The media loves to put The Clintons in their crosshairs no matter what the issue is, especially when it comes to their speaking fees. There is some nefarious plot they are some how orchestrating behind the scenes, I guess.
As critics over the years have chided Bill Clinton and also his wife for the industriousness with which they have pursued opportunities to get paid a lot of money in this manner, Bush, too, has been doing exactly what he said he would be doing.
Since 2009, POLITICO has found, Bush has given at least 200 paid speeches and probably many more, typically pocketing $100,000 to $175,000 per appearance. The part-time work, which rarely requires more than an hour on stage, has earned him tens of millions of dollars.
Relative to the Clintons, though, he’s attracted considerably less attention, almost always doing his paid public speaking in private, in convention centers and hotel ballrooms, resorts and casinos, from Canada to Asia, from New York to Miami, from all over Texas to Las Vegas a bunch, playing his part in what has become a lucrative staple of the modern post-presidency.
W., is very smart because nobody is ever allowed to record his speaking engagements.
There were other rules as well in the contract, said Dawn Shurmaitis, from the Advertising Specialty Institute: “We were not allowed to record it, so there is no recording, video or audio.”
I don't care at all if some idiot institutions like the National Grocers Association, the National Association for Home Care and Hospice and the National Association of Chain Drug Stores wants to pay former presidents as bad as George Bush a boatload of money to speak to them. It's their money after all, but let's stop the double standard when it comes to The Clintons- please.
