The American Spectator : Foreign Money?

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Foreign Money?

By R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr. on 10.14.10 @ 6:08AM

There the Democrats go again, as their shrinks would say, projecting.

WASHINGTON -- Okay, Okay! It is only a satire. I am not really running for mayor of Chicago, but I do have something in common with someone who is running for mayor of Chicago, Rahm Emanuel. Neither I nor Rahm qualifies for residency in Chicago, though my family traces its roots in the city back to the 19th century, and I was at least born in Chicago. If Rahm bullies his way to residency, Chicago's big shoulders are not what they once were. He gave no thought to running until a few weeks back when Mayor Richard M. Daley announced his retirement, and now Rahm has no place to live.

Our second shared attribute is that the idea of campaigning is repellent to both of us. I could no more stand at a bus station and shake hands than, well, than Rahm, and he is proving his disrelish for the glad hand on this "Listening Tour." People do not like him. They approach him as though he were an enemy alien, and he is. He is from Washington, D.C. He wants to take their money. My guess is that he will lose.

The only thing going for Rahm is that the election is next year. By then things might have improved. On the other hand they might get worse. Right now they are getting worse. Reasonable estimates are that the Republicans will win anywhere between 48 and 52 seats in the Senate. In the House they will gain anywhere between 50 and 70 seats. We are sitting on a volcano, and to think that a little over a year ago all the talk was of Republican moribundity. There was a book out, The Death of Conservatism. Perhaps you heard of it. It was by Sam Tanenhaus. He is the editor of the New York Times Book Review, so he cannot very well go into hiding. But he can patrol his publication to be sure that no book hinting at the truth gets into his pages. Thus readers of the Review all happily anticipate further ruin to the Republican Party this fall. What will they do when it does not happen?

The scenario is already being written. They will claim that the electorate was brain washed by the press. Their press, mind you, but for some reason it was duped or made a mistake. Then too they will claim the huge Republican vote was bought. The groundwork for this whopper is already being laid. In fact, it is part of what passes for a last gasp strategy to grab a seat here, a seat there.

The loudest proponent of this desperate gambit is of course the president. Mr. Obama in Maryland last week warned that "groups that received foreign money are spending huge sums to influence American elections." Soon MoveOn.org was calling for the IRS to investigate the Chamber of Commerce. Senator Al Franken took up the charge that "foreign corporations are indirectly spending significant sums to influence American elections through third-party groups." It all fit in with calls for investigations from Senator Max Baucus, Representative John Conyers, David Axelrod, and chief White House economist, Austan Goolsbee, who in a conference call to reporters in August seemed to be aware of particulars in tax returns of the principals at Koch Industries.

Now, actually, foreigners and possibly foreign governments have been known to influence American elections. Yet I cannot recall them serving as friends of the Republicans. I remember them as friends of the Clintons, helping him win the election of 1992 and coming out again in 1996. Foremost was Mochtar Riady and his son, James. I have chronicled their generosity and the generosity of other shadowy Asians in my 2007 book, The Clinton Crack-Up. In a chapter aptly title "The Chop Suey Connection," I chronicle how the Riadys, a family of ethnic Chinese from Indonesia, saved Bill Clinton's candidacy in the 1992 primaries with a loan of $3.5 million. Later, James, by now a United States citizen, contributed $450,000 to Clinton-Gore, and his family and associates gave $600,000 to the Democratic National Committee. Then he and an associate, John Huang, gave $100,000 each to the inaugural festivities.

In 1996 these colorful figures were back. Not only that, but so was Charlie Trie, a man with no visible wealth who passed along hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Democratic National Committee and the Presidential Legal Defense Fund. Allegedly, he got the money from Ng Lapseng, a trafficker in ladies of the night from Macau. Then there was Johnny Chung who arranged presidential photo ops for cash, one beneficiary being Colonel Liu Chaoying who passed along $366,000 to the Democratic National Committee. Colonel Liu was the daughter of the most senior general in the People's Liberation Army, and allegedly a spy.

There were other foreign investors in American politics in the Clinton years and I cannot see any supporting Republicans today. Frankly, I think the Democrats as lying to us.

