Thursday, August 13, 2015

Gander Sauce

Do you remember when this was a big story?

Colin Powell, George W. Bush’s first secretary of state, wrote in his memoir about how outdated technology infrastructure at the State Department led him to install a personal laptop in his office to use a personal email account to “shoo[t] emails to my principal assistants, to individual ambassadors, and increasingly to my foreign-minister colleagues.”

Powell, who served from 2001-2005, apparently did not keep a record of personal emails, unlike Clinton.

Or this:

Jeb Bush used his private e-mail account as Florida governor to discuss security and military issues such as troop deployments to the Middle East and the protection of nuclear plants, according to a review of publicly released records.

The e-mails include two series of exchanges involving details of Florida National Guard troop deployments after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the review by The Washington Post found.

Yeah, me neither.

The difference, according to the Very Serious People, is that Hillary Clinton has “trust issues” with the American electorate and they don’t think she’s forthright and honest; everything seems to be planned out and packaged.  How can we trust our country to someone who seems so manipulative?

It’s not a fair comparison, but I seem to recall the same issues surrounding Richard Nixon when he ran for president and it didn’t seem to bother a lot of Republicans then.  Closer to home, Bill Clinton had trust issues from the very beginning and still won twice and left office with approval ratings that Barack Obama can only dream of.

I think this whole question of trust and likability is bullshit.  You trust someone when they earn it, but in politicians and elections it’s much more “what’s in it for me;” what will I get if I vote for them?  Lower taxes?  Higher pay?  Better treatment for people who think like me?  Reinforcement of my beliefs and prejudices?

Don’t tell me that Republicans are falling all over Donald Trump because they trust him.  He is the epitome of distrust; a huckster who makes a lot of noise and promises the moon and is only looking out for himself.  And yet they say they can’t trust Hillary Clinton because she might be hiding something.

2 barks and woofs on “Gander Sauce

  1. Key difference: People want HRC to be “reliable and trustworthy”; the GOTea is known to be neither. So when JEB! and Powell skirt legality it’s expected and therefore not news; when HRC appears to do the same it’s a blot on her character. GOTea “reliable and trustworthy” is a non-issue: kinda hard to blot a character that already resembles an Rorschach.

    • I agree with this assessment. She may have been able to ward off the burgeoning Bernie Sanders popularity had she been less GOPish. No?

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