Report: Dems Nearing 'Panic Mode' Over Hillary Scandals, Vulnerability

There's only one man who can save you, Democrats -- and it ain't this guy. Just kidding, Hillary will almost certainly still be her party's nominee (she enjoys a

wide, consistent lead among Iowa Democrats), and remains a slight favorite to win the general election. But her lackluster campaign beset with roiling scandal, plus worrisome favorability ratings and weak head-to-head numbers, is causing some heartburn on Team Blue. The Hill reports:

Democrats are worried that the furor over Hillary Clinton’s private email server will be prolonged and intensified after her sudden move to hand it to the FBI. The Clinton campaign’s decision to give up the server and a thumb-drive containing back-up copies of emails left Democrats scratching their heads as to why the former secretary of State had resisted turning over the server for months. Coupled with new polls that suggest Clinton is vulnerable, Democrats are nearing full-on panic mode. “I’m not sure they completely understand the credibility they are losing, by the second,” said one Democratic strategist, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “At some point this goes from being something you can rationalize away to something that becomes political cancer. And we are getting pretty close to the cancer stage, because this is starting to get ridiculous.” "Look, this is a classic example of the cover-up being ten times worse than the so-called crime — though in this case there wasn't a crime,” said another progressive strategist. “The culture of secrecy that has surrounded the Clintons — understandably in some cases — has now yielded a situation where she did something that wasn't necessary and looks nefarious.” ... The pattern seen in the email controversy — months of stonewalling followed by an eventual concession — has stoked worries about her flaws as a candidate. The slew of unimpressive poll numbers is exacerbating the situation. Some have shown slippage against her main left-wing rival, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). Others have indicated her losing swing states against possible Republican opponents. Still others have revealed continuing weakness in her ratings on trustworthiness and favorability.

"The cover-up is worse than the crime" is an old political adage that often rings true. But in Hillary's case, the "crime" -- which may actually be a crime and is under active investigation by the FBI -- appears to have seriously compromised national security. Her endless lies about the email scheme certainly don't help matters politically, but storing and sharing classified information (especially top secret material) on an unsecure private server is reckless and against the law. Remember, the entire point of setting up this server in the first place was to afford Hillary absolute control over the contents of her emails. She anticipated nettlesome investigations that might complicate her political ambitions and wanted a means of closing off access to her virtual paper trail. The server was her solution. So she endangered national security and grossly mishandled sensitive state secrets in service of her political career. In other words, "the crime" was a pre-emptive cover-up. Now that Trey Gowdy has been proven correct about Team Clinton unilaterally destroying tens of thousands of emails (including some that we now know were work-related) and wiping the server clean, what's the next shoe to drop? Here's the incredulous panel on MSNBC's Morning Joe trying to make sense of Hillary's actions -- with Chuck Todd, Sam Stein and even pro-Hillary Mika piling on. She calls the Clinton camp's insistence that all of this is just partisan silliness "insulting:"

Hillary Clinton must believe that whatever was on that server is worth sustaining all of this political damage to protect. Perhaps she hoped the server's existence would never be found out, but once it was, she had the option to say, "ok, you got me. Bad judgment. Here's the whole thing." But she didn't do that. Why? Maybe because she knew that its contents would demonstrate criminal disregard for secrecy requirements, or because there are other emails that she simply cannot allow to see the light of day -- ever. Ron Fournier is right: The American people have every right to wonder what she's hiding. And drawing unflattering conclusions is utterly reasonable and logical, given her conduct.