She can’t help herself. Hillary Clinton is addicted to deception.
The news that she used an iPad as well as a BlackBerry demolishes her already ridiculous claim that she set up a private email server so she would only need to carry one gadget as secretary of state. At a March 10 press conference, Clinton put it this way: “I thought using one device would be simpler, and, obviously, it hasn’t worked out that way. Looking back, it would have been probably . . . smarter to have used two devices.”
Those comments, her first public ones on the scandal, are now revealed as a lie. What a way to start a presidential campaign!
Oh, wait — it’s the Clinton way. Always was, always will be.
Now what? Does she expect us to assume she’ll tell the truth from this moment? Maybe she should wink twice with her right eye and raise her left hand to signal when a lie is coming.
Not that we needed any reminding, but the Clinton way is indistinguishable from plain dishonesty. That’s how it was when she and Bubba were in the White House for eight years. And it’s how it was when she lost the Democratic race in 2008 and opted for the State job in President Obama’s cabinet.
Six years later, she’s back in the political ring again, yet nothing’s changed. She still won’t tell the truth.
From dodging sniper fire to being dead broke, she says what’s most convenient for her in the moment, and lets her flunkies clean up the mess later.
Her word is not her bond. In contrast to the dictum of the late Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, she believes she’s entitled to her own facts as well as her own opinion.
The revelation by the AP that she used at least two electronic devices, neither of them connected to a government email account, means she will have to come up a with a new reason why she was entitled to do emails her way.
Whatever she comes up with, it won’t wash. It’s obvious that her aim was to avoid having Congress and the White House know what she didn’t want them to know.
She could have put two accounts, one personal, one private, on one device connected to a government server. She didn’t because she wanted to keep everything secret from everybody — and she’s still doing it.
Equally preposterous is her insistence that she could make her own rules, while also claiming she followed the letter and spirit of government rules. She did it her way because she thought the rules, like the truth, are flexible and that if she got caught, she’d get away with it.
Well, she’s been caught, and now the question is whether she gets away with it. That’s the challenge before the White House and Congress.
So far, the Obamas are straddling the fence. They’ve carefully avoided giving full approval to what she did, with State Department aides saying they didn’t know she was using a private server until after she left office.
The department had requested all official emails be preserved, but accepted her claim that she deleted 30,000 personal ones before turning over printed versions of about 30,000 others. She and her lawyer say everybody will have to take her word for what was in those that were deleted.
She also says the server “will remain private” and the lawyer says that all the emails were permanently deleted and that the server is now “clean.”
That puts the final burden on the Republican Congress, and Rep. Trey Gowdy, chairman of the House Select Committee on Benghazi, is meeting it head-on. After Clinton rebuffed his request to give the server to an independent examiner, Gowdy on Tuesday offered her a private interview, presumably under oath, as well as a later, public one.
In a sly reference to Watergate, he said in a letter to Clinton’s lawyer that his panel wants to know “what the Secretary did, when she did it and why she did it.”
Clinton will say no as long as she can get away with it. But if the media stays on the story and public pressure forces her to agree to swear to tell the truth, we may finally get somewhere.
Of course, that assumes she’s even capable of telling the truth.
Hallelujah! Blas keeps the faith
Alert the media — Mayor Bill de Blasio is doing something right. Even more incredible, he’s doing it against the wishes of his far-left allies.
By refusing to hear an appeal, the Supreme Court left standing a noxious lower-court decision that said the city could prohibit religious groups from using public schools for worship services. Former Mayor Mike Bloomberg was determined to ban the practice, arguing it made it appear the city endorsed specific religious beliefs.
The argument was a stretch, and the courts now allow the city to ban church services, but don’t require it. That gave de Blasio the chance to say the services could continue, and he wisely gave his blessing.
Nearly 75 religious organizations, most too small and poor to have their own buildings, pay to use schools when they would otherwise be empty. The groups deserve to be treated on an equal basis with nonreligious renters, and City Hall promises to develop new rules to do that, which is consistent with de Blasio’s campaign promise to let the services continue.
He should keep that promise and put it in writing. Discrimination against religion is a form of intolerance that should not be tolerated.
Beehivin’ very badly
A friend once said that no group in New York is so small that it can’t split into factions and wage a civil war. As Exhibit A, I give you the smackdown between rival beekeeper groups.
A Post report says the stingers are flying between the NYC Beekeepers Association and the separate NYC Beekeeping Association. Lawyers are involved, which probably means the price of honey will rise as civility declines.
Yachta yachta yachta
Two thoughts on claims by both Albany Democrats and Republicans that tax breaks on yachts and private airplanes are good for workers and the economy.
First, it would be nice to know who lobbied legislators with those arguments. A safe bet is that it wasn’t the people who actually work for a living on yachts and private jets.
Second, if tax cuts are good for stimulating some jobs, why aren’t they good for stimulating all jobs? They are, but unless you have a lobbyist to make the case, you won’t get a tax cut.
That’s Albany.
Beware of Noah’s snark
Trevor Noah, the man Comedy Central picked to replace Jon Stewart, is under fire for tweets mocking Israel, Jews and women. The search for other offenses continues, but I’m guessing probers won’t turn up any anti-Islam wit. Noah may be a bigot, but he’s not suicidal.