Posted on 03/04/2015 6:39:04 AM PST by SeekAndFind
In his latest piece, National Review’s Charles Cooke related a choice exchange he had with a former Clinton White House staffer who attempted to defend Hillary Clinton’s role in this latest scandal involving her determination to avoid using an official and secure email address, as is mandated by law.
“It’s ‘worth remembering,’ a former Clinton administration staffer assured me quickly on Twitter, ‘that Hillary didn’t have email until she was in her forties. She was clueless.’” Cooke wrote. “‘I just mean,’ he added, desperately, that “she’s no dummy — except possibly with computers — where she kinda is.’”
So the Democratic Party’s anointed 2016 nominee who, we are assured, possesses the intellect and the acumen of a transformative political figure born to shatter glass ceilings devolves into timid and irrational Neanderthal when confronted by technological marvels like electronic mail? It’s not especially convincing, but at least it is a defense.
As reporters go digging into this most recent Clinton controversy, however, it turns out that that the former secretary of state may have possessed a touch more technological prowess than her supporters initially led the public to believe. At least, those around her were savvy in their pursuit of a parallel email system that was apparently designed to evade federal oversight.
“Hillary Clinton created her own private email system that she exclusively used as secretary of state, ignoring ‘very specific guidance’ from the White House by not even creating, let alone using, a government email account,” The Daily Beast revealed on Wednesday citing a bombshell Associated Press investigation.
America’s gentle but technologically enfeebled grandmother-in-chief was, in fact, operating email servers and an internet domain that were run out of her family home in Chappaqua, New York. “The highly unusual practice of a Cabinet-level official physically running her own email would have given Clinton, the presumptive Democratic presidential candidate, impressive control over limiting access to her message archives,” The AP reported. “It also would distinguish Clinton’s secretive email practices as far more sophisticated than some politicians, including Mitt Romney and Sarah Palin, who were caught conducting official business using free email services operated by Microsoft Corp. and Yahoo Inc.”
This little trick was not only evasive and quite probably illegal, but also unique to Clinton. It is going to prove increasingly difficult for the former secretary’s defenders to back her behavior while preserving their own integrity. When figures like Karl Rove and Sarah Palin ran afoul of the press as a result of lost emails or the use of private accounts to conduct official business, the reaction from the political class was anything but muted.
Operating her own server would have afforded Clinton additional legal opportunities to block government or private subpoenas in criminal, administrative or civil cases because her lawyers could object in court before being forced to turn over any emails. And since the Secret Service was guarding Clinton’s home, an email server there would have been well protected from theft or a physical hacking.
But homemade email servers are generally not as reliable, secure from hackers or protected from fires or floods as those in commercial data centers. Those professional facilities provide monitoring for viruses or hacking attempts, regulated temperatures, off-site backups, generators in case of power outages, fire-suppression systems and redundant communications lines.
…
It was unclear whom Clinton hired to set up or maintain her private email server, which the AP traced to a mysterious identity, Eric Hoteham. That name does not appear in public records databases, campaign contribution records or Internet background searches. Hoteham was listed as the customer at Clinton’s $1.7 million home on Old House Lane in Chappaqua in records registering the Internet address for her email server since August 2010.
Hillary Clinton had to know that this would someday come to light. She must have been aware that her scandalous behavior would one day jeopardize her political future and, as a result, her political party’s viability. Moreover, as the AP reported, her use of unsecure email servers might have endangered American diplomatic security had she ever communicated anything of a sensitive nature via email, though we may never know if she did for sure. And the most charitable claim one could make in Clinton’s defense is that all of this was done merely to preserve Clinton’s sense of privilege and self-entitlement.
Relax, the Clinton camp assures the public. We have all of the former secretary’s emails on file, and they can be provided at your request. According to The New York Times, that’s simply not true.
In 2012, congressional investigators asked the State Department for a wide range of documents related to the attack on the United States diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya. The department eventually responded, furnishing House committees with thousands of documents.
But it turns out that that was not everything.
The State Department had not searched the email account of former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton because she had maintained a private account, which shielded it from such searches, department officials acknowledged on Tuesday.
