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Colbert: Bill Clinton Explains Why Sanders & Trump Are Doing So Well (Tuesday) (Original Post) Adenoid_Hynkel Oct 2015 OP
Notice that he says it as if people are wrong about the rich. Spitfire of ATJ Oct 2015 #1
Silly poor people deutsey Oct 2015 #9
is Bill having some voice/speaking issues? At beginning, sounded slurred a bit tomm2thumbs Oct 2015 #2
I noticed some issue with his speech as well. Old Crow Oct 2015 #3
In reality, we've seen the graphics that show Bill is completely wrong there. Erich Bloodaxe BSN Oct 2015 #16
He looks great, and the point about Trump is accurate. MADem Oct 2015 #4
The human mind can rationalize just about anything. highprincipleswork Oct 2015 #5
+1 deutsey Oct 2015 #8
Actually, Bill is right. Bill has no need to rationalize anything. He tells it like it is. leftofcool Oct 2015 #11
Yeah, I know, everyone is delusional that the income disparity is what it is highprincipleswork Oct 2015 #33
"People THINK!?!?! the system's rigged against us & the rich get all the gain ?!?!?! " Divernan Oct 2015 #6
What a world class tangled web of quid pro quos the Clintons have woven. Divernan Oct 2015 #7
"rigged against US"? He actually said rigged against US? tularetom Oct 2015 #26
Good catch! Mr. $70 million in 10 years still claiming to be poor? Divernan Oct 2015 #29
Mainstream political parties have become self-serving corporations who serve other corporations whereisjustice Oct 2015 #10
Yea, those poor African villages served by the CGI are so rich and privileged leftofcool Oct 2015 #12
An Award for Bill Clinton Came With $500,000 for His Foundation whereisjustice Oct 2015 #13
A level of exploitative greed almost impossible to grasp Divernan Oct 2015 #17
Sadly,so little money trickles through the Clintons down to deserving poor! Divernan Oct 2015 #18
Exactly what does their foundation claim to be doing for the jwirr Oct 2015 #20
You need a flow chart to follow all the actions & interactions. Divernan Oct 2015 #27
Just exactly what I would expect from a Clinton. All the people jwirr Oct 2015 #28
I'm a Bernie guy but I give Bill some slack. Stevepol Oct 2015 #14
The "mistakes" Bill made; Glass Steagall, NAFTA , Telecommunications Act, etc raindaddy Oct 2015 #22
Not really. There is an almost straight trend line on income inequality going back to the late 1960s stevenleser Oct 2015 #30
Never said he was completely to blame.. raindaddy Oct 2015 #31
He's not to blame at all. These charts prove it. Wages for the 99% did better under Clinton than stevenleser Oct 2015 #32
Your charts prove nada..Because the harm Bill Clinton did didn't occur untill he was out of office.. raindaddy Oct 2015 #34
They do prove it. It is you who has proved nothing. You have provided no backup for your claims at stevenleser Oct 2015 #35
How do your charts asses the future outcome of Clinton's Presidency? raindaddy Oct 2015 #36
I can tell you why without even watching the video. Erich Bloodaxe BSN Oct 2015 #15
Sounds more like a Rockefeller Republican than a Democrat.. raindaddy Oct 2015 #19
Not sad for him, he got what he was after from the first time he ran for office tularetom Oct 2015 #24
If this is the great unveiling of the other half of the Clinton brand, I hope we see more of it. raindaddy Oct 2015 #25
I think... quickesst Oct 2015 #21
He looks like hell. Colbert on the other hand. azmom Oct 2015 #23

tomm2thumbs

(13,297 posts)
2. is Bill having some voice/speaking issues? At beginning, sounded slurred a bit
Wed Oct 7, 2015, 04:33 AM
Oct 2015

I haven't read anything about surgery or trouble with his voice, but maybe I'm the only one noticing that.

Curious if anyone else noticed... may just be me.







