August 23, 2016

In the maelstrom of attacks on the Clinton Foundation, James Carville is the only person I've seen defend the work it actually does around the world. It's worth paying attention to that, instead of focusing on some emails that mean nothing in the greater scheme of things.

Speaking to Anderson Cooper last night, Carville laid it out in stark terms. "The Clinton Foundation was taking no money for the Clintons, raising money from rich people and giving it to poor people," he scolded. "All of a sudden, the press has decided that we're going to go after this and shut it down."

That sums it up pretty well. Despite the fact that there is no evidence of "pay to play," no evidence of wrongdoing, the press is running with the narrative crafted by Judicial Watch, a right-wing organization created for no other reason than to attack the Clintons and anything the Clintons do.

Carville went on to enumerate the three things he's proudest of with his association with the Clintons over the years. The first was stopping the genocide in Bosnia, the second was the Human Genome Project, and the third was the Clinton Foundation, which has provided low-cost HIV drugs to millions, low-cost malaria drugs to millions, and saved millions of lives.

"Again, when George W. Bush was president his Daddy was raising money for the Bush Library. I thought that was fine. I didn't care. when Bob Dole was Majority Leader, Elizabeth Dole was the President of American Red Cross," Carville said. "I didn't say anything. the idea that there's something in here that the Crown Prince of Bahrain, if he wanted to, he could have -- hire the president to give a speech as opposed to give it to a foundation which he makes no money from, which he donates all of his time, which he actually gives money out of his own pocket for."

He concluded, "I mean, somebody that's shutting this down and they will shut it down and people are going to die. "

It's true. People will. It would be a good thing for our media to have a look at what the Clinton Foundation actually does, and what the Clintons actually did for it, which they did not receive any money to do.

This is unlike right-wing "philanthropy," which primarily uses their foundations and nonprofits to shape political ideas in this country, influence elections, and do it with Billionaire Bucks from mysterious people. In fact, Judicial Watch is solely funded by right-wing philanthropy and nothing else.

Apparently media has no problem using their "messaging" for their reports with no mention of their funding or agenda, but the Clinton Foundation needs a special prosecutor? I don't think so.

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