Over the last several months we’ve heard the continuing refrain from Hillary Clinton and her campaign that she has “never received or sent any classified emails.”
And the mainstream press continues to recite that chorus as if that’s the operative question surrounding the bizarre case of Hillary having used a personal email account while she was secretary of state.
The real question is, why would a woman who graduated from tony Wellesley College and the prestigious Yale Law School, who served as first lady for eight years, as U.S. senator for nine years, and finally secretary of state for four years be willing to take the chance that she might receive or transmit classified emails?
This is a woman, remember, who we were getting as a “two for one” when Bill was running for president, and who most acknowledged was the smarter of the two.
So why would an obviously bright, intelligent woman who’s been at the pinnacle of power in Washington, D.C., for the last two decades succumb to the entitlement that she was an exception to the rule, that she could not only have her own email account, but more importantly her own private email server?
For anyone steeped in the knowledge of what’s transpired since her husband’s election, we know that anything that looks like a self-inflicted injury is going to be chalked up to their old standby excuse: It’s all about the Right-Wing Conspiracy.
But the truth be known, this is just another scandal created by the Clintons, who have a history of being in scandals and skirting the truth. Whether it was the femme fatales of her husband’s dalliances, or Whitewater or the Missing Files or the Clinton Foundation, no other elected official in recent memory has been involved in so many shady shenanigans.
The reason Hillary operated with her own private email server was simply to allow her to fully control her conversations and allow her to decide what her business is and what the people’s business is (supposedly).
When it counted -- at the beginning -- she knew exactly what to do. She went and bought a server, had it installed in her home, had it managed by a small computer company in Colorado so that she could do exactly what she did -- delete emails that she never wanted the public to see.
If you believe in open and transparent government, the alleged hallmarks of the incompetent Obama administration, there would never be a reason to operate your own email system.
Truly, Hillary would never “knowingly” receive or transmit classified emails, but how would she know? How would she insightfully know, doing work all around the world, at the speed of which any major Cabinet member would operate, that something should be classified?
You don’t, and of course, that’s the point.
And she’s smart enough to know that in advance. Consequently, can you imagine all of the questions she would have had to ask in order to understand how her email system would work and interface with the department and all of its important minions?
No, this is a very able and conniving woman who thinks that she can stall, delay, defer, and make jokes about her insecure email system.
Why would she even be willing to take the chance that the Ruskies, the Chinese or North Koreans might hack into her system?
Lord knows, it seems like they’ve hacked into not just large retail companies, but the Pentagon and other key government agencies, which retain files on millions of Americans, including their personal data.
Scott Walker said it best in the first Republican debate when he answered a question with the comment that the Russians and the Chinese probably know more about her emails than the U.S. Congress!
What kind of leader would take that chance? More importantly, is that the kind of leader we want as our president?
The answer is clearly no, which is why her polling numbers have peaked, Bernie is catching up and Joe is looking more and more like he may need to jump in just to save the Democratic Party from Hillary Clinton self-destructive behavior.
If she does this as secretary of state, what will she do if she were to become president?
Frankly, we can’t afford to find out.
The “deleted” emails may yet be recovered and, if so, it will be damnable evidence of her duplicity and her willingness to skate the law’s intent -- which is to keep governmental emails secure and available for anyone entitled to ask for them -- and her disregard for what’s in the best interest of this country, our diplomats, and all Americans.
To date, the emails being released, only because of a Judge’s order, are already showing what many of us suspected, that she is culpable in her purposeful actions.
This isn’t about personal emails; it’s about a private email server that was under-protected from foreign governments, without sufficient security protocols that would be expected for any secretary of state.
Shame on you, Hillary.
Barney Bishop III, one of the most familiar faces within the state business community, is CEO of Barney Bishop Consulting LLC in Tallahassee.