Old Crow

(2,212 posts)
3. I noticed some issue with his speech as well.
Wed Oct 7, 2015, 04:43 AM
Oct 2015

Overall, I like the man, and it's been a little upsetting to see him lately because he appears ... diminished, is the most apt word, I guess. I'm sure it's from the health issues.

Per another poster's comment, I was also interested in his explanation of Bernie Sanders's popularity: People think there's a great disparity of wealth, he says. He also implies that Sanders's popularity is a knee-jerk response to right-wing extremism--similar in kind, just in the opposite direction. Uhhhh, no, Bill. Have to disagree with you there.

Of course, it wouldn't help Hillary much if he stated the truth: People are fed up with rich, corporatist politicians, who have been selling out the middle class for 30 years.

Erich Bloodaxe BSN

(14,733 posts)
16. In reality, we've seen the graphics that show Bill is completely wrong there.
Wed Oct 7, 2015, 07:31 AM
Oct 2015

When asked how the wealth is distributed, people SERIOUSLY underestimate the degree to which the wealth is skewed to the rich. People don't realize JUST how great the disparity of wealth actually is.

MADem

(135,425 posts)
4. He looks great, and the point about Trump is accurate.
Wed Oct 7, 2015, 04:59 AM
Oct 2015

The Kardashians are vapid, too, but people 'follow' them mindlessly.

Branding.


Trump is like no other--not my brand, certainly but a lot of stupid people like the circus that surrounds him.


Former POTUS is very slim from the vegan diet, and aside from what might be a polyp affecting his speech, he looks good. He probably doesn't want to risk surgery--Joan Rivers ended up dead getting rid of a polyp, too.

 

highprincipleswork

(3,111 posts)
5. The human mind can rationalize just about anything.
Wed Oct 7, 2015, 05:56 AM
Oct 2015

That's what is so destructive about so much of our thinking, including that which comes out of the mouths of brilliant people like Bill Clinton.

I'm sure he has all sorts of things he has to rationalize.

The people are well aware of the truth. Bernie Sanders is speaking the truth. Ergo, hence, he is gaining popularity as people resonate with his ideas and authenticity.

I'm for him all the way. And Bill Clinton can basically kiss my ass.

 

highprincipleswork

(3,111 posts)
33. Yeah, I know, everyone is delusional that the income disparity is what it is
Wed Oct 7, 2015, 11:30 AM
Oct 2015

And thanks for NAFTA while you're at it.

Divernan

(15,480 posts)
6. "People THINK!?!?! the system's rigged against us & the rich get all the gain ?!?!?! "
Wed Oct 7, 2015, 06:02 AM
Oct 2015

Well, DUH, Bill the system IS rigged and the rich are getting all the gain! And no one has worked that system better than you and the Mrs. in accumulating your vast millions in the past decade.

Hillary's gross income in 2014? In excess of $30 million
http://www.davemanuel.com/pols/hillary-clinton/

Average 2014 Income: $30,522,506**

Min. Gross Income: $30,372,511
Max. Gross Income: $30,672,501

Name: Hillary Clinton
Last Filing: May 15th, 2015


Clintons' personal wealth is intricately intertwined with the Clinton Family Foundation "charity".
In an analysis of public records and Clinton Foundation data, The Washington Post found that there was an overlap of Bill and Hillary Clinton's charitable work and their growing personal wealth.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/for-clintons-speech-income-shows-how-their-wealth-is-intertwined-with-charity/2015/04/22/12709ec0-dc8d-11e4-a500-1c5bb1d8ff6a_story.html

Bill Clinton was paid at least $26 million in speaking fees by companies and organizations that are also major donors to the foundation he created after leaving the White House, according to a Washington Post analysis of public records and foundation data. The amount, about one-quarter of Clinton’s overall speaking income between 2001 and 2013, demonstrates how closely intertwined Bill and Hillary Clinton’s charitable work has become with their growing personal wealth.

