Posted on 06/14/2003 1:32:24 AM PDT by kattracks
Edited on 05/26/2004 5:14:43 PM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
June 14, 2003 -- WASHINGTON - Former President Bill Clinton raked in more than $9 million in speaking fees last year - topping wife Hillary's $8 million book deal for her best-selling autobiography.
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's financial disclosure forms, filed yesterday, show her husband gave 61 paid speeches around the world last year, getting up to $400,000 apiece although a more typical fee was $125,000.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
I'm a writer who also does public speaking, and I've read Clinton's basic speech. If I did something that boring and empty, I'd probably get yawned off the podium and the client would refuse to pay me. Clinton's standard formulation is to state an obvious problem as if he's the first one who's ever thought of it ("There are too many people who hate each other in this world"), condemn it ("That...is...wrong!"), and declare that a solution must be found ("And we have to find a way for people of good faith to come together and fix that.") Pooch out lip, wipe away fake tear, hold for thunderous applause.
Note that he never actually proposes a solution, he just tells us how much he cares about the problem by suggesting that somebody somewhere do something about it. But if you're not listening closely, it sounds sort of like he's actually saying something. His entire speech is nothing more than a 60-minute variation on the song "I Love To Dance A Little Sidestep" from "Best Little Whorehouse in Texas." If you've got some money that's burning a hole in your pocket, pick up a CD of the soundtrack, don't spend it to hear Clinton talk. Trust me, you'll get a lot more entertainment out of it, even with Burt Reynolds singing.
Well, even if my bank account is paltry, I shall not suffer a sleepless night over this evil pair who on the surface have proven that crime pays.To my thinking, ALL their ill-gotten gains will never restore even their most ardent sycophants' full confidence nor erase the rational American majority's disrespect if not downright snickering contempt for them.
And, perhaps even more importantly, none of their ill-gotten gains will EVER give Bill Clinton the Bob Jones' golf swing he so desperately craves. Nor will Hillary Clinton EVER have the face and figure she desperately craves, much less the adoring, widespread support to assure her a "first-woman" presidency. Please mark my words: They'll take their blood-stained money to ignominious graves.
With best wishes,
Penny
Two reasons for the disparity of fees:
1. Most Americans won't pay to hear him speak any more.
2. The exorbitant overseas fees provide a convenient excuse for moving his off-shore money into his American accounts.
However, it would be fairly easy to write drafts on that account to organizations in other countries (say, $350,000 transferred to that "one China" group in Australia). The organization would then cut a check of say $300,000 to him for a speaking fee, keeping $50,000 for themselves. Clinton shows up and gives his same boring speech, organization dutifully applauds, and off he goes to another engagement, with a legally explainable check in his pocket.
Because these are foreign organizations, they do not come under the audit procedures of the IRS. Unless a friendly government tracks the movement of this money (which perhaps John Howard's people are doing in Australia) there is no way to prove my suspicions. It does explain, however, why so many overseas groups are willing to hire him.
It also could account for that Marc Rich pardon, and why he sseemed to be bought so cheaply.
"C'mon folks step right up... See the countryboy who put pants and shoes on to become president... (ah, well, at least shoes)... Se the dude who redefined the word 'is'..... Step right up.... Just one thin 1/8 of a million dollars... Step right up...
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