We've chronicled the provable lies Hillary Clinton and her team have told regarding her national security-compromising email scheme; her inconsistencies are so glaring that mainstream media outlets have covered them with a surprising degree of intensity. On yesterday's Meet the Press, NBC News played a montage of Mrs. Clinton's "evolving" explanations and assertions, with host Chuck Todd describing the situation as a "debacle" that has thrust Team Clinton into "full damage control mode." Via America Rising:
Not a bad effort, but the Washington Free Beacon's mash-up is much more devastating. Take two-and-a-half minutes and watch this:
Clinton went from insisting there was no classified material on her server (wrong), to claiming that she didn't send or receive any material that was classified at the time (wrong, say two Inspectors General and Reuters), to arguing that classification protocols are outdated and confusing. Oh, and that average voters don't care about the scandal anyway. Public polling suggests otherwise. Her favorability, her empathy numbers and especially her honesty ratings have deteriorated steadily. Hillary has reportedly dispatched members of her inner circle to DC in order to calm jittery Democrats' concerns about the state of her campaign, and is promising to "educate" the public about issues related to her unsecure server. But as Allahpundit says, her weak "educational" spin won't occur in a vacuum. There will be other, credible voices offering lessons of their own:
There are lots of authority figures in the military and the intelligence community who’ll be arguing the other way...Former CIA analyst Robert Baer said this past weekend that if he’d gotten caught accessing a “top secret” document on an unsecured system like a private server or mobile device, he’d have been fired the same day and likely gone to prison. What’s left of the “education” strategy once guys like him start turning up on cable news to give her some lessons of their own?
Exactly. Meanwhile, as Reuters picks apart Hillary's "not classified at the time" story (which her team is now shifting to the irrelevant issue of whether emails were marked as classified when she saw them), a Democrat-appointed federal judge makes mincemeat of her ludicrous "I've complied with every rule" defense:
A federal judge indicated Thursday that he believes Hillary Clinton violated government policy by storing official emails on a private server when she worked as secretary of state. During a hearing on a Freedom of Information Act case, U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan said the actions had complicated the State Department’s ability to respond to requests for the agency’s records on various topics. “We wouldn’t be here today if this employee had followed government policy,” Sullivan said, apparently referring to Clinton.
This steady drip of damaging news -- and the looming fear of additional shoes to drop -- is causing angst within Democratic circles. It's why Joe Biden huddled privately with Elizabeth Warren as he mulls jumping into the race (drawing fire from the Clintonistas). It's why columns like this are starting to be written. It's why some major Hillary donors are beginning to contemplate alternatives. And it's why loyal water-carriers are reduced to pitiful blamestorming:
Also, two Inspectors General and the FBI. https://t.co/FaxXvHGa0J
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) August 23, 2015