Bill Clinton was paid more than $100 million for speeches between 2001 and 2013, according to federal financial disclosure forms filed by Hillary Clinton during her years as a senator and as secretary of state. The Post analysis shows that, among the approximately 420 organizations that paid Bill Clinton to speak during those years, 67 were also foundation donors that each gave the charity at least $10,000. Many of those funders were major financial institutions that are viewed suspiciously by liberals whom Clinton has been courting as she seeks to secure the Democratic nomination — and avoid a vigorous primary challenge from the populist left.

Four major financial firms — Goldman Sachs, Barclays Capital, Deutsche Bank and Citigroup — collectively have given between $2.75 million and $11.5 million to the charity, which is now called the Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation. Between 2001 and 2013, their combined speech payments to Bill Clinton came to more than $3 million.

The Post analysis also revealed aspects of Bill Clinton’s paid speaking career during Hillary Clinton’s tenure at the State Department that were not clear from her public filings. Those included: The role played by dozens of companies and organizations, some of them associated with foreign governments or with interests before the U.S. government, in serving as secondary hosts for a number of the speeches. In her filings, Hillary Clinton typically disclosed only the primary sponsor of each speech. One such “sub-sponsor” was Boeing, a major government contractor whose interests Hillary Clinton promoted in her official duties at the State Department.



Divernan

(15,480 posts)
7. What a world class tangled web of quid pro quos the Clintons have woven.
Wed Oct 7, 2015, 06:10 AM
Oct 2015

The Post analysis also found other previously unreported aspects of Bill Clinton’s speaking career.

While Hillary Clinton named the sponsoring organization for each of her husband’s speaking engagements, separate documents show that Bill Clinton’s office listed 97 additional sub-sponsors that had been proposed to help with these speaking events.

Bill Clinton disclosed the additional information as part of a voluntary ethics process undertaken when Hillary Clinton became secretary of state. He agreed to seek State Department approval of his paid speaking engagements to avoid conflicts of interest for his wife.

The correspondence between Bill Clinton’s office and the State Department was released in July after the conservative group Judicial Watch sought the records, ultimately filing suit to force their release.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/for-clintons-speech-income-shows-how-their-wealth-is-intertwined-with-charity/2015/04/22/12709ec0-dc8d-11e4-a500-1c5bb1d8ff6a_story.html

Check out the entire WaPo report at the link for about a dozen examples of these "sub-sponsors". The Clinton coat of arms should be quid-pro-quos rampant on a field of Dollar signs. My god! how the money rolls in!

whereisjustice

(2,941 posts)
10. Mainstream political parties have become self-serving corporations who serve other corporations
Wed Oct 7, 2015, 06:52 AM
Oct 2015

It isn't hard to understand why more and more people are sick of this shit and looking for representation outside the status quo.

The rich get the sugar, the non-rich get nothing.

Bill and Hillary have done well servicing the rich and privileged in their global corporate greenwashing initiatives.

In the process, they've siphoned money away from humanitarian organizations who actually do positive things for humanity.

whereisjustice

(2,941 posts)
13. An Award for Bill Clinton Came With $500,000 for His Foundation
Wed Oct 7, 2015, 07:03 AM
Oct 2015

“This is primarily a small but telling example of the way the Clintons operate,” said Doug White, who directs the master’s program in fund-raising management at Columbia University. “The model has responsibility; she paid a high price for a feel-good moment with Bill Clinton. But he was riding the back of this small charity for what? A half-million bucks? I find it — what would be the word? — distasteful.”

Ms. Nemcova then met with officers at the Clinton Foundation, Ms. Veres Royal said. Afterward, she said, “Petra called me and said we have to include an honorarium for him — that they don’t look at these things unless money is offered, and it has to be $500,000.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/30/us/politics/an-award-for-bill-clinton-came-with-500000-for-his-foundation.html?_r=0

Divernan

(15,480 posts)
17. A level of exploitative greed almost impossible to grasp
Wed Oct 7, 2015, 08:33 AM
Oct 2015

Last edited Wed Oct 7, 2015, 09:12 AM - Edit history (1)

Exploiting human suffering and tragedy to finance their boutique, pardon-the-expression, "charity" and their One Percent life style.

