Readers will recall that when news of the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal broke, Democrats across the board rushed to the microphones to declare, as Senator Harry Reid so often did, that this was a "Republican scandal." That line was repeated so often in so many different forums that the ties from Abramoff client money to Democrats and the influence it bought were lost in the noise.
Democrats succesfully tarred Republicans with the epithet "culture of corruption" which they also repeated incessantly at every available opportunity and it helped them to win control of both houses of Congress in the 2006 election.
Now, we have the Norman Hsu Chinese funny money scandal spilling over from Hillary Clinton to Democrats across the board. Nothing could be more clearly a "Democrat scandal" and yet you'll hear crickets chirping if you listen for the drumbeat from Republicans leaders pointing to the issue.
Curt at Flopping Aces found this excellent research breakdown from Suitably Flip who covers the story like asphalt on a highway:
Suitably Flip also breaks down the contributions in this online spreadsheet and I highly recommned you take a look at the tab for amounts by contributor and by date.
Where Did Hsu Get the Money?
The connections to Clintonista brigades continue. Last week we learned that Hsu was connected in business dealings to aging hippie, now converted to capitalism, Joel Rosenman who started the Woodstock hippie jamboree back in the 1960's. Rosenman was a contributor to Hillary Clinton and received an indirect benefit of $1million in taxpayer funds from a Hillary congressional budget earmark to build a museum to hippies and Woodstock.
A new wrinkle in the story is the connection to the mail order business of Lilian Vernon, whose catalogs you may have seen in your mother or grandmother's house. It's mostly crap, probably manufactured in China which may explain the connection.
Suitably Flip discovered that Norman Hsu, who previously had not donated to ANY political candidates, began his personal crooked crusade at the exact same time that Fred Hochberg, owner of Lillian Vernon was making similar contributions.
Fred Hochberg's other claim to fame is that he joined the Cabinet of the President Bill Clinton as Administrator of the Small Business Administration in 1998. That was three years after Hochberg was a participant in another Clinton finance scandal: the infamous White House Coffees.
There's so much that smells here. So many questions unasked, let alone unanswered. But the biggest question is WHERE ARE THE REPUBLICANS? When are our party leaders and spokespeople going to begin connecting the dots? Or will we just let Democrats have a pass on this one too?
We cannot blame the "news" media for not covering a story that we don't highlight with the same message discipline as our opponents! If "culture of corruption" is a winning campaign issue for Democrats, surely it is for Republicans when the "Hsu" is on the other foot!
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