Which of these is the most important story?

Question

A republican senators indiscretions (no Im not trying to exonerate this guy) or a presidential candidates that has previous issues with Chinese campaign contributions also being tied to a Chinese grand theft fugitive. Since this story has been on the back burner here is the story for those not aware
Norman Hsu, a prominent Democratic fundraiser who has funnelled hundreds of thousands of dollars into Hillary Clinton's Senate campaigns and pledged to raise $100,000 for her presidential bid has been a fugitive from justice for 15 years.

In 1992, he pleaded no contest to charges of grand theft and agreed to serve three years in jail. But something funny happened on the way to prison; he never showed up:


Since 2004, one Norman Hsu has been carving out a prominent place of honor among Democratic fundraisers. He has funneled hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions into party coffers, much of it earmarked for presidential hopeful Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York.

In addition to making his own contributions, Hsu has honed the practice of assembling packets of checks from contributors who bear little resemblance to the usual Democratic deep pockets: A self-described apparel executive with a variety of business interests, Hsu has focused on delivering hefty contributions from citizens who live modest lives and are neophytes in the world of campaign giving.
It gets better. Apparently, Mr. Hsu "forgot" that he is a convicted felon:
On Tuesday, E. Lawrence Barcella Jr. -- a Washington lawyer who represents the Democratic fundraiser -- confirmed that Hsu was the same man who was involved in the California case. Barcella said his client did not remember pleading to a criminal charge and facing the prospect of jail time. Hsu remembers the episode as part of a settlement with creditors when he also went through bankruptcy, Barcella said.
The Wall Street Journal has some interesting facts about Hsu and his donors:
Yesterday, The Wall Street Journal reported that a modest home in a middle-class San Francisco suburb, where the family of mail carrier William Paw resides, is listed as the address for many contributions to the Clinton campaign. Mr. Hsu once listed the home as his address, according to public records, and the Paws' donations closely tracked his.

Hsu is known in fundraising circles as a "bundler" - someone who collects checks from large groups of wealthy donors and presents them to the campaign. Since many of these checks and donors list one single address of a house in a San Francisco suburb, suspicion is that most of that money could be Hsus' and that he either created many donors or re-imbursed contributors for their donations.

Hillary's troubles with another big contributor, Peter Paul, and a star studded gala fundraiser for her Senate campaign that was improperly reported to the FEC resulted in large fines. One begins to wonder just how many other fundraising scandals involving Hillary Clinton are out there just waiting to be discovered.

dont really need to post the story of Craig. you can click on every other question in this section. that would be the point. I want to know why in the last two days there have been more than likely 1000 question with a subject of Craig. and people in here are saying this story is made up without a source. that is quite odd to me.

Answer 1

Obviously, the Norman Hsu story. This is an attempt to influence presidential politics, and such attempts are far too welcome, as history has demonstrated, by a political family known as the Clintons. The only things missing from this story is a Buddhist monastery or temple where a senior staffer goes to accept campaign contributions and a side-deal with China. This time it is Hillary up to Bill's old dirty tricks again. What the media is not telling you is that illegal campaign raising such as this also leads to mail and wire fraud, serious federal offenses. Election law stipulates Hsu cannot bankroll donations. Campaign contributors must contribute directly to the Clinton and other campaigns.

The other story is about a man in a bathroom who is a Republican senator arrested for tapping his foot, even though no sexual contact or words were ever established. The media is fueling this feeding frenzy into a shark attack to divert the attention from Senator Clinton and her dirty tricks to skirt campaign law. Liberals are overreacting by bashing gays, and the press is laughing.

Answer 2

Okay, I stopped being a Democrat years ago for many reasons and today it's tough being a Republican but the alternative is too ugly for me to switch. That being said, both stories should have equal weight.

If Bush faced the same thing as Hillary during either election, the press would be running the story non-stop like they did with the Nat'l Guard story until they found out the documents were forged.

Elected officials have to be held to a high standard and the senator should step down just as the GOP is asking him to do. Now this action is needed because it is the right thing to do. Of course, when Rep. Barney Frank (D) had a male prostitution ring being run in his home, did the Democratic leadership ask HIM to step down?

Now it seems that GOP guys getting into trouble are always resigning and that is what should happen. It's funny that the Dems don't feel those standards should apply to themselves.

