In the 18 months before launching her second presidential bid, Clinton gave nearly 100 paid speeches at banks, trade associations, charitable groups and private corporations. The appearances netted her $21.7 million - and voters very little information about what she was telling top corporations as she prepared for her 2016 campaign.Her standard rate for a single speech was nearly a quarter-million.
Clinton's not disclosing the content of her speeches. My guess is that if she did that, she'd have to whomp up another speech. She likely has a set variation of them and once they're public, well, who's gonna pay to listen to a rerun?
Sort of like the old Vaudevillian who had an act that he toured the country, performing in one place or another. One act, one shtick, and he did it for decades. When he decided to retire, he went on the Ed Sullivan Show, did his bit, and that was it.
Still, both Hillary and Bill have raked in a cool $153 million in speechifying since 2001. That's in addition to his pension (currently about $200 grand) and the salaries that Hillary pulled down as a U.S. Senator from 2001 to 2009 and then as a cabinet officer from 2009 to 2013.
There's an element of raw tactical amateurishness about HRC that ought to detract from her (undeserved) reputation for inevitability. Up until very recently she's been scheduled to do a fundraising spiel at Mitt Romney's firm on the eve of the New Hampshire primary! She's postponed it now, after catching flak for it. Perfectly, obviously predictable flak. This is the "canny", "experienced" political operator who can "get things done"?!?!
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