With the news growing rapidly worse for Team Clinton, Media Matters for America founder and former pro-Hillary Super PAC board member David Brock appeared on MSNBC to douse the flames of controversy lapping at Clinton’s heels. In that effort, Brock spent most of his time attacking the “sloppy” reporting at The New York Times, the credulity of Times’ reporters, and even the hosts of the program of which he was a guest.
This is a scandal, and the Clinton camp’s determination to dig in and avoid contrition at all costs is only making it worse. What makes this truly damaging for Clinton is that the media does not have to translate this controversy to the public. Every American understands plainly what conditions might lead someone to conduct official business on a private email account that is free from oversight, and none of them are virtuous. The public understands intuitively the ramifications of this disreputable behavior, and Clinton’s defenders are only throwing gasoline on the fire by attacking the integrity of those responsible for investigating this episode.
Yeah but she has decided to honor us by becoming the first “woman” president. We should feel lucky that she’s giving us this opportunity to “make history” like we did with the Kenyan.
Hillary is what 68 and started using emails when she was in her 40’s. So she has been using email for 20-25 years and still has no idea how it works. She must be a slow learner!
And I though she was the smartest women in the world and the Greatest Secretary of State in the history of the USA.
(Although supporters of Kerry, including Joe Biden content that he (Kerry) is the Greatest Secretary of State in the history of the USA).
“It is going to prove increasingly difficult for the former secretary’s defenders to back her behavior while preserving their own integrity.”
A DemocRat with integrity? BWAHAHAHAHA!
She didn’t do all of this by herself...her handlers did the work.
I worked with a Air Force officer back around 1999. He was in his forties and had no concept or understanding of email. Someone had to log him on and put the email page up...then he’d type what he wanted....then someone would come up to send and close him out. She sounds just like that guy...no concept or understanding.
When I worked in DC around 2010....they had a company in Arlington which specialized in ‘idiots within the gov’t’ who needed an introduction to email (turbo weekend course). Someone quoted me the price of $800 for this weekend course. They had more than enough clients to sign up. Lots of these people.
...as is mandated by law.
I didnt note that this article mentioned the fact that the servers on which the email was stored were IN the Clinton Home in upstate New York.
she ran her own domain at...her own address
amazingly convoluted this
Y’all get a copy of Unlimited Access, written by Gary Aldrich. A 30 year FBI agent that quit the White House detail during the Clinton years out of disgust for what was taking place.
The level of corruption by Bill and Hill was truly breathtaking. Hillary is very cunning and shrewd. This email scandal was no accident nor was it ignorance.
Must read....Unlimited Access by Gary Aldrich.
Yeah, riiiiight...................as long as there were no hookers around..................
Obama’s presidency has so lowered the bar for government honesty that no one even considers such abuses anymore - unless, of course, they’re committed by Republicans.
In that case, Katie bar the door.
There are still records out there. You don’t just erase email communications, even though some believe that you can.
the email....and the domain....were stored...on a server In Chappaqua New York....a Clunton Residence.
That Pretty in Pink interview and "I simply can't recall" defense isn't gonna work this time. As the black pastors throughout the nation would cry (had they the gumption), "she be ridin' dirty!"
May be true for a lot of people. Certainly for hill, at her advanced age.
I had email at college in the mid-70's, although it was only within the university.
If Mrs. Bill is actually arrested it will probably affect her chances for the Democrat nomination. If she is not arrested then this is all just an exercise in getting all the negative stuff out there early so that is old news come time to vote.
This thing is exploding in slow motion. It gives me time to move my stuff...
The dems are gonna need to pull out the JV team.
Paging Elizabeth Warren...
Yes, it is illegal. And she knew it. The fact she wasn’t even issued a state department email account is proof.
And because Roman Polanski buggered an underage girl, “technically” it’s not rape.
Even more disreputable than Whitewater, cattle futures, rape, sexual assault, perjury, intimidation of witnesses, the Brigadoon Papers, bimbo eruptions, who hired whatzizname, Bengazi--that sort of thing?????
This time the public's really, really, really going to be outraged!
"...and Clinton’s defenders are only throwing gasoline on the fire by attacking the integrity of those responsible for investigating this episode."
I'm sure they're trembling through their sleepless nights.
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