About the Author

R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr. is the founder and editor in chief of The American Spectator. He is the author of the forthcoming The Death of Liberalism, published by Thomas Nelson Inc. His previous books include the New York Times bestseller Boy Clinton: the Political Biography; The Impeachment of William Jefferson Clinton; The Liberal Crack-Up; The Conservative Crack-Up; Public Nuisances; The Future that Doesn't Work: Social Democracy's Failure in Britain; Madame Hillary: The Dark Road to the White House; The Clinton Crack-Up; and After the Hangover: The Conservatives' Road to Recovery.

Letter to the Editor View all comments (36) | Leave a comment

Booger| 10.14.10 @ 6:33AM

From the desk of Chinese President Hu Jintao:

Dear President Obama,

I grow weary of listening to your complaints. First, you take out twelve trillion American dollars in loans, then you come back crying like some poor school girl because you can't make the payments on time. I do not need to hear excuses. I need my money.

What is this business about 376 per cent interest being a "loan shark"? What is a "loan shark", anyway? Some of my advisers tell me this is one of your barbarian "Chicago terms". Look, you agreed to the interest rate when you borrowed the money, okay? If you didn't like it then you should have said so. But noooooo, you insisted you needed it right then for "health care", "TARP" and "stimulus". Like I care what you needed it for. I told you that it was too much, but you insisted, so I made the loan. After all, you are President of the United States.

Now you come back whining about being broke. I do NOT want to hear it. You are President of the United States, for crying out loud! Take it! What do you have an IRS for? You promised me my money. Do you know what happens to people who don't give me my money? Do you want to find out? I got two words for you buddy: Tianamen Square. Think about that before you tell me you can't make the payments.

Look, you got all you need, you just have to take it, okay? The people in your country are under-taxed, that's your problem. Get out there and shake 'em down! You'll be able to make the payments in no time. There's no need for this to be rough for you. After all, you borrowed the money for them anyway, right?

So have my payment to me by Saturday afternoon. Otherwise I'm going to have to send a couple of the boys around. Hate to do it, you know, but business is business. So get out there and hustle up my dough.

Your Friend,

President of China Hu Jintao

Longplay| 10.14.10 @ 10:11AM

Fantastic! This would make a great video.

John II| 10.14.10 @ 10:33PM

Booger, I think it's time for you to start submitting this stuff to the Spectator as regular feature pieces--you could be the Rob Long of TAS.

And your identity will be safe if you just use your real name for the byline. None of us is likely to suspect that it's really Booger.

R Martin| 10.14.10 @ 7:52AM

Democrats are expert practioners of shameless hypocrisy. Not only did they happily accept the foreign money to which Mr. Tyrrell refers, they effectively blocked a senate investigation into its sources. Playing tackle in that offense was Ohio senator John Glenn who, by is partisan actions, went from legitimate national hero to cheap political hack.

butterfly53| 10.14.10 @ 8:26AM

Hmm, didn't barry receive monies from the middle east?

Ned| 10.14.10 @ 2:42PM

Yeah, ET - how about some discourse on all those millions in campaign contributions to Barry Bullsh*t with cardholder names like "12345"... we don't need to go all the way back to Slick Willy to see Dimcritter hypocracy, projection and outright lies. Seems to me the only difference between then and now, anyway, is that Slcik was a "better" liar... perhaps not as prolific, but not as venal and obvious, either....

Ken (Old Texican| 10.14.10 @ 8:29AM

Mr. Tyrrell,

I am very uncomfortable with the "light tone" of your article.
Sir, you almost sound as if the foreign money dumped into Democrat campaigns is sort of equivalent to kids' hands in a cookie jar.

Yeah yeah, some of the fundraisers were put in jail, but what the heck about the politicians who were in pawn to these sources inimical to our country and it's constitution?

There is still smoke hovering around Bill Clinton and the Chinese connection, but has he ever been indicted? Even thoroughly investigated?

What about Islamist contributions to Obama's campaign?
Sir, those smoke sources scare the dickens out of me in light of what he has done since inauguration.

In fact, they concerned me enough to write a novel length cautionary story about where it could very plausibly lead.
The book was published on line a week ago. Obviously a heck of a lot of other people want to try to peer into the near future, and how to protect their family.

RCV| 10.14.10 @ 6:45PM

Please, Ken, enlighten us as to the details of the "Islamist contributions to Obama's campaign".

