Contrary To What Her Aides Say, Hillary Continues To Joke About Private Email Server

Matt Vespa | September 10, 2015 5:00 PM

Hillary Clinton joked about the controversy surrounding her email server again at a barely attended campaign stop in Ohio. She tied in a story about how she went to China in 1995 to represent the United States at an international conference on women. Clinton said there was a lot of controversy concerning if she should attend the conference.

“Controversy seems to follow me around in case you haven’t noticed,” she quipped.

.@HillaryClinton speaking across room pic.twitter.com/lqdZFuCUNa
— Ed Henry (@edhenry) September 10, 2015

This comes days after The New York Times reported that there will be no more jokes about her email scandal:

There will be no more flip jokes about her private email server. There will be no rope lines to wall off crowds, which added to an impression of aloofness. And there will be new efforts to bring spontaneity to a candidacy that sometimes seems wooden and overly cautious.

While Clinton apologized for the use of her private server on September 8, she somewhat walked back on that act of contrition in her interview with Ellen DeGeneres. It was a non-apology, apology; one that reportedly made some of her staunchest supporters feel as if Clinton was delivering an insult than an apology:

The classic “I’m sorry your feelings are hurt” response left many Clinton insiders troubled that the statement felt more like an insult than an apology -- and over the weekend, a growing chorus of advisors and donors ratcheted up the pressure on Clinton and her campaign to take the apology a step further in order to put it to bed, multiple sources close to the campaign said.

Even operatives on her campaign admitted the apology on Mitchell’s show was inadequate.

“It wasn’t getting it done,” said a source inside the campaign.

[…]

By Clinton's terms, however, this was a fast walk to “I’m sorry,” and the kind of reversal she never made in 2008, when on matters large and small Clinton showed off a real aversion to saying the word, “sorry.” That year, she consistently declined to apologize for her vote to authorize the war in Iraq — a move that eventually cost her in the Democratic primary.

Yet, Clinton’s “apology” was prompted by a New Hampshire-based focus group. So, the silver lining is that she was somewhat faster in giving a wholly inauthentic and unconvincing apology for which she feels no regret because the voters don’t care, only the media does, and that because Clinton’s going to be the nominee anyway, she might as well get this over with so it doesn’t look like a coronation. Coronations are not democratic, but it certainly feels that way to Martin O’Malley and Sen. Bernie Sanders, who are disappointed in how few Democratic Party debates will be held this cycle.

As Hillary continues to plummet in the polls in New Hampshire and Iowa, she’s been seen as a dishonest and untrustworthy figure. This was to be expected I guess.