Dueling Hillaries: Her emails vs. her speech transcripts

[thesquanderer]

When it comes to the ostensibly classified messages on her email server, Hillary has asked the state department to release them, so everyone can see that there really was nothing of concern there. As she said on tonight's town hall,

I've asked, and I echo Colin Powell in this, release it, and once the American people see it, they will know how absurd this is. So Colin Powell and I are exactly on the same page.

(with "it" being the set of withheld emails)

This echoes her campaign manager's statement last month:

"Hillary Clinton agrees with her predecessor that his emails, like hers, are being inappropriately subjected to over-classification. She joins his call for these emails to be released so that the public can view the contents for itself."

She wants the voters to see the emails, to have the peace of mind that she really didn't say anything she shouldn't have said in those emails.

OTOH... she does not think the voters should similarly see the transcripts of her speeches, which could likewise provide peace of mind that she really didn't say anything she shouldn't have said.

Why do you think she wants the emails released to set the public's mind at ease about them, but is not so quick to release her speech transcripts, which could ostensibly likewise set the public's mind at ease about them? Hmmm.

[Kalidurga]

1. If I was Hillary I wouldn't want those emails released.

The ones I read which numbered more than 20 and less than 100, were not good as far as I am concerned. It wasn't just what she said in one glaring case it's the lack of content that alarms me. She didn't respond to several dozen emails from Jake Sullivan about the situation in the Honduras for example. She also I gather from the fact she got thousands of emails a day and responded to maybe .1% of those that she really hates email, like she hates it as much as I hate talking on the telephone.

But, it's relatively safe to release all of them. The more the better actually, cuz no one is going to read all of them. Most people won't even read around 50 of them. Most people won't even scan pages of them to get the gist of the conversations thrown at her and the ones she engaged in. So, they won't see how completely vapid she can come off as.

[jeff47]

5. Well, she knows they won't be released.

So she can claim to want them released, safe in the knowledge that it won't happen.

[farleftlib]

6. Exactly

She knows how to play the game. Say one thing, do another. Promise things that are never going to happen and then say "I tried." Change positions in midstream and claim you were on the same side all along etc. Act like a bully and play the victim. There isn't a single scam that she hasn't pulled.

[thesquanderer]

7. That's a good point. It's a phony call...

...because she has no power to do anything about it. A FOIA request is being addressed, State is required to release everything that it deems not to be classified, and Hillary's request that they also release the ones they deem to be classified is irrelevant. The documents would have to be declassified in order to be able to be released. There is no reason State would be expected to do this.

About the only way this could happen is if Obama stepped in (since the President actually has the authority to declassify information), but the White House itself has claimed that certain emails should not be released!
(see http://www.politico.com/story/2015/10/hillary-clinton-emails-classified-release-215359) I guess this is another one of those areas where maybe Clinton and Obama don't quite see eye to eye after all.

Meanwhile, the area where she does have the power to decide exactly how transparent things should be, where it is within her authority to determine what the public can and cannot see, would be her speech transcripts, which she claims are innocuous as her emails are supposed to be. Yet she doesn't seem quite so eager to prove to us what she actually does have the power to prove.

[thesquanderer]

8. True, the emails released so far have already provided some anti-Hillary fodder.

Last edited Tue Mar 8, 2016, 12:52 PM - Edit history (1)

More "questionable" ones are likely to do the same, or worse.

And while you're right that most people won't read them, all it takes is a few determined diggers to shine a spotlight on the worst of them.

But, as pointed out elsewhere, it's kind of a phony issue anyway, because no matter what Hillary "calls for," State is simply not going to declassify what they have now classified, merely to help Hillary prove a point... a point they are not inclined to agree with, either.

[FourScore]

2. Excellent point!!! n/t

[NanceGreggs]

3. Other than BS supporters hoping against hope ...

... for a GOTCHA! moment in those transcripts, what purpose would they serve?

Here's the reality: BSers have been clamouring for those transcripts because they are convinced that HRC was signaling "secret deals" or "preferential treatment" to GS employees.

If Hillary was going to say something along those lines, do you honestly think she'd do so in a a speech in front of a roomful of people? If she wanted to signal some kind of quid-pro-quo alliance, wouldn't she just meet with the PTB at GS and do so behind closed doors?

Hillary's speaking contract states that there be a court reporter in attendance to produce a transcript. If she was going to say anything the least bit untoward, why would SHE be the one asking that a record be made? Why wouldn't she simply stipulate in her contract that NO transcript be produced, therefore forever rendering what she said an easily-disputable matter of he said/she said after the fact?

The transcripts only became an issue - and only an issue among BS supporters - when it became apparent that he won't be the nominee. It's a very transparent and totally desperate attempt to find something - anything! - that can be used against HRC in hopes of turning the tide.

The people are speaking via their primary votes. They want Hillary as their nominee, not Bernie. And all the screaming about transcripts isn't going to change that fact.

[joshcryer]

4. Odds are there is something usable.

But not by Trump. I expect her to release them if Trump brings it up or it actually gains traction.