THE DEMOCRATS ARE MAKING A SUICIDAL MISTAKE

[99th_Monkey]

THE DEMOCRATS ARE MAKING A SUICIDAL MISTAKE
As a report undermines her statements about the email server, and polls show Trump drawing even, the Clinton campaign is quickly becoming a disaster
by NATHAN J. ROBINSON * May 28, 2016 * Current Affairs

Somewhat predictably, Hillary Clinton’s campaign has become a sinking ship. All of the lessons that should have been learned after her 2008 run failed so badly (that voters’ trust in her diminishes with each word she speaks, that her campaigns are woefully poorly run, that Bill is a liability) have been ignored, as the Democrats press forward with what looks like a doomed strategy.

Things were already looking bad when new polling showed that Trump had drawn even with Clinton, or was actually beating her (something Democrats have insisted is impossible). Now, the Inspector General for the State Department has released a report that contradicts large parts of Clinton’s story about her email server, which was already a highly troublesome and persistent issue.

The report hands the Trump campaign a powerful issue to deploy against Clinton. As the New York Times reported, it has numerous damning portions:

"The inspector general found that Mrs. Clinton “had an obligation to discuss using her personal email account to conduct official business” with department officials but that, contrary to her claims that the department “allowed” the arrangement, there was “no evidence” she had requested or received approval for it… Department officials told the inspector general’s office that “Secretary Clinton never demonstrated to them that her private server or mobile device met minimum information security requirements,” the report said. The report also criticized Mrs. Clinton for not adhering to the department’s rules for handling records under the Federal Records Act once she stepped down in January 2013… The rules governing emails under previous secretaries were, the report said, “very fluid.” By the time Mrs. Clinton came to office, however, they were “considerably more detailed and sophisticated,” spelling out the “obligation to use department systems in most circumstances and identifying the risks of not doing so.”

The Clinton campaign quickly released a statement arguing that the report had in fact exonerated her of wrongdoing. But even the Times, whose Clinton coverage is generally extremely sympathetic (they are the paper, after all, that went back and re-edited a news piece about Bernie Sanders to avoid making it seem too complimentary), seemed unable to stomach this attempt to twist the report’s findings.

Much More: https://www.currentaffairs.org/2016/05/the-democrats-are-making-a-suicidal-mistake

[MisterP]

1. "we'll be fine: it's only the complaining that makes her poll badly"

[XemaSab]

8. .

?v=1414004067

[Purveyor]

2. Either they think that they can win in Nov against trump regardless of

how bad of a campaign/position they are in or they are just plain stupid...

Dark days ahead regardless...

[pdsimdars]

13. And it used to be you could count out being just plain stupid . . . not any more

The more you know, the more you realize that STUPID may be the only conclusion you can come to.

[HassleCat]

3. The email issue is resonating with many.

Some of my friends are surprising me by citing the email issue. I didn't think it would go much of anywhere, but it "has legs" evidently. I guess people expect a high standard when you're a cabinet member, particularly one of the most important cabinet members. I thought the foundation, the associations with banks, and so on, were more significant, but the email thing may be what ruins it for Clinton.

[XemaSab]

10. Secretary of State is 4th in line for the presidency

And I think a big part of what's giving this legs is the suspicion that she was running pay-to-play out of the SoS office and trading favors to foreign governments for Foundation donations.

30,000 "private" emails about Chelsea's wedding just doesn't work for me.

That there bell can't be un-rung.

[99th_Monkey]

11. I'm with you about Hillary's damned emails

But unlike those other issues like Wall St., TPP, etc. -- coincidentally ones that Hillary would always tack Left on to appear more "liberal -- the email issue stands as hers and hers alone; and cuts to the bone of national security, the "judgement" thing, and has tendrils into the Clinton Foundation shenanigans, et. al.

[Cal Carpenter]

19. The foundation is the crux of the email issue for many people

It isn't just moral outrage about the possible security breaches etc. Specifics about Blumenthal and weapons stuff during her SoS tenure are very worrisome and I'm surprised they aren't talked about much on DU. I guess posters who bring it up being accused of repeating 'RW Hillary-hating smears' is helping keep the noise down.

