Hillary's Chinatown connection
The newsmaker today is this story about all the money Hillary is collecting from people in Chinatown who can't seem to afford it, or can't be found, or whatever.
In fairness, though, you may remember stories like this. Hillary's popularity in Chinatown has been commented on before, and has some roots. After all, as the story notes, her name in Chinese translates as "Good luck is on the way." We don't understand why it doesn't translate as "Hillary Clinton," but that's another question.
And, on the other hand, lets remember that Clinton's ties to Fujian province, in particular, has some strong roots in her husband's administration. John Huang, the Angeleno whose Asian community soft-money fundraising gave birth to the 1990s Clinton campaign finance scandals, was from Fujian. And it was also the ancestral home of the Riady family, the wealthy Indonesian clan that became fond of the Clintons in Arkansas and helped finance their political enterprise.
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Comments (6)
I keep clicking on this blog hoping to read about LOCAL coverage. I know you all want to pretend you're writing for the WSJ, but this is Newsday, a local paper by all measures. This Hillary/Rudy micro stuff is unreadable and I could imagine few care. There are a zillion sites to read about national politics -- only three or so that cover Nassau-Suffolk. Be different!
I'm sorry the fate of the free world -- which hinges on YOUR two senators -- is crimping your access to 24/7 Steve Levy hiring news, Jelly Bean. Buck up, it's almost school board budget time!
It certainly looks like some of these organizations may be shaking down their members. But there is, as of yet, no evidence that Clinton herself is a knowing participant in these shakedowns.
Still, this kind of thing is distasteful, counter-productive and unnecessary. Obama, Dean and others have demonstrated that you can raise considerable campaign cash without having to rely on shady operators. I wish more politicians would figure this out. Maybe then our system wouldn't be so corrupt.
Abe, I see these pics of paid reporters probably earning more than I do working on this supposedly local "blog." I can and do get Rudy/Hillary info from myriad other outlets. These reporters are being paid to report for LONG ISLANDERS. Newsday is in dire financial straits and unless the paper becomes MORE local, it won't survive. I don't know any of these bloggers well enough to care about their opinions on matters outside this region. But they have phones and access to government officials -- tell us citizens something we couldn't figure out on our own.
I don't know anything about the paper's financial condition, Jelly Bean -- but the Newsday that hits my driveway every day seems pretty darn local. Maybe you should ask them to cut out everything that doesn't cover your zip code.
I think Newsday has won Pulitzers for foreign and national coverage as well as for local stuff. Maybe they should give the non-LI ones back to make you feel better. .
If you think the decisions being made outside of LI don't hit you right between the eyes look at your paycheck, the amount of fed funding going (or not going) to local transportation projects -- or peruse the body count from Iraq.
More local posts would be cool. But don't try to ruin it for the rest of us who care about what's going on with Hillary/Rudy, just cos you're not getting what u need.
Abe, Read this page on the site. There are 10 national blog posts for every local one. I'm sure these bloggers get plenty of local press releases, which would be easy to rework into entertaining blog posts. The Newsday you refer to, pre-scandal, was a Top 10 national paper. Now it's not even in the Top 20 as far as circulation. Newsday reporters I speak with don't seem to share the same longterm vision for the paper that you do. All politics is local -- just that takes some work. Again, google Hillary and Rudy and you'll find myriad sites.