WaPo made a great point today.
Hillary and her toadies have been claiming that her previous Secretaries of State used private email, which is misleading as all hell because one did, Colin Powell, and none used a home brew private server, of course. (Her immediate predecessor used a dot.gov address, of course)
Rather unfair to call it "homebrew" isn't it ? Platte River Networks seems on the surface a competent little inet services company. They subbed to some other company in NJ for the actual (likely virtual) server.
I find it rather hard to believe that any state department emails (aside from, "red toyota in the lot with it's light on") would not be classified. And anyone (including Powell) who intentionally sends classified material w/o DCMS-approved encryption via public servers is at least a moron, and likely a criminal.
But is Colin Powell her only comparison? Of course not, her "peer group" was broader than that, and included every Cabinent Level office.
How many of them used a private home brew server? None, of course. Just Hillary, I mean "can you imagine" if the secretary of defense said, oh yeah, I used a private server because it was more convenient.
Can you imagine?
Lolz.
I can't imagine why you think "private homebrew server" is one iota worse than a gmail account or any routing that takes a classified unencrypted email outside of government servers. Once that email is unencrypted outside SIPRNet or JWICS, you may as well post it on a blog. It's public.
Let's review: Jeb had his personal private server installed in his office.
Which didn't contain Federal classified content - so it's not comparable in any way. Further Jeb and other state officials aren't bound by the 2009 records act to preserve and hand over the emails. I don't give a rat's hind if Florida reveals it's internal operations publicly or not. That is a matter of Florida state law. We should all care about State Dept & DoD classified docs being sent around public servers.
GW went around his office email by using the GOP servers (which, by the way was to coverup using the DoJ for political purposes, we don't have to guess).
So your rationalization is that Hillary's actions are similar to those of one of the worst president in recent history committing an atrocious act ? I can see why you support her
Hillary Clinton Fights Republican Hypocrisy: Bush, Jindal, Walker Also Used Private Email
Totally misses the point. Bush, Jindal, Walker don't handle classified state secrets, nor are they bound by the 2009 National Archive laws (nor was Powell so bound for that matter).
I would suggest that the personal server being the difference or whatever is just a matter of timing. I doubt anyone had their own servers outside of the tech industry or large corporations until the last decade or so. So you can't compare owning the server to Colin Powell not owning one. Just like you can't compare John Kerry using government email exclusively to Clinton not using it as the laws changed in between the two office holders.
So your argument is that she is merely stupid and incompetent and not a criminal ? Yeah, that's what I want in a President - no concern for national security, but a massive paranoia that leads to taking risks with trillions of dollars and lives on the line.
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I have some sympathy for the idea that making all government emails a matter of record stifles a good communication medium within the executive branch (and perhaps elsewhere). It's a shame that sending emails to the Atty General, vs having him/her over for dinner and a chat has such differential implications. I know that I wouldn't want to work in an environment where every conversation was recorded; far too much potential for misinterpretation after the fact. But we normally use emails for such casual conversations & discussions, and more problematic - emails don't carry enough context to always be fairly interpreted by others after the fact.
Doesn't change the basic facts here - the DoD and State Dept specifically have extremely high need for secrecy and standards for handling classified material. Transferring emails above "unclassified" status outside of the government secret+ networks, created at great expense for that purpose of bone-headedly stupid, against the regulations, and a misuse of public assets. If an underling did that they'd be facing a big jail term.
Hillary's to quoque arguments fail for several reasons; a state official isn't handling national secrets, isn't required to turn them all in to the National Archive, and anyway tu quoque is a fallacy - it doesn't alleviate her guilt. If someone want's to investigate Powell's alleged mishandling of docs - go for it. Let the chip fall ...
Hillary's recent argument that she, as Sec'yO'State could declassify info, might be technically accurate, however she certainly couldn't perform a declassification review of documents being sent to her and off of classified servers. Carrying that argument forward might (unlikely I think) prevent a conviction, but will make her look even more incompetent.
Put a fork in it.
