Hsu-fly Pie in the Face For Democrats

The Norman Hsu affair continues to slowly build as more reports surface over Hsu's reach and sway among Democrats, especially Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY). She's running for President, and the last thing she needs is someone to point out that she's got shady characters running around bagging money for her campaign. It's the kind of thing that got quite a few folks into trouble when her husband Bill was President.

While major papers are starting to pick up the story and are asking the very basic question of where the money came from, none are actually doing much to answer the question. No one still knows where Norman Hsu made the money, where all those bundled donations came from originally, and whether the money is legit.

The WP also emphasizes the overlap between Hsu's dodgy commercial interests (which certainly do seem illegal) and his political activity. But the mixing of business and politics is not uncommon, as the Post itself admits. Only after reading the front-page pieces on Hsu in the LAT and NYT does one start to realize what a unique character he is. The NYT paints him as an awkward man, desperate to be included in Hillary Clinton's big-ticket campaign events. He once threw a $20,000 party (not a fundraiser) in Clinton's honor—she did not attend. Last year he treated members of her campaign staff to a vacation in Las Vegas. With everyone now disowning him, you can see why he reportedly contemplated suicide last week.

That last bit shows that Hillary may have a far bigger problem on her hands than other leading Democrats since she's more closely tied to Hsu's shady persona.

The party has gotten the Clintons red-faced, and are trying to explain things away claiming that they thought that Hsu's rooms were comped by the casinos because Hsu was a regular at the Mandalay Bay.

Also, apparently her campaign is so in need of that $850,000, that she's got her people trying to track down those associated with Hsu to donate that money directly.

UPDATE:
Jammie reports that there is another fugitive donor who made the rounds among Democrats, and may have given to some GOPers as well. Figures. Well, if a GOPer is involved, I suspect that we might get more coverage of this story.

Still, how come the media and public isn't getting all Abramoff in the face of Clinton and the others? The money is quickly adding up, and yet the Abramoff scandal helped send DeLay packing from Congress, resulted in convictions for several GOP staffers and Rep. Bob Ney (R-OH) (among others). Funny money abounds in DC, and yet we're getting a stifled yawn from the media types?

Curious. Very curious.