It’s a character issue. That’s all I keep hearing, on cable news channels and elsewhere, regarding Hillary Clinton’s email controversy. CNN and MSNBC (forget Fox) and other outlets are fixated on the idea that the State Department’s Inspector General report—called “scathing” I don’t know how many times by I don’t know how many people on TV—reveals a deep flaw in her character. It reveals how untrustworthy she is. How dishonest she is.
Meanwhile, with all this hysterical journalistic handwringing going on—handwringing about an issue that doesn’t amount to a damned thing—there stands Drumpf, six feet two and weighing in with about 250 pounds of bad character. Every inch of him, every last cell in his body, is infected with character flaws, most of which he embraces without shame.
It’s like this: A policeman is making his rounds through the neighborhood and notices that a crazed man with a large gas can is pouring gasoline all over a big and beautiful house, a house filled with lots of residents. The cop also notices that the man with the can, who is working furiously, has a BIC in his tiny little hand, ready to burn the thing to the ground. But then the officer notices that a woman is trying to get his attention, trying to get him to do something about the man with the gas can. But the man in blue, instead of pursuing the crazed man with the BIC in is tiny hand, decides that the woman, who has served her neighbors well but has a bad reputation among cops, is disturbing the peace with her rather loud request to do something about th
e man who is about to burn down the house. So, you guessed it, the cop charges the woman with disturbing the peace and takes the time to write her a ticket and to lecture her about her annoying behavior. Then he goes back to the station and tells his pals how he sure showed that woman a thing or two.
Meanwhile, the man with the can and the tiny hands is still working. Furiously.
The Erstwhile Conservative: A Blog of Repentance 
Steve Wilson
/ May 27, 2016Bingo!
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R. Duane Graham
/ May 27, 2016Ain’t it amazing. And bleeping sad. And infuriating. And dangerous.
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Jim Wheeler
/ May 27, 2016Comes down to an authority figure versus a policy wonk. As in the famous Milgram experiment, authority wins. The public wants it easy, not complicated. Maybe lead poisoning is more prevalent than we thought. 😦
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R. Duane Graham
/ May 27, 2016I hope you’re wrong on all accounts, Jim. Too frightening to think that a majority of the electorate may be at a point where it will embrace the unembraceable. But even if it doesn’t, it is damned frightening to think that we were even close.
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Jim Wheeler
/ May 29, 2016I hope I’m wrong too, Duane. However, Robert Reich, in his column this morning, has come to the same conclusion. Alas.
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R. Duane Graham
/ May 31, 2016I’ll have to check it out, Jim. Thanks.
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