# Hilary Clinton and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Personal E-mail Account **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [March 3, 2015, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hilary-clinton-and-the-terrible-horrible-no-good-very-bad-personal-e-mail-account/714092 "2015-03-03T14:10:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 23
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2015, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hilary-clinton-and-the-terrible-horrible-no-good-very-bad-personal-e-mail-account/714092/441 "2015-03-22T21:02:02Z")
> [@doorhinge](#): > > Hillary was free to answer these questions at any time. Or she could ignore the questions and questioners until she was forced, by law or circumstances, to respond. > > Hillary chose not to release her files. Jeb Bush waited seven years to release his. > [@](#): > > Hillary chose to delete the files, that she alone determined, were no one else’s business. Jeb Bush released his emails seven years later. In waves. 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011. In 2014 the Jeb Bush administration discovered 25,000 additional emails that had never been released. > [@](#): > > Hillary chose to keep government emails on her personally owned server. Which, as has been stated, may have been stupid, but not illegal. And not unique to her. Colin Powell and Condi Rice did the same. Jeb Bush also used a non-government email address, [jeb@jeb.org](mailto:jeb@jeb.org). > [@](#): > > Hillary is not very transparent, is she. You seem to be operating under the belief that this situation is unique to her. It’s not. Nor was it without precedent. Hillary is not going down for this, nor will she take others with her (that may not have been you that said that, so I’m just speaking in general). And Gretchen Carlson pointed to a Gallup Poll that [showed](http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2015/03/13/gretchen-take-do-voters-care-about-hillary-clinton-controversy/) that, as of now, the voters don’t consider this an issue. Clinton still viewed favorably at around 50%. By way of comparison, the closest to Mrs. Clinton in familiarity - Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush is at 68 percent and his likability is at 35 percent. Voters have short memories, and it’s hard to think that people who don’t care about this now will end up caring in 2016. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2015, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hilary-clinton-and-the-terrible-horrible-no-good-very-bad-personal-e-mail-account/714092/442 "2015-03-23T04:35:51Z")
I agree with that. They’ll care about whatever the current new scandal is. Or what Bill Clinton said to screw up and overshadow his wife’s campaign. And the personal infighting within the campaign that’s causing it to stumble. And the shady campaign contributions. Clinton’s negatives are already baked into the cake. What you guys don’t realize is that those negatives make her beatable by any Republican that meets the low threshold of electability. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2015, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hilary-clinton-and-the-terrible-horrible-no-good-very-bad-personal-e-mail-account/714092/443 "2015-03-23T04:38:22Z")
SAlon points out that while no laws were broken, as with any scandal it’s often what’s legal that looks the worst: > **["They made it crystal clear that the ask was from Hillary": Inside the...](https://www.salon.com/2015/03/21/they_made_it_crystal_clear_that_the_ask_was_from_hillary_inside_the_clinton_fundraising_machine_as_secretary_of_state/)** > > Sometimes in D.C., the crime is what's legal: Inside the massive Clinton fundraising operation at State ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2015, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hilary-clinton-and-the-terrible-horrible-no-good-very-bad-personal-e-mail-account/714092/444 "2015-03-23T04:56:12Z")
Those “negatives,” as you put it, don’t seem to much matter to the voting public. If she runs (I won’t say anything definite until she does), the voting public seems to think - and, again, it’s very early - that Clinton, warts and all, is loads better than anyone the Right plans to run. If she runs, and this is the worst that comes out, she’d be elected in a landslide. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2015, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hilary-clinton-and-the-terrible-horrible-no-good-very-bad-personal-e-mail-account/714092/445 "2015-03-23T05:25:00Z")
You’re letting name recognition fool you. Plus she’s not even a candidate and her popularity tends to sink once she actually takes her wooden, overly packaged act on the road. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2015, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hilary-clinton-and-the-terrible-horrible-no-good-very-bad-personal-e-mail-account/714092/446 "2015-03-23T05:37:10Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > You’re letting name recognition fool you. Plus she’s not even a candidate and her popularity tends to sink once she actually takes her wooden, overly packaged act on the road. Maybe he’s letting [the facts](http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/18/politics/2016-election-poll-clinton-bush/) guide his opinion … What’s guiding yours? 😛 > [@](#): > > Hillary Clinton continues to be a dominant force heading into the 2016 presidential election, according to a new CNN/ORC poll. The former secretary of state maintains a broad lead over the field of potential Democratic challengers she could face in a nomination contest and sizable advantages over the leading contenders from the Republican side in general election match-ups … But none of the top [Republican] candidates in this field gets within 10 points of Hillary Clinton in a series of hypothetical general election matchups. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2015, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hilary-clinton-and-the-terrible-horrible-no-good-very-bad-personal-e-mail-account/714092/447 "2015-03-23T06:47:34Z")