Ken (Old Texican)| 10.14.10 @ 7:22PM

RCV
I would.....but then they would have to kill me...and everyone of you who read the post.

Sorry, You will just have to trust me on this.

RCV| 10.15.10 @ 11:59AM

Nice try, Ken, but it doesn't fly. I knew you made that one up. But somebody has to call you on it sometime.

ej| 10.14.10 @ 9:18AM

Rahm grew up in west Wilmette, IL. He attended schools with some of the wealthiest demographics in America, Avoca Jr High, New Trier HS (West) Class of 1977. His Chicago "roots" started after he finished college.

ncatty| 10.14.10 @ 9:59AM

Are you saying he is a limousine liberal? Don't confuse us with the facts!

Louis Jenkins| 10.14.10 @ 9:21AM

Right now there's a substantial amount of doubt were the Pretender n Chief's money came from. Yeah, I know, as advertised a while back, $5 here or $10 there, but the truth may go much deeper. If the Muslims have beeen contributing to the President's election efforts, then we're in a world of hurt. There was nothing done about the Clinton-Chinese connection and now we're finding out that they've caught up with us militarily. The Muslims are (have) begun to catch up on the religious front, I can only count the ways, to the point we're afraid to speak one negative term. This is maddness! Only two short weeks and the work begins.

Anthony| 10.14.10 @ 10:26AM

Obozo has taken a page out of the D handbook and the Dan Rather school of journalism, in demanding that the Chamber of Commerce prove its innocence of the charge of foreign money.
Unfortunately, neither our conservative talking heads nor the R party have responded properly.
If Obozo wants to play the game of the charge is more serious than the evidence, then we should demand that Obozo release his actual birth certificate, that he has spent $ millions hiding and having the Gov. of Hawaii legislate off limits. There is ample evidence to support the contention that Obozo is hiding something. Also, it is a requirement under the Constitution, that the leftist courts have failed to recognize, with their flippant dismissal of various lawsuits to determine Obozo's eligibility.
The only way to hit the Ds is to play their game and hit back harder. Remember, it is Obozo who has conjured up the notion of "hand to hand combat".

RacerJim| 10.14.10 @ 11:00AM

As you say, Anthony, the only way to hit the Ds is to play their game and hit back harder.

Here are just three hits back...
"Obama's real birth certificate proves he is a usurper."
"Obama's father was never a U.S. Citizen."
"Obama attended college as a foreigner."

Anthony| 10.14.10 @ 5:21PM

You sir, are batting 1000.

Louis Jenkins| 10.14.10 @ 1:03PM

Yes Anthony, I'd like to see the real birth certificate too. And his college records. Many here poopoo these documents, but it would be a beginning. But they'll hang on to those documents come he-- or high water.

Anthony| 10.14.10 @ 5:30PM

The question(s) that are never addressed by those who ridicule and distain the "birthers" is why has Obozo spent $Millions keeping his Birth Certificate off limits?
Why did the Gov. of Hawaii see fit to insure that no private citizen could access it?
Why hasen't Obozo released his college records?
How did he get from Occidental College to Columbia and then to Harvard Law?
Why was Dan Rather so hot on Bush's TANG records, which would have proved NOTHING, but remains silent on these questions? (The last one is rhetorical, we know the answer, which applies to the rest of the MSM whores)

Genie| 10.14.10 @ 11:18AM

If the dam dropped the foal on US soil he's "native born" Even if he went back to Africa, as a minor he didn't have the capacity to wave his citizenship. If as some people possit, his sire was an AMerican Red, then he's doubley a Native Son"

Cogito Ergo Sum Conservativum| 10.14.10 @ 11:56AM

These issues wuld be put to rest forever if he simply:
Revealed why he has a social security number issued in a state he never resided.
Revealed his actual long form birth certificate like I have to to get a low level job.
Reveal how his college tuition was paid.

There are other questions about his origins and actions not addressed here, but the simple fact is...he could squash all of the rumors by taking a small action and reveal information that would be DEMANDED of any Republican by the entire media and Democrat party. Why does he not do the right thing? People have a right to doubt their "leader" when he obfuscates every attempt to find out exactly who this mystery man is.

