Hillary Clinton's apology

There's something odd about Hillary Clinton's apology. At the end of her Facebook post, she links to a page on her website that explains why she did absolutely nothing wrong. So why exactly is she apologizing? It's easy to say "I'm sorry" — but what is she sorry for if she did nothing wrong? Does she just mean she's sorry that it's hurt her politically? I think we already knew that.

What did Hillary Clinton hide?

Ann Althouse (my mom) observes:

The evidence is limited because she limited it, and I'm forced to infer that she is hiding some very important things — important enough that it was worth destroying the evidence. You know, President Nixon did not destroy the Watergate Tapes. He considered it though . . .

Hillary Clinton's inadequate answer on her emails

This answer by Hillary Clinton in her press conference about her emails is flawed. She's asked how the public can be assured that she withheld only personal emails, not work-related emails that might be "unflattering."

Her answer is that "you would have to ask that question to every single federal employee," since they all have the responsibility to decide whether to use their personal or work email addresses, depending on whether they're talking about something work-related or not.

See the problem? Think about it . . .


When she decided which emails to turn over, a long time had passed since she had sent them. She's had the time to reconsider things she said before. She's gotten to see which subjects have become controversial over time. She's had time to reflect on strategy for an upcoming presidential campaign. After all that time, then she decides which emails to call "work-related" — knowing that as long as she assigns that label to a given message, the public will likely see it.

And which kinds of messages have the most potential to be "unflattering" to a political candidate? Messages she sent on the spur of the moment, without much reflection or political calculation. Or messages about something we now know is a hotly debated issue, but that she didn't realize at the time would end up being a big issue.

None of that is true of a federal employee deciding whether to use their work email address or personal email address to send a message.