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Jewish World Review March 1, 2001 / 6 Adar, 5761

Chris Matthews

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Hillary does Hollywood?


http://www.jewishworldreview.com -- THE junior senator from New York reminds me of the drug dealer's wife in "Traffic." She makes it her business not to know her husband's.

A California cocaine smuggler wins a pardon from President Clinton by paying Hillary Clinton's brother $200,000. To escape questioners, Clinton makes a post-midnight car run from Washington, D.C. to Chappaqua, N.Y. Left behind, Sen. Clinton says she knew nothing about the deal.

Four Hasidic men in New York get their sentences commuted after their leaders deliver the community's vote for Hillary. The first lady knows nothing of the reciprocity. All she did, she says, was go to the White House meeting with the leaders.

A top contributor wins a pardon for her ex-husband, a fugitive financier high on the government's Most Wanted list. Again, Hillary knows nothing.

Amid the rush of 11th-hour presidential pardons under way, she admits to innocently passing "envelopes" from pardon-seekers to the White House counsel's office.

What convenience of mind! She only attended a "meeting," only heard "rumors," only passed "envelopes." Admitting the fact of her behavior, she denies its purpose. She admits what is provable, denies what is not.

The neatness of her confession makes Sen. Clinton the emblematic actor in this sordid piece. Her husband rakes in millions from a fugitive's ex-wife. A chunk of that money goes to making Hillary a senator. She gets to live the dream while Bill does what he has to do to keep up the payments.

The arrangement is no problem for the crooks. If the president's wife wants to pretend she's above the sordid trade in pardons, that's fine with them. If the president's fundraising friends want to invoke the Fifth Amendment, that's their business.

What's important to the pardon-seekers is that the Clinton family can be " reached." The new Sen. Clinton's electoral lifestyle depends on a regular flow of campaign cash. The job of the ex-president is to keep that flow of cash regular. To do that, he needs to keep his service to the wealthy and well-connected contributors just as regular.

That is what makes Clinton reachable by the likes of drug dealer Carlos Vignali, whose father is a fat-cat Democratic fundraiser the likes of Marc Rich, who has proven his ability to reach any politician.

The loser in this deal is the country. Before this, we laughed at poor little countries that drug dealers and international crooks could buy. We mocked the Third World capitals where a little money in the fingers of a certain family member would open doors or close eyes.

Thanks to Bill and Hillary Clinton, we have now forfeited that small national vanity. The next movie about international drug-dealing, perhaps called "Traffic II," may well feature not a Mexican police chief but an American president as the bag man.



JWR contributor Chris Matthews is the author of Hardball. and hosts a CNBC show of the same name. Send your comments to him by clicking here.