Ah yes, how predictive polls are nine months before the first primary. If youll recall, Clinton was also a shoo-in at this point in 2007. So yeah, name recognition. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2015, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hilary-clinton-and-the-terrible-horrible-no-good-very-bad-personal-e-mail-account/714092/448 "2015-03-23T07:13:34Z")
Yes, it’s still very early. But everything else being equal, good poll numbers are better than bad poll numbers, no? “Name recognition” implies that the public is responding to superficial familiarity and the real in-depth goods have still to be discovered. But in point of fact, almost everything there is to be known about Hillary is probably already known. She’s already had a run for the nomination, and she’s been investigated and hounded by every known committee seven ways to Sunday. Are you anticipating the discovery of a motherlode of evil plots from her super-secret private email server? ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2015, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hilary-clinton-and-the-terrible-horrible-no-good-very-bad-personal-e-mail-account/714092/449 "2015-03-23T07:23:29Z")
Certainly not. What I expect is that these issues remind people who Hillary Clinton actually is rather than the idealized version they saw as Secretary of State, when her approval numbers went up to 60%. She’ll probably return to her normal 47-47 approval/disapproval once the campaign gets going. Plus there’s still the tiny matter of having to run in an environment where most voters want a candidate to make a change from Obama’s policies. It takes a talented candidate to win in such an environment. Unfortunately, she’s Al Gore all over again, just with more baggage and less straight talk. She can’t win on her own. She needs the Republican candidate to actually lose for her. Which is certainly possible. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2015, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hilary-clinton-and-the-terrible-horrible-no-good-very-bad-personal-e-mail-account/714092/450 "2015-03-23T07:37:15Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > You’re letting name recognition fool you. Plus she’s not even a candidate and her popularity tends to sink once she actually takes her wooden, overly packaged act on the road. And you’re letting your partisanship and blind hatred for anyone with a D after their name fool you. I’ve claimed several times that it’s still early. But unless one of those emails says that she eats babies, I don’t see much of a negative swing in her numbers. But we’ll see. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2015, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hilary-clinton-and-the-terrible-horrible-no-good-very-bad-personal-e-mail-account/714092/451 "2015-03-23T12:46:51Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Not referring to legal trouble, but media and public relations trouble. While none of his scandals have killed his Presidency, they all contributed to a falling approval rating and especially falling ratings in the area of competence: > > [http://www.politico.com/story/2014/01/poll-white-house-not-competent-102482.html](http://www.politico.com/story/2014/01/poll-white-house-not-competent-102482.html) Except that most of those scandals weren’t scandals; they were right-wing smear tactics. What you’re doing here is stating that the fact that Obama was the target of multiple persistent mudslinging campaigns means that he must be dirty. > [@adaher](#): > > I would find that more persuasive if his “defense” wasn’t the same every time. Leaders don’t plead ignorance or blame subordinates. What if they blame Obama? Or the poor or liberals or immigrants? Or just deny that anything at happened, or shrug it off with “Mistakes were made”? > [@](#): > > Reading this story, I’m hesitant to find any actual wrongdoing, but as with any Clinton scandal, it sure looks like it skates awfully close to shady. So now we’ve got three or four of these negative stories in just one month, and she hasn’t even officially entered the race yet. This is what her campaign and Presidency are going to be about. and this isn’t the right wing. All of this stuff is coming from the mainstream media: NY Times, Washington Post. Once again you’re equating mudslinging with actual scandal. I’m not saying there’s nothing there, but this all suffers from a “crying wolf” problem - when you have loudspeakers blaring “WOLF!” on a 24/7 loop, the appearance of any actual wolves gets lost in the noise. > [@adaher](#): > > Only a fool trusts someone who demonstrably lies with regularity. Which again disqualifies the entire Republican field. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2015, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hilary-clinton-and-the-terrible-horrible-no-good-very-bad-personal-e-mail-account/714092/452 "2015-03-23T13:02:26Z")
