"Whatever I've done, I complied with Senate rules at the time. That's the way every senator operates," the Democratic presidential contender said in an interview with The Associated Press during a campaign stop in Las Vegas.

The travel and consulting fees paid to Clinton's husband have come to light recently in a lawsuit against Vinod Gupta, a Clinton contributor and chief executive of the data company, InfoUSA Inc. (IUSA)

The lawsuit by company shareholders accuses Gupta of excessively spending millions of dollars, including $900,000 worth of travel on the Clintons.

Sen. Clinton, who complained about corporate America's largesse and skyrocketing executive pay during campaign events Wednesday, said she did not believe her message was undermined by her acceptance of the private flights. In line with Senate rules then in effect, Clinton's campaign has said she reimbursed Gupta at the cost of a first-class flight, typically a significant discount off the expense of a private jet.

"Those were the rules. You'll have to ask somebody else whether that's good policy," she said.

I'm not going to call this hypocrisy, because frankly its perfectly consistent with the Democrat cultural meme that principles are for Republicans. When Democrats like Hillary criticize private Jet travel, what they are really saying is that its a bad thing when Republicans do it. The Democrat elite are necessarily exempt from environmental restrictions because, well, they're important, with important things to do and they need to get places quickly to insure that people get universal health care, union jobs and equal outcomes.

Speaking of which, I loved this piece of pandering from Hillary:

"I know a lot of rich people. My husband and I never had any money ... now all the sudden we're rich," Clinton said. "I have nothing against rich people. ... but what made America great is the American middle class."

This is what I would call a convenient fiction. A large and prosperous middle class makes for political stability, but ultimately its rich people who made America great. Wealth is how real Americans are rewarded for outstanding contributions. How the Clintons got wealthy is more in line with the French model--kickbacks, favors, sweet deals, etc...

Suddenly I feel all slimy.