In a recent article on Alternet, Robert Parry posits, "How far are the Clintons willing to go?" It is a good question, and he shines some light on the subject, particularly in terms of campaign financing. I've previously written about the sketchy financial dealings of the Clintons, and the $5 million campaign "loan" which made this issue even more germaine than it already was. Apparently aside from self-financing, the Clintons are exploring other ways to make up their cash gap with the Obama campaign:
Hillary Clinton, who has built her case for the presidency on her superior "ready on Day One" management skills, burned through almost $130 million of campaign money, had to kick in $5 million from her own murky family funds, and is now pressing her chief financial backers to find creative ways to raise more money.
Some of those financial schemes appear to skirt the law -- as some backers consider putting money into "independent" entities that can spend unlimited sums but aren't supposed to coordinate with the campaign -- while other ideas are more traditional, like appealing to wealthy donors involved with the pro-Israel AIPAC lobby.
Sen. Clinton's new scramble for money -- as well as her campaign's declaration that it is prepared to override the will of the elected Democratic delegates if necessary to secure the nomination -- raise the question of just how far Bill and Hillary Clinton are willing to go to achieve their presidential restoration.
Now illegally funneling campaign contributions through front organizations is objectionable in its own right. Personally, I would rather presidential candidates not launder money like drugs dealers or corporations exploiting offshore tax havens. I would also prefer presidential candidates not use independently funded "swiftboating" to skirt the rules of the Federal Election Commission, the very group that Democrats have fought against Republicans to strengthen for decades. I'd also rather Democrats not skirt campaign finance laws in order to swiftboat fellow Democrats who, unlike them, actually have a chance at winning the nomination and the general election. Call me a liberal though.
What also bothers me is that she is willing to sell her soul to the neo-conservative AIPAC lobby in order to win this nomination. Granted, she can already be counted on to do AIPAC's bidding for the most part, and that is no secret, her foreign policy is very biased toward AIPAC's wishes, in everything from supporting the Iraq war, her hawkish stance toward Iran, her defense of Israel's devastating war against Lebanon in 2006 which cost the lives of around 1,200 Lebanese civilians (predominately women and children), including the last minute carpeting of southern Lebanon with millions of cluster bombs (largely seen internationally as a violation of international humanitarian law for their devastating and long lasting effects on civilians) in order to inflict maximum devastation, her votes with the Republicans against a Democratic-sponsored resolution restricting the export of cluster bombs to countries such as Israel that drop them on heavily populated civilian areas, and her stance against banning or restricting landmines and other arms sales. Granted, it isn't just AIPAC making her make these choices, because she is also the number one recipient out of either party of money from US arms manufacturers, but AIPAC already gives her tons of cash every year to buy her vote (the cost of her vote in 2006 was $328,873, much of which carried over into her presidential campaign). She has had a hawkish enough record with just a few hundred thousands dollars per year, the last thing we need is a president that owes her entire political career to the lobby. Of course she sees no problem with this whatsoever, which makes it all that much more scary. Sadly enough I think Bush has stood up to the lobby more than Hillary has as a senator or would as president.
Of course as usual I'll point out that none of this matters, because if she is somehow nominated, she will never be able to beat McCain in the general, so we'll never have to worry about a President Hillary, just a President McCain that Hillary supporters gave us, which makes it all that appalling that the Clintons are willing to do anything and say anything to win, because in the end, they are doing it for nothing but certain defeat for the Democratic Party.
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