Clintons are in damage control mode

The Hill ^ | June 25, 2014 | Amie Parnes and Justin Sink -

[Cincinatus' Wife]

DENVER — Team Clinton is doing damage control on a series of comments by Hillary Clinton about the former first couple’s wealth.

Former President Bill Clinton on Tuesday defended his wife as “not out of touch,” and lashed out at the criticism during an appearance at the Clinton Global Initiative America conference.

With Hillary and Chelsea Clinton looking on from the audience of a hotel ballroom, he explained that Hillary Clinton’s comment two weeks ago that the couple was “dead broke” when they left the White House was “factually true.”

He also criticized reporters for not including context in stories about the former first lady’s discussion of her work to help the less fortunate during her career, previewing a message Clinton supporters say the couple needs to harp on in the weeks and months ahead.

In response to questions from NBC’s David Gregory, Bill Clinton said his wife had once offered legal assistance to people who couldn’t afford it and fought for paid leave for pregnant mothers in the 1970s. He also said that he and the former secretary of State go to their local grocery store on the weekends and talk to “people in our town.”

“We know what’s going on,” the former president said.

Several longtime Clinton allies said they weren’t sure his comments would end the criticism, which came on the heels of several stumbles in which Hillary Clinton tried to explain away her finances.

The comments have left even some allies of the Clintons bewildered.

“I don’t want to acknowledge that it’s been a problem, but it’s been a problem,” said one former Clinton aide who maintains ties with those in the former New York senator’s inner circle.

The former aide said Hillary Clinton needs to refine her message on the issue, particularly in the months ahead when she will campaign for Democrats in the midterm elections.

“It’s tricky for someone to be promoting a memoir, where they need to be talking about themselves, but talk about other people instead,” the former Clinton staffer said. “But she needs to use these opportunities to tell stories about the people she’s met. She needs to say, ‘When I was here I met X and she did Y and that’s led to Z,’ which has framed her policy thinking. She needs to ground the conversation.”

Hillary Clinton made the “dead broke” comment during her first interview to promote her book Hard Choices. The remark, to ABC’s Diane Sawyer, overshadowed the opening days of her book tour.

And this past weekend, Clinton inadvertently highlighted her finances again when she told The Guardian that “unlike the truly well off,” she and the former president “pay ordinary income tax,” and their wealth only came “through dint of hard work.”

The comments have provided an opening for Republicans to criticize Clinton ahead of a possible 2016 run for the White House.

“The Clintons still feel the need to feign that they are still in touch with the struggles of regular Americans,” said Tim Miller, the communications director for America Rising. “He laments being the president with the ‘lowest net worth’ which is akin to saying his floors are made of the cheapest marble. Then he goes on to say that they talk with people in their town. They live in one of the most elite, moneyed towns in America.

“The Clintons have lived in a 1 percent bubble for so long, their experience has become warped, and that’s a major problem in a presidential campaign,” Miller added. The couple’s home is in Chappaqua, N.Y.

As the book tour winds down, supporters of the couple say Hillary Clinton has to speak more about her foundation work — on women’s and girls’ issues — and her work as a senator, when she devoted much of her time working on issues in upstate New York.

“She’s gotta tell stories,” the former aide continued. “It’s a skill to answer a question about yourself by talking about someone else. And she’s got to find a way to incorporate some of that. It shouldn’t be an add-on. It should be the central thing she’s doing. “

Bill Clinton on Tuesday tried to hammer home his wife’s long-running work on behalf of the working class.

He said Americans don’t “resent somebody else doing well. They resent that they’re not getting a fair deal.”

“You just have to be transparent and tell the truth,” he said.

Another former longtime Clinton aide who also still advises Hillaryland from time to time, said that the No. 1 thing the Clinton camp can do is “don’t panic.”

“A lot of this stuff comes and goes and some things stick and other things don’t,” the former aide said. “I don’t see it being a long-term personal problem because in a personal sense she’s not disconnected to everyday people. It actually very much defines who she is.”

The former adviser said the comparisons to former GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney are different because “people didn’t know him that well.”

“That narrative was part of their introduction to him,” the adviser said.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Bill: "“You just have to be transparent and tell the truth,” he said."

A typical Bill Clinton in-your-face.

"The former adviser said the comparisons to former GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney are different because “people didn’t know him that well.”

A lot of voters know the Clintons all too well.

[exDemMom]

I’m surprised that these articles fail to mention Chelsea’s statements regarding money.

The only way Chelsea could be so out-of-touch is if she was raised by equally clueless parents. She is only reflecting the attitudes that she learned from them.

