Posted on 05/29/2015 8:21:17 AM PDT by Servant of the Cross
Let’s say, just for kicks, you murdered your husband (or wife). Your neighbors have been suspicious ever since your nightly arguments suddenly stopped, right around the time you put something large in your trunk and drove off in the middle of the night. Now they see you driving his car and putting his suits and golf clubs up for sale on eBay. The police find your explanations implausible and contradictory, and then you tell the cops to direct all future questions to your lawyer.
The good news is that you have fans. Some neighbors think you’re the cat’s pajamas. They come to you and say they want to defend you against this terrible accusation. What should you tell them to say on your behalf?
Frankly, I don’t know what you should say, but I do have a good sense of what you shouldn’t say: “Tell them there’s no smoking gun.”
You see, when people suspect you’ve committed a crime, insisting that there’s “no smoking gun” is almost, but not quite, an admission of guilt. It is certainly very, very far from a declaration of innocence.
“I didn’t do it!” — that’s a declaration of innocence.
“There’s no smoking gun!” — that’s closer to, “You’ll never prove it, nyah, nyah.”
The origin of the phrase “smoking gun” comes from a Sherlock Holmes story, “The Adventure of the Gloria Scott.” In Arthur Conan Doyle’s tale, an imposter posing as a ship’s chaplain commits murder. “We rushed on into the captain’s cabin . . . there he lay with his brains smeared over the chart of the Atlantic . . . while the chaplain stood with a smoking pistol in his hand at his elbow.”
Figuratively, when you have a smoking gun, there’s no need for an investigation; you know for sure the culprit is guilty. But if the chaplain had thrown the gun out the porthole just in time, Holmes would not say, “Well, there’s no smoking gun. This shall have to remain a mystery for all time. Oh, and let’s give the chaplain here the benefit of the doubt.”
I bring this up because every time there’s a new revelation about the unseemly practices of the Clintons, every time a new trough of documents or fresh disclosures come to light, scads of news outlets and Clinton spinners insist that “there’s no smoking gun” proving beyond all doubt that Hillary Clinton and the Clinton Foundation did anything wrong.
The guy who set the bar so low that it’s basically stuck in the mud was ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos. In a now-infamous interview with Peter Schweizer, author of the investigatory exposé Clinton Cash, Stephanopoulos grilled Schweizer about his partisan conflicts of interest.
Despite Stephanopoulos’s hostile tone, it was perfectly proper to note that Schweizer worked for George W. Bush as a speechwriter for a few months. The irony, of course, was that Stephanopoulos worked in a far higher position, for far longer, for the Clintons — which Stephanopoulos did not mention. Nor did he disclose the fact that he was a donor to the very Clinton Foundation that was the focus of Schweizer’s book.
Since that story broke, thanks to the Washington Free Beacon, Stephanopoulos has apologized at least three times for his actions.
What he hasn’t apologized for is his yeoman’s work making a smoking gun the new burden of proof.
When the State Department released a sliver of a fraction of the e-mails Hillary Clinton hadn’t already deleted from her private stealth server, the Daily Beast ran a story with the headline “Sorry, GOP, There’s No Smoking Gun In Hillary Clinton’s Benghazi Emails.” Ah yes, because the relevant news is whatever’s bad for Republicans.
This week, the International Business Times reported that then–Secretary of State Hillary Clinton approved a huge spike in arms sales to repressive countries that donated to the Clinton Foundation, and that weapons contractors paid Bill Clinton huge sums for speeches at around the same time the State Department was approving their arms deals. Slate noted that “the IBT piece doesn’t reveal any smoking-gun evidence of a corrupt quid-pro-quo transaction.”
Now, obviously, if there is no smoking-gun proof of wrongdoing, the press should report that. But it might also note that many politicians and public figures have been prosecuted — and convicted — without the benefit of a smoking gun. Just ask former Virginia governor Bob McDonnell or, for that matter, Martha Stewart. The lack of a smoking gun in Chris Christie’s “Bridgegate” scandal hardly deterred the media mob.
Only in the Clintonverse could the lack of a smoking gun be touted as proof of innocence.
Great cartoon, MB.
The Clinton’s only wish they could be as corrupt as the Kennedy’s, but they had the advantage of that enormous immoral clan.
Charlie Sheen maybe? No.
Sandy Berger? No.
Al Sharpton? Close, but no.
Al Gore? No.
Eric Holder? No.
I could do this for hours!
My vote goes to blacks in Baltimore as being held to a lower standard.
Along with illegal alien criminals.
And the IRS.
And the inventor of the war on women, Ted Kennedy.
And Muslims everywhere.
Anyone else who did what the Clintons have done with their phony foundation would be under federal indictment for influence peddling, money laundering and tax evasion. However the Clintons are a law unto themselves and will continue with their corruption and cronyism and the media looking the other way.
Clinton Foundation took at least $1,250,000 from Qatar and World Cup committee embroiled in soccer bribery scandal - and up to $100,000 from FIFA itself
Will the Clintons now fall down and flop around on the ground to draw a card?
“Does the Media Hold Anyone to a Lower Ethical Standard than the Clintons?”
Yes. Themselves.
What a great question!
To quote a verse from an old John Prine song (I know he’s a Lefty, but it’s apropos), “A question isn’t really a question if you know the answer too”.
Yes, Obama and the entire “civil rights” industry. Jesse Jackson stole money to finance his out of wedlock child, used racial slurs against Jews, and stated he wanted to cut Obama’s nuts off....as if there were any to cut. IF ANY REPUBLICAN had done just ONE of these things, his/her career would be finished by the media.
Al Sharpton joined with a Tawana Brawley in lying to the nation, he instigated riots, he was an informant for the FBI, he has avoided taxes....again, applied to a Republican, any such action would destroy them.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.