In a Sunday New York Times column, Maureen Dowd continues her pattern of misleading and smarmy attacks on the Clintons, this time attacking Chelsea and Hillary Clinton’s philanthropic work.
While Dowd has notoriously been attacking the Clintons for decades – in fact, 72% of her columns about Hillary Clinton since November 1993 have been negative – extending these attacks to their daughter for no reason whatsoever is a low blow, even for the conservative columnist. Dowd goes negative on Chelsea Clinton for making speeches to benefit the Clinton Foundation and its philanthropic work, even though it has already been reported that the majority of Chelsea’s speeches are unpaid.
So is it the work of the Bill, Hillary, and Chelsea Clinton Foundation that Dowd opposes, or is this just a cheap partisan shot at the Clintons? Here are just a few examples of the life-changing programs funded by the Clinton Foundation:
- Job One: helps young people find jobs.
- Too Small To Fail: helps improve the health and well-being of children ages zero to five.
- No Ceilings: helps encourage the full participation for women and girls in the 21st century.
- Clinton Health Access Initiative: works to expand access to HIV/AIDS medications throughout the world.
Dowd goes on to criticize Hillary Clinton for making speeches at universities that raise money benefiting both the university foundations and the philanthropic work of the Clinton Foundation. Recent news reports document that Hillary Clinton’s upcoming speech at the University of Nevada Las Vegas has already returned additional funds for the university foundation – selling more than $350,000 in table sponsorships so far – while powering the good work of the Clinton Foundation.
The world is a better place because of philanthropic programs like these. But what about Maureen Dowd? She has a speaker’s bureau to book her paid speeches. Do her funds go to philanthropic work or in her own pocket?
- Maureen Dowd is listed as a paid speaker on the America Program Bureau website. The American Program Bureau, a self-described “Global Speaker, Celebrity [and] Entertainment Agency,” lists Maureen Dowd as a speaker. A testimonial included in Dowd’s listing states that Dowd’s speech at Hofstra University “was a very successful event,” and one in which Dowd “and Bill Kristol were very accommodating and generous with their time.”
- Hofstra University noted the lecture was sponsored by the Educate ’08 Event Series. An April 21, 2008, press release from Hofstra University noted that Maureen Dowd and Bill Kristol would be speaking at Hofstra University on April 24, 2008. Hofstra noted the “lecture is sponsored by The President’s Educate ’08 Event Series.”
- Educate ’08 was funded by the Kalikow Center at Hofstra, the John D. Miller Fund, Hofstra trustee and alumnus David Mack, Newsday, the New York Observer, and the New York Sun. According to Hofstra University, the “presenting sponsors” of Hofstra’s Educate ’08 events included the Peter S. Kalikow Center at Hofstra, “established in 2006 through a generous commitment from Hofstra trustee and alumnus Peter S. Kalikow.” Other sponsors included the John D. Miller Fund, founded by a Hofstra alumnus and trustee, and Hofstra trustee and alumnus David Mack. Additional sponsors included Newsday, the New York Observer, and the New York Sun.