Frankly, anyone being honest about the real activities of the state dept over the last decades shouldn't be all that surprised. What's surprising is that the details are coming out and the email shit looks like a bad, bad attempt at a cover-up.

[HassleCat]

21. That's what I would think, but I'm in the minority.

I think the details of some of the questionable associations are the significant element of the email thing. But my friends seem to think it's the security breech.

[99th_Monkey]

37. Actually, it is both/and as near as I can tell.

Her damned emails revealed many unsavory details about her Foundation and
its real purpose i.e. a front for the Clinton international/MIC shenanigans.

[ebayfool]

23. It's getting coverage on 'bunny-ear' news - the local stations you can only pick up w/antenna.

Local news has been low on political content here, and this is garnering attention. Negative attention. The area I'm in is very low income, so little cable/satellite. Yeah, the email issue is trickling into the public awareness. And the talk I'm hearing about it is most of them see it as an affirmation of 'nontrustworthyness'. It's gonna hurt Clinton - and by extension Democrats - badly.

[unc70]

30. People have experience with email

Most people have experience with email, at home and at work. Also with seeing investigations of public officials involving their emails. The IG report confirms their suspicions -- Clinton has been lying to everyone about the emails. Now, nothing she says or does passes the smell test.

[msongs]

4. oh look the sanders surrogates dont want her to be president. there's a shocker for ya nt

[mikehiggins]

5. The NY Times is a Sanders surrogate? WTF. Did I misread your post? n/t

[insta8er]

7. 16 Days...16 Days, and you can feel totally comfortable again..nobody to remind you

what a liability she is.

[catnhatnh]

12. Ya'know that bit about democrats needing a plan b???

I'm betting the Admins are thinking they might too. You see if 17 days from now they allowed a purge and Hillary was subsequently forced to bail it would be detrimental to their business plan. Now I don't doubt that Skinner would like to protect the presumptive nominee. I just think there's a bit more room for doubt about who that might be than there had been a while ago.

[rhett o rick]

15. There are a lot of Americans that don't trust her and don't want her to be president.

This isn't news. But her fans prefer Trump over Sanders. Conservatives stick together.

[mythology]

20. If only there was some sort of polling on the subject

Oh wait there is:

Among Clinton supporters, just 14 percent said they would steer clear of voting for Sanders should he become the party's nominee, with 79 percent saying they would get behind the Vermont senator.

http://www.politico.com/blogs/2016-dem-primary-live-updates-and-results/2016/04/sanders-supporters-not-vote-clinton-221642

80% of Clinton supporters in April said they would vote for Sanders. Kind of makes your claim look silly.

[grasswire]

31. things have changed a lot since April. nt

[nadinbrzezinski]

6. The party is making a mistake of historic proportions

so be it. they are cutting their own throats.

[Nuclear Unicorn]

39. My honest take on it:

The GOP make awesome machine politicians; it's part of their nature. They organize well for specific purposes: the military, corporations, churches, etc. That allows them to organize well for other specific purposes such as elections.

This is not to be confused with the more individualist-minded conservative-libertarians who vote GOP.

In contrast the Democratic party was a camp for the refugees of GOP policy and realpolitik. It was a place for those who were without a voice to gather and combine their voices. It provided an organized structure but the lines between organized structures and machines is a thin one.

The attraction to Hillary is that she is a machine politician in the mold of Tammany Hall and Chicago. Since Bill's administration they have endeavored to engineer the structure of the Democratic party apparatus into a thing that doesn't represent Democratic voters as much as it serves their ambitions.

When the election approached the question was put before us: How do we plan to beat the GOP machine?

It's a fair question and it's a frightening prospect considering they made it through 8 years of Bush without ever having been held to account. They are formidable and to not be concerned about them would be foolhardy.

So, we were told the answer to their machine politicians was our own machine politician and that, naturally, was Hillary. Not that any other answer was possible because her machine was engineered only to produce that singular answer. And produce it, it has.

Heck, in the early days of the primary season her supporters even played her cronyism to corporate interests as a virtue. "Well, how else do you expect her to match GOP moneyed interests?" they sniffed.