Read the whole link: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/30/us/politics/an-award-for-bill-clinton-came-with-500000-for-his-foundation.html?_r=0
to get a detailed, stomach-turning accounting of how the Clinton Family Foundation blatantly operates as a (totally unnecessary) middle man to skim off money.

“The Clinton Foundation had rejected the Happy Hearts Fund invitation more than once, until there was a thinly veiled solicitation and then the offer of an ($500,000) honorarium.” She booked Cipriani 42nd Street, which greeted guests with Bellini cocktails on silver trays. She flew in Sheryl Crow with her band and crew for a 20-minute set. She special-ordered heart-shaped floral centerpieces, heart-shaped chocolate parfaits, heart-shaped tiramisù and, because orange is the charity’s color, an orange carpet rather than a red one. She imported a Swiss auctioneer and handed out orange rulers to serve as auction paddles, playfully threatening to use hers to spank the highest bidder for an Ibiza vacation. The gala cost $363,413. But the real splurge? Bill Clinton.

The former president of the United States agreed to accept a lifetime achievement award at the June 2014 event after Ms. Nemcova offered a $500,000 contribution to the Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation. The donation, made late last year after the foundation sent the charity an invoice, amounted to almost a quarter of the evening’s net proceeds — enough to build 10 preschools in Indonesia.


Happy Hearts collaborated more expeditiously in Haiti with the Digicel Foundation, whose founder, the Irish billionaire Denis O’Brien, is a multimillion-dollar supporter of the Clinton Foundation and whose parent telecommunications company benefited from grants from Mrs. Clinton’s State Department.

Digicel also made a commitment at the 2011 meeting to build schools; it was a formality, though, as Digicel had already taken the lead in Haiti in that realm. It has built 150 schools there over the past seven years; Happy Hearts has built seven, six of them joint or side-by-side ventures with Digicel.

One of those schools, operated by the Haitian group Prodev, was featured in the Clinton Foundation’s most recent annual report as “built through a Clinton Global Initiative Commitment to Action.” The Clinton Foundation’s sole direct contribution to the school was a grant for an Earth Day celebration and tree-planting activity.

Outside Cipriani, protesters, mostly Haitian-Americans frustrated with the earthquake reconstruction effort, stood behind barricades holding signs. “Clinton, where is the money?” they chanted. “In whose pockets?”

Divernan

(15,480 posts)
18. Sadly,so little money trickles through the Clintons down to deserving poor!
Wed Oct 7, 2015, 09:09 AM
Oct 2015
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/30/us/politics/an-award-for-bill-clinton-came-with-500000-for-his-foundation.html?_r=0

Almost four years after Happy Hearts and the development bank made their commitment, they have yet to complete a single school, partly because of problems finding suitable land.

When charities select an honoree for their fund-raising events, they generally expect that the award recipient will help them raise money by attracting new donors. But the Happy Hearts Fund raised less money at the gala featuring Mr. Clinton than it did at its previous one.

Further, it is extremely rare for honorees, or their foundations, to be paid from a gala’s proceeds, charity experts said — as it is for the proceeds to be diverted to a different cause.

And while the original invitation letter spoke of a joint educational project, the Clinton Foundation said Thursday that Happy Hearts had agreed that the money could be “split 50/50” between the foundation’s education programs and its economic development and agriculture programs in Haiti.


NOTE WELL that phrase "agriculture programs."
In reality a much vaunted new industrial park promoted by the Clintons has proved an abysmal failure, and the worst of it? Hundreds of small farmers were "coaxed" into giving up more than 600 acres of land for the cmoplex, but that land remains unused.


