# Oh looky...there was Clinton-Gore lawbreaking after all. **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [September 21, 2002, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-looky-there-was-clinton-gore-lawbreaking-after-all/129030 "2002-09-21T21:21:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2002, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-looky-there-was-clinton-gore-lawbreaking-after-all/129030/21 "2002-09-22T01:46:42Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by december \* > So, why are you jumping all over _me_? When did I jump on you? I repeated my request for a non-sub cite. > [@](#): > > Maybe the real reason you served this fine whine about the cite is to distract the SDMB from Clinton’s illegal fund-raising. And here I was, googling off-line to find a cite for the ‘soft money’ story I’d conflated with the OP’s news item, and was actually going to apologize, specifically to you **december** , for confusing the issue. I’ve tried very hard to be polite to you in the past, and you’ve often shown that you do know what courtesy is, so I’d expected better. Live and learn. As for WaPo – they didn’t used to be a subscription site, IIRC, and it peeves me that I suddenly have to subscribe. I get enough spam, thank you. ---
**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2002, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-looky-there-was-clinton-gore-lawbreaking-after-all/129030/22 "2002-09-22T06:45:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mr. Moto \* > \*\*[1996 Democratic campaign fined more than $700,000.](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A46452-2002Sep20.html) > > Oh but, these were personal matters. This is just an effort to tear the party down. It’s a vast right wing conspiracy. :wally > > The Democrat party broke the law, corrupting the political system further with cash from foreign interests. Since this is pretty clear guilt, I’m curious how the Democrats of the board will respond. > > Protestations of innocense are ludicrous; saying the Republicans are just as bad is merely a distraction. > > This further tells me that reform of the process is useless if corrupt pols will break existing laws to keep power. The corrupt pols in question did this time and time again. \*\* For your next up-to-date and relevant project could I suggest you steer us to a website that proves that Lizzie Borden was guilty of murdering her parents after all? ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2002, 9:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-looky-there-was-clinton-gore-lawbreaking-after-all/129030/23 "2002-09-22T09:30:38Z")
Up to date and relevant? The fines were just issued. Another liberal tactic, stonewalling for forever and then claiming that this is old history, best left in the past. What I’d like to see is a Democrat actually say that they’re disgusted by this behavior of their party leaders, or provide evidence that the Federal Election Commission is in error in some way. [monty] I came here for an argument. [/monty] ---
**Author:** ![december](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/838e76/32.png) [@december](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/december)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2002, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-looky-there-was-clinton-gore-lawbreaking-after-all/129030/24 "2002-09-22T12:37:46Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by squeegee \* > \*\*As for WaPo – they didn’t used to be a subscription site, IIRC, and it peeves me that I suddenly have to subscribe. I get enough spam, thank you. \*\* When you subscribe, you have an option to refuse all spam. Just be careful to check the right box. ---
**Author:** ![Some\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Some\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Some_Guy)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2002, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-looky-there-was-clinton-gore-lawbreaking-after-all/129030/25 "2002-09-22T14:53:23Z")
Yes, but: 1. Registration necessarily implies providing demographic information to them, which I willnot do for free (though it’s easy enough to totally falsify the information into irrelevance). 2. Making the site check for registrations means making it _require_ cookies to operate. These cookies are then used to rack and tailor advertising. While my own setup is pretty bulletproof against advertising, that doesn’t change change the fact that they want to use my (not their) computer’s resources to get at more demographic information. Since I can easily block this (by not allowing cookies to be set, except by certain specific sites), I do in fact block it as a matter of course. I’m not going to change that behavior just to see whether the OP left out an “It is not the case that…” in their cite. Note that this isn’t a specific criticism of the the OP in this thread, but a general principle that I follow. 3. Requiring “Opt-out” protection from spam is just about the single most contemptible practice that one can engage in. I didn’t get far enough into the site to see if it actually required it in this case, since it barfed at me about my not having cookies turned on, but the principle holds in general: I shouldn’t have to go to any effort, ever to avoid being spammed. In practice, of course, people will assume that they have a right to spam me unless requested otherwise, but all such people are scum, whether they’re boiler-room telemarketers, penis-enlargement hucksters, or, say, _Yahoo!_. It’s all morally equivalent to me. Sorry for the hijack; I’ve got no particular comment on the actual matter at hand. ---
