It is time I said something about the latest controversy – emails. Since it came out that Hillary Clinton used a personal email address while Secretary of State, you would think that the entire world was set upside down. There are some questions that do need to be answered that I believe are valid. The major one is if the email server Clinton used is really secure.
Look, I know about maintaining classified material and secure communications. If she used her personal email account and personal server for official business, then it must be made certain that the server has the proper security level necessary. If not, it is possible that something may have been compromised, and that is not good.
On the other hand, the rest of this new controversy is total bullshit! This is not defending Clinton. It is merely making a point. With the possible exception of Lindsey Graham who claims to never have sent an email, everyone in government uses private emails. This includes Trey Gowdy who is demanding that Clinton turn over every single email she ever sent or received while Secretary of State.
He isn’t alone either. The business card for Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT), who succeeded Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) to be head of the House’s Government Oversight committee lists a Gmail address. Why not his official email address? It also came out that Secretary of State Colin Powell used a personal email account while in office.
What makes Clinton’s use of personal email such a controversy is the never-ending Benghazi Investigations. I lost count of how many there have been, but so far none of them came up with anything. Now the email “scandal” is supposed to be the smoking gun. Gowdy claims she must be hiding something in her personal email account.
Clinton has already released over 55,000 printed pages of emails. Gowdy wants every single personal email she sent while Secretary of State in the name of transparency. There is that word again. Transparency. We have seen that word used way too much to justify any witch-hunt someone wants to conduct on both sides of the aisle.
I am all for transparency. But, everyone doesn’t seem to think like I do, not even Gowdy. For example, AlterNet asked Gowdy’s press secretary how he segregates work he conducts through his personal domain vs congressional work. They also inquired about where his personal email server is stored and how it is secured. They even tried to contact Gowdy’s campaign manager George Ramsey but he did not return the phone calls. As of yet, no response was received to these questions.
I don’t know what the “law” everyone talks about actually says about email accounts. But, if we are going to constantly talk about transparency, then it is wrong to criticize anyone without following your own words about transparency.
I know that a lot of trolls out there would love to peer into the personal email accounts of public officials. I find that disgusting and an invasion of privacy. However, if you are going to make a scandal over emails about one person, you must follow through and release your own personal emails so we can judge if you are as pure as you say you are. Or, is this another case of Congress exempting themselves from laws they pass about other branches of government?
Hillary Clinton wants to be president. We know that there are a lot of people who are completely against her even running for the office. That means anything is fair game as far as they are concerned. The problem I have with all of this is more about judgment.
You know I ask some questions that others won’t, so I will ask this one. What the f**k was she thinking? She should have known that anything that even appeared to be wrong would come back to haunt her. She was slow in her response to the “scandal” too.
In the meantime, this email scandal will go on forever. The news media loves covering stories about the Clintons. Either good stories or bad stories. But, remember, she is not alone in combining personal emails with business. Only we won’t know who is and who isn’t doing the same until all personal emails are made public for every elected or appointed official.
Hell, if we are going to be a tabloid news nation, what better way to feed the rags than letting everyone see your emails. As I said before, I find that totally disgusting. Then again, I can think of a few people whose email accounts I might be interested in seeing. I am sure you can too. What gems might they contain?
