Wow, That Hsu/Clinton Rabbit Hole Is Deep!

Suitably flip digs and digs…and it’s pretty amazing what he finds.

Remember when the press’ “word of the month” to describe President Bush was “incurious?” – don’t they seem terribly, terribly “incurious” about all of this? Shouldn’t journalists be doing this sort of research and work?

I like this part best, but you’ll want to read the whole thing:

2) Hochberg’s political benefaction predates Hsu’s by several years. While Hsu didn’t get his start until 2003 and didn’t really hit his stride until late 2004, Lillian Vernon and the Hochbergs contributed more than a half million dollars to Democrats in the decade prior to Hsu’s political foray (and more than a quarter million more since). This suggests the slate of candidates whose palms Hsu has chosen to cross with silver these last few years was not the product of either Hsu’s own ideology or any specific partisan motivation. It seems more likely that the pols Hsu began to grease were simply co-opted from Hochberg’s list of favored candidates.

The fact that the Hsu pattern predates Hsu’s career as a Democratic booster means the original architect of the candidate slate is likely near the nexus of Hsu’s political awakening, which makes that architect pivotal to the Hsu story. To be clear, this doesn’t necessarily imply that Hochberg’s contributions (or the many individuals that he bundles) are tainted the way contributions from Hsu’s donor network are. Hochberg may well have gone on making these same contributions had Hsu never entered the picture. The significance of the Hsu pattern actually being a borrowed Hochberg pattern is that it strongly implies a close and ongoing association between Hsu and Hochberg.

The contribution patterns alone are sufficient to draw that inference, but as you might guess, we’re not done descending the rabbit hole.

But wait… there’s more. Some cursory digging on Fred Hochberg reveals something interesting. He’s a fellow HillRaiser. Thanks to a bit of alphabetical kismet, you can see his name directly above Hsu’s on Hillary’s official HillRaiser roster.

But wait… there’s still more. Hochberg is also a dean at the New School, where Hsu was a trustee until this scandal broke last month and the school hurriedly removed his name from their website. Also on the New School board is Bernard Schwartz, one of Bill Clinton’s biggest financial backers and the central figure in Clinton’s scandal involving the sale of missile technology to China.

And the lily gilder: Fred Hochberg was a member of President Clinton’s Cabinet.

Yes, Fred Hochberg, a dean at the school where Hsu served as a trustee, one of Hsu’s fellow HillRaisers, CEO of the company that officially bundled at least one of Hsu’s direct contributions as recently as this summer, and the apparent architect of Hsu’s favored candidate slate, was installed as one of the country’s senior-most federal policymakers by Bill Clinton.

Hochberg was tapped to become the SBA’s deputy adminstrator in 1998 and some time thereafter became the acting administrator. The SBA administrator is not a current Cabinet-level position. Clinton elevated the position to Cabinet rank, a move Bush has undone. Not long before his executive appointment, Hochberg had enjoyed another kind of Presidential access, as a member of Clinton’s bescandaled “White House Coffee” guest list.

So.

Where does all this leave us? There are still a lot of details yet to emerge that will undoubtedly shed additional light on these linakges, but it seems quite clear that Norman Hsu and Fred Hochberg are and have for some time been closely associated. It’s abundantly clear that the Clintons and Hochberg are quite intimately associated. This seems to draw Hsu and Clinton uncomfortably close to one another.

And while the complexity and duplicity that saturates this whole affair may offer Hillary a bit of confusion cover that she can use to equivocate when pressed, it’s now becoming increasingly far-fetched that Hillary took Norman Hsu for no more than a kindly, deep-pocketed fan.

Let’s just say it requires a willing suspension of disbelief.

My goodness! Look at the spreadsheet! Remember, Hillary is giving over $800,000 back to the ummm…donors. Although, just like the scandal last time, that doesn’t mean she won’t, eventually, still have that money.

Btw, the Peter Paul/Hillary Fundraising story that you’ve never heard about before has been in the courts since September 7, and harvesting some interesting stuff you don’t see leading any news broadcast.

Wow, that Hsu/Clinton rabbit hole is deep!