The Clinton Foundation Becomes an Issue

First Read: “The latest controversy over the Clinton Foundation — the allegation that special access was given to Foundation donors when Hillary Clinton was secretary of state — follows a familiar pattern: The entire arrangement appears sloppy, careless, and seedy… But there’s another familiar pattern to the discussion, especially regarding the AP report showing that Foundation donors met with Clinton when she was secretary of state: This kind of behavior is standard operating procedure for any politician. If you’re a sitting congressman, senator, or governor — raise your hand if you’ve never granted meetings with big donors (either ones you’ve known before or after the donation). This is a practice that happens ALL of the time in American politics. And as a result, none of it is illegal or demands a special prosecutor. So two things can true at the same time: One, what the Clintons are doing can be sloppy, careless and seedy. And two, they’re not the only ones doing it.”

“Of course, the ‘they’re-not-the-only-ones-doing-it’ reasoning isn’t always sufficient in a political campaign, especially one for the highest office in the land. The Clinton Foundation was always going to be a target in this campaign. And if you’re scratching your head as to why the Clintons didn’t have a better plan for dealing with it — like having well-devised exit strategy months ago — remember that the decisions are usually coming from the principals rather than the political advisers.”

Rude Pundit: How is it different from anything else in our broken political system?