Vince Foster

[[File:Sketch of Vince Foster.jpg|thumb|right|165px|Sketch of Vince Foster]]
{{Conspiracynav}}
'''Vince Foster''' {{lived|1945|1993}} was a deputy [[White House]] counsel in the first few months of the [[Bill Clinton]] administration. In July 1993, suffering from depression and placed in an untenable professional position by his superiors at the White House, he committed [[suicide]] in a [[Virginia]] park. The torn-up suicide note found in his briefcase despaired that in [[Washington, DC|Washington]]'s [[political]] environment, "[[Sociopath|ruining people is considered sport.]]"<ref>[http://www.nytimes.com/1993/08/11/us/note-left-by-white-house-aide-accusation-anger-and-despair.html Note Left by White House Aide: Accusation, Anger and Despair], ''[[The New York Times]]''</ref>

==Conspiracy?==
A dedicated [[Democrat]] in life, Foster might have been either surprised or horrified to discover that, in death, he became a hero of the far right.<ref group=note>In fact, one could say that, if Foster is in [[hell]] (and if the [[fundamentalist Christian]]s are right, then suicide is a one-way ticket), then his punishment would be to make him read all the drivel written about his death for all eternity.</ref> Starting with [[Newt Gingrich]],<ref>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1995/07/26/gingrich-not-convinced-foster-death-was-suicide/4003f01f-83ad-4b41-9b9c-e209344a716c/ Gingrich Not Convinced Foster Death Was Suicide] by R.H. Melton & Ann Devroy (July 26, 1995) ''The Washington Post''.</ref> numerous [[wingnut]] sources, including such luminaries as [[Rush Limbaugh]] and [[G. Gordon Liddy]], declared that Foster may have been [[murder]]ed for some nefarious purpose by the White House. The [[absence of evidence|absence of any such direct evidence]] only reinforced their belief that "[[Just asking questions|something]]" was amiss. The [[crank]]y billionaire [[Richard Mellon Scaife]] also dumped a bunch of [[money]] into "journalistic investigations" (read: [[conspiracy theory|conspiracy]] mongering) of the Foster case.

Perhaps the clearest indication that Foster wasn't murdered was the fact that Kenneth Starr, a man who obsessed over getting Bill Clinton [[impeach]]ed (be it for [[Hillary Clinton#Scandals|Whitewater]], "Travelgate," or the Lewinsky scandal), found nothing in Vince Foster's death to suggest that it was anything other than a suicide.<ref>[http://edition.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1997/02/23/starr.report/ Report: Starr Rules Out Foul Play In Foster Death], CNN, 2 February 1997.</ref> Of course, that hasn't stopped some [[crank]]s from claiming that Starr himself was in on it. Because that's how conspiracy theories work — any contradictory [[evidence]] is proof that ''They'' have been tampering with the investigation.

==Foster's troubled tenure==
Foster had been embroiled in the Travel Office controversy (still referred to as Travelgate, despite nothing coming out of it). Specifically, there were some unexplained firings in that office in the early months of 1993, probably to allow the Clintons to [[Patronage|appoint their own friends to fill slots]]. Foster had been involved in the firings, feared that he was being set up as a "fall guy" for it, and would not be able to defend himself without violating attorney-client privilege.

At the same time, Foster had been charged with vetting Clinton Attorney General nominees Zoe Baird and Kimba Wood, {{wpl|Nannygate|both of whom embarrassingly withdrew their nominations}} after they were discovered to have employed [[illegal immigrant]] housekeepers without paying [[Social Security]] tax. While Foster could not reasonably be blamed for either debacle (as neither Baird nor Wood had revealed any of this during the vetting process), this only worsened his growing depression. Snippy editorials in right-wing [[media]] outlets, accusing Foster of incompetence, only exacerbated the situation; [[ironic]]ally, many of these same outlets would later lament his untimely death, while completely ignoring any role they might have had in the tragedy.

==Investigations==
No less than five investigations ruled that it was an unfortunate suicide, and nothing more:

*The original investigation, performed by the United States Park Police (as the suicide occurred in a federal park, it came under their jurisdiction), determined it to be a suicide.
*Original Whitewater prosecutor Robert Fiske issued a 58-page report, which also concluded it was a suicide.
*As previously mentioned, subsequent Whitewater prosecutor Kenneth Starr ruled it a suicide in 1997.
*Finally, [[Congress]] conducted two more investigations. Both determined it to be a suicide as well.

==What really happened?==
===The version backed up by all available evidence===
Unprepared for the pressure cooker (read: abundance of [[asshole]]) environment of Washington, Foster was almost immediately made the public [[scapegoat]] for several [[PR]] debacles in the early months of the Clinton Administration. He was being mocked by national media, his career was at risk, and his friends, family, and co-workers either didn't notice his spiral into a deep depression or noticed it but thought he could handle it.

===The version cooked up by nutbar central===
Foster, a friend of Clinton since kindergarten, worked for the Clintons until 1993, when they had no further use for him. As they did with most of their old friends, they murdered him! Suicide victims don't generally have two bullet wounds in the back of their heads! All five investigations, of course, are total lies! Despite the fact that Starr, in particular,{{efn|In an odd twist, [http://www.justice-integrity.org/faq/791-ken-starr-explains-his-help-for-billionaire-pervert-jeffrey-epstein moralist bible-thumper Ken Starr] helped [http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2016/05/18/morning_joe_panel_clintons_connection_to_billionaire_pedophile_jeffrey_epstein_will_blow_up_campaign.html convicted billionaire pedophile and Clinton donor] [[Jeffrey Epstein]] beat a second pedophilia charge. But hey, like [http://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2016/05/26/hillary-clinton-1975-sex-assault-case-investigation-kaye-pkg-ac.cnn Hillary, good lawyering is all in a day's work].}} spent five years and ''40 million dollars''<ref group=note>Nearly as expensive as the [[Iran-Contra]] inquiry, which actually [http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/stories/1999/02/01/starr.costs/ garnered convictions by comparison].</ref> looking for any conceivable pretext to get Bill Clinton into a courtroom, he apparently didn't think something as trivial as murder would be worth pursuing.

==See also==
*[[Clinton body count]]
*[[PRATT]]
*[[Seth Rich]] – a later murder turned conspiracy theory.

==External links==
*[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/whitewater/docs/foster.htm The Foster Report in its entirety.]
*[http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/arkansas/etc/foster.html Once Upon a Time in Arkansas: Vince Foster's journal], PBS
*[http://www.snopes.com/politics/clintons/bodycount.asp Clinton Body Count], [[Snopes]]

==Notes==
{{notelist|90%}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Foster, Vince}}

[[Category:The Clintons]]
[[Category:United States politicians]]
[[Category:Conspiracy theories]]

Categories: The Clintons, United States politicians, Conspiracy theories