Is it time to add one more name to the growing and staggering Clinton body count? I don’t know, but the fact that such questions are not even raised in polite media company is not a good sign in a supposedly free society.
Of all the smears, unfounded allegations, unseemly rumors, and black-hearted lies perpetuated on Bill and Hillary Clinton over the last two decades, none is more unconscionable than the so-called Clinton Body Count—the extensive list of people who knew the Clintons and died under supposedly “mysterious circumstances.”
This crap started up in the early 1990s, when some hatemongers started compiling lists of Clinton associates who had died. (A New York Times article traced the origins of the Clinton Body Count list to an Indiana attorney named Linda Thompson, who had founded a right-wing group called American Justice Federation, which sounds like it should include the Green Lantern and the Flash among its members.) By August 2000 there were dozens of names on the list—and not one piece of tangible evidence that even came close to reaching the level of a plausible rumor, let alone an actual indictment.
“Here is the latest body count we have,” reads the lead on a piece of nonsense attributed to the “Ether Zone Staff,” whoever the hell they are.
“All of these people have been connected with the Clintons in some form or another. We have not included any deaths that could not be verified or connected to the Clinton scandals.”
Ooh, way to practice responsible journalism.
“All deaths are listed chronologically by date.”
As opposed to chronologically by name, I suppose.
“This list is current and accurate to the best of our knowledge ...”
Accurate? Accurate?!
If this is the best of their knowledge, I’d hate to see the worst of their alleged knowledge.
Here’s a typical sampling of what you get when you peruse a Clinton Body Count list:
Susan Coleman. Rumors were circulating in Arkansas of an affair with Bill Clinton. She was found dead with a gunshot wound ... death was an apparent suicide.
Vincent Foster. A White House deputy counsel and long-time personal friend of Bill and Hillary’s. Found on July 20, 1993, dead of a gunshot wound to the mouth—a death ruled suicide. Many theories on this case!
C. Victor Raiser. This former National Finance Co-Chairman of Clinton for President ... died in a suspicious private plane crash in Alaska. No cause determined.
Jim McDougal. Bill and Hillary friend, banker, political ally, sent to prison for 18 felony convictions. A key Whitewater witness, dies of a heart attack on March 8, 1998. As of this writing allegations that he was given an injection of the diuretic lasix have not been denied or confirmed.
And so it goes. You list someone who knew the Clintons, you record the way in which the person died, and you try to tie it all up in a ribbon of innuendo.
A piece of DVD hackwork titled The Clinton Chronicles: An Investigation into the Alleged Criminal Activities of Bill Clinton was released in 1994. The Reverend Jerry Falwell appeared in the “documentary” and also produced a lengthy infomercial for the film in which he spoke with a silhouetted journalist who said he feared for his life because he was getting too close to “the truth” about the Clinton Body Count. It was later revealed that the “journalist” was in fact the guy who produced the video.
Years later, Falwell admitted he had no idea if any of the allegations in The Clinton Chronicles were true. Sadly, he never apologized for the part he played in promoting the nasty piece of propaganda.
James McDougal had a heart condition. He died of a heart attack. An investigation turned up no evidence of foul play.
Vincent Foster’s death is one of the most extensively investigated suicides in modern history. Don’t you think a journalist for the Washington Post or the Wall Street Journal would want to uncover some piece of evidence suggesting Foster was murdered? Yet nobody ever found any credible information that it was anything other than a suicide.
There was nothing “suspicious” about the plane crash that claimed the life of C. Victor Raiser. The National Transportation Safety Board ruled that the cause of the crash was pilot error during conditions of poor visibility.
Susan Coleman was a law student of Clinton’s. She killed herself. There’s no proof she ever had an affair with Clinton.
The Clinton Body Count resurfaced in 2007 after Hillary Clinton announced she was running for president.
“THINK ABOUT IT FIRST!” reads the e-mail.
All of the folks [listed below] are indeed dead and it might all just be a tragic coincidence—but I wouldn’t want to be on their list of associates, just to be on the safe side!!!!
SO YOU MIGHT VOTE FOR HILLARY? THINK ABOUT IT FIRST.... This is what happens when you have dirt on the Clintons.
What follows is a rehash of the same names and slimy semi-allegations about the deaths of various people associated with Clinton-related scandals and alleged scandals.
For anyone who believes there’s some validity to a conspiracy theory that would involve Bill Clinton orchestrating shootings, robberies, plane and helicopter crashes, traffic homicides, and murders disguised as suicides, a couple of questions: