In response to an FT article by Shawn Donnan and David J. Lynch on 28th October 2016, entitled ‘FBI opens new probe into Hillary Clinton’s emails’
https://www.ft.com/content/a13e256c-9d22-11e6-8324-be63473ce146
“The FBI struck a blow to Hillary Clinton’s presidential ambitions on Friday, launching a new investigation just 11 days before the election into her use of a private email server.
In a letter to members of Congress, FBI director James Comey said the agency had recently learned from an unrelated case about previously undisclosed emails “that appear to be pertinent to the investigation it had closed in July'"
How convenient for the FBI. Notwithstanding any 'new evidence', it strikes me that the ‘old evidence’ which is surfacing from WikiLeaks makes the ‘old lies’ unsustainable. In other words, when it becomes obvious that ‘circling the wagons’ isn’t working…grab a bow and arrow and shoot at the guy wearing the blue coat…look as virtuous as the last remaining shred of your conscience will allow…and try to blend in…
However this sad excuse for a general election turns out, one of the biggest casualties, in my view at least, is the journalistic integrity and credibility of the mainstream media - which has done everything it can to put the ‘establishment’ candidate into the White House, notwithstanding the fact that she is clearly as bent as a nine dollar note, and patently as fit for purpose as a bottle of chips.
The consistent cry has been that the other guy is worse. Even if that were true, I do not believe it is the main fear of the ‘establishment’…for fear is what it is. I believe the fear is that if Trump gets into the Oval Office, the corrupt system will be exposed for the cess pit that it is…and some very self-important people will end up living in cramped quarters, wearing pyjamas decorated with arrows.
But here we are…after months of anti-Trump/pro-Clinton articles that have amounted to little more than ‘virtue signalling’, the tide is beginning to turn, and not just with this revelation from the FBI. The first breakthrough came yesterday in the Wall Street Journal from Kimberley Strassel…though to be fair to her this is not her first criticism of Clinton. Her article yesterday was entitled ‘Grifters in Chief’. Here is the link:
http://www.wsj.com/articles/grifters-in-chief-1477610771
And here is the gist:
“In an election season that has been full of surprises, let’s hope the electorate understands that there is at least one thing of which it can be certain: A Hillary Clinton presidency will be built, from the ground up, on self-dealing, crony favors, and an utter disregard for the law.
This isn’t a guess. It is spelled out, in black and white, in the latest bombshell revelation from WikiLeaks. It comes in the form of a memo written in 2011 by longtime Clinton errand boy Doug Band, who for years worked simultaneously at the Clinton Foundation and at the head of his lucrative consulting business, Teneo.
It is astonishingly detailed proof that the Clintons do not draw any lines between their “charitable” work, their political activity, their government jobs or (and most important) their personal enrichment. Every other American is expected to keep these pursuits separate, as required by tax law, anticorruption law and campaign-finance law. For the Clintons, it is all one and the same—the rules be damned…
…Here’s the lasting takeaway: The Clintons spent their White House years explaining endless sleazy financial deals, and even capping their exit with a scandal over whether Bill was paid to pardon financier Marc Rich. They know the risks. And yet they geared up the foundation and these seedy practices even as Mrs. Clinton was making her first bid for the presidency. They continued them as she sat as secretary of state. They continue them still, as she nears the White House.
This is how the Clintons operate. They don’t change. Any one who pulls the lever for Mrs. Clinton takes responsibility for setting up the nation for all the blatant corruption that will follow” - Kimberley Strassel, WSJ
I could not agree more. This may be the last chance for the media in general, and the FT in particular, to do its job – to hold power to account. So my question is this FT: Do you want the record to show that you covered this election as a real newspaper, or as foghorn connected to a sewer pipe?