Hillary Clinton: “I Take Responsibility For Every Decision I Made, But That’s Not Why I Lost”

Hillary_Clinton_Testimony_to_House_Select_Committee_on_BenghaziWe have previously discussed how Clinton has blamed self-hating women, the Russians, and a long list of reasons for her loss . . . except for herself.   Despite losing the virtually unloseable election to Donald Trump, Clinton continues to be celebrated by Democratic insiders in speeches and continues to blame others for her historic loss.  That campaign was in full view this week with Clinton’s appearance at the annual Code Conference in Rancho Palos Verdes, California.  Clinton continues to evade tough questions about her own conduct while giving the false impression of taking responsibility.  This week she crafted a truly Clintonesque line: “I take responsibility for every decision I made, but that’s not why I lost.”  In other words, I take no responsibility.  As many on this blog know, I have been very critical of Trump but I have no more patience with Clinton or the establishment figures who brought about this historic loss.  All of these groups celebrating Clinton ignore the fact that Trump could not possibly have succeeded without her — and the effort of virtually every national Democratic leader to guarantee her nomination.

As we discussed earlier, Clinton’s magical mystery tour after the election is designed to avoid blame for herself and the Democratic establishment which largely engineered her selection.  We are still waiting for a serious post-election interview of Clinton.  Carefully selected interviewers never ask about any of the scandals that plagued Clinton or the fact that she was one of the least popular politicians in the country or that she magnified these problems by refusing to turn over her Wall Street speeches.  They also do not ask why Clinton remained so close in the polls against someone so polarizing as Trump.  Finally, when Clinton refers to her controversies as causing the loss, she is never asked about the fact that Trump faced endless such controversies at the same time but still prevailed against her.  Trump faced unrelentingly bad press and, in comparison, Clinton had overwhelmingly positive (and at times openly supportive) coverage.  Yet Trump prevailed against her.  As David Axelrod said this week, “it took a lot of work to lose to Donald Trump.”

The show was in full display in the latest speech. The Clintons however have continued to evolve in their blaming of others.  Within minutes of the loss on election night, Clinton aides began to spin the loss and entirely the fault of FBI Director James Comeya spin picked up by Clinton herself the next day. Many of us have questioned that spin in light of Clinton’s long-standing low polls on truthfulness and her ranking as (with Trump) the most unpopular nominee of a major party for the presidency.  Now however it is the Russians who stole the election from Clinton (who could not get serious distance from the most unpopular presidential candidate in history due to her own low polling).  Accordingly, after claiming that she would take responsibility, Clinton immediately denied any responsibility: “The overriding issue that affected the election that I had any control over — because I had no control over the Russians — was the way the use of my email account was turned into the greatest scandal since Lord knows when. This was the biggest ‘nothing burger’ ever.”

There are a couple of obvious problems with this spin of course.  First, Clinton’s use of a personal server did compromise security and was widely denounced.  Despite her denials, classified emails were sent to her personal server.  Second, Clinton and her supporters still struggle with the fact that the key emails cited in the election were true.  They were not fake.  So they are still trying to get voters upset that hackers revealed false statements by Clinton and high ranking officials.  They are supposed to be disgusted that anyone allowed them to see emails that directly contradicted what they were being told.

I have previously said that the Russian hacking warrants comprehensive investigation, even though our county is notorious for such hacking and influencing of elections.  It is a serious matter if the Russians selectively hacked Clinton’s emails to try to influence the election.  However, I do not believe that the hacking was the reason that she lost.  More importantly, the Clintons continue to avoid discussing the misrepresentations disclosed

A recent poll showed that, despite Trump being the least popular modern president at this point in his Administration, he would still beat Clinton.  Clinton still remains radioactive with many voters. Before the establishment all but anointed Clinton as their candidate in the primary, polls clearly showed that the voters did not want an establishment figure so the DNC worked to guarantee the nomination to the ultimate establishment figure. However, it clearly goes deeper than that.  Again, even against one of the most unpopular figures in history (Trump was even worse at 63 percent unfavorability), Clinton struggled even to maintain a majority of women with favorability ratings.  I believe that voters are willing to elect a woman and I do not believe that the last election was decided by self-hating women. There was ample reason to vote against Clinton who was not just the ultimate establishment figure but was dragging a long chain of controversies (as well as polls showing that voters heavily viewed her as dishonest).
 As previously discussed, the New York Times study found that Trump won by “persuasion” and not turn out. In other words, they rejected Clinton as a candidate as they did when she ran against Obama.  It came down to the candidates: “The voter file data makes it impossible to avoid this conclusion. It’s not just that the electorate looks far too Democratic. In many cases, turnout cannot explain Mrs. Clinton’s losses.”
However, that is not the point.  It is essential for Democratic leaders that the blame for this election not fall on Clinton (and by extension themselves).  It is easier to blame Comey or the Russians or women.  Clinton returned again to the notion that there was no reason why any woman could possibly vote against her other than her own self-hate: “At some point it bleeds into misogyny.”
Ironically, like Trump, Clinton continues to blame “fake news” without explaining what critical story undermined her campaign.  The complaint ignores that Clinton lost not one but two presidential elections.  The public has always distrusted her and even the highly favorable media would comment on her striking inability to simply answer questions directly and truthfully.
The concerted effort of Clinton and her supporters to rewrite history is understandable.  It is hard to get voters to come back into the fold if they blame you for your disastrous role in the 2016 loss.  That is why it has to be the Russians or Comey or self-hating women.  The tragic thing is that it may work.  The Clintons are back on the speaking circuit (with the addition of Chelsea who is rumored to be thinking to taking over as the new Democratic standard bearer).  Figures like Debbie Wasserman-Schultz are back on the air attacking others for dishonesty.  Nancy Pelosi is still the leader of the Democratic House members.  Little has changed but the narrative.
For years, I have argued that the duopoly of power is killing this country and that we need real political reform (here and here).  We have become a country of chumps.  The two parties continue to limit the choices for voters while running primarily on the hatred for the other side.  Yet, even with our history of falling time and time again for the same rhetoric, there is no evidence of upward learning curve.  The reinvention of Hillary Clinton is a prime example of just how gullible we have become.  The Democrats could well take one or both houses based not on their popularity but the rising hatred for Trump.  These very same Democratic leaders will then again enjoy the fruits of power in the endless swing of our pendulum politics between the two main parties.

Clinton: Majority of news items posted on Facebook were fake

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