Back in 1998, during the investigations of Bill Clinton (including the Monica Lewinsky “situation”), Hillary Clinton went on “The Today Show” to complain about
“this vast right-wing conspiracy that has been conspiring against my husband since the day he announced for president.”
Obviously, the vast right-wing conspiracy never did get Bill Clinton. However, I’m beginning to think it might get Hillary Clinton. Not directly, of course; but indirectly. Let me explain. It’s not that there is some vast right-wing conspiracy that is trying to defeat former Secretary Clinton (unless you are referring to the Republican Party). Rather, it’s that Secretary Clinton’s belief such a conspiracy exists may wind up causing her to beat herself.
Secretary Clinton has said she set up her now-famous private e-mail account, and server, so she would only have to use one device; i.e., to make things easier. I don’t think anybody believes that. I think she wanted to keep tighter control over her emails. She remembers Kenneth Starr, etc., investigating Bill and her, and she didn’t want every right-wing crazy group in the country being able to look at her emails by just subpoenaing the State Department.
“My e-mails with my family [Ms. McArdle said] are full of insignificant details of my life, bickering about petty questions of no possible interest to anyone else and similar ephemera. You would still have to pry the password to my Gmail account out of my cold, dead hands with a crowbar, or at least a subpoena. And I'm just talking about a neutral third party. If handing it over meant that those e-mails might end up in the hands of someone who said nasty things about me in public and clearly wished to end my career? Better bring the extra-large crowbar.”
While Ms. McArdle was talking about the “personal” emails that Secretary Clinton deleted from her server and the question of whether Secretary Clinton had to turn the server over to the Department of Justice, the same reasoning applies to why Secretary Clinton wanted a personal email account and server in the first place. The problem, however, is that it appears some really secret stuff went through that email account and was stored on that server. I understand Secretary Clinton says the information and emails she saw weren’t marked classified when she saw them. I don’t think that excuse works. (Here and here.) It seems that Secretary Clinton may have been so concerned about the possibility of some right-wing group getting her emails, that she wound up not properly protecting the confidentiality of our government’s information. And that is a problem.
In other words, the “vast right-wing conspiracy” may have finally gotten itself a Clinton. Not because of anything it did. But by making Secretary Clinton so paranoid that she did it to herself.
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