When it comes to Hillary, Republicans just can't help themselves

By Michael J.W. Stickings

"Emailgate," or whatever the fuck it's being called, is a creation of Republicans desperate to bring Hillary Clinton down (a sub-group of Republicans who just make shit up, which is pretty much all Republicans), the right-wing noise machine (of which Fox News is the most prominent polluter of bullshit), and a Beltway media establishment that internalizes Republican propaganda and spews it out like a huge massive fart masquerading as "mainstream news."

Sorry, am I being too harsh?

You all know this is how it works. And if you don't, you're part of the problem.

And while I'm actually not a huge Hillary fan (I much preferred Edwards, and then Obama, in '08), and so no Hillary apologist, and while I've been somewhat critical of her slow and often unhelpful response to this e-mail nonsense, there's no doubt that, as Frank Rich put it the other day, "the right's response... shows that her antagonists haven't learned anything either since the first Clinton era" and "already Clinton's foes are overreaching just as they did in the frenzy that led to her husband's impeachment."

For example:

House Speaker John Boehner is expected to announce this week a new investigation into Hillary Clinton's email practices as Secretary of State, including her admission that more than 31,000 emails were destroyed because she determined them to be personal, top House Republicans told ABC News today. 

Yes, another Republican investigation, again from the mob in the House (but this time promoted by Boehner himself instead of a crackier crackpot like Darrell Issa).

I'm not saying there aren't legitimate questions here. It's problematic when any senior official in the government, Hillary or anyone, uses personal rather than official communications channels, and this is especially the case at a time when speculation of wrongdoing by officials runs rampant, justifiably or not. I suspect that Hillary did nothing wrong, and that those personal e-mails were really just that, personal, but perception is a different matter, and these days one must err on the side of caution. She may have been acting cautiously (as well as out of convenience) in using personal e-mail, but her use of personal e-mail has handed her opponents a scandal, however faux, whether she understood that as a risk or not.

But while it's fair to ask questions, launching a full-blown investigation of the kind Republicans have been using against Democrats throughout the Obama years is ridiculous. Republicans small blood, of course, but whether they see this purely as a PR campaign with which they can weaken Hillary (and score cheap political points) or whether they actually think there's a smoking gun hidden somewhere in her e-mails (as if she authorized some Benghazi conspiracy), they'll come up empty, and, just like the #47Traitors, they'll end up looking really bad.

Because look, Colin Powell did it too. And Jeb Bush has his e-mail problems as well, including using personal e-mail to discuss security matters and taking his own sweet time to release his e-mails.

So remind me again why Hillary should be subjected to the crazed ravings of Republicans?

Oh right, because she's Hillary, and because Republicans will stop at nothing, including making shit up, to bring her down.