Posted on 04/26/2005 9:50:21 PM PDT by Congressman Billybob
On 18 July, 1969, Ted Kennedy drove his car off a bridge on Chappaquiddick. He escaped, but left Mary Jo Kopechne to suffocate in the submerged car. That ended his chances of ever being President. Now Hillary Clinton has experienced an event with a similar political result.
On 15 October, 2000, Hillary Clinton’s 2000 Senatorial Campaign filed a report with the Federal Election Campaign that included falsified cost statements (about $750,000 low) for her Hollywood Gala on 12 August. Her National Finance Director, David Rosen, has just been indicted on four felony counts for that and related filings. Those events will sink her chances of being President as thoroughly as the killing of Mary Jo Kopechne sank Ted Kennedy’s chances.
For a detailed analysis of Ted Kennedy’s actions, see the February, 1980, issue of Readers Digest. This went to about 50 million American households, where it was placed on the back of the toilet for leisurely reading. (A literary description of this is Leopold Bloom’s newspaper reading in Ulysses by James Joyce.)
The press accounts of Chappaquiddick plus Kennedy’s gross incompetence in a legendary interview with Roger Mudd prevented Kennedy from taking the 1980 presidential nomination away from the damaged incumbent, Jimmy Carter. The Readers Digest version slammed the presidential door against Kennedy forever.
Hillary Clinton has already said Mr. Rosen will be found not guilty “when all the facts come out.” Not so. The facts include tape recordings of Mr. Rosen admitting illegal conduct to Raymond Reggie, (ironically Ted Kennedy’s brother-in-law), plus copies of campaign documents. They show the Clinton Campaign kept two sets of books – an accurate internal set and a false set for the FEC.
Mr. Rosen will be found guilty when all the facts come out, unless there is a gross miscarriage of justice as with John DeLorean and O.J. Simpson. But his trial is almost irrelevant. The facts alone will do the damage.
The Readers Digest may not do the permanent damage now. Every tabloid in America has sent reporters out with ample funds to loosen tongues and ferret out documents. This will be a hot story on the Internet. The facts may come out even before the trial. The original trial date of 3 May will certainly be pushed back by aggressive lawyering by Rosen’s counsel.
And who is his counsel? The first lawyer to comment on the case was the ever-present Clinton mouthpiece (excuse me, lawyer), David Kendall. Another lawyer has appeared as Rosen’s counsel, but if Kendall is involved at all, there would seem to be a conflict of interest. Kendall’s life’s work is to protect Clinton (him and her) from felonious consequences of their acts. Rosen’s interest right now is to avoid a stretch in stir. Rolling over on Hillary and turning state’s evidence is his best way of saving his neck.
So Mr. Rosen’s legal interests seem quite different from hers. If Kendall were involved, that would suggest Rosen will deny, deny, deny, rather than sing like a canary. However, with tape-recorded conversations and internal documents available, the only consequence of keeping Rosen on the reservation is to protect Clinton from felony charges herself. It will not protect her from the political consequences.
Keep in mind that all politicians – liberal conservative, Republican, Democrat, men, women, smart or dumb – necessarily follow two details of their campaigns: money in, and money out. Unless Clinton is either the dumbest member of the Senate, or the most careless, she would not have a million-dollar gap in knowledge of her own campaign finances. One witness has already claimed discussing financial details of this Gala with Clinton personally.
The bottom line is this: Hillary Clinton cheated her way into the Senate in 2000. Knowing that, the American people will not let her back into the White House. Like Ted Kennedy, she will probably be barred from the Democratic nomination. If nominated, she will not win.
There is another parallel between Ted Kennedy then and Hillary Clinton now. Kennedy was never charged with or tried for manslaughter. Clinton will probably not be charged and tried for election felonies. Though the facts came out, Kennedy still remains Senator for life from Massachusetts as long as he can draw breath and pour Scotch. It is likely that the facts of this case will not knock Clinton out of her Senate seat. (Though for the sake of New York and the nation, I hope I’m wrong about that.)
She may remain a Senator, but Hillary Clinton’s campaign for President in 2008 – or ever – is now over.
About the Author: John Armor is a First Amendment attorney and author who lives in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. John_Armor@aya.yale.edu
John / Billybob
As much as I would like to believe it, Hillary is a much stronger candidate than John Kerry, who almost beat an incumbent wartime President. It's up to us to make this story stick.
I am grabbing some talking points for letters to the editor etc.
"She may remain a Senator, but Hillary Clinton’s campaign for President in 2008 – or ever – is now over."
Hillary will be President in 2008. I say this because my predictions are always wrong.
The bottom line is this: Hillary Clinton cheated her way into the Senate in 2000.
