2016 Postmortem

pnwmom

(108,955 posts) Tue Aug 23, 2016, 03:09 PM Aug 2016

Boston Globe: Hillary's email "scandals" are pure fiction. "Sound and fury signifying nothing."

https://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2016/08/23/clinton-mail-scandals-are-pure-fiction/ryXZoEeqANOPSiL7O33QuJ/story.html

Take, for example, the imbroglio over newly released e-mails regarding interactions between the Clinton Foundation and the State Department when Clinton was secretary of state. These exchanges, primarily between Clinton’s assistant Huma Abedin and Clinton Foundation top honcho Doug Band, have become Exhibit A in efforts to brand Clinton as a corrupt figure and the Foundation as a pay-for-play operation. The evidence, however, speaks to a different reality.

SNIP

The scandal here seems to be that people who gave money to the Clinton Foundation had e-mails sent to the Clinton State Department requesting favors that were repeatedly denied. Still, evidence has never been the key ingredient of a Clinton scandal. Optics and the appearance of scandal are always where the action has been.

The recent e-mail revelations “illustrate the way the Clintons’ international network of friends and donors was able to get access to Hillary Clinton and her inner circle” says the Post. All this adds “to the controversy” about “major donors” to the foundation getting “access to other power players,” says Politico. Or, as shown by the evidence, not getting access.

SNIP

That those questions were raised and answered in a way that exonerated Mrs. Clinton is seemingly secondary to the fact that questions had been raised. Even when cleared of wrongdoing, the Clintons cannot escape the ever-creeping shadow of the dark insinuations of their political enemies.

SNIP

Clinton is running for president and thus merits the scrutiny she is receiving. But the American people deserve an investigation into her record that separates fact from fiction and relies on evidence, not innuendo. So far, that’s not happening.