Klein said last night the only embarassment about the Clintons' tax returns is how rich they are now

[BeyondGeography]

This was Joe Klein on Anderson's show; sounded about right to me. Seems this Republican-style graph is causing them a little discomfort:

[anonymous171]

1. How did that happen? Seriously that's a really big increase...

[scheming daemons]

2. Kazakhistan....

...

Follow the money.

[olkaz]

7. Kazakhstan is going to look verrrrry ugly

I'm wondering why the media hasn't gone after this yet.

[Mudoria]

25. Because there is nothing to go after possibly? nt

[dchill]

42. Google much?

:shrug:

[mod mom]

34. Yep Good ole Bill was willing to sell out foreign elections to a high bidder:

After Mining Deal, Financier Donated to Clinton

By JO BECKER and DON VAN NATTA Jr.
Published: January 31, 2008
Late on Sept. 6, 2005, a private plane carrying the Canadian mining financier Frank Giustra touched down in Almaty, a ruggedly picturesque city in southeast Kazakhstan. Several hundred miles to the west a fortune awaited: highly coveted deposits of uranium that could fuel nuclear reactors around the world. And Mr. Giustra was in hot pursuit of an exclusive deal to tap them.

Unlike more established competitors, Mr. Giustra was a newcomer to uranium mining in Kazakhstan, a former Soviet republic. But what his fledgling company lacked in experience, it made up for in connections. Accompanying Mr. Giustra on his luxuriously appointed MD-87 jet that day was a former president of the United States, Bill Clinton.

-snip

snip

"Kazakhstan’s president, Nursultan A. Nazarbayev, whose 19-year stranglehold on the country has all but quashed political dissent."

"Mr. Nazarbayev walked away from the table with a propaganda coup, after Mr. Clinton expressed enthusiastic support for the Kazakh leader’s bid to head an international organization that monitors elections and supports democracy."

-snip

Just months after the Kazakh pact was finalized, Mr. Clinton’s charitable foundation received its own windfall: a $31.3 million donation from Mr. Giustra that had remained a secret until he acknowledged it last month. The gift, combined with Mr. Giustra’s more recent and public pledge to give the William J. Clinton Foundation an additional $100 million, secured Mr. Giustra a place in Mr. Clinton’s inner circle, an exclusive club of wealthy entrepreneurs in which friendship with the former president has its privileges.

LINK:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/31/us/politics/31donor.html

[InsultComicDog]

45. The Borat factor nt

[XemaSab]

3. Al Gore would recognize that graph

:hide:

[Tom Rinaldo]

6. I had the same thought, lol n/t

[Whisp]

19. lol, need an elevator from 2003 on, eh? nt

[karynnj]

4. Now - that is a plot of a politician cashing in!

Their books didn't bring in that kind of money - even as best sellers.

[GarbagemanLB]

5. SEXIST!!!!!

[bigtree]

8. kinda like the huge increase in pay and position Michelle's hospital gave her when Obama announced

more to come in the future, just like Bill Clinton.

[redqueen]

12. Did her income increase 1700%?

Really?

[bigtree]

14. they've only just begun

[redqueen]

16. So you're going beyond "but they did it too!", and reaching for "just wait, they'll do it too!"

REALLY?

[Ian_rd]

20. Ahh, you stole my thunder.

Similar to the Hillary campaign a few weeks ago trying to defend her potential strategy of coup-by-superdelegate by implying that Obama might try it too. Well, we don't want proof in the form of a mushroom cloud, I suppose.

[bigtree]

29. sure. The Clintons started out with the same level of income.

[redqueen]

30. Well let's just assume you're right... that they will behave in the future as the Clintons are now.

Do you see any good reason for the Clintons to hide their tax returns?

Cause if the Obamas' net worth exploded, I'd be suspicious as hell if they attempted to hide the source of their good forturne.

[bigtree]

31. the 'hiding' rhetoric is an old political trick.

Their private returns will be released when the campaign said they would.

[redqueen]

32. Why are they refusing to release them?

What possible excuse could there be, other than not wanting anyone to know where all that lucre came from?

I fully expect them to only release their return for 2007. We'll see what happens.

[bigtree]

35. Of course, they are not 'refusing' to release them

That's just more overblown rhetoric. False rhetoric.

[redqueen]

36. They've been asked to release them.

They have not.

Would it please you more if I phrased it as, "they are ignoring calls to release them"?

[bigtree]

39. they gave a date for their release

I guess you missed that.

[redqueen]

40. Yes, and the date is the date the 2007 returns are due.

When asked DIRECTLY about previous years' returns, they don't give an answer.

But I think you probably already knew that.

[stray cat]

22. what was different between 2000-2002 compared to 2002-2006?

Bush was an expresident from 2000-2002 something happened between 2002-3 that just kept going.

[Ian_rd]

9. What the hell happened in 2003? Did they invest in Halliburton and Exxon?

But really ... what the hell caused that explosion?