======
Of course she did, as the evidence will show. The Clintons are dedicated, evil criminals that are obsessed with political power. They have already proven they will DO ANYTHING TO ANYONE, OR SAY ANYTHING ABOUT ANYONE, AT ANY COST TO THIS COUNTRY, for the sake of political power.
In reality, Hitlery should have been finished a long time ago, when it comes to any more public office. But the mindless Kool-Aid drinking populus that keeps voting for these reprobates are only perpetuating their gross existence. Let us hope the Repubs launch an all-out effort to put the last torpedo into this dispicable ship and send it to the bottom.
As long as the majority of their respective constituents that elect them remain idiots, they are free to wreak havoc in the senate and therefore the nation.
They can, will, and are able do plenty of damage there.
CB: Excellent perspective and parallels.
I hope and pray you are right about the Teflon Bride of Beelzebubba--that enough of this sticks to her broom that she can't get it airborne for 2008.
Meanwhile, the media obsesses over Tom Delay doing things nearly every Congressperson has done, but ignores this story of serious illegalities by someone on Hillary's campaign inner circle. I predict the media will turn up the heat on Delay in order to take any focus off this story.
I dunno,
Teddy is a clearly disgrace as a human being, and still he is clearly an icon in my neighborhood.
Hillary is a seriously very dangerous person. She gives me the creeps, and still she is beloved by the media, and probably by a lot more of my neighbors.
Go figure!
The Clinton scandals are legendary and numerous. Gw has given the Klintoons a pass on some of them. Dick Morris knows about some of the Klintoons antics, but me thinks he wants to live a little longer.
LOFL! Thanks for the reverse jinx! The Hildebeast will remain the dims most powerful member. Her fund-raising abilities are phenomenal. She may not be the nominee, but she will be the man behind the nominee.
<< Unless Cli'ton is ... The Dumbest Member of the Senate .... >>
Given the strong finishes put out by Babs "Yenta" Boxer, Joe "Banks" Biden, Maria "Trojans" Cantwell and Patty "Dumbest-Ever to S**t Between Two [Tennis] Shoes" Murray, that's a tough one to call.
But darn me if, for the fourth year straight, the lying, looting, thieving, mass-murdering, co-serial-rapist gangster bastard hasn't managed to pull it off -- and carry off the title!
Hitlery Cli'ton, The Dumbest Member of the Senate for 2005!
Great.
But we can't elect "Not Hillary" for president. We need a super candidate to beat her, and also beat Al Gore and Kerry too.
BTTT
BTTT
She's not dangerous without ammo. However the people who elect her are. Be afraid of them, that is the enemy.
We may need to help another democrat in order to keep her out.
That's perfectly descriptive.
The full circle irony of Hillary " I am not a crook" Clinton looms.
Well there`s always the chance that the FALN will bomb NYC again killing someone, and the question will arise "Who pardoned them and what for?"
bump
Historically speaking, we choose our Presidents from the pool of governors, not senators.
I have asked many people and they have not heard anything about this. Typical. If these criminals were Republicans it would be front-page news.
Unfortunately, times are much different now then even in 1980. The MSM and other organs (academia, hollywood, unions, etc) are firmly and unequivocally part of the democrat party and will do everything in their power to elect clinton. She will skate, laughing all the way to the bank, thumbing her nose at America. This issue is not even close to enough to stop the clintons.
Trying to do maximum damage today on my little road trip.
I wish it were true, but after seeing Kerry get a pass for treason, anything is possible.
Emperor Karl Rove has decreed the latter.
It will take more than an arcane eight year old campaign finance problem to sink the SS Hillary.
I guess every little "BTTT" counts...
I always look forward to your take. Thanks again.
Big meeting today on location in an undisclosed location in North Carolina. Let's hope Broomstick One is grounded soon.
yup ,...you bet ,...we've got so very much on her , to get it in a form where it isn't "Dry Toast" ,ahhhh , that's why I'm calling her Sir Edmund Hillary Clinton ,...when someone is interested[and you can tell,one on one] , I just start with some HillBilly facts,making sure that I don't sound like a LaRouch supporter ,LOL!!
you are so right. "anyone but Hillary" won't work any more than "anyone but Bush" worked for the dems.
Exactly how did she "cheat" her way into the Senate?
The only people to blame for her being in the Senate are the dumb voters of New York State!
She is the Teflon Senator, it won't stick, she'll still be the sweetheart of the left. She will worm her way out of this too, and still be the candidate for 2008. Count on it!
