"This Would Be Grade-A Fodder for a Republican Nominee Whose Campaign Wasn't Collapsing Upon Itself"

"Between the end of her tenure as secretary of State and the launch of her presidential campaign, Hillary Clinton earned millions of dollars giving closed-door speeches to financial firms and other private entities. This was a risky enterprise for an aspiring presidential candidate to pursue. Nearly a decade after the financial crisis, Wall Street remains an object of scorn with a large swath of the American public; the idea that our government is too cozy with the big banks has purchase among voters of both parties. So, taking large sums of money to speak at the private functions of Wall Street banks—including ones that admitted to defrauding investors in the run-up to the crash—was never going to be a great look in 2016.

"And then, Bernie Sanders made it a worse look"

Eric Levitz at The Atlantic reacts to the leaked transcripts of Hillary Clinton's speeches to Wall Street firms.