquinD]

26. At best, what you just said is wishful thinking. It's a long road and she's already sweating.

At best, what you just said is wishful thinking. It's a long road and she's already sweating. When she loses New Hampshire, the Black vote will have changed towards Bernie thanks to the massive ground game already in progress.

[Cheviteau]

27. And?

Lots of folks have money invested in Wall Street (the market). Is that a crime? Does investing in stocks mean a person is directly influenced by the mega-rich? I have a few stocks. Does that make me unworthy of trust?

[A Simple Game]

45. Folks had money invested in Wall Street before '08 too.

Many if not most people think that a broker will try to do the best thing for you their clients. Does a broker telling you to invest in stocks or bonds that they know are worthless mean they are getting screwed over by the mega-rich? Why yes it does. Were crimes commited? Yes, many think so.

[elias49]

52. Are you a person with great power? That makes the difference.

If you're one of the 99%, you're going to have to buy a LOT of stock.

[mikehiggins]

68. Unless you have millions of bucks in the market you are weak tea.

You just don't matter in "the Big Picture(copyright HRC). Come back when you can have a Presidential candidate come to your house for coffee and cake (and a big donation). Then you'll be worth listening to.

This reminds me of the JP Morgans and Carnegies talking about the poor widows and orphans who would be hurt if the market got regulated. Doesn't anyone think of the children?

[Cheviteau]

93. So !

I'm not worth listening to if I haven't had a presidential candidate in my house for crumpets and tea? However, since you have had those candidates over to your abode for scotch and soda, you're worth listening to. I surmise this since you've posted a comment to my post...and want and expect... folks to listen to or read what you have to say. Let me disabuse you of your self-view of your intelligence and importance. It just ain't there. And let me further tell you that as a very small child I was present when my widowed grandmother sat in her farmhouse kitchen with Franklin D. Roosevelt and had coffee and homemade biscuits with homemade blackberry jelly. (I say homemade because that was all that was available in those days. Todays youngsters may think 'homemade' is rhetorical adornment.) Moreover, don't you or anyone else ever question my loyalty to the Democratic Party cause. Ever.

[Oilwellian]

74. Look how they brag about ripping off their clients..."It's a pretty good game"

[bvf]

30. If by "crush," you mean, "lose to," then I agree. n/t

[demwing]

51. Maybe...horrible things happen every day.

If Clinton wins the nom, it will be just another shit sandwich for the 99%

We won't ever get used to the taste, but we're long familiar with the menu.

[Juicy_Bellows]

87. Well let's see, we have:

egg and shit; egg bacon and shit; egg bacon sausage and shit; shit bacon sausage and shit; shit egg shit shit bacon and shit; shit sausage shit shit bacon shit tomato and shit.

Have you got anything without shit?

Well, there's shit egg sausage and shit, that's not got much shit in it.

I don't want ANY shit!

[demwing]

89. Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit!

Lovely Shit! Wonderful Shit!


One for the ages

[Don Draper]

22. If Hillary Clinton is such a progressive

Then why doesn't she follow in Bernie's footsteps and refuse to take money from super pacs??? If she is such a strong candidate, can't she raise the money she needs from small donors? Hillary supporters need to be honest and admit that she is a water girl for Wall Street, and if elected, she will give Wall Street a return on their investment. This should be obvious to everyone.

[lastone]

23. As they say

Perception is reality and the optics on this are horrendous!

[stillwaiting]

24. Promise? Hope so. nt

[renate]

28. I didn't see the clip, but I don't see the problem

Who wouldn't take $675,000 for a speech if that's what was offered? Her answer seems fine to me; I would think that going into detail or getting defensive or whatever would have been much worse.

But maybe Chris Cillizza is right and it was a body language thing, too. On paper, I don't see a problem.

[frylock]

43. Watch the clip. Her stammering and body language are not good at all.

[Doctor_J]

29. And I have no problem whatsoever with her making that or more for a speech

None. I do think it disqualifies her from being the president we need right now.

[GoneOffShore]

44. ^This^

Along with all the other baggage she's carrying.

Plus the numbers of people who are 'independents' who can't stand her and will sit on their hands.

[Cassiopeia]

47. Exactly.

If she wants to be a lobbyist for big industry and Wall Street that's fine, but she should pursue that as her career choice if that is her goal.

[senz]

54. Perfect.

[GeorgeGist]

33. Greed is as American as apple pie and motherhood.

Just look at the 'meh' responses.

[Vinca]

35. Someone should ask what her lowest speaking fee was.

I doubt there will be too many Kiwanis Club events for $150.

[maindawg]

41. The problem is

She was lying. A good politician, or an honest person, would have taken a moment ,to consider her response. She would have said that was our fee. They asked me to do the talk , we booked it.
But she blurted out a lie. She is subject to this kind of over reaction , it makes me wonder about her decision making ability. Her ability to make good decisions in the moment. I don't want a Bill Clinton puppet, but we could do worse.

[Babel_17]

53. I don't think anyone who was watching closely missed that moment

I was surprised at Cooper's phrasing, and I think Secretary Clinton was too. Hence the Kinsley gaffe.

[farleftlib]

60. Ewww, the slime of it all.

K&R

[fourcents]

64. My worry is....

My worry is if she gets the nomination, the GOP will use this against her even though the GOP are in deep with wall street too.

[WillyT]

65. Pre-Debate Kick !!!

[malthaussen]

66. I sometimes think the candidate is not adroit on her feet.

Although certainly not as inept as some, she does have moments when her attitude seems to indicate disdain and entitlement. Yet really, why wouldn't she get the best price going? She's not a charity.

The Caesar's wife conundrum applies. Now, there are two kinds of people for whom the implicit accusation of impropriety is unwelcome: those who are in fact so ethical that a possible conflict of interest never occurred to them, and those who are totally corrupt and don't want the fact bruited about. How the onlooker, with no real insight into the mind or life of the candidate, is to choose between these extremes reduces to a matter of faith, and never the twain shall meet between those who believe her innocent, and those who believe her corrupt.

-- Mal

[tomm2thumbs]

69. replying in case it helps

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/plans-for-ucla-visit-give-rare-glimpse-into-hillary-clintons-paid-speaking-career/2014/11/26/071eb0cc-7593-11e4-bd1b-03009bd3e984_story.html

very illuminating

When officials at the University of California at Los Angeles began negotiating a $300,000 speech appearance by Hillary Rodham Clinton, the school had one request: Could we get a reduced rate for public universities? The answer from Clinton’s representatives: $300,000 is the “special university rate.”

and then this one

http://www.reviewjournal.com/news/las-vegas/high-fashion-expense-hillary-travel


someone else mentioned these proved there was no 'what they offered'...

[Ernest Partridge]

70. Hillary should have taken Goldman Sach's $675K.

Then taken 10 grand for herself, and given the rest to various progressive organizations.

Then I would have no complaint.

But she didn't. So, plain and simple, she was bought.

[SoapBox]

72. She's totally out of touch with the 99%.

Remember...she said the middle class is in the $250,000 bracket.

And clueless to let crap like "That's what they offered!" come from her mouth...it's insulting.

[Live and Learn]

80. K&R nt

[drokhole]

83. An offer she apparently couldn't refuse.

[dixiegrrrrl]

84. Excellent post, Willy.

[Enthusiast]

85. Kicked and recommended!