Poor and middle class people care about money. Privileged rich kids don’t have to care about it.

[Cincinatus]

“You just have to be transparent and tell the truth,” he [Bill Clinton] said.

I propose this as an entry in the dictionary definition of "chutzpah."

[circlecity]

"With Hillary and Chelsea Clinton looking on from the audience of a hotel ballroom, he explained that Hillary Clinton’s comment two weeks ago that the couple was “dead broke” when they left the White House was “factually true.”

Interesting, Bill is usually pretty politically savy but he's kicking a stinkball on this one. Drop it. Drop it now. It's a can't win argument. No working person is going to buy it, rather, they will resent it, no matter what technicalities he tries to sell. To have the gall to try to make the argument is in itself proof that you are hopelessly out of touch and firmly entrenched in the 1%.

[VanDeKoik]

“Clintons are in damage control mode”

It wouldn’t be a day of the week that ends with a Y if they weren’t.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Interesting, Bill is usually pretty politically savy but he's kicking a stinkball on this one. Drop it. Drop it now. It's a can't win argument......

Taxpayers will spend $944,000 to support Bill Clinton's lifestyle in 2014 as he claims he and Hillary are not 'out of touch' because they 'talk to people in our town' "Former President Bill Clinton and his wife, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, are worth between $10 and $50 million, according to their financial disclosure forms – but taxpayers will still pony up nearly $1 million this year to fund their post-White House lifestyle.

Like the three other living former presidents, Jimmy Carter and the two George Bushes, Clinton receives a $201,000 annual pension. But that just scratches the surface of the government benefits he shares with his wife Hillary.

The total for 2014 also includes $157,000 for staff salaries and benefits, $414,000 for office space and $9,000 for phone bills.

In all, The Washington Post first reported, taxpayers are providing Clinton with $944,000 in post-presidential pay and benefits.

That tab was $1.28 million in 2002, the year after he left office, according to a Congressional Research Service report cited by the Post and the Washington Free Beacon..............."

[allendale]

Remember that great line “You can’t handle the truth”. With the Clintons whether it was political policy, personal behavior and insight, interpersonal relationships, these narcissists never knew the truth.

[liberalh8ter]

Bill Clinton really wants this third term oly this time, his wife will be too busy torching what's left of the Country to pay attention to his extracurricular activities with the White House interns.

[jsanders2001]

Hillary is damaged goods, a known liar who can’t be trusted who is a Muzzie sympathizer that runs around with a gal who is heavily connected to the Muslim Brotherhood plus all the other baggage she carries around. Sorry Ms. Clinton but we’re not buying that you’re the grandmotherly type; more like Lizzie Borden type with a little Norman Bates thrown in for good measure but all grown up.

[Liz]

The mega-wealthy Clintons have money pouring in from everywhere.....without lifting a finger.

Hillary connivingly planned to campaign on "income inequality" .......running as a phony populist. Campaign strategists warned Hillary her "tone" is important.....(so she can better dupe the voters).

THANK YOU KELLY FILE Megyn ran a news clip of Hilly sing-songing "the cancer of inequality"....in a contrived sap-happy, chirpy voice, wearing a h-u-g-e phony grin.

Reminded me of the classic Willam Castle horror movie, "Mr Sardonicus," (whose face becomes frozen in a horrifying grin while robbing the coffin of his father's grave).

Hillary wears her perpetual 2016 game face.

====================================================================

The only "good" thing to come out of Hillary's disastrous book tour is the new campaign cry: "Another Clinton administration? Are you nuts."

(Cackle) Will look nice on a bumper sticker.

===============================================

Even more delicious is that Hillary's disastrous book roll-out was managed by Dudester Tommy Vietor---Obama's van-driver with ntl security clearance who Obama appointed his NSA advisor; Vietor sat in on WH Situation Room crisis meetings.

Feel safer, now, America?

DUDESTER VIETOR offered up a truly laughable assesment of Hillary''s hellish book tour. “The Secretary enjoyed spending this week talking about 'Hard Choices' and working with President Obama to restore America’s leadership in the world,” he said in an email. “She’ll continue to be relaxed, candid and direct.”

Must be auditioning for a SNL job--producing comical skits.

[Liz]

The Clintons are relying heavily on "white privilege" to get back into office. The Clintons' have benefitted from, and are climbing back into office, using privileges far beyond those of the working class voter.

"White privilege" denotes the array of advantages the Clintons have cultivated over years in public office. They are over-shadowed by the endless perks of "white privilege":

<><> massive wealth....

