The sound & the fury of “Hillarygate”: Here’s the biggest problem with the ongoing Clinton email sag

[applegrove]

The sound & the fury of “Hillarygate”: Here’s the biggest problem with the ongoing Clinton email saga

by Jack Mirkinson at Salon

http://www.salon.com/2015/09/01/the_sound_the_fury_of_hillarygate_the_gops_desperate_idiotic_email_crusade_just_sank_to_an_embarrassing_new_low/

"SNIP................


We learned that Clinton is extremely interested in politics. We learned that she has a coterie of slimy hangers-on looking to cash in on their relationship with her. We learned that her secret, private email was, well, pretty secret and private. We learned that her staff is very sycophantic. We learned that she’s a “Parks and Recreation” fan. And, yes, we learned that she once sent an email about gefilte fish.

Yeah, so when I said that we “learned” things, I was being technically accurate, but not much more than that. Virtually nothing in the emails is especially noteworthy. (Hillary Clinton is insular, highly political and keeps dubious company? You don’t say!) Once again, all of the emails where Clinton personally planned the Benghazi attacks and contemplated taking a hit out on Princess Diana just for fun are missing.

But wait, people will reply. There’s nothing juicy in here because Clinton wiped all the good stuff off the face of the earth. We don’t really know if this is the case, but who would be shocked if it were? Politicians do not, as a rule, prefer to leave all of their most sensitive material lying out on the table for us.

The question, then, is not whether we will find any smoking guns buried in the back corners of Hillary Clinton’s office chit-chat, but whether this will matter that much to voters. And there is no reasonable way to know that right now.



................SNIP"

[Motown_Johnny]

1. I think there is a reasonable way to know right now

The fact that only about one in three Americans think she is trustworthy speaks volumes. A majority of Americans will believe that she wiped all the good stuff off the face of the Earth.

[Metric System]

2. You don't think that has anything to do with the media's coverage?

[L0oniX]

4. If only she was more like Bernie she wouldn't be getting media attention.

[Adrahil]

12. You mean nearly inconsequential for 20 years?

I don't mean to be mean, but the reality is that Bernie has been at the center of very little for 20 years. He hasn't attracted any attention or had to navigate politically tricky waters at the national and international level because, frankly, he has been at the fringe of the conversation. He has never been the target of hate and vitriol that Clinton has because he hasn't really mattered. If he gets the nomination, you can expect that to change in a very big way.

Don't get me wrong... I think Sanders is a man of integrity. But his world is about the change in a dramatic way, if he succeeds in his quest for the nomination.

[LuvLoogie]

5. You guys remind me of fans of an 7 and 6 team in the NFL

Hoping that the 11 and 2 team in your division goes 0 for 3 and loses their starting quarterback.

The wildcard cinderella story of lunchbucket journeymen against all odds and the DLC...

[Motown_Johnny]

8. Except that the season has not started yet.

All we have are projections on what will happen in future contests.

How about we let someone get some actual points on the board before we hand out the championship trophy?

[LuvLoogie]

11. Except that it has.

About 35 years ago. That's what you don't get.

[Maedhros]

3. There is a problem with this author's take:

But wait, people will reply. There’s nothing juicy in here because Clinton wiped all the good stuff off the face of the earth. We don’t really know if this is the case, but who would be shocked if it were? Politicians do not, as a rule, prefer to leave all of their most sensitive material lying out on the table for us.

He seems to think it's OK for the Secretary of State to simply delete official State Department communications with no regard for records retention or auditing.

That's why running official communications through an unofficial server is problematic: there is no institutional control over the server, hence no way to guarantee records are properly retained.

This author is woefully unaware of information security protocols.

[LuvLoogie]

6. Except that she didn't violate protocol.

The State Department said as much. New rules were instituted after she left. But you know that, so keep burnishing that pebble. It may turn to gold.

[quickesst]

7. haha...

That's good.

[Sancho]

9. But nothing is erased!!

It was reported years ago that Google and Mcaffee made backups (in case the server went down). The server was erased when it went out from under Secret Service protection. Her lawyers (who have top secret clearance) provided a copy of the work emails on a thumb drive when it was requested. They likely have personal emails too. FOIA cannot compel release of the personal email.

Over 90% was captured on .gov computers anyway. Even the backup would only have 10% work that slipped thought or was received from a private computer, and most of that was likely WH staff or traveling gov employees where the email didn't get forwarded to a .gov account. You can read the emails and see that Hillary was aware of "confidential" material. She had a secure system she could use for classified messages. There's nothing there, nothing missing, and no issue except CT.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/hillary-clintons-email-server-traced-to-home-based-service-ap/

In November 2012, without explanation, Clinton's private email account was reconfigured to use Google's servers as a backup in case her own personal email server failed, according to Internet records.

Then, in July 2013, five months after she resigned as secretary of state, Clinton's private email server was reconfigured again to use a Denver-based commercial email provider, MX Logic, which is now owned by McAfee Inc., a top Internet security company.

[Vinca]

10. Listening to reports this morning made me think of something else.

The reports du jour are that there were emails that were classified secret after the fact. I had been thinking that if this was the case, that was that and she was in the clear. This morning it occurred to me that if it is common knowledge things are unclassified at some point and then later classified, why would someone take the chance of transmitting information that MIGHT later become classified. I know other Secretaries of State did it, but they aren't running for POTUS which puts this self-inflicted problem front and center . . . still.

[JoePhilly]

13. Another RW scandal in which nothing actually happened.