By understating the costs of this L.A. Gala by about $800,000, Hillary was running a money laundry. She was creating $800,000 in usable cash. How much difference the spending of that much money made on her election, is unknown. But it is generally true in elections that spending more money produces more votes, all other factors being equal. John / Billybob
08/24/04 – A HOLLYWOOD fundraiser who organised events featuring such celebrities as former US president Bill Clinton was today jailed for more than five years for fraud. Aaron Tonken, 38, was sentenced to 63 months behind bars after admitting fraudulently diverting hundreds of thousands of dollars destined for charity galas and using the cash to pay off his own credit card bills. <…snip…>During his time as a top fundraiser, Tonken helped arrange events for Mr Clinton and his wife, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton in August 2000. Tonken struck a secret plea deal with prosecutors that resulted in today's sentencing by US District Judge Dale Fischer in Los Angeles.
04/19/04 - The Federal Election Commission has opened a formal probe into a star-studded Aug. 12, 2000 Hollywood fundraiser for then-first lady Hillary Clinton's Senate campaign, Fox News Channel reported on Sunday. And some say the development is at least partly responsible for Sen. Clinton's claim that she's not interested in joining John Kerry's presidential ticket.The allegations themselves are not new: Two of the event's organizers, Hollywood producer Peter Paul and charity fundraiser Aaron Tonken, have detailed a series of transactions undertaken in conjunction with Hillary's campaign that could violate FEC regulations, with Paul charging that the campaign failed to report nearly $2 million he spent producing the event.
But months before Paul was returned to the U.S. to stand trial in the stock case, Hollywood fundraiser Aaron Tonken began cooperating with federal probers. Tonken has said that he's a star witness against the Clintons in a federal grand jury probe in New York into Mr. Clinton's Marc Rich pardon - and has been cooperating with the U.S. attorney in Los Angeles who's probing his fundraising activities.
FEC Heat Hurts Hillary's VP Chances
New York Sen. Hillary Clinton surely hopes that history isn't repeating itself with the raid conducted by the FBI last month on another warehouse; this one chock full of documents from her 2000 Senatorial campaign."The documents were seized in a May 30 raid of a California storage facility containing documents of Peter Paul, the entrepreneur who funded Hillary Clinton's Senate campaign with over $2 million dollars in direct, in-kind contributions which were never reported by Hillary Clinton or her Senate campaign, as required by law," revealed the public interest law firm Judicial Watch in a press release late last week.
FBI Raids Hillary's Warehouse in Whitewater Deja Vu
The Bush administration has quietly done an about-face on allegations that New York Sen. Hillary Clinton broke campaign finance laws in 2000 - with the Justice Department preparing to extradite one-time Clinton fund-raiser Peter Paul to the U.S. as part of a plea deal for his testimony. The sudden action on Paul's case comes just weeks after reports surfaced that former Hollywood fund-raiser Aaron Tonken has supplied damaging testimony about Hillary Clinton's fund-raising practices.
"I'm a star witness against President and Mrs. Clinton," Tonken claimed in a recent report on his case in Vanity Fair magazine, explaining that prosecutors wanted his testimony about" "fundraising activities that I've done on behalf of the Clintons." The exact nature of Tonken's allegations against Sen. Clinton remains secret, the magazine said. But the celebrity moneyman is known to have been involved in the August 2000 fund raiser that is at the heart of Peter Paul's allegations.
Peter F. Paul, the flamboyant Hollywood entrepreneur who says Hillary Rodham Clinton has hidden almost $2 million of in-kind contributions he made to her campaign in 2000, is back from Brazil and promising to raise a ruckus about the New York senator as he fights bizarre securities and bank-fraud charges on which he's been indicted. Aaron Tonken, a political operative in Hollywood and a former protégé of Paul under indictment for a variety of alleged sharp deals with the rich and famous, also is promising to tell everything he knows about behind-the-scenes shenanigans of Clinton and many others.
Clintons' Fall Guy May Turn the Tables (Peter Paul)
Mr. Paul has substantial, documentary evidence detailing his close relationship with the Clintons and his funding of the Hollywood tribute, including cancelled checks, hand-written thank you notes from the Clintons, and photographs. Also named in the complaint is Clinton fundraiser David Rosen, Clinton friend James Levin, and Hollywood celebrity fundraiser Aaron Tonken, who currently is under criminal investigation for his role in other Hollywood fundraisers. As a result of Mr. Paul’s disclosures, federal authorities have launched an investigation into the Clintons and other matters. Mr. Paul, who is facing alleged (and related) stock and bank fraud charges, remains eager to cooperate with federal authorities.
Clinton accuser Peter Paul will be allowed to testify against the finance chairman of Hillary Clinton's 2000 Senate campaign after pleading guilty in an unrelated stock fraud case in a Long Island courtroom yesterday. Before meeting with U.S. District Court Judge Leonard D. Wexler, Paul told the New York Sun that he was eager to testify against Mr. Rosen at trial, and potentially against Mr. and Mrs. Clinton.