Up

02/27/01: A man of conscience
02/22/01: Clinton and AIDS
02/12/01: Crusaders
02/06/01: Use of office
01/30/01: Cramming for the Exam
01/24/01: George W. Corleone?
01/16/01: War and Atonement
01/09/01: A pair of Boy Scouts
01/04/01: Sen. Moynihan's career: 1976-2000
12/27/00: Powell a symbol of opportunity
12/20/00: Armistice
12/01/00: Forget Gush/Bore, Lieberman and Cheney are ones to watch
11/21/00: Dead men voting
11/15/00: U.S. politcal geography: One nation, divisible
11/07/00: A real electoral horror show
10/31/00: The big lie: Every vote counts
10/17/00: Play White House admissions officer
10/11/00: Scandalous lack of awe for the office
10/03/00: Bush-Gore and the ghosts of Kennedy-Nixon
09/26/00: Candidates' night and day sides
09/19/00: Hillary goes legit
09/12/00: AlGore's silent partner
08/23/00: Truth and beauty in Bubba's farewell
08/16/00: The nation's prom king
08/07/00: The good soldier
08/02/00: Welcome to Philadelphia --- we had the first...
07/31/00: Bush-Cheney ticket: A constitutional problem
07/26/00: If Bush is an IPO, Gore is a store
07/24/00: Will being 'better' sink Hillary?
07/19/00: Pre-convention calm?
07/17/00: AlGore is executing a double dose of imitation 07/10/00: Mexicans elect a Bush Republican
07/10/00:Another kind of McCarthyism
07/06/00: How Bubba's teapots clang
07/03/00: AlGore's latest hazard
06/29/00: No echoes in this presidential choice
06/26/00: Death joins the debate
06/21/00: Jerry Brown tells AlGore how to 'wage' campaign
06/19/00: Squishy logic for soft money
06/15/00: Citizen Kane, 113 years later
06/12/00: Kennedy-Nixon redux?
06/07/00: Bush says 'I do' to reality
06/05/00: Clinton's odd silence on his achievements
06/02/00: Pelosi, a voice for human rights
05/30/00: Bubba's escape hatches
05/23/00: Who typifies leadership?
05/19/00: Bubba's legacy involves AIDS
05/16/00: Dubyah's outlook for 'playoffs' remains perilous
05/11/00: Giuliani's travels
05/09/00: A Yale degree, a Bob Jones education
05/03/00: Show of force!
05/01/00: Abortion polls don't reflect reality
04/28/00: Bill Russell and American racism
04/24/00: Vietnam 25 -- The good, bad and ugly
04/19/00: Nader's threat to Gore in California
04/17/00: Berkeley politician visits with Elian's father
04/14/00: Clinton and the Castro curse
04/11/00: Men who saved Elián from the sea
04/06/00: Caine should coach politicians
04/03/00: No. 2 spots: Woman-to-woman?
03/29/00: Gray for veep and Gore might coast to victory
03/27/00: The secret life of a CIA wife
03/22/00: 'We're suckers for underdogs'
03/20/00: Bush's California dream vs. reality
03/06/00: Scary Gore vs. hopeful Bush
03/06/00: McCain's appeal to 'Reagan Democrats'
03/01/00: John McCain fits a hero's profile
02/28/00: Grading the American presidents
02/25/00: Clinton remains No. 1 issue
02/23/00: Will Ross Perot aid POW McCain?
02/18/00: McCain faces fury of GOP establishment
02/17/00: Citizen Springer
02/14/00: McCainia and the frisky independents
02/07/00: A prime-time primary for California
02/02/00: Clinton's final campaign: Take the blame
01/31/00: Which GOPer is willing to pay for his positions?
01/27/00: John McCain's gay radar
01/25/00: This time, candidates get 'authenticity' check
01/18/00: AIDS dooms 1 in 4 in tiny Swaziland
01/13/00: Complacency might be the campaign key
01/10/00: A choice, not an echo
01/06/00: The role of a lifetime
01/03/00: Dangers in Gore's dirty war
12/30/99: Churchill's fighting words saved the century
12/28/99: Candidate Gore's separation anxiety
12/17/99: Catch 22: Leading candidates don't lead
12/17/99: New Democratic leader on the horizon
12/15/99: Is Hillary clueless?
12/08/99: Taking Buchananism to the streets
12/03/99: Why are we so obsessed with 'spin'?
12/01/99: Donald Trump, 'Sinatra of Steel'
11/29/99: Why AlGore will be our next president
11/23/99: After the fall
11/17/99: Our conveniently forgetful president
11/15/99: Next president: Male, WASP, self-selected
11/10/99: Backroom Bill
11/08/99: Please don't feed the 'pander bears'
11/03/99: Battle of the Bubba clones
11/01/99: Pat Buchanan, kamikaze candidate
10/27/99: The year of the woman... voter
10/25/99: The Curse of the Bubba
10/21/99: GOP gives Clinton his finest hour
10/18/99: Clinton's last hurrah
10/13/99: Rough seas for Capt. Ventura
10/11/99: Gore targets Bradley's strength
10/06/99: Bradley's got the right Rx
10/04/99: Buchanan, Churchill and Hitler
09/30/99: Who'll spin political gold in Golden State — Gore or Bradley?
09/27/99: Here's a millennial checklist for candidates
09/22/99: The biography battle
09/20/99: Buchanan's new book is a must-read
09/15/99: Don't rule out Beatty
09/13/99: The man with the sun on his face
09/08/99: W. vs. Jr. on dope and the draft
The FALN: Hillary's Willie Horton
08/26/99: Bill's guilt fuels Hill's race
08/25/99: The seemingly inexhaustible strength of America's free enterprise
08/23/99: GOP candidates are weak also-rans
08/16/99: Bubba on Bubba
08/11/99: Hillary's agonizing attempts to understand
08/09/99: With warm regards, Richard Nixon
08/04/99: Weicker: real third party is on the Left
08/02/99: Dubyah's last hangover
07/27/99: Ho, Ho, Ho Chi Minh; capitalism is gonna win

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