Answer 3

First of all, I'm sure you realize that Republican presidential campaigns have also accepted money from China, and other foreign countries. Why is it only illegal when Democrats do it?

Secondly, during Bill Clinton's campaign and two terms there were so many spurious charges leveled against him that it might just be that today people don't trust them. The accusations started with Whitewater, then the murders of Vince Foster and Ron Brown, selling drugs out of the airport in Mena, Arkansas, raping Juanita Broderick, selling nuclear secrets to the Chinese, etc.etc.

All these accusations were very thoroughly (and very expensively) investigated, but none were supported by evidence even to the point of being indictable. Yet Republicans kept repeating this long laundry-list of charges long after they'd been discredited, as if they'd been proven. The ONLY thing they actually found was the stain on the dress. So it's possible the news media see these charges as just more GOP 'slime'.

The real problem is the importance of money in politics. I'm certainly not excusing Hillary, she's no more honest than she needs to be. But she knows, as GW knew, that if you want to win you have to be the candidate who spends the most money, and it doesn't really matter where you get it. I don't think all-in-all that the Democrats are any more dishonest at raising money than the Republicans are.

It wouldn't surprise me to learn that the Republicans were funneling money into Hillary's campaign because they see her as the easiest of the Democratic front-runners to beat in the general election. They've been caught doing this before in congressional elections, secretly supporting a weak candidate in the primary so they can win the general election. These people really have no shame! They believe in winning at any cost.

Answer 4

Considering there is nothing wrong with being gay and we know that Bill Clinton received $500,000 in exchange for giving China rocket and satellite technology and most favored trading partner status I'd have to say Chinagate 2 is the most important underreported story in the last two years.

Besides the outing of the Craig story in the last week of the congressional summer vacation (slow media time) is a perfect mirror of the Foley story last year.

And since Norman Hsu is known to have orchestrated hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars for Hillary Clinton her giving away the legal $23K he donated to her is quite disingenuous. And the last time she "gave away" suspicious donatoins to charity she gave it to Bill's evironmental charity and before that she gave it to her woman's charity. Did she say where this money was going?

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118826947048110677.html?mod=hps_us_mostpop_viewed

Answer 5

I heard just this morning on the radio that Sen. Clinton was going to be giving $23,000 dollars of her contributions from this guy to charity. Apparently she knows that he is a crook and more importantly, she knows that the American people know he is a crook. As to the more important story... Fishy campaign fund raising issues are a dime a dozen any more. It is obvious which headline will grab more readers' attention.

Answer 6

There's nothing they can do about it. The last guy to try selling his oil in Euros got hung by the neck until dead, Saddam sensibly wanted to get out of dollar trading before the dollar went down the pan. Even w. Iraq in it's pocket and the world oil markets subdued the up and coming super powers are going to want to trade in currencies that are in their ascendancy, the worm has turned around..

Answer 7

She doesn't sit there with a green eyeshade counting the checks, neither she nor any candidate makes out the reports to the FEC. Most candidates have had the same or similar things happen. Look at Enron and Bush. Hillary is aware of the situation and has already donated the contributions to charity. The reason this isn't a big story is.....because it isn't a big story.

Jerry, its not a secret that that aide messed up, its on the news, I saw it this morning on NBC and CNN. Lets not get paranoid over a drunken incident and try to make it seem the same as crushing the constitution.

Answer 8

Thank-you for this info cause I knew Obama was having issues with Hillary over 4 of her champaign funders. It seems word is getting around now! Good thing for the internet cause left up to the media we would never find out!

Answer 9

I try to avoid questions from "conservatives" unless I know they are "safe" and smart,

the two stories you mention, they are of equal bull smack quality,

milk is 3.09 a gallon,
gas is 2.78
day care a week is 212
rent is 1369 a month

while we flock to these stories and ask about them here in yahoo answer land, they don't affect bringing the price down on what i need to buy,
they do not, at all, increase my pay

Answer 10

They also call him a "Hillraiser".

That's what they call all the major contributors. Hillary's crew says that they have just become aware of Mr. Hsu's legal problems in California and will be giving the money to charity.

All of it?

Even the amount he reimbursed anonymous donors?