Hillary Clinton: Crass for Cash President?

Of all the scandals that swirled around the two terms served by President Bill Clinton and his wife Hillary none was so crass as the revelation that Bill and Hillary had been allowing "sleepovers" in Lincoln's Bedroom in exchange for millions of dollars in campaign contributions.

For two straight days President Clinton denied there was any improper use of the Lincoln Bedroom and other White House functions in raising campaign funds for his 1996 re-election campaign. Jim Lehrer leads a discussion with Ann Lewis, assistant to the President, and White House Deputy Director of Communications, and three regional commentators who disagree with the President's view. [1]

ROBERT KITTLE, San Diego Union-Tribune: I'm sorry. I just don't buy it, and I don't buy it because we have it in the President's own handwriting in the documents that were released by the White House this week the evidence that he was encouraging these overnights in the White House, these sleep-overs in the White House for money. It was in connection with the memo that suggested how much could be raised by inviting guests to the White House. The President said in his own handwriting, please give me the list of the top ten contributors and those who can give $50 or $100,000. And he said let's begin the overnights right away. [1]

The White House Lincoln Bedroom is a national treasure. In it, President Abraham Lincoln held cabinet meetings, planned campaigns with his generals, and signed the Emancipation Proclamation. Lincoln's handwritten copy of the Gettysburg Address is permanently stored in the Bedroom. [2]

Eight hundred and thirty one "friends" were given access for "sleepovers" over the course of the two terms served by Bill Clinton and his wife, Hillary. Access for cold, hard cash.

CNN, in conjunction with the Campaign Study Group, assembled a list of overnight Lincoln Bedroom guests in 1997. The list was compiled after Clinton was sworn in for his second term and the Republican-controlled Congress launched multiple probes into how Clinton secured the means to propel his re-election effort.

The Clinton administration will release a list of campaign donors who were granted overnight stays in the Lincoln Bedroom
Those guests, the survey concluded, contributed a total $5.2 million to the DNC between 1995 and 1996 -- and may have given significantly more. [3]

In 1996 Hillary Clinton's column, "Talking it Over." Hillary writes about "what it's really like" to live in the White House.

Talking it Over

What is it really like to live in the White House? Let me take you behind the scenes and give you an idea of life amidst the beauty and excitement of America's past and present.

If you've ever had the opportunity to visit the White House, you know it is not only the President's home and office but also a museum of our country's history. Visitors and staff see the public parts. But we live on the second and third floors, the only places that Bill, Chelsea and I can be alone and private as a family.

Hillary writes with "reverence" for the White House. But what was it really like?

The photo below is of two of the Clinton's Hollywood buddies, actress Markie Post and sitcom creator, Linda Thomason, using the bed in Lincoln's bedroom as a trampoline.

Image [directorblue.blogspot.com]

"Selling--nights in the White House is so crass a thing, so close to the possibility and appearance if not the actuality of corruption--and such god-awful judgment on Clinton's part--that I cannot imagine any defense of it."
Washington Post Columnist William Raspberry

LEE CULLUM, Dallas Morning News: Yes, it is crass. It's vulgar. It's terrible taste. The Dallas Morning News had two editorials this week, not one but two, calling for a special prosecutor in this matter. You know, the White House has simply gone too far. I'm not naive. I know that people have given money to presidents for years, and, in return, they get certain courtesies. Maybe they get invited to a party every now and then, and certainly somebody calls them up if they place a call and say they've got problems, but this has been a systematic selling of the White House in bits and pieces. It's gone too far, and it's way out of hand. It is crass.

ANN LEWIS, White House Deputy Communications Director: If that were true, if those accusations were true, crass would be a mild word. The White House is a very special building. I have the privilege of working there every day. And I truly feel it's a privilege. President and Mrs. Clinton have the privilege of living there. And they know it is a privilege. They also have the privilege of sharing that opportunity with their friends. [1]

Bill and Hillary raised millions of dollars in campaign contributions pimping out the bedroom of one our greatest Presidents, Abraham Lincoln. Our 16th President, this man guided our nation through what was our darkest hour, the Civil War, where millions died. He wrote the Emancipation Proclamation and was assasinated on Good Friday, April 14th, 1865.

Hillary Clinton:

The reason we call the room the Lincoln Bedroom is because it contains a suite of furniture purchased by Mrs. Lincoln. Her husband was assassinated before they could ever use the bed and dressers themselves. When guests stay there now, they sleep in the magnificent rosewood bed made extra large for Lincoln. They can examine a copy of the Gettysburg Address written in Lincoln's own hand that we keep on a desk in the room. And they can sit around the table he sat at to draft the Emancipation Proclamation. It always thrills me to show this room to visitors because of my admiration for President Lincoln and my empathy for all he and his wife endured, especially the death of their son Tad during their days in the White House. [4]

Hillary Clinton continued the tradition in 2000, awarding her "friends" the Lincoln bedroom "sleepover."

The White House pledged to release a list of overnight White House guests after new questions arose over first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign for Senate in New York. The administration has acknowledged that donors to Mrs. Clinton's campaign have stayed overnight at the White House, but said the stays were not awarded in exchange for a donation.[3]

The Clintons chose not to revere this man's memory but to sell it to the highest bidder, not once but over 800 times. Those people were allowed to pack their little bags and settle into this great man's room.

What does this tell us about these two people, Bill and Hillary Clinton? What does it tell us about their future behavior, once their moving van backs up once again to the doors of the White House?

Those who treat what we hold most solemn and sacred? What we hold dear in our nation's history, to be sold out, fondled, disabused in order to coddle campaign contributors.

Hillary's past behavior belies an opportunist out to make a buck to further her ambitions. A crass woman with no regard for what we hold dear in our nation's history.

Very crass indeed.

By Little Baby Ginn
Image [catscottart.com]

Source - PBS - NewsHour: Overnight Guests in the White House
Source - 2 - Doug Ross @ Journal
Source - 3 - CNN
Source - 4 - Creators.com