But hey! screw the poor farmers, housing for the poor and schools and such. When it comes to developing profiteering business opportunities in Haiti, like industrial parks and high end hotels, the Clinton Foundation is on the front line. Clintons got tons of PR about expediting a new industrial park - "Clintons preside over Star-Studded Opening". Well that fell flat!http://www.cnn.com/2011/11/28/world/americas/haiti-hotel-clinton/index.html
http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2013/9/10/a-glittering-industrialparkfallsshortinhaiti.html

But less than a year after Caracol Industrial Park's gala opening — with Bill and Hillary Clinton, Sean Penn, designer Donna Karan and Haiti's current and former presidents among the guests — the feeling these days is disappointment. Hundreds of smallholder farmers were coaxed into giving up more than 600 acres of land for the complex, yet nearly 95 percent of that land remains unused. A much-needed power plant was completed on the site, supplying the town with more electricity than ever, but locals say surges of wastewater have caused floods and spoiled crops.

Most critically, fewer than 1,500 jobs have been created — paying too little, the locals say, and offering no job security. "We thought there was going to be some benefit for us," says Ludwidge Fountain, 34, laying his domino with a satisfying smack. He worked for two months at the park as a guard, taking home about $3.40 a day, until his contract ran out. "Maybe it’s good for some of the people inside the park. Everyone else got nothing."

The industrial park near Caracol is the centerpiece of U.S.-led reconstruction of Haiti after its January 2010 earthquake — even though the northern village was undamaged, sitting more than 100 miles northeast of the epicenter. The State Department has promised the park will create 65,000 jobs, powering an economic revitalization of northern Haiti while reducing overcrowding in the quake-stricken capital (though northern Haiti is at least as seismically active as the south). At the opening, then-Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton called it "a new day for Haiti and a new model for how the international community practices development."


And double hey! Gotta have a posh place for all the capitalist exploiters to stay when they visit Haiti to set up their semi-slave labor factories in that spiffy industrial park. Slave labor, i.e., Pay the locals $3.40 a day with none of those pesky employee benefits like sick days, etc. What a deal!

So Bill and his "foundation" were proud to expedite the construction of Haiti's very first Marriott hotel! Sadly, this prevented replacing the thousands of huts washed away by the storms. Ah well, the weather's mild - let 'em sleep outside. http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/haiti/article11107349.html
http://www.cnn.com/2011/11/28/world/americas/haiti-hotel-clinton/index.html

Divernan

(15,480 posts)
27. You need a flow chart to follow all the actions & interactions.
Wed Oct 7, 2015, 10:19 AM
Oct 2015

Especially during Hillary's years at the State Department. Quid pro quos flying in every direction.

Basically, the foundation solicits millions from corporate and foreign govt interests to "facilitate" some charitable venture, and the Clinton Family Foundation skims a healthy percentage off the top to cover 5 star expenses - presidential suites, private jets, posh soirees for "donors". The corporate and foreign governments then receive immediate favorable deals from the State Department (while Hill was SOS), or donate in anticipation of future deals if she gets to the Oval Office.

And it's really stretching it to designate construction of a Marriott Hotel or an Industrial Park in a non-damaged area as "charitable" ventures. Both of those were business friendly projects.

One thing's for damn sure. The day she either drops out of the race or is defeated, those donations will come to a screeching halt.
Veiled demands from Clinton foundation for compensation (indicated with dotted lines?). Like in Haiti - millions from USAID to develop an industrial park in a part of the island 100 miles away from any hurricane damage. Hundreds of farmers forced off of arrable land for use by the industrial plant, which these many years later still sits unused. More farm land ruined by waste water run-off from a power plant constructed and poorly placed in said industrial park. Corporations "donating" to the Clinton foundation and then getting sweetheart deals brokered by the State Department. Thousands of Haitians whose shacks were swept away by storm tides/flooding left homeless while Bill brags about brokering construction of a Marriott for his corporate friends when they visit for purposes of setting up exploitative deals of labor for $3.40 per day.

jwirr

(39,215 posts)
28. Just exactly what I would expect from a Clinton. All the people
Wed Oct 7, 2015, 10:26 AM
Oct 2015

who keep saying that things (economy) were good during his years as President were not poor during those years.

