Nanny-Stater: I'm Not Running in 2012

You can set your clock by this guy and his endless proclamations he's not running, he might run, he might change parties, he might endorse someone, he might want to be vice president ... enough. Just shut up and be Mayor of New York City and worry about the big things, like how much salt people are consuming. The shamelessness of the guy, constantly putting his name out there and then weakly claiming he has no aspirations. He's three weeks into his third term as mayor and already getting cute.

It's déjà vu all over again for Mayor Bloomberg.

The Republican-turned-independent Hizzoner yesterday said he has "no plans" to run for president. But that hasn't kept him from reveling in the rampant speculation over the possibility -- just as he did during the last presidential cycle.

The latest rumors swirled after it was revealed that Bloomberg was hiring Hillary Rodham Clinton's former media strategist, Howard Wolfson, as an administration adviser.

Pressed about the significance of the move, Bloomberg smiled and told a reporter, "I can't believe you're even asking" about presidential plans," then went on to say he's thrilled to have someone like Wolfson leave a lucrative consulting business to join city government.

Still, as annoying as Bloomberg is, he'd be infinitely preferable to the current occupant of the White House.

From Whitewater to Blackwater

The left has been obsessing on Blackwater lately, with Henry "Nostrilitus" Waxman holding hearings earlier this week. It's become another convenient way of undermining our mission in Iraq now that we've been making progress. That, and it's a nice diversion from the MoveOn.org-inspired General "Betray Us" fiasco that blew up in their faces a couple of weeks ago.

Well, look what we have here. It turns out one of Mrs. Bill Clinton's top campaign officials has very cozy ties with Blackwater.

Let's see how much attention this gets. Very little, I'm sure.

BLACKWATERGATE LINKED TO HILL

October 6, 2007 -- WASHINGTON - The company run by one of Hillary Clinton's top campaign officials has been providing public-relations services for Blackwater - the security firm, accused of killing 17 Iraqi civilians, that has come under fire from Congress.

Burson-Marsteller, run by Clinton pollster Mark Penn, has been representing the troubled security firm in the lead-up to congressional testimony this week in which top company officials defended their policies and techniques for providing security in the war zone.

Penn is one of Clinton's longest-serving and most important advisers, perhaps second only to her husband in influence.

He said yesterday that his company was no longer representing Blackwater.

Listed as the "worldwide CEO" of the company, Penn also said he was not personally involved in the account.

Sure. Just provide all you phone records and emails to investigators and that'll clear everything up.

Blackwater became a political lightning rod as the Iraq war spiraled out of control and accusations of torture and abuse spread rampantly.

While Blackwater has been heavily criticized by Democrats - including Barack Obama and John Edwards - Clinton has been noticeably silent about the firm's conduct in Iraq.

The Clinton campaign downplayed the association yesterday, saying that Penn never did any work on the Blackwater account and that his company had cut its ties with Blackwater.

"Mark is and remains a valuable member of our team," Clinton spokesman Howard Wolfson said.

He also sought to join the Democratic condemnation of Blackwater.

"Sen. Clinton believes Blackwater must be held accountable for its actions and has laid out a detailed proposal to sharply reduce the number of contractors employed by the federal government by 500,000," Wolfson said.

"She has repeatedly stated her concern that such contractors are not as accountable as federal employees."

Further complicating matters for Clinton is that Blackwater's first contract with the federal government actually wasn't under the Bush administration. It was in 1998, according to company officials, when Clinton's husband was in the White House.

Yesterday's revelations of a tie between Blackwater and Clinton became easy fodder for attacking the Democratic front-runner.

Campaigning in Iowa, former North Carolina Sen. Edwards noted Blackwater's deep ties to Republicans and the Bush administration and described Penn as Clinton's "Karl Rove."

Real cute, Silky. Now why don't you bring up Norman Hsu?

Pantsuit Returning $850,000 of Hsu Funny Money

The Clintons must realize this scandal could quickly mushroom, and are hustling to distance themselves from the tainted Norman Hsu megabucks.

Just imagine what they might do if the media paid one-tenth the amount of attention to this as they did to the hapless Larry Craig.

I'd like to know how many other shady donors they've received money from.

Still now, after two weeks, not a single Democrat presidential candidate has mentioned this scnadal.

Obviously, they're very afraid.