"I have come to take responsibility for my actions and put myself at the mercy of the court. Senator Clinton has not," he declared. Mr. Paul told the Fox News Channel last year that he personally apprised Mrs. Clinton of the money being spent on her behalf. Fundraiser Aaron Tonken, who helped Paul produce the Aug. 2000 event, has given prosecutors a similar account - and both have reams of financial records to back their stories.
Clinton Accuser Peter Paul Cleared to Testify
"Hillary Clinton personally called the producer of the concert part of this event," claims Peter Paul, the Hollywood mogul who bankrolled the Aug. 2000 event.
"She asked him to lower the fee that he was charging of $850,000 at my request," he added, in an interview last year with the Fox News Channel. "So I don't understand how she could possibly say that she didn't know."
Lest anyone doubt Mr. Paul's word, there's Aaron Tonken, whose specialty was rounding up stars for charity events in Tinseltown - and who distributed most of the cash Peter Paul used to pay for the Hillary bash.
In his recent book "King of Cons," Tonken describes his sit-down with the former first lady in the backseat of a limo, where he gave her a chapter and verse update on the money her top aide was hiding from the feds.
"I told her about virtually every penny I'd spent on her behalf," Tonken recalled. "I told her about the money and what a pleasure it was to spend it on her candidacy."
Hillary Clinton's Fundraising Troubles Worse Than Tom DeLay's
Excellent work CB.
Keep us up to date on your "other" endeavor.
Big ol' freakin' Bump.
Maybe between now and then, Senator Ted will take her for a spin in his car..
Sorry, but that's wishful thinking. Dems love her (and her hubby) and would vote for her even if there was a video of her eating aborted fetus sandwiches. Sorry for the image, but their love and dedication to her is beyond that of her husband. They'll ignore everything coming of this investigation/trial.
As I wrote, she may remain as a Senator from New York for life, just as Teddy is a Senator for life from Massachusetts. I am talking solely about her chances to seize the presidency.
Your only error is here: You wrote, "They'll ignore everything coming of this investigation/trial." The words "try to" belong right after "They'll." Of course they will try to ignore these facts.
Keep in mind that Teddy Kennedy tried to ignore the death of Mary Jo Kopechne. He made his dishonest, weepy "apology" on TV and then sought to avoid the issue ever again. He failed then; Hillary will fail in her similar effort now.
John / Billybob
Who would vote for HILLARY for PRESIDENT?
Those who pay for their 14 year old to have an abortion so as not to embarrass the family.
Those who have a HANDICAP sticker on their car mirror, yet no one in their family is even remotely handicapped.
Those who sign off on GRANDPA's Medical sheet, sending him to a HOSPICE for termination so they can start spending the insurance and inheritance money.
Those who will not discipline their children at home, but who will SUE the school or teacher if they make any attempts to do so.
Those who buy a cup of coffee in a drive through, then sue when they spill it on their lap, claiming they were not at fault for spilling it, and didn't know it was hot.
Those who buy shoes and a dress at an expensive clothier's, wear it to some gala celebration, then return it the next day.
Those who find loopholes that allow them to bank their money offshore somewhere so as to avoid taxes.
Those who have a lawyer on tab to bail them and their children out of any legal fiasco, regardless of guilt.
Those who demand that Americans be more conservative in use of electricity and fuel oils so they can keep all their HOMES at the proper temperature and humidity, whether they are occupied or not.
Those who believe that FREEDOM OF SPEECH means they can say anything they want, but you can't. That when they speak, you must listen, when you speak (never mind, you are not allowed to speak).
Those who believe that MOVIE and TV actors/actresses opinions on politics are to be trusted, and considered as the outpouring of intellectual superiority, even though 99% of them never graduated from high school.
Those who tell you that you must eliminate usage of paper to save trees, that CO emissions are bad, that you must start using smaller engined vehicles or hybrids, from the front seat of their LINCOLN NAVIGATOR, which they are using to haul six cases of flyers on the next GREENPEACE meeting, and while using a CELL PHONE, with 20 cars plodding along behind them honking their horns because the NAVIGATOR is in the FAST LANE of the interstate going 42 miles per hour.
cbb bump
It all depends on how you define the word "American".
There are illegal-Americans who will vote for Hillary.
And there are those left-over liberal Americans who will vote for Hillary.
And that leaves the rest of us real Americans who would NEVER vote for a she-hag.
The Democrats have one political advantage over the Republicans: When Republican candidates get caught up in anything unsavory, Republicans are likely to stay home. (Remember GWB's narrow election in 2000 when an old drunk driving conviction came to light at the last second). When Democrats get hung up in scandal, they become more popular with their base because they are being persecuted.
Unbelievable!
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