**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2002, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-looky-there-was-clinton-gore-lawbreaking-after-all/129030/26 "2002-09-22T20:50:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mr. Moto \* > \*\*What I’d like to see is a Democrat actually say that they’re disgusted by this behavior of their party leaders \*\* If you could even show me a Republican who was aware of all the fundraising abuses by their party leaders, I would be impressed. ---
**Author:** ![minty\_green](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f6c823/32.png) [@minty\_green](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minty_green)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2002, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-looky-there-was-clinton-gore-lawbreaking-after-all/129030/27 "2002-09-22T21:30:33Z")
Better yet, show me a Republican who’s outraged that some of Bush’s biggest campaign fundraisers are sleeping in the Lincoln Bedroom. ---
**Author:** ![december](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/838e76/32.png) [@december](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/december)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2002, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-looky-there-was-clinton-gore-lawbreaking-after-all/129030/28 "2002-09-23T00:28:18Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by minty green \* > \*\*Better yet, show me a Republican who’s outraged that some of Bush’s biggest campaign fundraisers are sleeping in the Lincoln Bedroom. \*\* **Minty** , you’re comparing apples and oranges. Clinton’s organized “renting out” of the Lincoln Bedroom was excessive and unseemly, but it was legal. This thread is about a whole bunch of flat-out illegal things done by the Clinton-Gore campaign and the Democratic Party. What stops Democrats from simply admitting that the 1996 campaign had a great deal of illegal Democratic fund-raising? I’m sure the Democratic members of this panel disapprove of the creation of dummy organizations to hide illegal foreign contributions, contributions laundered via religious orders, etc. ---
**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2002, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-looky-there-was-clinton-gore-lawbreaking-after-all/129030/29 "2002-09-23T00:46:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by december \* > \*\* > > What stops Democrats from simply admitting that the 1996 campaign had a great deal of illegal Democratic fund-raising? \*\* There is no need to “admit” anything. The record is clear that the Clinton-Gore campaign paid, according to the site in the cite, about $2000 of the total fine, so the admission has already been made. To ask board members to individually “admit” to anything is simply trying to rub some noses in it, beat a dead horse, and waste time on something that will become so irrelevant that even **december** will forget it if GW actually gets to play with his toys and unilaterally attack Iraq. And here I thought this was an _adult_ board. ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2002, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-looky-there-was-clinton-gore-lawbreaking-after-all/129030/30 "2002-09-23T04:30:23Z")
**Mr. Moto** wrote, in the OP: > [@](#): > > The Democrat party broke the law, corrupting the political system further with cash from foreign interests. Since this is pretty clear guilt, I’m curious how the Democrats of the board will respond.\*\* Okay, since the time you’ve posted this, it’s been established in this thread that it was the Democratic Party, and **not** Clinton and/or Gore, that was fined. So lemme ask: What made you say it was “Clinton-Gore” lawbreaking instead of just “Democratic Party” lawbreaking? ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2002, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-looky-there-was-clinton-gore-lawbreaking-after-all/129030/31 "2002-09-23T12:35:53Z")
It was in relation to the reelection campaign of 1996. Who the hell do you think they were reelecting? To be fair, I’ll call it Democratic Party and Clinton/Gore lawbreaking. Happy? ---
**Author:** ![TwistofFate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@TwistofFate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwistofFate)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2002, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-looky-there-was-clinton-gore-lawbreaking-after-all/129030/32 "2002-09-24T11:43:27Z")
Wow. a large political party doing something illegal. what a shock. ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2002, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-looky-there-was-clinton-gore-lawbreaking-after-all/129030/33 "2002-09-24T12:26:36Z")
I just want to know where the money from the fine goes? The Presidential Election Fund? ---
**Author:** ![december](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/838e76/32.png) [@december](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/december)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2002, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-looky-there-was-clinton-gore-lawbreaking-after-all/129030/34 "2002-09-24T15:10:26Z")
> [@](#): > > **David Simmons** > There is no need to “admit” anything. The record is clear that the Clinton-Gore campaign paid, according to the site in the cite, about $2000 of the total fine, so the admission has already been made. > [@](#): > > **tracer** > …it’s been established in this thread that it was the Democratic Party, and not Clinton and/or Gore, that was fined. So lemme ask: > > What made you say it was “Clinton-Gore” lawbreaking instead of just “Democratic Party” lawbreaking? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-looky-there-was-clinton-gore-lawbreaking-after-all/129030.md?page=1)