[dchill]

44. If one would but Google...

"Bill Clinton Kazakhstan" - Mystery solved.

[stray cat]

46. NY times After mining deal, Financier donated to Clinton

Just months after the Kazakh pact was finalized, Mr. Clinton’s charitable foundation received its own windfall: a $31.3 million donation from Mr. Giustra that had remained a secret until he acknowledged it last month. The gift, combined with Mr. Giustra’s more recent and public pledge to give the William J. Clinton Foundation an additional $100 million, secured Mr. Giustra a place in Mr. Clinton’s inner circle, an exclusive club of wealthy entrepreneurs in which friendship with the former president has its privileges.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/31/us/politics/31donor.html?_r=1&n=Top/Reference/Times%20Topics/People/N/Nazarbayev,%20Nursultan&pagewanted=all&oref=slogin

[Ian_rd]

47. Thanks to both of you, I had completely missed this story.

:toast:

[babylonsister]

10. Rec'd! That's amazing! You're right, no wonder they wish this would

go away.

[redqueen]

11. Embarrassment? How about transparency?

Where did all that lucre come from?

[hfojvt]

21. Bill has been making about $10 million a year for giving speeches

Sing along with me "he works hard for the money! ..."

At $80,000 per speech, you only need to give 125 of them to make $10 million. Not much more than 2 per week. edit: I am sure he is a big draw too. He spoke at Washington Days (Kansas Democratic Party Convention) a few years ago and it was a $100 ticket which apparently sold out. 2,000 people buying $100 tickets makes for $200,000. Tickts for Harold Ford last fall were only $75.

[redqueen]

24. If it's from speeches then they should release the stupid tax returns already.

They haven't.

[hfojvt]

28. the wealth itself might be an issue with her working class base

it's a little bit harder to say "I'm doing it all for the hard-working ordinary people" when you are raking it in at the same time.

[Whisp]

13. wow, it's Bill that talks a million words a day!

that's why they are rich, it's all those speeches he gives at 80 words a second.

[Cha]

15. An embarassment of riches ..And an

Embarassment of SniperLiarGate Fire!

[Whisp]

17. investments in the Iraq war? Halliburton, etc....

would these names be disclosed on the tax forms? because a lot of people are making a different kind of killing from this tradegy.

That could prove a bit, erm, 'embarrassing' for them - to cash in on the 4000 deaths and the killing of a country.

[stray cat]

18. 2003-2005 - maybe we should give the SS money to Bill to invest?

[stray cat]

23. What happened in 2003 to result in a jump in over 10 million per year

[ShortnFiery]

26. Well we all know what those pesky Christians have to say about Rich Folk getting into Heaven.

Something about words to the effect that "it's easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to get into Heaven."

If the lion's share of "Rich Folk" were The Color "PURPLE" Rev. Wright would be preaching "Social Gospel" censoring those "Rich Purple Folk."

Run Barney Run! And take "The Clintons" with you. :rofl:




http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/society/A0845749.html

Social Gospel, liberal movement within American Protestantism that attempted to apply biblical teachings to problems associated with industrialization. It took form during the latter half of the 19th cent. under the leadership of Washington Gladden and Walter Rauschenbusch, who feared the isolation of religion from the working class. They believed in social progress and the essential goodness of humanity. The views of the Social Gospel movement were given formal expression in 1908 when the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America adopted what was later called “the social creed of the churches.” Advocated in the creed were the abolition of child labor, better working conditions for women, one day off during the week, and the right of every worker to a living wage. With the rise of the organized labor movement in the early 20th cent. the Social Gospel movement lost much of its appeal as an independent force. However, many of its ideals were later embodied in the New Deal legislation of the 1930s.



Yes, it now makes perfect sense. Sort of like *some* people who wish to become Secular Franciscians argue that it's alright to CRAVE and ACCUMULATE wealth. No, Saint Francis would not approve. Obama gives thousands to his church but much more will be asked of him.

How much has Hilly given to her Church?

[tabasco]

27. Did Klein say he had reviewed the Clinton's tax returns

or was he just talking out his ass?

[BeyondGeography]

33. He assumes they have good tax advisors and nothing criminal will be revealed

Probably a pretty safe assumption. I think he minimizes the sources of income and how that will play out.

I thought his point about the numbers was a good one; nothing is easier for people to grasp than an obscene figure. The Clintons have been running up the score financially and they know the Democratic base enough to understand that some voters won't want to be reminded how poor they are relative to their supposed "champions."

[roseBudd]

48. I really think the Heinz fortune hurt Kerry

[dchill]

43. Just guessing - it's usually the ass thing.

[mmonk]

37. Disclosure of the missing years of tax returns

and the library donor list should prove that a President Clinton II would be very in tune with current Washington.

[redqueen]

41. And earmarks.

Let's not forget those.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

38. A simple anomaly.