Month: February 2016

Stop supporting Hillary Clinton!

I know a bunch of you are rolling your eyes and saying, “Here he goes again, he’s just is afraid of a Woman president.”

Believe me, when it comes to the business of our government I’m all for a meritocracy. If I believed Hillary Clinton was the best candidate for the job I’d vote for her. Just as I voted for Barack Obama in 2008 when I believed he was the best candidate for our country.

Let me remind you of a few things.

Hillary was anti same sex marriage, when her husband was President. I’ll grant that she could have had a change of heart. People learn, change, and hopefully grow. That being said, it’s because of her other behaviors that I question if she’s changed, or if she’s simply pandering to a voting block that she thinks is “in the bag” because LGBT folks vote overwhelmingly Democrat.

Hillary has a long trail of scandals that date back to the 80s.

These scandals aren’t imaginary, or conspiracies, they’re a matter of public record.

I’ll grant that many of these scandals are intertwined with Bill Clinton, and even would have allowed that his bad behavior had unfairly colored her reputation up through the Whitehouse years.

However her recent Scandals are her own.

A very nice chronological listing of the Whitewater Affair is available at The Washington Post.

Travelgate – Hillary allegedly engineered the firing of seven employees of the White House travel office and the hiring of a firm with ties to the Clintons to replace them. Multiple investigations absolved the president of involvement but Hillary Clinton was found to have made false statements to investigators.

Hillarycare – Hillary Clinton convened her task force to create her husband’s national healthcare program, it included multiple representatives from government, the health and insurance industries and academics. This resulted in not one but two lawsuits. At issue in both suits was secrecy and potential conflicts of interest. The second suit was granted in favor of the plaintiffs then was overturned.

Filegate – FBI background files on officials in previous Republican presidential administrations were improperly given in 1993 and 1994 to Craig Livingstone, the director of White House security. No illegal activity was ever proven, and Livingstone ultimately resigned. 

Removal of files from Vince Foster’s office – Vince Foster was President Clinton’s deputy White House counsel. He committed suicide in 1993, his body was found in a park just across the Potomac River from the White House. Files were also allegedly removed from his White House office before investigators were able to secure it as part of the official probe into his death.

Lost Rose Law Firm billing records – Congressional and Justice Department investigators began issuing subpoenas in 1994 for Hillary Clinton’s billing records as a partner in the Rose law firm at the center of the Whitewater scandal. She said her role was incidental, and the records were not in her possession. Then in 1996 the records mysteriously turned up on a table in the private residence of the White House. These records showed Hillary met repeatedly with key figures in the scandal.

The email scandal – While serving as secretary of state from 2009 to 2013, Hillary Clinton used a private email account and a server located at her residence in Chappaqua, N.Y., to conduct official government business. In a March 10, 2015, news conference at the United Nations, she said she did this as a matter of personal “convenience” and that she deleted thousands of emails she considered personal. Federal laws and regulations require government employees to preserve personal emails that deal with official business. Recently it’s been reported that as many as 22 emails with a top secret clearance have been discovered on Mrs Clinton’s server. 

This list has been culled from a longer list of scandals in which it’s possible Hillary wasn’t a primary player. I question her involvement in the cleansing of Vince Foster’s office. But since Mr. Foster and Mrs. Clinton were such good friends I’ve included it.

I omitted the whole Benghazi affair, I personally believe that there is something there, (where there’s smoke there’s fire) but so much has been written and said about it I needn’t add more.

We’ll never know if she was responsible, or if she was acting under orders to facilitate some other agenda. It’s possible that the sacrifice of our personnel was for a greater good. I certainly hope so, but I’m resigned to never hearing the full truth.

What ever happened to the filmmaker they arrested for making the “offensive” film about Muhammed? I don’t recall if he was arrested for expressing his freedom of speech or if he was wanted on other charges.

Probably doesn’t matter if the government wanted him in jail as a sacrificial lamb to appease muslims they’d come up with whatever charges they needed. That is a sad commentary, coming from someone who was taught to believe in our government.

The Clinton Foundation appears to have provided access for donors to Mrs Clinton during her tenure as Secretary of State. I’ve omitted that whole thread, however this too is a matter of public record, You can google it just as easily as I can. Just remember to read the Liberal and Conservative accounts.

My reason for disqualifying Hillary Clinton as a candidate is that her history of obfuscation and close proximity to serious ethical questions, if not outright violations of the law, calls into question her character. I question the character of the people working for Mrs Clinton. It seems that people who express dissent, or who question her orders don’t last very long.  This suggests to me that Mrs. Clinton tends to surround herself with “Yes people” who carry out questionable orders without exercising conscience. 

I personally think that having to explain your reasoning, or listening to an alternative viewpoint is important, especially so, when the lives of millions of your fellow citizens will be impacted by your decision.  I don’t believe that Hillary Clinton allows that kind of discussion.

Moreover at minimum, I question her ethics, and at maximum I believe she may be subject to indictment for mishandling top secret materials, not out of ignorance, but out of arrogance. She seems to believe that laws do not apply to her.

Not even the President of the United States is above the law.

It occurs to me that that in the latter years of George W. Bush’s term we all we very quick to point out that the President has to obey the law. Bush has a long list of scandals but nothing dating back decades. MostCorrupt.com has a comprehensive list of scandals. All of them are confined to Bush’s time in the White House. Yes, some are worth a deeper look. However, many of the so-called scandals could be viewed as bad decisions, not necessarily actions with criminal intent. (And I gotta say MostCorrupt.com appears to be decidedly left.)

For me, my opposition to Mrs Clinton is not personal, or sexist, or anti-elitist. I simply think based on the evidence that Mrs. Clinton has a bit too much questionable behavior for me.

I would never feel confident about her duty and allegiance to…

We The People

Think about it. If, after reflection and review you’re still in Hillary’s camp so be it.

I’ll defend your right to vote your conscience as long as it is your conscience and you’re not doing what you’ve been told to do simply because you were told to do it. I’ll of course reserve the right to believe you’re wrong.

It’s my duty to defend your right to your opinion, please do me the same courtesy.