by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700

Copyright March 30, 2015
All Rights Reserved.

                Throwing mud at former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton before she announces for president, the Republican National Committee reads the same tea leaves, seeing Hillary running strongly ahead of all GOP hopefuls.  Beating the Benghazi dead horse and now the email hubbub, Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.), ripped the 68-year-old former New York Senator for “scrubbing” her email server, something the GOP hoped would turn up a smoking gun on Benghazi.  Gowdy heads the GOP’s Select Committee on Benghazi, where, likely GOP hopeful Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), hopes to hold Hillary accountable for the death of 52-year-old Amb. Chris Stevens and three other Americans in a terrorist attack on the U.S. mission Sep. 11, 2012.  Despite testifying in Congress before retiring as Secretary of State Feb 1, 2013, the GOP continues to hammer away at Benghazi fiasco.

             Gowdy’s Select Committee hoped to find emails confirming that Hillay, as head of the State Department, refused to beef up security at the U.S. mission before the Benghazi attack.  While Hillary said the buck stopped with her, only the GOP—and scheming candidates like Paul—hold Hillary responsible.  No fair-minded voter holds the former State Department Chief responsible for terrorist attack in remote parts of North Africa and Middle East.  Gowdy and others in the GOP never pointed fingers at former President George W. Bush or Vice President Dick Cheney after Sept. 11.  Unable to find his smoking email gun, Gowdy can only fuel more speculation about something nefarious.  He’s become a star of Fox News but nowhere else.  Gowdy’s beef with Hillary now stems from the timing of her email purge, suggesting it happened after his subpoena this month.

             Gowdy points to Hillary’s inconsistency, telling the public March 10 at a news conference that her private, non-business emails will remain private.  “The server contains personal communications from my husband and me,” said Clinton.  “And I believe I have met all my responsibilities and the server will remain private, and I think the State Department will be able over time to release the records that were provided,” said Hillary, proving, according to Gowdy, Hillary only recently scrubbed the server.  Hillary’s email brouhaha plays well to the GOP but gains little traction anywhere else.  Comparative polls by Real Clear Politics of Hillary against several GOP opponents look pretty dismal for the GOP.  While it’s early on before anyone other than Sen. Ted Cruz announced, the GOP has real problems running a national campaign appealing to independents and crossover Democrats.

             Passing SB101, the “Religious Freedom Restoration Act,” last Thrusday, March 27, the GOP-dominated Indiana legislature has done more damage to the GOP, giving religious conservative the right to discriminate against Gay people.  While the Indiana legislature denies that the law discriminates against anyone, there are practically riots in Indianapolis calling for the bill to be rescinded by Gov. Mike Pence.  If the voting public sees the GOP’s homophobia in action in Indiana, it signals what’s to come if religious or social conservatives get more power.  While Gov. Pence and Indiana House Speaker Brian Bosma (R-Ind.) promise the law won’t discriminate against anyone, nationwide demonstrations say otherwise.  Asserting states rights in Indian frightens fair-minded voters into thinking Hillay’s email issues are small potatoes compared to real GOP politics in action in Indiana.

             All Gowdy and the GOP can do is point to Hillary’s nefarious motive while she focuses like a laser beam on issues related to the foreign policy and the U.S. economy.  When the GOP-made email scandal fades, Republicans are left with what’s going on in Indiana and other red states.  Represented by Washington legal icon David Kendall informed Gowdy’s committee that Hillary turned over 55,000 business emails to the State Department.  He told the committee Hillary “chose not to keep her non-record personal e-mails,” accounting for why her hdr22@clinonemail.com was purged of any remaining personal emails.  Gowdy and the busy ones at the RNC can only fan nefarious flames that seems to go out on their own.  Repetitive reporting at Fox News and other popular conservative talks shows can only beat a dead horse for so long.  Purging her email nipped upended the GOP’s strategy.

              Running ahead of her possible GOP competitors in the polls, Hillary did the right thing depriving the Gowdy’s Select Committee—and the RNC—of more kindling for the GOP’s bond-fire.  While Secretary of State John Kerry ordered a review of State Department record keeping, purging one’s private emails has been commonplace for government officials.  Gowdy’s old enough to recall the millions of deleted emails during the U.S. attorneys firing flap started Dec. 7, 2006 during the George W. Bush administration.   Getting a jump on Hillary’s presidential announcement isn’t a bad idea for the GOP, considering how she’s polling against likely GOP candidates.  If the GOP can’t stop itself from letting religious conservatives give the party a big black eye, there’s little scandal mongering can do to save the Party.  Hillary’s team watches Indiana’s GOP make 2016 even easier.