Clinton Donations Report Spreads Badly Needed Cynicism

In preparation for Hillary's ascension to Secretary of State, the donors to husband Bill's Clinton Foundation were revealed this week, As expected the list had some embarrassing names on it, like AIG, Lehman Brothers, the wife of Clinton pardonee Marc Rich, and Saudi Arabia, which allowed the New York Post to picture Clinton wearing an Ay-rab headdress.

The Post plays both sides of the street, also suggesting that the Fondation's gifts from the notorious mercenary outfit Blackwater "could put Sen. Clinton in hot water" in a report that shows more interest in Blackwater's Iraq malfeasances than is traditional for the paper.

This egregious agglomeration of influence in a public servant's family is of course nothing new, and no one expects real trouble for Clinton's appointment over this. But the press' now-customary contempt for the Clintons allows them to highlight the near-accusations of quasi-corruption, which will lower such public esteem as they have left, and also spread the useful idea that the people who rule us are neither politically nor morally fastidious about where or from whom they get their money.