I’m sick and fucking tired of the bickering about the transcripts of speeches Hillary Clinton gave to Goldman Sachs. Why the shit should anyone care about the context of the speech? She’s by far one of the most intelligent and nuanced individuals on the planet- it’s not like she was going to walk up to the lectern and say “Thanks for asking me to be here, how can I make your lives easier?”. That would never, ever fucking happen. I’m 99.9% convinced that there’s nothing even remotely nefarious in the context of those speeches. Likely, most of them are necessary discourses to a largely male audience on the real, factual changes that need to be made in terms of how women are treated in the power structure.
So, for a com-fucking-pletely obvious reason, I’m over the transcripts. The words aren’t why anyone, Hillary Clinton included, is paid six figures to speak to Goldman, Morgan Stanley, Fidelity Investments, or a dozen pharmaceutical conglomerates over the course of a few years. They’re all, to the last speaker, paid for access after the fact. It’s a naked form of bribery that either works or doesn’t- “Here’s hoping Hillary remembers the time we paid her nearly a quarter mil to tell us anecdotes about a childhood fishing trip”.
The content isn’t the issue. Being distracted by the content, and the clever tap-dancing around releasing the text is exactly what anyone in that position would want to shift the conversation to when asked. Sure, it reeks of Nixon, and you know it’s shady, but when it’s all said and done, this time at least, the words don’t matter. Here’s what matters.
To the immediate right, much smaller than I’d hoped, is a list of speeches given by the candidate running for President on the Democratic ticket who is claiming that she, and she alone can wave a magic wand against the kind of influence that money can buy. If we were talking about a candidate for the GOP, and I posted the exact same list with a different name on the top, every single person here would declare them to be corrupt, bought and paid for, accepting legal bribes, and demonized.
This can no longer be a conversation about what was said at a paid gig. We all need a reality check from time to time. And this particular reality check comes in the form of whether or not you can distance yourself from reality enough to say- with a straight fucking face, that every single power broker and politician except Hillary Clinton would take that money in exchange for a political favor down the road.
C’mon. Be honest. If this list belonged to Ted Cruz or Trump or, especially Bernie Sanders, everyone would be having a fucking field day with it. Every single diary on the wreck list would be about rampant corruption, bribery, a candidate who is a wholly-owned subsidiary of corporate America. “How could we possibly elect someone who is this deep into the clutches of everything we’re fundamentally opposed to as Democrats?” would be the conversation. But, for the sole reason that it’s Hillary Clinton, and no one else, a good portion of the country is willing to ignore this dissonance within their own minds. Because inevitable? Because ready? Because Albright?
It’s time to be honest and serious. Part of that is admitting this is a damnable thing to have so much corporate influence in politics in general, and on our side specifically. Bernie Sanders isn’t in the employ of these interests. Bernie Sanders wants this kind of shit to end.