Wikileaks has released transcripts of three speeches that Hillary Clinton gave for Goldman Sachs in 2013. These were events hosted by Goldman, presumably for clients–e.g., the “Builders and Innovators Summit.” You can download the transcripts here. Hillary reportedly was paid $225,000 apiece.

Some have found the speeches of great interest; ZeroHedge flags some relatively significant passages. My own opinion is that the speeches do not contain much of interest, and virtually nothing, except as noted below, that is surprising.

Two things struck me about the Goldman speeches. The first is how utterly pedestrian they are. By 2013, Mrs. Clinton had served eight years in the Senate and four as Secretary of State, yet she never has an original observation or an insight worth paying for. Everything in them, you have heard 50 times before. They could have been delivered by anyone who has never held public office, but who spends Sunday mornings studying the New York Times. Maybe Hillary saves the good stuff for customers who pay her the full $300,000, but I doubt it. I think her speeches reflect her limited ability.

The second notable aspect of the speeches is how partisan they are. They were delivered in the wake of the government “shutdown,” and Hillary missed no opportunity to castigate Republicans for their “extremism.” She occasionally says that Washington dysfunction is the fault of both parties–their right and left wings, respectively–but 100% of her examples are Republicans. Her repeated jabs at Republicans would have been inappropriate before a bipartisan audience.

She even peddled the absurd claim that Congress’s temporary refusal to raise the debt ceiling represented a threat that the government would default on its bond obligations. Constitutionally, that can’t happen. Other payments might not have been made, but without any increase in the debt ceiling, government revenues were far more than needed to service the national debt. There was zero chance of a default, legally or financially.

The Goldman Sachs employees who were present must have known that Hillary was spinning a fantasy. It is their business, after all, to understand the security of debt obligations. Yet they cheerfully endorsed her spouting a Democratic Party line that was aimed at gullible voters, not sophisticated investors. I infer from this that Goldman’s massive contributions to Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and other Democrats are not just donations of convenience. Rather, Goldman is a committed member of the Democratic Party coalition.

I suppose that makes sense. The Left is all about cronyism, and Goldman Sachs is the ultimate crony.