In the last 20 years, the Republicans spent close to 50 million trying to get the Clintons.

[trumad]

And guess what they got? Nothing!

Nuff said!

[apcalc]

1. because there was nothing.

[PJMcK]

6. Exactly right!

The Clintons present an interesting puzzle with only one of two scenarios being true.

1. Bill and Hillary Clinton are corrupt to the core and have engaged not only in every one of the plots that the Republicans and their media mouthpieces have espoused but also in other nefarious plots that have yet to come to light. They have the most brilliant minds and they've been able to always cover their tracks such that they will never be caught for anything serious.

==== OR ====

2. Bill and Hillary Clinton are typical politicians who have had to make compromises in their decision-making to succeed but they've led relatively honest lives in their public service. The Republicans hate them because, for the most part, the Clintons' policies are good for the American people and not for the Republicans' wealthy elite.

I won't tell you which I believe to be true. (wink)

But I will tell you that I'll be voting a straight Democratic ticket on November 8th!

[OnDoutside]

37. Yet Morning Joe has just has a blistering cut off Clinton, quite disgusting liar is Joe.

[niyad]

2. they got a lot of attention distracted from the other shit they have been pulling, for one thing.

that was certainly worth, to them, spending 50 million of OUR money.

[tonyt53]

5. And that distraction was/is damned well worth it to them.

[joshcryer]

17. Quite. $50 million for two years focusing on Clinton?

You can't buy that kind of media coverage for that price.

[Hekate]

29. Twenty years, not two. Gods the GOP is evil.

[Hekate]

28. Massively relevant point

[liberal N proud]

3. They have made careers out of attacking the Clinton's

[hertopos]

4. Hey, this is a great line to circulate around with SNS

[gordianot]

7. Wrong; they did draw blood a few paper cuts, and in return Republican's got irritable bowels.

[MaggieD]

8. And that tells us something - they are scared shitless of the Clintons

And I would postulate that is because they are the most effective Democrats to serve in office since LBJ.

[BlueCaliDem]

11. I share your postulation. Repubs are deathly scared of the Clintons because, as I've said before

and continuously throughout the primaries, the Clintons know which closets hold their enemies' skeletons and where these same adversaries buried the bodies - and have no qualms using these aces in order to get things done.

Nothing motivates Republicans more than FEAR.

[Hortensis]

9. NOT including huge, huge investments by Pubs like

Richard Mellon Scaif and others. Scaif's Judicial Watch is continued by the foundation or trust he left to carry on after he was dead, churning out one -gate after another, each chosen to provide endless opportunities for "freedom of information" requests and phony lawsuits, opportunities for subpoenas, promises of indictments any day, etc., in order to keep each phony scandal going for years.

22 years of this so far and, all but an occasional excursion to "prove" they're not devoted to the Clintons, devoted to the Clintons. 42 professional-level staffers plus budget to keep them operating at a national level.

Toss in the related Heritage Foundation, which devotes considerable effort to this ongoing project of taking down the seemingly unconquerable Hillary.

That's just Scaif/Judicial Watch/Heritage. I'd love to see an estimate of what the entire private billionaire and corporate effort to destroy first the Clintons and now mostly Hillary costs each year.

At some point didn't it lose purpose, become frivolous? No one person can be such a threat all by herself that stopping her justifies that kind of money. They helped her lose to Obama but just got Obama in exchange. And yet the industry continues to churn out lawsuits and paychecks. Truly bizarre, and just a tiny indicator of the enormous amount of our national wealth that has been funneled to the few.

[randome]

10. They spent at least that much trying to take health care away from people, too.

It's play money to them. They don't inhabit the real world.

[Thinkingabout]

12. Republicans spent over $100 million trying to come up with something on the Clintons

and run by those as Newt Gingrich who was having his own affairs. They don't have anything to show but their lies and bill for their "investigations".

[brush]

13. Hold on, there are still some here wishing for the indictment ferry to tack on a few more million.

[workinclasszero]

14. buHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!

SUCKERS!

[morningfog]

15. Well, they did get an impeachment of a sitting President.

And there is an ongoing FBI criminal investigation into our Presidential nominee, which was started as a result of republican hunting.

I wouldn't say they got nothing. We aren't out of the woods yet.