The right has barely peeped on any of these. The mainstream media is the entity you are accusing of crying wolf. Apparently they’ve been wrong about Hillary Clinton for over 20 years. Who knew? ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2015, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hilary-clinton-and-the-terrible-horrible-no-good-very-bad-personal-e-mail-account/714092/453 "2015-03-23T13:47:50Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > I’m not saying there’s nothing there, but this all suffers from a “crying wolf” problem - when you have loudspeakers blaring “WOLF!” on a 24/7 loop, the appearance of any actual wolves gets lost in the noise. On the SDMB the problem is the opposite - every scandal is automatically denied. You can’t tell the seriousness of a scandal from the reactions of the GOP, and certainly not from the reactions of liberals - they will deny everything up to the moment when the Democrat pleads guilty. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2015, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hilary-clinton-and-the-terrible-horrible-no-good-very-bad-personal-e-mail-account/714092/454 "2015-03-23T13:50:35Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > On the SDMB the problem is the opposite - every scandal is automatically denied. > > You can’t tell the seriousness of a scandal from the reactions of the GOP, and certainly not from the reactions of liberals - they will deny everything up to the moment when the Democrat pleads guilty. > > Regards, > Shodan Got any examples from the board of this? ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2015, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hilary-clinton-and-the-terrible-horrible-no-good-very-bad-personal-e-mail-account/714092/455 "2015-03-23T13:52:35Z")
ACORN and Sandy Berger, just off the top of my head. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2015, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hilary-clinton-and-the-terrible-horrible-no-good-very-bad-personal-e-mail-account/714092/456 "2015-03-23T14:28:03Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > ACORN and Sandy Berger, just off the top of my head. > > Regards, > Shodan ACORN? What were they guilty off? Doing what the law required? ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2015, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hilary-clinton-and-the-terrible-horrible-no-good-very-bad-personal-e-mail-account/714092/457 "2015-03-23T15:06:04Z")
Well, they no longer exist, so they must have been guilty of _something_. ---
**Author:** ![doorhinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@doorhinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doorhinge)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2015, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hilary-clinton-and-the-terrible-horrible-no-good-very-bad-personal-e-mail-account/714092/458 "2015-03-23T15:06:52Z")
> [@Superdude](#): > > …I’ve claimed several times that it’s still early. But unless one of those emails says that she eats babies, I don’t see much of a negative swing in her numbers. (post shortened) Hillary eats babies?!?!?!? I didn’t know that. Thanks for the info. ---
**Author:** ![doorhinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@doorhinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doorhinge)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2015, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hilary-clinton-and-the-terrible-horrible-no-good-very-bad-personal-e-mail-account/714092/459 "2015-03-23T15:20:19Z")
> [@Superdude](#): > > Jeb Bush waited seven years to release his. > > Jeb Bush released his emails seven years later. In waves. 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011. In 2014 the Jeb Bush administration discovered 25,000 additional emails that had never been released. > > …You seem to be operating under the belief that this situation is unique to her. It’s not. Nor was it without precedent. (post shortened) So you’re saying that Jeb Bush has released his emails. Meanwhile, Hillary has not released her emails, and may have deleted government emails. And your attempting to justify Hillary’s refusal and non-transparency by comparing her actions to someone who acted differently??? ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2015, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hilary-clinton-and-the-terrible-horrible-no-good-very-bad-personal-e-mail-account/714092/460 "2015-03-23T15:34:26Z")
> [@doorhinge](#): > > Meanwhile, Hillary has not released her emails, and may have deleted government emails. Well, apart from the 55,000 pages of emails and documents she released. So she hasn’t released any apart from the ones she’s released, definitely. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hilary-clinton-and-the-terrible-horrible-no-good-very-bad-personal-e-mail-account/714092.md?page=22) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hilary-clinton-and-the-terrible-horrible-no-good-very-bad-personal-e-mail-account/714092.md?page=24)