Let's Give the Clintons Their Due

This is a cautionary tale for anyone who believes Hillary Clinton is an alternative to Donald Trump for president.

This week is my anniversary but it’s not the kind you’d think. Only July 26, 23 years ago, President Bill Clinton had me arrested and charged me with a federal crime for asking him about his broken campaign promise of a middle class tax cut.

The Clintons relentlessly pursued federal charges against me. The crime? Being in a federally secured area (the back of the Sheraton Hotel Chicago’s grand ballroom) where the president of the United States was temporarily located (the opposite end of the Sheraton’s ballroom).

My blue-blazered kid self was in the room with thousands of other people when I blurted out my question to Clinton: “How can you claim gridlock when the House and Senate are controlled by members of your own party? You promised a middle class tax cut and now you are proposing the largest tax increase in American history!"

“This is not your meeting, sir! And most people have better manners than to interrupt someone giving a speech,” Clinton scolded me. The Secret Service escorted me out and I left without further incident. Three hours later, I was watching "World News Tonight" with Peter Jennings when federal agents surrounded my parents’ home.

Growing up, I had seen TV news reports of uninvited protesters interrupting Republican presidents at speeches without consequence. After my arrest, an AIDS protester by the name of “Luke Sissyfag” interrupted President Clinton’s speech at Georgetown Medical Center and was applauded by the liberal media.

But I wasn’t an AIDS activist, a violent Black Lives Matter protester, or a member of the new Black Panther Party. I was a middle-class kid with no arrest record. The radical left-wing activists were free and I was in handcuffs and leg irons in a courtroom facing six months in federal prison and a $100,000 fine.

Unless you are Hillary Clinton and her private email server, ignorance of the law is no excuse.

Six months later, I was still fighting for my life and I was getting desperate. People told me to ask my congressman for help and beg for mercy. But my congressman was none other than Rep. Bobby Rush, former defense minister of the original Black Panther Party, the poster child for “offing the pigs” in the 1960s.

As the National Review said about my case at the time, “in Clintonian America, the Panther gets a pass, the Kellys get the slammer.”

That’s why I knew what we were really up against: a corrupt ruling political elite.

So I announced I was running against Rep. Bobby Rush for Congress and — voilà — the feds dropped the charges against me.

The mainstream media never told this story because it didn’t fit their talking points narrative. The Drudge Report, Fox News, and social media in general didn’t exist.

Thanks to people like Matt Drudge and his protégé Andrew Breitbart that has changed and all I can say is thank God. The evilness of censorship is nearly vanquished, all but destroyed by the disruption of the Internet. I wish my friend Andrew was still around to see what his citizen journalism revolution has become.

During the Clinton Administration, the National Review stood strong and firm opposing Bill and Hillary Clinton at every turn. They defended me too and I’ll never forget that.

But, now, at the prospect of a Donald Trump presidency, that once proud voice has turned mute.

Too many conservative voices are still pointing fingers at Donald Trump and none at Hillary Clinton. How could they have forgotten so easily what Bill Clinton and his wife wrought? How could they have forgotten Whitewater, Vince Foster, Kathleen Willey, Juanita Broaddrick, and Bill Clinton’s impeachment? How could they have forgotten Hillary Clinton’s push for her own diabolical brand of government-run healthcare — the precursor to Obamacare?

Who are you and what have you done with my fellow conservatives?

I realize that this is really about the power and control of Beltway elites. Elites who have carved-up access and contracts and grant-money and tax dollars. I understand that this is not really about principle anymore.

For decades, the elites have invoked the name of Ronald Reagan, the last Republican president. But would Reagan have imposed the largest tax increase in American history like former President George H.W. Bush? Would he have signed the financial industry bailouts like George W. Bush?

Under President Obama, scores of conservative organizations have been targeted by the IRS. If  vindictive Hillary is elected president, it will get worse. Much worse. Count on it.

I hope Donald Trump wins. I hope he investigates the Hillary's email scandal and prosecutes her to the fullest extent of the law. I hope he investigates Rep. Bobby Rush’s abuses of campaign finance and IRS law. I hope he can deliver what he promises on jobs, smart trade, terrorism, and border-control. I hope we find out what really happened in Benghazi.

I hope we elect a president who respects the police and everything they do. I hope we start taking care of our veterans. I hope we end the violence in poor inner-city neighborhoods in Chicago and across the country.

I hope.

William J. Kelly is an American producer, television and radio host, commentator, media strategist, and critic. In 1994, he ran for U.S. Congress. In 2015, he made waves when he busted the campaign finance caps in the Chicago mayor’s race. He is the founder of RevDigital, an Emmy award-winning TV and documentary production house. Kelly is a frequent contributor to The Washington Times, American Spectator, and others. He is  the midday host of "The Citizen Kelly Show" on AM 1590, Chicago.  For more of his reports, Go Here Now.