The timing of this announcement is a bit suspicious, to say the least, coming after the Petraeus testimony today and just as we're about to enter the 9/11 anniversary news cycle. Just like the old Clinton scandal days, with the 6 pm Friday document drops.

Clinton to return $850,000 raised by Hsu

WASHINGTON - Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential campaign said Monday it will return $850,000 in donations raised by Democratic fundraiser Norman Hsu, who is under federal investigation for allegedly violating election laws.

Clinton, D-N.Y., previously had planned only to give to charity $23,000 she received from Hsu for her presidential and senatorial campaigns and to her political action committee, HillPac.

The FBI is investigating whether Hsu paid so-called straw donors to send campaign contributions to Clinton and other candidates, a law enforcement official said Monday.

"In light of recent events and allegations that Mr. Norman Hsu engaged in an illegal investment scheme, we have decided out of an abundance of caution to return the money he raised for our campaign," Clinton spokesman Howard Wolfson said in a statement Monday night. "An estimated 260 donors this week will receive refunds totaling approximately $850,000 from the campaign."

Wolfson said the Clinton campaign also will vigorously review its fundraisers, including thorough criminal background checks, in the future. "In any instances where a source of a bundler's income is in question, the campaign will take affirmative steps to verify its origin," he said.

Ah, Howard Wolfson. Funny, he wasn't being so contrite when this scandal first broke.

A Clinton campaign spokesman, Howard Wolfson, said in an email: "Norman Hsu is a longtime and generous supporter of the Democratic party and its candidates, including Senator Clinton. During Mr. Hsu's many years of active participation in the political process, there has been no question about his integrity or his commitment to playing by the rules, and we have absolutely no reason to call his contributions into question."

Would you like to take that one back now, Howie?

Questions still linger. Such as, where did the money come from?

Federal authorities are looking into whether Hsu leaned on investors to contribute to political candidates after paying them big earnings from a shady business venture he was running, the law enforcement official said. Such a scam — using conduit contributors known as straw donors — is a violation of the Federal Election Campaign Act, which limits how much money individuals can give to candidates and political committees.

The FBI may be looking at other potential charges as well, according to the law enforcement official who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigation.

In addition to the $260,000 he contributed to federal candidates, Hsu also contributed at least $330,000 to state Democratic candidates and state party committees and ballot initiatives during the 2004 and 2006 election cycles. Among the state officials who received money were New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer and New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo. Both have said they would divest their campaigns of the donations.

UPDATE: More from Allahpundit, Suitably Flip, Blue Crab Boulevard.

Never a Paws To Clinton Money Grubbing

No doubt they'll blame Rupert Murdoch, or the "right-wing smear machine," or whoever they can find.

But isn't it curious how creative the Clintons get when it comes to raising suspicious campaign funds and skirting the law?

Big Source of Clinton's Cash Is an Unlikely Address

DALY CITY, Calif. -- One of the biggest sources of political donations to Hillary Rodham Clinton is a tiny, lime-green bungalow that lies under the flight path from San Francisco International Airport.

Six members of the Paw family, each listing the house at 41 Shelbourne Ave. as their residence, have donated a combined $45,000 to the Democratic senator from New York since 2005, for her presidential campaign, her Senate re-election last year and her political action committee. In all, the six Paws have donated a total of $200,000 to Democratic candidates since 2005, election records show.

That total ranks the house with residences in Greenwich, Conn., and Manhattan's Upper East Side among the top addresses to donate to the Democratic presidential front-runner over the past two years, according to an analysis by The Wall Street Journal of donations listed with the Federal Election Commission.

It isn't obvious how the Paw family is able to afford such political largess. Records show they own a gift shop and live in a 1,280-square-foot house that they recently refinanced for $270,000. William Paw, the 64-year-old head of the household, is a mail carrier with the U.S. Postal Service who earns about $49,000 a year, according to a union representative. Alice Paw, also 64, is a homemaker. The couple's grown children have jobs ranging from account manager at a software company to "attendance liaison" at a local public high school. One is listed on campaign records as an executive at a mutual fund.

The Paws' political donations closely track donations made by Norman Hsu, a wealthy New York businessman in the apparel industry who once listed the Paw home as his address, according to public records. Mr. Hsu is one of the top fund-raisers for Mrs. Clinton's presidential campaign. He has hosted or co-hosted some of her most prominent money-raising events.

