Dowd: "Isn't It Rich?"

[Iwillnevergiveup]

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/13/opinion/sunday/maureen-dowd-isnt-it-rich.html?ref=opinion

On this topic, I totally agree with the NYT columnist.

SNIP####

"As the 34-year-old tries to wean some of the cronies from the Clinton Foundation — which is, like the Clintons themselves, well-intended, wasteful and disorganized — Chelsea is making speeches that go into foundation coffers. She is commanding, as The Times’s Amy Chozick reported, up to $75,000 per appearance.

Chozick wrote: “Ms. Clinton’s speeches focus on causes like eradicating waterborne diseases. (‘I’m obsessed with diarrhea’ is a favorite line.)”

There’s something unseemly about it, making one wonder: Why on earth is she worth that much money? Why, given her dabbling in management consulting, hedge-funding and coattail-riding, is an hour of her time valued at an amount that most Americans her age don’t make in a year? (Median household income in the United States is $53,046.)"

SNIP###

[Sherman A1]

1. Simple

Chelsea is worth $75K because someone is willing to pay that amount. I for one would not want to attend a speech of hers, but if she can get that number, good for her.

[Warpy]

10. Dunno, I might

She's into her 30s, which means she's got the book learning plus a chance at the common sense that will not only let the book learning identify problems, but which can point the way to a solution.

She might be interesting, in other words. She'd certainly be easy on the eyes for any men in attendance.

Contrast that with the right's favorite Barbie doll, Palin. I wouldn't roll out of bed to see her, let alone pay an entrance fee.

Her name has raised her fee by a factor of 7.5. Likely she'd pull in 10 K if she'd become a truly knowledgeable expert on water borne diseases and what to do about them if she had the name of a non famous daddy. Curiosity always pumps up the fee, as does a famous name.

Dowd sounds more mean spirited than anything. In a wretched country deprived of news in favor of infotainment, novelty is going to sell a lot better than decades in the business as an opinion writer.

[Sherman A1]

12. While I understand the curiosity factor

I would not roll out of bed to see either. Hence to me they are not worth my efforts, yet to some they most certainly are so. As to the fees they collect, well that is up to the person(s) writing the check. They are worth what they can command on the speaking circuit. I would not pay to see either. As for Dowd, she is entitled to her opinion, she is another that I don't read and would not roll out of bed to see.

[Hoppy]

13. Chelsea Clinton, "easy on the eyes?"

-- after I get flamed, I will not respond.

[Gman]

2. Dowd should go eat some brownies.

She makes more sense then.

[catbyte]

3. Well the Kardashians aren't worth what they're paid either. At least Chelsea Clinton

is trying to help the planet. She could be going around being worse than useless. She can't help who her parents are. I don't understand the bashing. I really don't.

[cprise]

5. I remember the tantrum she threw over European opposition to the Iraq war

She was studying in England at the time.

Bill and Hillary have raised another opportunist.

[Sherman A1]

11. I disagree

The Kardashians are worth what they are paid, because someone for whatever their reasoning has agreed to pay them. I wouldn't want to see them and would not lift a finger to do so, but they are worth their pay as someone has chosen to give them said amount. I don't think find any sports entertaining so I don't buy tickets or merchandise to support my local teams, yet the players are worth what they bring home as the owners have agreed to their salaries. They are not worth it to me, but to someone who does find their work entertaining.

[DonCoquixote]

4. Dowdy

Dowd, we know two things:

One, if Hillary wins in 2016, you will volunteer to be her buttocks kisser and point guard like you used to be.
Two, Hillary will accept.

[dsc]

6. On what planet has Dowd been a Hillary butt kisser

Please site the examples of this.

[Salviati]

7. I think the REAL question is why is ANYONE worth that much money?

The only reason ANYONE can command that kind of money is because they are well connected to money, power, and privilege. In that context, she's worth it just as much as anyone else is who pulls in that kind of money, but none of these sorts of people produce anything in any way commensurate with their compensation.

[kemah]

8. You are right, but since the money does not come out of the selection committee, who really cares.

The committee in charge of getting speakers probably has a budget, but it is not any of their own personal money. So it is easy to spend someone else's money.

[JEFF9K]

9. If Rush Limbaugh can make a million dollars a week for undermining our democracy ...

Chelsea Clinton is worth a small fraction of that for saying things that are true.

[Orsino]

14. Dowd types, and someone typesets her typing...

...and somehow those inches of print always seem devoid of point or even entertainment value.

And she has the gall to question the Clintons' easy money?