But then came Trump. For all his barking baboon buffoonery he was one thing: Not a machine politician. In fact, it was his barking baboon buffoonery that showed him to not be a part of the machine. The GOP machine reviles him. Nobody thought he could clinch the nomination -- but he did.

Now we're stuck with a machine politician geared up to fight another machine politician except there's no machine for her to fight and what's worse is the Trump victory shows the electorate is in the mood to dismantle machines. The barking baboon is the monkey wrench the voters intend to throw into the machine. I'm not saying their choice of monkey wrench is good -- it may be effective but it definitely isn't good no matter how badly the machine needs to be dismantled.

So here we are.

We either back the machine, thus further entrenching it into our lives and political structure, ossifying it for the foreseeable future with its corporatism, wars of aggression, corruption, cronyism and disregard for the law or we stand by as a barking baboon riding a nihilistic wave anti-everything brings us God only knows what.

Is it too late to write in Alfred E. Neuman?

[nadinbrzezinski]

40. I am thinking more of the Mouse

Far more emblematic of the problems.

While true, none considered how damaged she already is due to the slow developing scandal

Oh and I am half kidding

[SusanCalvin]

41. Pat Paulsen!

http://www.azquotes.com/author/11423-Pat_Paulsen

https://m.

[pdsimdars]

14. Well, they thought they could handle Trump and had contingencies to thwart him but he is

now the GOP nominee. The Corporate State isn't the be all and end all as has been proven time and again throughout history.

[rhett o rick]

16. If the one is what I think it is, I believe they have that covered also. nm

[NorthCarolina]

18. The establishment didn't get the Bush half of the contest they were hoping for

so now all they have left is the Hillary half. If Hillary gets blown out, or forced out, they won't have a dog in this race unless they can slip someone else in. I know that there is no way they will permit an actual humanist to compete, only the pretend kind are allowed.

[99th_Monkey]

22. It torques my mind to contemplate a "choice" in Nov.

between an establishment Dem and an outsider who's a dangerous idiot.

The People have decisively renounced The Establishment on both sides of the isle,
so we deserve a real choice: one between a dangerous idiot and Crazy Bernie. It
would be such a YUUUGE improvement over Hillary v. Trump.

[Demsrule86]

24. Sander's ship is sinking actually

only 9 days left.buh bye Sanders...don't let the door...

[99th_Monkey]

25. Excuse me, but your wishful thinking is showing. n/t

[Lil Missy]

26. HRC is still winning. Bernie still lost. But thanks for playing.

[liberalnarb]

29. HRC is gonna lose in November.

And then we're screwed. You must be proud of yourself.

[Lil Missy]

34. You flatter yourself.

[grasswire]

32. look at the poll numbers

Her "honest and trustworthy" dropped to 18 Thursday. Still falling.

[Trust Buster]

27. The voters and not a political blogger have the right to make that decision. They chose Hillary.

[99th_Monkey]

36. Suddenly it's all about the voters, and not the polls. Got it. nt

[Bluenorthwest]

38. Then why did the cycle start with proclamations of 'Super Delegate' vote leads?

If it is all about the voters there should not be a large lead awarded prior to the casting of even one voter's vote. But that's how your team did it. The will of the people is an afterthought at best.

[Agnosticsherbet]

28. Current Affairs: "It’s a beautiful publication full of satire, wit, and elegance."

[grasswire]

33. thank you for that source

It's nice to see it here.

[99th_Monkey]

35. Yah, it was new to me too ..

.. I had to check it out before posting, to make sure it wasn't RW.

[sorechasm]

42. Hillary's campaign shows zero capacity to learn from previous mistakes.

This is a useful exemplification of a disturbing recurrent Clinton trait: responding to criticisms that she has lied by telling… even more lies, thus causing the whole thing to degenerate further down into disaster. It’s the same tactic Clinton thought would work when she was called out on her claim about ducking sniper fire in Bosnia.

Runs the same campaign as 2008 and expects different results. Apologies are false and useless without lessons learned. Among her many faults, the inability to learn from previous mistakes is the most disturbing. She apologized for her vote on the Iraq war, but she makes the same mistakes with Syria. Her apology for her email 'gaffe' has no credibility, which implies that she would make the same mistakes as President.