From Jim Hightower's book If the Gods Had Meant Us to Vote They Would Have Given Us Candidates:
Raw political cynicism is Clinton's lasting legacy. By his careless use of soft money, he has authorized all future presidential and congressional candidates to disregard the law and treat public office as a commodity to be retailed for unlimited sums of campaign money. It turrns the political clock back to the utterly corrupt days of Nixon, who literally kept wads of corporate cash stashed around the White House. One of those stashes included $25,000 from Archer Daniels Midland CEO Dwayne Andreas--money used to pay the Watergate burglars. A quarter of a century later, there was Bill Clinton with his 1996 unregulated stash of political money, including $295,000 from Andreas.
Hightower goes on to describe a window of opportunity opened slightly when FEC staff auditors determined that Dole and Clinton had spent $17 million and $46 million respectively that was outside the law. This raised the ire of the six politically appointed FEC officials who voted unanimously against punishing the candidates' campaigns. This left Janet Reno's office as the last line of possible prosecution. Reno ruled that there would be no further legal inquiries the matter because:
there was "clear and convincing evidence that the President ... lacked the criminal intent to violate the law."
Hightower breaks down the logic of the Attorney General's remarkable conclusion:
[1] while the President might have violated the law,
[2] he didn't intend any violation, as proven by the fact that
[3] his lawyers told him his actions were legal, so
[4] he "lacked the criminal intent," and
[5] ... Bill Clinton can walk
I'd argue that this legacy, that the President always makes sure he gets a lawyer who will tell him his illegal actions are legal, is the Bill Clinton's legacy. John Yoo, where are You? Come on down.
How low can we go?
Come on down
Come on down
Lower still
Come on down