<><> multiple homes in posh enclaves....

<><> the chain of high public offices....

<><> privileged friends in high places....

<><> global connections....

<><> constant affirmations of their own worth....

<><> greater social status...

<><> the expansive freedoms wealth and connections provide...

<><> unlimited access to the press to speak freely.....

<><> Bill/Hillary memoirs made millions....

<><> book deal signed in Dec 2000 for $8 million....

<><> three tax-exempt family foundations worth hundreds of millions....

<><> Clinton foundation endowment skyrockets to $200 million overnight....

<><> Hillary's $200,000 speeches to "non-profits".......

<><> Bill's tax-paid cushy pension and benefits....

<><> tax-paid Clinton Library (Hollywood bête noir Sultan of Brunei a donor).....

2016 Hillary is relying on the "income equality" bugaboo to hoist herself into office. That is "white privilege" in a nutshell.

The Clintons strategy is to label others as "different" while presenting themselves as "normal"....The Clinton "normal" is hundreds of millions of dollars laying around without ever having a real job.

Now known as “Lunch-Pail Hillary,” she planned to run a populist campaign, “critical of the Wall Street types”....that's after Hillary pocketed $200,000 from Goldman Sachs.

[From The Deer Stand]

Yep, the Clintons are now part of the evil “one-percenters” and should be taxed out of wealth existence because Democrats don’t think it’s fair they have money while others don’t have so much.

[Old Teufel Hunden]

"He also said that he and the former secretary of State go to their local grocery store on the weekends and talk to people in our town."

Oh, how sweet of Billie. They actually talk to the "little people". This just begs for a follow up question. Really, you go to the grocery store. So, how much does a loaf of bread cost at your grocery store?

[TruthShallSetYouFree]

Former President Bill Clinton on Tuesday defended his wife as “not out of touch,” and lashed out at the criticism...

Wow! The Clintons criticizing their criticizers!!! Where in Alinsky's "Rules for Radicals" can we find that strategy, Page One or Page Two?

[Liz]

Gaming the system is the name of the Clinton game---the conniving Clintons will say and do anything to get their filthy hands on our tax dollars.

BACKSTORY When Billy, the Boy From Hope, burst upon the political scene as a presidential candidate....he duped the voters and coached his Arkansas Mafia friends to say, “Money doesn’t mean anything to Bill Clinton"........

Now we hear he got a hundred million dollars while his wife controlled the State Dept checkbook......monies that were meant for Haiti (the place where the Clintons spent their honeymoon).

BETTER ADD THIS IN, TOO News reports say the State Department announced it has "no idea" what happened to $6 billion used to pay its contractors..... a special “management alert” warned “significant financial risk and a lack of internal control at State has led to billions of unaccounted dollars over the last six years....under Hillary's watch.

Becoming president has a pretty good monetary return. That poor boy from Hope, Ark, made over $200,000,000.00 (that we know of) as a “public servant.”

=============================================

Lawyers Bill and Hillary have held no other jobs but “public service”---they didn't have a pot to *** in in Arkansas---didn't even own a home. But they are experts at gaming the "public service" system for themselves. The Clintons conniving has enriched them. They are now worth more than $200 million dollars.....and counting.

How did they make the money? In several ways.

(1) Bill's calculated moves w/ his presidential pen and official policies profited numerous cronies and entities.....who are now being hit up for donations to the /three Clinton tax-exempt "foundations.....and to enrich Hillary.

(2) Bill's pardon pen was useful in pardoning diverse voting blocs which got Hillary elected to the US Senate as a prelude to her presidential ambitions.

(3) The Clintons game the system 24/7....their only goal in politics is to control the money.

[GrandJediMasterYoda]

If we lived in a sane world both these creeps would be doing hard time with massive debt.

[nuconvert]

With the Clintons, it all depends on what your meaning of the word ‘is’ is

[Alberta's Child]

It's worth noting that Hillary Clinton's 2008 presidential bid was derailed by Democrats who used a jug-eared nitwit of a former Kenyan exchange student to put an end to her aspirations that year.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Hillary’s Rusty Populism

Fooling the people takes practice.

http://spectator.org/articles/59747/hillary%E2%80%99s-rusty-populism

“...................Like Obama, Hillary is an admirer of Saul Alinsky. She wrote her college thesis paper on his work. Phony populism was an essential component of Alinsky’s program. He urged his followers to appear middle class in order to influence the middle class.........”

[Wildcat Stevens]

Hillary claims to have not driven a car since 1996. That sounds out of touch to me.