[trumad]

19. Yeah---innocent of charges with that stupid impeachment.

They got nothing.

[charlyvi]

20. Yeah, but he left office

with a 66% approval rating.....higher than Obama's is now, so I wouldn't say they got their money's worth there. As far as an indictment on the email server business, never gonna happen.

[EffieBlack]

21. AND his wife is now a stone's throw away from becoming the next President of the United States

They definitely are not winning this fight . . .

[Brother Buzz]

16. I might suggest $50 million is a lowball estimate...

and the entire right-wing echo machine injected billions trying to topple the Clintons.

[randr]

18. There should be a way to make them pay it all back

[CaptainSensible]

30. Pssst! Need a job?

If suggest that a sizeable "in-kind" principal payment is inevitably expected in short order. No?

Imagine the most devastating and summary loss a political party has ever endured on November 8, 2016. Widespread loss, shame, embarrassment, blame, inner turmoil and introspection proliferates fueled by quick-turn "snitching" and threats of disclosure of secrets in exchange for exoneration and jobs. Any job.

If not, try it. You'll like it.

[niyad]

38. welcome to du

[realmirage]

22. 50 million in free publicity for the Clintons. Thanks GOP!

The more attention you give something, the stronger it gets. They made the Clintons ultra famous and turned them in to heroes of the Democratic Party.

[Jitter65]

23. If you think President Obama was obstructed...wait until HRC is sworn in.

UNLESS we GOTV and handle those down ballot races.

[CaptainSensible]

31. Sanders and legislation

Strangely enough, she is actually well-liked by Congress and the Senate and typically enjoys decent cooperation in that context. I've heard. They are afterall past colleagues. But as POTUS, who knows.

I've often thought about how Sanders would fare in that arena. A socialist. I think about the wholesale obstruction by these assists fit practically every single bill presented under Obama, a black POTUS (SHUDDER). I honestly believe that Sanders would have been effectively in nowheremanville. Paralyzed. Frozen out.

[MaggieD]

24. They spent taxpayer money

Yours and mine. Not their own. All for partisan bullshit. Hate those bastards.

[CajunBlazer]

25. What they they received in return for over $50M of the Taxpayers money...

...Hillary's low trust poll numbers. They probably think it was well worth your money.

[Lance Bass esquire]

26. Word is their 2020 report will be the one that sinks her.

Gotta love those whacky Republicans

[sofa king]

27. Think of how many Republicans they could have sent to middle school!

[Jamaal510]

39. New GOP Slogan:

"Keepin' It Dumb 2016!"

[pansypoo53219]

32. we are gonna have groundhog-gate for 4 years IF she wins.

[RogueTrooper]

33. In fairness...

They have made a fair amount of that money back bilking their supporters.: If you take into account the DVDs, Books & Videos (as it goes back that long) they have sold off the back of these "scandals".

[trumad]

34. Nothing fair about that...

It's BS.

[RogueTrooper]

36. More a rehtorical step to set up a slam

I should only post after my second or third coffee

[pnwmom]

35. The Ken Starr investigation alone was $70 million.

http://www.salon.com/2002/03/13/ray_3/

TUESDAY, MAR 12, 2002 04:09 PM PST

Kenneth Starr’s $70 million bag of garbage

The independent counsel's pathetic final report reveals what a travesty the right wing's get-Clinton crusade was.

The Baltimore Sun was one of the few major newspapers to use Ray’s report as an occasion to call the OIC investigation what it was: a $70 million boondoggle and political witch hunt. As a Sun editorial noted, the money spent on the Starr-Ray investigation would have hired 1,400 teachers for a year, sent 120,000 tons of food to Afghanistan, or provided early intervention for 24,000 young disabled children. Or as American taxpayers might put it, the OIC spent $70 million, and all we got was this lousy report.

Of course, it’s not just the expense that rankles. Congress and the Clinton administration were paralyzed by the Starr investigation and by impeachment for almost two years — crucial years during which the nation failed to use a budget surplus to solve pressing problems, while the al-Qaida terror network grew stronger. It’s hard not to come away from the Ray report saddened by the colossal waste of time and money, and the report’s Whitewater Part 2 isn’t likely to make that feeling go away.