Oh good: Hillary going back to making $200,000 speeches

Here's what I've never quite worked out about people paying Hillary $200,000 to speak to them (or even $1 for that matter). Since it obviously isn't because they enjoy listening to her, are they simply paying for her star power in order to ensure they get standing-room only for their business or association event? Or is (or should I say was) it the other way around . . . you're paying Hillary to speak as a kiss-up so that she'll take care of you once she returns to political power? Obviously Hillary's banking on it being the former, because the latter ain't happening - not now, not soon, not ever. Right?

Right? Seriously, I've spent the last 15 years of my life making sure this woman would never become president. It wasn't fun but it was necessary. I'm ready to move on to other things now. Don't. Make. Me. Do It. Again . . . But I don't think that's what's at work here. I think Hillary never had an easier money-making gig than these big-money, totally vapid speeches. So before she gives up on the idea that she might be able to do it again, she might as well give it a shot:

Clinton has signed on with the Harry Walker Agency, the Associated Press reported, where she regularly commanded $200,000 or more per speech before her failed campaign for the White House. The AP reported Wednesday that Clinton will also be writing a book featuring a compilation of personal essays, “inspired by the hundreds of quotations she has been collecting for decades.”

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“These are the words I live by,” Clinton said in a press release from her publisher, Simon & Schuster. “These quotes have helped me celebrate the good times, laugh at the absurd times, persevere during the hard times and deepen my appreciation of all life has to offer,” she said.

OK, whatever. The only words Hillary lives by are "Power and money for Hillary Clinton," but I don't need to tell you that. I'm sure she can get booked for some gigs, but I'll be astonished if she gets the kind of money she was getting before. She is a) a terrible speaker; b) no longer politically relevant; and c) well-known for saying what audiences want to hear rather than what she really thinks. You're a group of bankers? Bankers are the backbone of America! So says Hillary during the 45 minutes she's on your dime . . . or 2 million dimes, as it were, But if you know she's going to say exactly the opposite to some other group, and you also know it doesn't matter a hill of beans what she thinks about anything anyway, why pay for the privilege of listening to her say it? Also: I wonder how much of the bloom is off the rose that was once Hillary's reputation as being a brilliant political figure. She sold people on this myth early on during her years as First Lady, and without a doubt it was part of what created demand for her. Lots of us who paid attention could see what a crock it was, but if you're a just-skim-the-headlines business type who's not ideological and likes to be of the same mind as the powerful and influential, hey, that Hillary Clinton. She's smart as a whip!

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Does conventional wisdom still cling to that? Even after her fumble in 2008 and her total embarassment on Election Day 2016? Even after everything we've learned about the Clinton Foundation, Benghazi and her complete lack of real accomplishments in the positions she's held? And are groups who book her still going to put up with her demands for private jets, her entourage, control of the questions she's asked and all the other nonsense? It's possible I'm wrong and her name will be enough to put her right back where she was in terms of the demand for her as a speaker, and what she can command as compensation? Maybe the Harry Walker Agency is really that good. But one thing I know: If people really do pay that kind of money for her, and give in to all her demands . . . now? After everything that's happened and everything we know? They're morons. They'd be better off setting their money on fire. At least they wouldn't be ruining a perfectly good lunch. Dan's new novel, BACKSTOP, is a story of spiritual warfare and baseball. Download it from Amazon here