Anthony| 10.14.10 @ 5:36PM

When our smartass, jackass president, Obozo, made the flippant comment, out of the blue, with no provocation earlier this summer, that people expect him to "wear his birth certificate on his forehead", then I knew for sure that he was hiding something.
No Obozo, nobody has asked you to wear your birth certificate on your forehead, JUST RELEASE THE DAMN THING AND GET IT OVER WITH!!! Same with your college records.
Why is this so damn difficult for you to do?

JeffW| 10.14.10 @ 12:28PM

" Even if he went back to Africa, as a minor he didn't have the capacity to wave his citizenship"
1. Wasn't it Indonesia he went to?
2. He did not have the capacity to waive his citizenship but his parents did
3. You must be a Indonesian citizen to attend school there
4. Indonesia does not recongnize dual citizenship

Not that I do not believe he may be a citizen but he is covering something up and these are just a few of the questions out there.

Susie Q| 10.14.10 @ 11:35AM

Don't forget Algore and the Buddist Temple episode...

Doctor_X| 10.14.10 @ 12:36PM

This French owned company gives more thte DEMS than REPS.

http://www.opensecrets.org/pac.....cycle=2010

Joe D.| 10.14.10 @ 2:08PM

You are exactly right. They are lying you us. And I would bet they are continuing to get foreign money, this time Muslim. So if they lie about the Republicans they can justify what they are doing.

Willyboy| 10.14.10 @ 5:14PM

This whole argument about foreign money is simply a diversion from the real issues in this campaign. These guys can't hold an argument on the merits, so they change the subject. When Axelrod brings this up, is asked for proof, demurrs, then asks "what proof do you have that it isn't true?"how ridiculous is that? Fortunately, most people are not watching network news.

jstwndring| 10.14.10 @ 7:01PM

Then there's the Saudi Royal Family that have given tens of millions of dollars to fund Obama's education and his election run. Look into it. You better believe foreigners are influencing our elections, they got their guy in the White House right now!

Yosemeti Sam| 10.15.10 @ 2:18AM

Per Michael Barone piece Townhall 101410:

Re: BHOs' Rasputin:

" ... The smoking gun? The Chamber of Commerce collects $100,000 in membership dues from foreigners out of a $200,000,000 operating budget and spends some of that budget on campaign ads. But Obama uberadviser David Axelrod says it's up to the chamber to prove it's innocent."...."

Well, isn't that - precious?

Then BHO should be held to that same logic - it's up to BHO to prove his birth certificate is innocent/on-the-up-and-up and not for his
'truthers' to prove he is illegitimate.

ghostwriter| 10.15.10 @ 2:23AM

I wrote the following letter to David Axelrod. I don't expect an answer.

"Mr. Axelrod:

Just how short a memory do you think the average American has? You asked Bob Schieffer if he had any proof that the Republican Party was not "taking foreign money". This smacks of LBJ's saying his opponent fornicated with pigs. His campaign flak asked him if he had proof of that and LBJ said, "Of course not, but make him deny it."

"I know one thing we have proof of - that Foreign Money is mother's milk to the Democratic Party.

Al Gore -
Buddhist Temple - no controlling legal authority.

Bill Clinton -
Charlie Trie, failed Arkansas restaurateur, good at
"take out" money, though.
Johnny Chung - While House revolving door guy "Money makes White House revolving door turn" (that would make a good fortune cookie word of wisdom) - gave Maggie Williams (Hillary's secretary) a check for $50,000 right in the White House (an illegal act)
John Huang - took a job at Commerce in exchange for his contributions.
Jamies Riady - big Indonesian Bag Man
Pauline Kanchanalak - Thai "business woman" indicted for illegal contribtuion.

Hillary Clinton
Norman Hsu - doin' hard time at the moment, for his bunding of funds in Hillary's run against Obama. A mail carrier in Daly City CA who lived in a cheap tract house was found to have donated a sum exceeding a year of his salary!
Vina Gupta - who the hell knows that he did - but if its money with a name like Gupta it probably isn't made in America
Ng Lapseng -
Abdul Rehman Jinnah
Jorge Carbrera - some criminal type in Havana,Cuba - had money laundered in by a Miami woman.

Mr. Axelrod, these names are not exactly as American as Apple Pie. Don't tell me who is influencing American politics. I am not too thrilled that Tony Rezko, a Chicago criminal had the influence to get his next door neighbor elected."
++++++++++++++++++
Obama said we are unable to look into the future 10-15 years to see the good things to come.