Naturally, Clinton spokes-hack Howard Wolfson offered up a heaping helping of doubletalk.

A Clinton campaign spokesman, Howard Wolfson, said in an email: "Norman Hsu is a longtime and generous supporter of the Democratic party and its candidates, including Senator Clinton. During Mr. Hsu's many years of active participation in the political process, there has been no question about his integrity or his commitment to playing by the rules, and we have absolutely no reason to call his contributions into question."

But that dog don't hunt.

Kent Cooper, a former disclosure official with the Federal Election Commission, said the two-year pattern of donations justifies a probe of possible violations of campaign-finance law, which forbid one person from reimbursing another to make contributions.

"There are red lights all over this one," Mr. Cooper said.

Read the rest.

This stinks to high heaven, but likely nobody outside the WSJ will pursue it out of fear of retribution.

More from Don Surber.

Naturally, some HuffPost clowns are calling it a smear, without even addressing the facts of the case.

Pantsuit Feared Prosecution

The Washington Post reports on two new books about Mrs. Clinton, one from Carl Bernstein, which details her fears of prosecution during the 1990s.

"A Woman in Charge: The Life of Hillary Rodham Clinton," by Carl Bernstein, reports that Clinton as first lady was terrified she would be prosecuted, took over her own legal and political defense, and decided not to be forthcoming with investigators because she was convinced she was unfairly targeted. While in Arkansas, according to Bernstein, she personally interviewed one woman alleged to have had an affair with her husband, contemplated divorce and thought about running for governor out of anger at her husband's indiscretions.

The second book, "Her Way: The Hopes and Ambitions of Hillary Rodham Clinton," by Jeff Gerth and Don Van Natta Jr., doesn't portray her in glowing terms either.

"Her Way: The Hopes and Ambitions of Hillary Rodham Clinton," by Jeff Gerth and Don Van Natta Jr., reports that during her husband's 1992 campaign, a team she oversaw hired a private investigator to undermine Gennifer Flowers "until she is destroyed." Flowers had said publicly that she had an affair with Bill Clinton while he was governor of Arkansas.

The book also suggests that Hillary Clinton did not read the National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq in 2002 before voting to authorize war. And it includes a thirdhand report that the Clintons had a secret plan after the 1992 election in which he would have eight years as president and then she would have eight years, although last night a key source disavowed the story.

Naturally, the Clinton hit machine will be in hyperdrive in an attempt to discredit the authors, and leading the charge is henchperson Howard Wolfson, as unctuous an operative as there is on the political scene.

Howard Wolfson, a campaign spokesman, pointed to previous reports on some of the elements in the books to make the point that there was nothing new. "The news here is that it took three reporters nearly a decade to find no news," he said. He added: "Two overwhelming Senate victories in the toughest media market in the country demonstrated that voters have put these issues behind them."

I beg to differ on that. First of all, these issues weren't raised in either campaign, nor did any reporter ever bring them up. Since she began campaigning for the Senate with that ridiculous "listening tour," she never sat for a difficult interview of any kind out of the obvious fear such questions would be asked.

In the eight years since, I still have never seen a serious interview with this woman. The lapdog media is so fearful of being denied access to the Clintons that they dare not ever pose a tough question to Her Thighness.

Pantsuit, We Have a Problem

Looks like more trouble for Mrs. Clinton.

I'm crushed.

NEW YORK (AP) - Hillary Rodham Clinton's deputy campaign manager wrote a memo this week urging the Democratic front-runner to bypass the Iowa caucuses, in order to spend time and resources in New Hampshire, South Carolina and several larger states hosting primaries next Feb. 5.

The memo emerged days after a new Des Moines Sunday Register poll of likely caucus goers showed Clinton trailing rivals John Edwards and Barack Obama in Iowa, which is scheduled to hold the first voting contests next January 14.

"I believe we need a new approach to winning the Democratic nomination," deputy campaign manager Mike Henry wrote. "This approach involves shifting the focus away from Iowa and running a campaign that is more focused on other early primary states and winning this new national primary."

There was no indication Wednesday that Henry's advice would be heeded. Campaign spokesman Howard Wolfson said both the candidate and her top advisers are committed to campaigning in Iowa and that Henry's views were not shared by others in the campaign.

"These are Mike's thoughts, the memo was unsolicited, and it does not reflect in any way Sen. Clinton's thinking," Wolfson said.

Sure.