Whose Email Scandal?

Let's get something straight right now.  It was asinine, careless, selfish,ill-advised, shortsighted, brainless, idiotic, irresponsible, and just plain dumb-assed, to have a private server whilst being Secretary of State. It is also just as stupid, and the multitude of adjectives previously listed, to have a private server as President of The United States.  I think we can all agree, if Hillary Clinton does pull this off, and becomes President, she won’t make that mistake again.  But you know what? There was a president who did. Yep!  Mr. George W. Bush.  And know what else?  Karl Rove deleted 22 MILLION emails off that private server…….22 Million!!!!!

Now, after the hearing last week with FBI Director James Comey, more than 200 lawmakers wrote to Comey on Monday, asking him to reveal additional details about his decision-making. But many, if not most, of those 200 lawmakers, also have their own email, private server, and some even have their own web-hosting sites in which they have email addresses on those sites.  The Honorable Mr. Trey Gowdy, who headed the House Select Committee on Benghazi,  being one of them.  

Let’s assume that the Honorable Mr. Gowdy, only uses that site and email for his candidacy, and no congressional related  emails get interchanged with that server and web-hosting.  Should he not, then, be willing to turn those emails over, or even explain how he handles those emails?  I would also think he would be willing to hand over his unclassified congressional emails to comply with the Freedom of Information Act?

But Alternet.org asked Congressman Gowdy's office, through both a telephone inquiry followed up by an email communication to his press secretary, about 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. With no response, they attempted to contact Gowdy's campaign manager, George Ramsey, but he did not return their phone calls either.

ABC News reported on March 4, a report that was not, and has not been widely circulated, nor mentioned much in the congressional testimony of Director Comey,  that the State Department, through its investigation, “concluded that past secretaries of state, including Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice  along with their  immediate staff, "handled classified material on unclassified email systems."  

The State Department has also asked former of Secretary of State, Colin Powell, to forward emails in his private mail system to the State Department.  He has not responded to those requests.

So, 56% of Americans, in a survey this week, say they are displeased; one might even say OUTRAGED at FBI Director James Comey’s decision not to recommend prosecution. They see little snippets of the Congressional hearing where the Honorable Trey Gowdy, in a wonderful lawyer-like sophistry, ask Director Comey rapid questions, and requesting short, or one word answers. With just this snippet, custom made for news sound-bites, they can only conclude that Hillary Clinton is guilty of high crimes and getting away with it.  

What most Americans didn’t see, or hear though, was Director Comey state that “it would be a double standard TO recommend punishment” for what Hillary did, because he KNEW about the server in President Bush's office; he KNEW about Secretaries of State Powell's and Rices use of private email with classified emails; and he KNEW about the systemic issues in all of Washington DC regarding private emails and the lax policies.   

Even Colin Powell himself said to NBC News, “I wish they would release them, (the emails) so that a normal, air-breathing mammal would look at them and say, “What’s the issue?””

We can only conclude that Trey Gowdy, et. al, are not normal, air-breathing mammals.

Was Hillary stupid for following the modus operandi of previous administration executives?  Yes!  She knew she was running for president one day, and she knew she would be held to a higher standard, and she knew, from 30 years of experience, that if the Republicans could find anything at all to nail her to the coffin, they would.  And is this exactly what that is?  You bet your scandal-less ass it is!