Hillary and her ‘super-predators’: What I’m reading, April 11-12 (early), 2016 (updated)

Updated. It seems the Clintons just can’t keep their feet out of their mouths. Also, while Ted Cruz has a hill to climb with the delegate count arithmetic, the Wall Street Journal has an op-ed pointing to an older problem entirely of Cruz’s making.


Hillary Clinton

Bill Clinton’s clash with Black Lives Matter is, I’m sorry to say, the kind of thing I don’t always recognize as important right away. This controversy just might gain legs. What seems oddly telling to me is that, at least in these reports, Bill Clinton recovered better,[1] albeit still entirely inadequately,[2] than his wife, the candidate.[3] I comment on this story here.

After I wrote that blog post, stories started showing up about a skit Hillary Clinton performed in an appearance with New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio. I don’t know, but my expectation would be that more than a few Blacks who supported her will want their votes back and that his wife should petition for a divorce.

Meanwhile, Barack Obama reinforced suspicions that the investigation of Clinton’s email practices has been politicized by saying “there’s classified and then there’s classified.”[4] One huge problem with this, missed in the article here and apparently as well in Obama’s remarks, is that some of the material found on her server was extremely sensitive and put lives at risk.[5]

To advocates for government transparency, the remarks stunk of duplicity by suggesting that federal classification rules are arbitrary and don’t apply to the Democratic presidential front-runner. . . .

“For a lower rank-and-file person, that’s not a defense you can ever use,” said Bradley Moss, a lawyer who handles matters related to classified information.[6]

Michelle Alexander, [Facebook post], Facebook, April 8, 2016, https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=984486031639354&id=168304409924191

Julian Hattem, “Obama’s ‘classified’ comments strike nerve,” Hill, April 11, 2016, http://thehill.com/policy/national-security/275887-obamas-classified-comments-strike-nerve

Allegra Kirkland, “Bill Clinton Expresses Regret Over Clash With Black Lives Matter Protesters,” Talking Points Memo, April 8, 2016, http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/bill-clinton-addresses-clash-blm-protesters

Sara Jerde, “Hillary Clinton Responds To Bill’s Clash With Black Lives Matter Protesters,” Talking Points Memo, April 10, 2016, http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/hillary-responds-bill-black-lives-matter-protesters-exchange

Sarah K. Burris, “Hillary Clinton and Bill de Blasio set off cringing with painful joke about ‘colored people time,’” Raw Story, April 11, 2016, http://www.rawstory.com/2016/04/hillary-clinton-and-bill-de-blasio-set-off-cringing-with-painful-joke-about-colored-people-time/

Mary C. Curtis, “Even Hillary May Not Find Bill Clinton So Charming Anymore,” Congressional Quarterly Roll Call, April 11, 2016, http://www.rollcall.com/news/even-hillary-may-not-find-bill-clinton-charming-anymore

Matt Wilstein, “De Blasio Defends ‘Colored People Time’ Joke,” Daily Beast, April 11, 2016, http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheats/2016/04/11/de-blasio-defends-colored-people-time-joke.html

Neetzan Zimmerman, “Hillary Clinton and Bill de Blasio ripped over racial skit,” Hill, April 11, 2016, http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/hillary-clinton-bill-de-blasio-colored-people-time-joke-skit-racial-racist


Ted Cruz

Bill McGurn, “The Cruz Conundrum,” Wall Street Journal, April 10, 2016, http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-cruz-conundrum-1460322318


Footnotes

  1. [1]Allegra Kirkland, “Bill Clinton Expresses Regret Over Clash With Black Lives Matter Protesters,” Talking Points Memo, April 8, 2016, http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/bill-clinton-addresses-clash-blm-protesters
  2. [2]Michelle Alexander, [Facebook post], Facebook, April 8, 2016, https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=984486031639354&id=168304409924191
  3. [3]Sara Jerde, “Hillary Clinton Responds To Bill’s Clash With Black Lives Matter Protesters,” Talking Points Memo, April 10, 2016, http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/hillary-responds-bill-black-lives-matter-protesters-exchange
  4. [4]Julian Hattem, “Obama’s ‘classified’ comments strike nerve,” Hill, April 11, 2016, http://thehill.com/policy/national-security/275887-obamas-classified-comments-strike-nerve
  5. [5]Rachael Bade and Josh Gerstein, “Watchdog: Clinton’s server had classified material beyond ‘top secret,'” Politico, January 19, 2016, http://www.politico.com/story/2016/01/hillary-clinton-email-server-top-secret-217985; Bradley Klapper, “AP: Gov’t Declares 22 Clinton Emails ‘Top Secret,'” Talking Points Memo, January 29, 2016, http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/hillary-clinton-emails-top-secret; Jonathan Turley, “Inspector General: Clinton Emails Contain Special Access Material Above The Top Secret Level,” January 20, 2016, http://jonathanturley.org/2016/01/20/inspector-general-clinton-emails-contain-special-access-material-above-the-top-secret-level/; Jonathan Turley, “Report: Clinton Emails Contained Human Intelligence Classified At Highest Levels,” January 23, 2016, http://jonathanturley.org/2016/01/23/report-clinton-emails-contained-human-intelligence-classified-at-highest-levels/; Jonathan Turley, “State Department: 22 Emails Will Not Be Released As ‘Top Secret,'” January 29, 2016, http://jonathanturley.org/2016/01/29/state-department-22-emails-will-not-be-released-as-top-secret/; Jonathan Turley, “Report: Clinton Emails Contained ‘Operational’ Information and Put Lives At Risk,” February 1, 2016, https://jonathanturley.org/2016/02/01/report-clinton-emails-contained-operational-information-and-put-lives-at-risk/
  6. [6]Julian Hattem, “Obama’s ‘classified’ comments strike nerve,” Hill, April 11, 2016, http://thehill.com/policy/national-security/275887-obamas-classified-comments-strike-nerve

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.