Well, maybe, kinda, sorta. Hillary probably wanted more control over her documents than the rules gave her, so she went the private email route, which supposedly other Sectaries of State took before her.
She also didn't want to relinquish that control when she left office, so she took her emails with her. When she had to turn some over, again she wanted control, so she sorted them and gave what she felt like giving. This is a bit high-handed of her, but certainly not more than most (or all?) presidents, which is the office she aspires to. And I haven't noticed that we turned a president out of office for not sharing all the information he should have.
That's long way of saying that she behaves like many of her peers. Which means that we have to question why she should be held to higher standard. Sure, I'd like her to follow a higher standard, but I'm not going to eliminate her from consideration as a presidential candidate over this.
Another funny idea is that, in this age of hacks of Sony, the IRS, etc. and hacks by Wikileaks, Manning, and Snowden, it's possible that Hillary did a better job protecting her emails than the State Department would have.
So, again, what am I supposed to be all angry about? She doesn't follow the government rules--I don't follow all of them either. She abuses her power--like so many in top posts, but is she significantly worse? If so, explain how. She didn't secure government secrets--well, she did it better than many other officials, you have to admit that.
I'm sorry, but this just isn't stoking my moral outrage very much. Can't Hillary just do something really, terribly, and clearly awful and unforgivable, like hiring an assassin to kill Jeb Bush, or giving our negotiating strategy to the Iranians, or going to Trump's underground wedding to three 16-year-olds? That would make it easier to summon some outrage.
Then I'd have to hope the Republicans didn't top it the next day...
Everyone looks worse under the microscope.
Image: legalinsurrection.com
Update 7/29/16. Well a lot has happened. The biggest is that the director of the FBI said that Hillary was extremely careless with classified documents, but not to the point that she can be prosecuted. GOPers are outraged that HRC isn't headed to prison. Curses, foiled again. What the FBI Director James Comey said in his statement and in his testimony to Congress.
2 comments:
Well, I agree with you 100%, MP, apart from some of your word choices. I think she followed the government rules, in fact if not in spirit, and used her authority to served her desire for some privacy against real political enemies, rather than abused her power. She acted like a politician -- as you've pointed out quite well -- and now she's paying the price for it.
If not for this "scandal", it would be something else. It could just be that the Clinton era is over, and being the first woman president isn't going to be her trophy. I think that, more than anything, this situation highlights that she has to accept reality. When she might once have been inevitable for the Dem nomination and then a sweeping victory, the flow of history is now against her, her best shot was 2008 and she got beat, and perhaps she should step aside.
Most of her support, including mine, was predicated on that she could and would win easily, despite her flaws. I'm not so convinced any long, want some other choices, and want to hear something different AND true, unlike what I'm hearing from her and everyone else.
Right now, the only thing keeping her in the race is a very weak GOP field, so she still wins in some national polls. I don't expect that to change, since all 146 GOP candidates are dramatically flawed, but a lesser-of-two-evils election is not what I'm hoping for.
In terms of a proper defense for this, she should have said that her use of an email server was no secret at the time and it went on for years, her political opponents and the administration knew about it, but it only became an issue when she ran for president.
I agree completely. I couldn't care less about this "trumped" up story. It's boring....and just something the media came up with to have a real race. And, it's par for the course for anti-Hillary crowd. If it weren't this, it might be that she is not wearing the right, authentic pant suit colors. Still a totally different standard than what most candidates ever encounter. Authentic, please.....She cannot win for losing. That's why she has chosen to write off the media, because it's never enough....She is as or more "authentic" than any other pol out there...Now people want Joe B., Mr. Credit Card from Delaware. He has nothing that Clinton doesn't have, in fact less - another old white guy for President. He embarrassingly beat up Anita Hill on the stand, and was one of those responsible for giving us our stellar Clarence....The guy has run several other times before, and not well. Who will be the next answer to the lefties prayer....
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