It is fascinating to watch the growing controversy over the Clinton speeches and the decision of the campaign to stick with its refusal to release the transcripts in its possession. Hillary Clinton last week appeared to finish “looking into” releasing the transcripts of her speeches Wall Street and other groups.  Voters and reporters have been asking to read what Clinton has said to these groups. After all, Clinton has said that she has only given Wall Street straight talk and that these firms stopped given her money. The latter statement has been called “demonstrably untrue” by the Washington Post. Clinton has thus far refused to release the transcripts and instead that she would only consider the release if everyone releases every speech ever given to any group. It had a certain Macbethian feel of guaranteeing that the final reckoning will never come “Till Birnam forest come to Dunsinane.” The problem is that Birnam forest did come to Dunsinane. The demand has now produced the world’s worse comparison for Clinton. It turns out that Bernie Sanders has disclosed his speeches and has only given two paid speeches for $1,867.42. That is now being compared to the estimate that Bill and Hillary Clinton have made $153 million for speeches from 2001 to her announcement for the presidency. While this is just a one year period, Sanders has a lot of room to make up to reach $153 million.  That is not to say that the campaign cannot argue that Sanders in the pocket of these two groups but it is clearly a very, very small pocket.

It is also being reported that Clinton was the one who insisted that the transcripts be made by her hosts and handed over to her total control. What I honestly do not understand is why the Clinton campaign continues to fit disclosures despite the failure of that strategy in prior scandals like the email scandal. Various sites have started petitions with thousands of signatures to get Clinton to release the transcripts.  It would seem inevitable that she will have to release the speeches but will now be viewed as fighting any review by the public. I am interested in whether people believe that this position will be sustainable in light of the worsening environment for Clinton in the primary.
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