I’ve sat back, watching the circus unfold surrounding the supposed scandal with Hillary and the classified emails she allegedly had stored on her personal email server at her private residence in Chappaqua, New York. Here in Kansas, we are familiar with this sort of behavior of using private emails to deal with government business. Kansas Governor Sam Brownback and his cronies also believe it’s cool to conduct government business through a personal email.
I know I’m not towing the Democratic line here, as Hillary’s biggest fans tend to be rabid in their support and I don’t fault them for that (I used to be just as big of a fan of Hillary), but in the scope of all things government, using a private email address to conduct government business is a big deal. I know that’s hard to admit, but it is what it is. Any communications public officials take part in as a government official representing the American people belong to the American people. I knew back in March this was going to be a big problem.
The email isn’t the biggest problem for Hillary though, it was just the start of what has ended up being a cat-and-mouse-chase of blood-thirsty Republicans trying to drown Hillary in any sort of mudslinging material they could find. Unfortunately for Hillary, she isn’t keeping her head above the mud.
She should have known better, and so should every government official. How can anyone in the Democratic party say this isn’t a big deal? We are the party of oversight, accountability, and regulation. Yet, we are supposed to downplay a government official who represented America in all of our foreign relations using a private email? We can’t downplay it anymore.
Hillary’s biggest problem, though, is her reticence to deal with the media and be open and candid about what has occurred. She’s not acting like the star that Obama was when he was running. She is instead acting like Britney Spears right before her public meltdown, when she was reluctant to speak with the media and became overly private.
In a few months, a Benghazi movie, 13 Hours, will be coming out. It’s going to be big. Director Michael Bay doesn’t do anything but big. While you may not have heard of him, you have certainly heard of his other movies: Pearl Harbor, Armageddon, Bad Boys, Transformers, The Rock. This movie might not have had the ability to be as big as it will if Republicans hadn’t successfully forced Hillary to testify once again about Benghazi, which will be happening right around when the movie is released. Democratic pundits would be kidding themselves to believe the film will not skewer Hillary’s handling of Benghazi by giving faces to those who died and by giving very graphic representations of what occurred (even though it’s obviously been adapted for maximum movie ticket sales). The plot tag lines for the movie on IMDB state:
“To protect CIA outposts and personnel in unstable regions, the agency employs elite ex-military operators. In 2012, the threat level in Benghazi, Libya was deemed critical. When everything went wrong, six men had the courage to do what was right. This is a true story.”
That sends a very clear message and if you don’t think a movie like this will galvanize the Republicans, you’re sadly mistaken. They are looking for a hero in the Benghazi story, and this movie will give them that, but for every hero, there must be a bad guy. Hillary is going to be that bad guy, and whether the movie is historically accurate or not, it will allow Republicans to co-opt it as the new battle cry against Hillary just as she’s testifying before the House about it.
Hillary is refusing to answer questions about her emails when she testifies before Congress in October about Benghazi. While that might seem like a smart move, it only means Republicans will likely get a new subpoena to force her to testify on that subject. All of this will be playing out while Hillary should be campaigning like the rock star she is.
It isn’t difficult to see the writing on the wall if these assaults continue. If you don’t think the Republicans aren’t going to pour every resource they have into making sure she continues to fall off the pedestal we’ve put her on, you need to reevaluate reality.
If Hillary was smart, right now she’d be assaulting Trump in the media and utilizing his spotlight to make herself look better. She would be giving Democrats the voice to fight back against the racist, obnoxious, sexist, and downright repugnant statements he makes in the media every day. But alas, where is our hero? Where is our leader?
I used to be one of those individuals a year ago who told other Democrats not to support Bernie Sanders because it would take away from Hillary. Now though, if Hillary doesn’t pull out of this nose-dive, I think Bernie may be our only hope, and if he is let’s hope beyond all hope he chooses Elizabeth Warren for his Vice-Presidential running mate. My advice to Hillary: hire the best criminal lawyer and PR firm you can afford. Get all of the bad stuff out now before the hearings. Do the media rounds and answer the hard questions. Assault, assault, assault Trump in the media.
