How about the fact that he missed his court appearance?  No big deal?

What does this prove?

z-loon,

You have got to be kidding!

For his sake, let's hope he wasn't given a clintonian tour of Ft. Marcy Park but rather a one way ticket to Bejing.

Hsu has been arrested.

So you can stow all that Vince Foster crap. And remember, <a href="http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1997/02/23/starr.report/>Ken Starr</a> didn't come up with anything there, either.</p>

Apologies. Let me repeat myself:

And remember, Ken Starr didn't come up with anything there, either.

As a Democrat (given the lack of realistically electable choices) this is not a position we should be defending. It can not end well for us -- if we prove no more interested in governing well than the GOP -- we might as well just vote their ticket.

Don't expect a whole lot of activity on this thread.  The lefties will run from this faster than Norman Hsu hopping a plane to Bejing.

Good call!! 6 hours and only 10 posts. Yeah, they really hate the truth. Preach on, brother!

Nice try, but the facts are thus:  Presently, there is no charge of illegal activity.  If evidence is presented in the future, and if someone has been convicted, I personally will be one of the first to condemn the illegal activity.

The last thing I want is to have Democratic lawmakers lowering themselves to the level of the Republicans.

Let's be clear about the strange case of Norman Hsu.

Hsu donated his own money to various Democratic campaigns. This was legal, and most of the campaigns (including Hillary's and Obama's) have given the money to charity.

Also Hsu was a bundler for Democrats. That is, he took money from lots of smaller donors, put it all together, and gave it all to a candidate's campaign. As MMFA has pointed out, this is also a legal practice.

What remains to be seen is where Hsu got the money from. The names of all the donors who give to a bundler must be reported to the FEC, so there's at least a record. The FBI has opened up an investigation into the sources of Hsu's bundled money. Some of the money will probably be dirty, but I'll wait to hear the official verdict.

It's important to note that Hsu isn't being accused of bribery or influence peddling. There is, so far as I know, no evidence of quid pro quo. (Something which distinguishes this from the Abramoff and K Street scandals, both of which were much bigger in scope than this one and which involved exclusively Republicans). Nor is there any evidence that Hillary or the other politicians who took money from Hsu knew of his background.

That said, this shows incredibly bad judgment on Hillary's part. How on earth could she not have found out that there was a felony warrant out on this guy? It can't be that hard for someone of Hillary's means and position to do a complete background check.

The smartest thing for her to do would be to release the names of all the bundled donors, and to return all money that turns out to be dirty. So far she has refused to do this. I hope she does, or it'll be awfully hard for me to support her.

STEVE K:

Are you being realistic? You think Hillary should personally vet all donors, extensively investigating backgrounds?

If you ran for dogcatcher, or county commissioner, in a small community, would it be up to YOU to make sure all votes cast for you were valid? Would you be expected to know if someone voted who, by some technicality, should not have cast a vote?

No. It's not your job. If "laws were broken" in anything surrounding an election, it's up to law enforcement personnel to uncover and prosecute those instances. The Candidate? He or she should, of course, be ASKED if they knew illegality was taking place. But to expect THEM to investigate all aspects of an election ... especially a nation-wide election ... that's just daft. 

Hsu was not just a private donor; he was also a bundler--someone who collects from a huge number of smaller donors and gives all the money to the campaign. He was a "Hillraiser", someone whom Clinton relied on to raise a lot of money for the campaign. As such he was more important to her than a common donor. So yes, I am surprised she didn't vet him more carefully.

Hsu's criminal background seems to have escaped not just Hillary, but many other Democratic politicians. There is no evidence that any of them knew of his past. Nor, as I said, is there any evidence of bribery or influence peddling. So I am willing to believe that Hillary was just not quite as careful as she should have been.

As I said the FBI is investigating the sources of Hsu's bundled donations. If Hillary is smart she won't wait on them to find out how much of it is dirty (and right now there is no proof that any of it is dirty), but have her campaign investigate and return all of the money that turns out to be dirty.

Disgraced Democratic donor arrested in Grand Junction

HRC just might have to start getting "lawyered up" for the coming trials.

"HillRaiser"  - HILLARIOUS!

Still being "honored" at the official campaign web site?  yup!

JOHN EDWARD'S '08 BLOG -

It makes one wonder just how much dirty money has been funneled to candidates such as Clinton when the man behind the transactions walks away from a $2 million bond.  Where is he and, more importantly, where did all of his money come from?  When they do find his body I won't be surprised if it will be because he "shot" himself in the mouth, "fell" off of a building or under a train, or fell "asleep" with a plastic bag over his head.

It would be in keeping with the Clinton fundraising principles to keep these ill-gotten gains; we should not be surprised.  After all, returning the funds would demonstrate some level of moral authority.  Moral Authority does not seem to be much of a priority for the Clinton camp ..."triangulation" is so much easier to pronounce.  Yeah, she's a fundraising leader alright ....

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Is the country really in a mood to go back to the sleazy Clinton years?  I'm thinking that a lot of Dems are going to pull the lever for Obama or Edwards just so that they can sleep at night. 

JT, you are one amazing unit.  You've got no evidence of any wrongdoing, either now nor during the Clinton administration, but by God you're sure they did it!!!  Yet you'll brush aside numerous facts that show how George W Bush has railroaded this country.

C'mon, give us something with a little meat on it.  Oh, you don't have anything? As I thought.

I know that it's kind of "thin" to quote from the John Edward '08 blog ...