In her WSJ column, Noonan writes that Bill and Hillary Clinton have engaged in so many incidents of questionable behavior that yet another chapter doesn’t hold the attention of the media or the public.
While critics have questioned Schweizer’s credibility,
Noonan, a former Reagan speechwriter, finds the research and facts-based
reporting on the Clinton Foundation “a highly effective takedown” presented in a moderate tone.
Hillary seems to have weathered the storm fairly well and
Bill is probably the only guy on the planet who can effectively say, without facing
loud derision, that his $750,000-per-speech fees received overseas were just a
way of paying the Clintons’ bills.
Here’s how Noonan sums up her thinking about the book's
many allegations:
“By the end I was
certain of two things. A formal investigation, from Congress or the Justice
Department, is needed to determine if Hillary Clinton’s State
Department functioned, at least to some degree and in some cases, as a
pay-for-play operation and whether the Clinton Foundation has functioned, at
least in part, as a kind of high-class philanthropic slush fund.
“I wonder if any
aspirant for the presidency except Hillary Clinton could survive such a book. I
suspect she can because the Clintons are unique in the annals of American
politics: They are protected from charges of corruption by their reputation for
corruption. It’s not news anymore. They’re like … Bonnie and Clyde go on a
spree, hold up a bunch of banks, it causes a sensation, there’s a trial, and
they’re acquitted. They walk out of the courthouse, get in a car, rob a bank,
get hauled in, complain they’re being picked on —“Why are you always following
us?”— and again, not guilty. They rob the next bank and no one cares. “That’s
just Bonnie and Clyde doing what Bonnie and Clyde do. No one else cares, why
should I?”
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