A letter published in response to my last column “Hate Clinton and Trump? Look in the mirror” asked for “some evidence, or at least an explanation of … Hillary’s character flaws in the early 1990s.”
Of course.
Let’s start in 1998, when Hillary attributed the Lewinsky affair and other Clinton scandals to a “vast right-wing conspiracy.”
In fact, her husband had been having an affair with the 22-year-old White House intern whom Hillary had called a “narcissistic loony toon.”
Indeed, the presidential candidate who brags that she has spent her lifetime fighting for equality cut her political teeth destroying the powerless young women (“bimbo eruptions” in Clintonspeak) who claimed that Bill had slept with or forced himself upon them.
They included Juanita Broaddrick, Connie Hamzy, Kathleen Willey and Gennifer Flowers, whom the Clintons memorably called a liar in a “60 Minutes” interview that saved his 1992 campaign. Don’t forget Paula Jones, to whom Bill ultimately paid $850,000 to drop her sexual harassment lawsuit.
When Hillary declares that “every survivor of sexual assault deserves to be heard, believed and supported,” she means only those who do not threaten her power.
All this is dismissed as old news by the Clintons and the mainstream media who are relentlessly focused on portraying Donald Trump as unfit for office. Perhaps he is. But if Trump’s honest expression of views some people find repugnant is disqualifying, what do we make of a rank hypocrite who consistently lies to the American people about … everything?
As early as 1996, New York Times columnist William Safire described Hillary as a congenital liar because of the “blizzard of lies” she offered in response to various scandals. Fast forward 20 years to hear FBI Director James Comey confirm that she had relentlessly misled the American people about her use of a private email server. Hillary responded by lying about Comey’s assessment of her actions. Even her supporters were left scratching their heads.
Why would she do that?
Because that’s who she is.
Hillary’s dissembling is glossed over or covered up by the mainstream media. How else to explain their claim that that she was vindicated through 11 hours of testimony before a House committee investigating the Benghazi debacle? In fact, despite her public claims to the contrary, the committee proved that she knew from the start that four Americans there were killed by an orchestrated attack.
The media also downplay the real threat from Hillary’s use of a private server: the near certainty that it was hacked by foreign agents and others who could blackmail a President Clinton.
Can any but her most ardent backers – e.g. the ones who claim Hillary is attacked only because she is a woman – believe she has nothing to hide?
In fact, Hillary has long used public office for personal gain. Recent emails related to the Clinton Foundation show her closest aides, including Huma Abedin, were actively engaged in providing government access and jobs to donors and supporters. These disclosures come on the heels of extremely suspicious dealings involving the State Department, the Clinton Foundation, uranium mines and the development of Russian missile technology.
The Wall Street Journal reported that “more than two dozen companies and groups and one foreign government paid former President Bill Clinton a total of more than $8 million to give speeches around the time they also had matters before Mrs. Clinton’s State Department.”
The pattern for this behavior can be traced back at least to 1978. While Bill was running for governor of Arkansas, Hillary began a series of trades in the cattle futures market that turned $1,000 into almost $100,000 in 10 months. When this came to light in 1992, she said she had worked her magic through close study of the Wall Street Journal.
That was, of course, a lie. The trades had been orchestrated by James Blair, who was outside counsel for the state’s largest employer, Tyson Foods. One group of economists calculated the odds of realizing such gains honestly at 1 in 31 trillion. It is more likely that winning trades were funneled into her account.
Like Nixon, Hillary has never been convicted of a crime. But heaven help us if that becomes the bar when we consider questions of character and fitness for office. Through a public career defined by money-grubbing, mendacity and meanness, Hillary has proven herself unworthy of respect or support.
Contributing columnist J. Peder Zane can be reached at jpederzane@jpederzane.com.