We are also unable to recall what happened a few years back that brought us to this point.

We will never learn. Bill Clinton, who disgraced the Office in more ways than Monica Lewinsky is still riding high, probably skimming $$ from the Haiti earthquake relief thing. Do I need proof of that crazy statement? No more than David Axelrod has.. . .

Fifteen years from now we will have forgotten what we tolerated and ranted over today.

ghostwriter| 10.15.10 @ 2:51PM

Mr. Tyrrell's mention of "Clinton Crack-Up" brought to mind all his other Clinton Era books and the riotously funny American Spectator Magazines as we trooped through TrooperGate, splashed through Whitewater, observed the chalk outline of the body of Hillary's bon ami, in Ft. Marcy Park - - had our minds boggled by the bearded Arkansas buffoon, whose name I have forgotten - soemthing or other Thomasson - the one who wanted to take over the Travel Office, hired Bill Clinton's "second cousin" (airhead blonde) to spy on the existing operation. . .bring in his own fleet of planes, skim money off the top that. We watched Webster Hubbell, our Attorney General go to jail - -

Bill Clinton was spirited away from a White House function by Secret Service to provide a sample for a match to the blue dress - - now that is what I call Secret "Service" Anyone else would have been hauled down to the Police Station.

We TOLERATED ALL OF THAT. It was good practice for tolerating an interloper who will not even give those who elected him the courtesy of
proof that he is who he says and that his education is what he claims.

This is our fault for not demanding that anyone release for public scrutiny, proof of birth, education, including transcript of grades and full military records. I know what full military records are. I know where my husband was inducted, where he went to pre--flight, when he was commissioned, where he served, the class of a/c he flew, even the hours he flew - it is all in his log - -when he went on inactive and into Reserves.

You would not have the John Kerry question, if you had full disclosure. You would not have worms like Blumenthal lying about their service if they knew going in, it was to be public information.

You educate people to know what you will tolerate. We have educated them well.

We tolerated all of that. Tyrrell's preictions of the outcome of the impeachment. We lapped it up in our wishful thinking.

Impeachment came and went. A few Republicans had their less than sterling characters put in the spotlight by Larry Flynt. One or two resigned. Our only claim to honor is that when caught, Republicans immediately resign. Pathetic.

rongordo| 10.17.10 @ 2:24AM

I'm even more cynical than this writer, in that I think the Dems and their media outlets will exagerate every poll, so that after as much cheating as possible, they can "credibly" claim narrow victory. We already know that these people hold back military voters while having ACORN groups pile-on vote of convicts, illegals, etc, etc. What's to stop them from simply shredding ballots altogether, and claiming any victory they want? Let's ask Al Franken.

ghostwriter| 10.18.10 @ 12:18PM

What is so sacrosanct about ELECTION RESULTS/VOTE COUNT DEADLINES? Doesn't anyone remember who long we danced around that a little pile of poop in Brower County before Al Gore finally conceded that it was going to be impossible for him to steal the election?

We should riot in the streets here until every military vote is in. And maybe tar and feather the incompetents who can't manage to get the ballots to Afghanistan - and also the idiots who cannot devise a system for them to all vote at the mess hall in Afghanistan - skip the purple ink on their trigger finger - and have a really fast plane fly the ballots back here with an armed guard so they cannot be destroyed by the very people who don't want military voting.

ghostwriter| 10.18.10 @ 12:21PM

Make that HOW long in the second sentence and correct the rest of the errors yourself - I am really mad and in a hurry.

BluGuy| 10.18.10 @ 4:10PM

Outstanding! I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who immediately remembered Bill Clinton's foreign "donations" when this was brought up.

Anthony Antetomaso| 10.18.10 @ 9:04PM

...An let's not forget the truckloads of yuan the Clinton White House scarfed up by selling our ICBM targeting technology - and the high-speed Cray supercomputers over the protestations of the DoD.

Check out AlamoGirl...
http://www.alamo-girl.com/0025.htm

There's enough stuff in here to throw a wet towel on all of this "foreign dough" malarkey, AND make you wonder why Clinton wasn't impeached for TREASON instead of perjury.

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