Stevepol

(4,234 posts)
14. I'm a Bernie guy but I give Bill some slack.
Wed Oct 7, 2015, 07:16 AM
Oct 2015

He was a very good president. He was able to negotiate the path between the extremes during his presidency. He made mistakes (Glass Steagall, NAFTA, etc.) but on the whole his presidency was a hundred times better than what came before and after. Unless the people really get involved as they are beginning to be involved with Bernie, there's not much to do other than become a world unto yourself and make the Beltway the moral center of the universe. I always like hearing him talk. It doesn't seem unreasonable that he would support Hillary (even if secretly he might be feeling the bern!)

raindaddy

(1,370 posts)
22. The "mistakes" Bill made; Glass Steagall, NAFTA , Telecommunications Act, etc
Wed Oct 7, 2015, 09:33 AM
Oct 2015

Are a big part of the reason why we're living in two tier economy and the middle class is disappearing.

And here's Bill pretending that we're all deluded thinking that deregulation and sending our manufacturing base and millions of jobs overseas so his corporate golf buddies could take advantage of slave third world labor has hurt the people he claims to represent.

Bill was better choice than Poppy Bush. And unlike the Bush's he did say he was sorry. But he wasn't a good president...

 

stevenleser

(32,886 posts)
30. Not really. There is an almost straight trend line on income inequality going back to the late 1960s
Wed Oct 7, 2015, 11:06 AM
Oct 2015

It's completely ridiculous to blame Bill Clinton for that.

raindaddy

(1,370 posts)
31. Never said he was completely to blame..
Wed Oct 7, 2015, 11:15 AM
Oct 2015

But it's completely ridiculous to claim trade bills like NAFTA and Wall Street deregulation weren't contributing factors..

What makes it worse is Bill Clinton ran as a "Democrat".. Protecting labor and the public's investment used to be something the voters could depend on... How is that not classic betrayal?

 

stevenleser

(32,886 posts)
32. He's not to blame at all. These charts prove it. Wages for the 99% did better under Clinton than
Wed Oct 7, 2015, 11:26 AM
Oct 2015

at any other time in the last 45 years.

http://billmoyers.com/2015/01/05/top-10-charts-2014/

raindaddy

(1,370 posts)
34. Your charts prove nada..Because the harm Bill Clinton did didn't occur untill he was out of office..
Wed Oct 7, 2015, 11:48 AM
Oct 2015

You don't pack up an entire manufacturing base and ship it to third world countries overnight.

The damage done by the media now owned by a handful of billionaires won't show up in your charts.

And we don't need to talk about the damage done by bank deregulation..

Bill seems to be spending a lot of time apologizing for NAFTA and deregulation lately, apparently even he doesn't agree with you..

 

stevenleser

(32,886 posts)
35. They do prove it. It is you who has proved nothing. You have provided no backup for your claims at
Wed Oct 7, 2015, 11:53 AM
Oct 2015

all.

raindaddy

(1,370 posts)
19. Sounds more like a Rockefeller Republican than a Democrat..
Wed Oct 7, 2015, 09:16 AM
Oct 2015

Can't believe he's actually saying the deluded progressives in the Democratic party (that got his ass elected) are copying the Tea Party!

We'll be "rewarded" if we can move the party to the left? Do you mean back to the populist party that actually represented the poor and middle class before third way Democrats like yourself handed it over to the Wall Street banks and global corporations.

The Clinton's have amassed a 60 million dollar fortune off of their years of public service.... Sad watching what he's become....

tularetom

(23,664 posts)
24. Not sad for him, he got what he was after from the first time he ran for office
Wed Oct 7, 2015, 10:09 AM
Oct 2015

Tons of money and acceptance by the people he always envied.

I sometimes wonder if he feels any shame at the way he lied and kissed ass to get to where he is. But I doubt it, I believe the man is a borderline sociopath with no concept of the truth.

History will not be kind to him. Already we are beginning to see what a disaster his term in office really was.

quickesst

(6,280 posts)
21. I think...
Wed Oct 7, 2015, 09:28 AM
Oct 2015

...he was really good here, but after reading some of the responses in this thread, I just elevated my opinion to brilliant.

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