OPINION:
Hillary Clinton and her sidekick ought to be in pictures. They should be in the dictionary as the iconic illustration of crony capitalism. They didn’t invent crony capitalism but they perfected it. Barack Obama shamelessly uses government power and largesse to promote his friends and pet projects, but he has been put in the shade of Bonny and Clod.
The Clintons reward those who tug a forelock and bow and punish those who don’t. They aren’t subtle and don’t pretend to be. Anyone who doubts it could take a look at the ExxonMobil investigation set in motion by New York Atty. Gen. Eric Schneiderman. He has been a faithful acolyte for years, and last week, for Hillary’s convenience, attempted to shut down First Amendment guarantees of free speech.
The liberals, who call themselves “progressives” now that they have sullied a good and honorable word, long ago abandoned even rhetorical support for the free speech guarantees. Now Hillary wants to punish anyone who disagrees with the “settled” view that climate change is real and, as President Obama says, is “a greater threat than ISIS.” Prison might be the ultimate punishment. Dissenters, and there are many of them, including scientists, are not just wrong, but criminally wrong.
ExxonMobil has financed a great deal of research on global warming, or climate change, or whatever they’re calling it this week. Some of the research supports the conventional view, and some does not. ExxonMobil has until recently supported free-market advocacy groups, such as the Competitive Enterprise Institute, which is skeptical of both the politics and the politicized science that the president and Hillary are so sure is unassailable. These skeptics are dismissed as “deniers” threatening the very survival of the planet. If they know what’s good for them they’ll shut up and go away.
ExxonMobil has contributed to these groups for years, and for years Hillary found nothing wrong with the company’s exercise of its free speech rights. But now she has discovered evidence that ExxonMobil has been doing wrong, perhaps evil, in contributing to the defense of the First Amendment. Perhaps what’s actually troubling the lady is that ExxonMobil, which has given the Clinton Foundation more than $1 million and even co-sponsored the foundation’s annual meeting last year, is closing its checkbook to the Clinton Foundation. When the executives of ExxonMobil said the company wouldn’t be contributing this year, the Clinton family unsheathed their knives. This is the way they did it in Hot Springs when Bubba was a boy, and he has always been a good student of folkways. Hillary has learned at his side.
Hillary demanded an investigation of ExxonMobil and Mr. Schneiderman tugged his forelock, saluted and put his lawyers to work. The dark side of the Clinton operation, of how crony capitalism works, was revealed in its grim particulars. Helping your friends at taxpayer expense is not sufficient — the effective crony capitalist must make painful examples of anyone who doesn’t toe the line. Other Clinton donors, if they’re smart, will take the cue. That’s the Clinton message.
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