"Bill Clinton Is Crying Poverty"

nypost.com ^

[Retired Chemist]

BILL Clinton is crying poverty. The former horndog-in-chief, who charges upward of $250,000 per speech, recently tried to pick up some pricey paintings on the cheap, claiming he was short of cash. Last week, a Manhattan art collector got a call from a dealer who was interested in buying some paintings by Southern folk artist Mary Whitfield for a "celebrity" client, an insider says. The collector, who assumed the client was noted Whitfield enthusiast Oprah Winfrey, informed the dealer that the price of one painting of particular interest was $6,000. "My client is a little short of cash and can't pay the full amount," the dealer responded after relaying the information. "Will you take $5,500?" When the collector expressed surprise that Winfrey didn't have the money, the dealer informed him it was in fact Clinton. "He just laughed and turned him down," says a friend of the collector. "Skimping him on $500? What's that about?" Clinton's office did not return calls.

[Retired Chemist]

sniff sniff!

[redhead]

...musta sucked it all up his nose...

[EBITDA]

Six grand for a Velvet Elvis? I wouldn't pay a nickel over $5500 myself.

[sonofdemnomo]

Hillary is holding the purse strings real tight. Or maybe Clinton is broke from paying off all of his new girlfriends.

[Tourist Guy]

>>>horndog-in-chief<<<
Too bad the press didn't use this language while he was in office.

Remember when he stiffed a waiter in Ireland on his bar tab? Slimebucket.

[niteowl77]

I'd be disappointed if The Insinkerator would choose Elvis instead of the nude female bullfighter on velvet.

[Tourist Guy]

Thursday, 14 December, 2000, 19:53 GMT

Clinton leaves the bill

The US President popped into the Portobello Gold

Bill Clinton nipped into a pub for a swift half during his UK visit on Thursday - but left without paying.

Tired of trawling the antique shops along west London's trendy Portobello Road with wife Hillary and daughter Chelsea, the US President and his usual entourage of aides, advisers, secret service men and press popped into the Portobello Gold.

The most powerful man in the world spent 45 minutes happily propping up the bar but did not appear hungry.

He had just come from tea and a chat with the Queen at Buckingham Palace.

They bloody well did not pay

Landlord, Mike Bell

Offered lunch, he said: "A little bit, not much.

"I have to stay awake to give a speech today.

"I stayed up late last night, watching Vice President Gore and Governor Bush give their speeches on television."

President Clinton shared a £6.95 serving of gambo prawns, a £5.25 portion smoked trout and pecan nut pate and a £5.95 club sandwich with about 10 black-suited secret service men.

He also downed a £1.30 half-pint of organic Pitfields lager, made in Britain from New Zealand ingredients, and a Diet Coke, while his secret service men drank Coke.

After serving the leader of the free world, landlord Mike Bell asked: "Who picks up the tab for this?"

But the total bill has yet to be tallied because a power cut struck the area just before the visit and the electronic till was not working.

Clinton: 'I can relax'

"They bloody well did not pay," said Mr Bell.

"I do not know what the total bill is because the computer went down and the electricity was off.

"But I have got an address of someone in America I can send the bill to.

"We could not offer him a hot meal.

"We gave him anything we could cook without electricity. It was total chaos.

'Swarmed' upon

The 59-year-old said he found out about the surprise visit 20 minutes early when "men in black" arrived to see if the pub was safe.

While the American president was in the bar, oyster delivery man Jonathan Dunhill was "swarmed" upon by secret service men.

They wanted to inspect his delivery of shellfish from Strangford Lough in Northern Ireland to see if it contained a bomb, Mr Bell said.

President Clinton then chatted about Northern Ireland and the long-running US presidential election battle to the other lunchtime drinkers.

'Last stretch'

He appeared "unusually relaxed", said Mr Bell.

"He gave me the impression that this sort of thing was not the kind of thing that he would have done a few years ago.

"He told me, 'I'm in the last stretch of my presidency so I can relax a little'.

"There were a lot of Americans here when he arrived and they were saying, 'How are you?' to Mr Clinton and how strange it was that he was on their doorstep even though they were not at home."

[Straight Vermonter]

A Mary Whitfield sampler:

I thought someone swiped some of my kids "art work".

[Freedom_Is_Not_Free]

Clinton is buying paintings? I didn't know Hustler had paintings as well as photographs...

[captain11]

ROTFLMAO. Thank you, Straight--I think I've discovered my inner artist. Some tempra school paint and a couple of days, I'll have a gallery of fresh folk art. Might even be willing to go as low as five grand for Slick.

[Paladin5]

There is more to the story as reported in The Scotsman http://www.thescotsman.co.uk/international.cfm?id=754922002 .  Here are some more examples of his churlishness.

1. This week the US tabloid National Enquirer, reported that he was being asked to take a DNA test to determine if he is the father of 20-year-old Anthony Pearson, the son of an alleged former lover.
2. last month, it was claimed that Mr Clinton is dragging his feet on a $12 million deal to publish his memoirs. A report said that he was suffering from writer’s block and was in danger of missing an agreed deadline.
3. the Clintons were accused on inappropriate dealings with their lawyers
4. The Daily News claimed he owes $1 million to Robert Bennett, his attorney for the Paula Jones case, adding that Mr Bennett "hasn’t seen a nickel in nearly a year".