20.5 - The little Thing: "Russian Wikileaks"

The little Thing: "Russian Wikileaks"

[Note: Due to time constraints, it was an edited version of this post that appeared in the show as broadcast.]

Next up is an occasional feature called "The little Thing," which is where something in a news report or the like that strikes me as significant or revealing is overlooked or underplayed.

The latest case arose in coverage of Hillary Clinton's coming-out party, her interview on MSNBC  on Tuesday.

In that interview, she referred to what she called "the unprecedented interference" by Russia with the election, saying Vladimir Putin's government "certainly interfered." She then went on to say, and this is a quote:

I was on the way to winning until a combination of Jim Comey's letter on October 28th and Russian WikiLeaks raised doubts in the minds of people who were inclined to vote for me but got scared off.

There are actually several things that could be a focus for comment here, such as the persistence of the "it was everybody else's fault" claim, her continued studied unawareness that it was what was in the documents Wikileaks released that was damaging to her campaign, not that the released happened, and that considering our own considerable and documented efforts to control the outcome of elections in other nations, it's rather disingenuous to call Russian interference "unprecedented."

One place where I'm inclined to agree with her is that Comey's letter had an impact. Considering that a shift of no more than a percentage point or so in each of a few states could have changed the outcome, his letter, by re-raising all the doubts about her honesty that had begun to fade as an issue, could possibly have made the difference. Even there, however, she fails to recognize it was her own failing in dealing with issue of the email server openly at the beginning that made it an issue in the first place.

But all that still leaves the little thing, which lies in her statement that she lost because, quoting again, "Jim Comey's letter on October 28th and Russian WikiLeaks raised doubts."

Did you catch it? If you didn't, know that you have made the Democratic Party establishment and its partisans, sycophants, and insider-wannabes that make up far too much of what passes for the left in this country very happy.

It's the phrase "Russian Wikileaks," which not only declares that Russia is the unquestionable source of the leaks - as a sidebar, I'll say that if this were a civil trial where the standard is "preponderance of the evidence," I'd have to go with "okay, guilty in at least some of the leaks," but if it were a criminal case, where the standard is "beyond a reasonable doubt," I'd have to say "nope, not proven" - but the point here is that phase not only connects the leaks directly to Russia, it connects Wikileaks directly to Russia.

And indeed, that has been a theme for that Democratic Party establishment and the faux lefties who think that being "not a Republican" is the only standard necessary: Remember, when Wikileaks released documents embarrassing to the Bush administration, when it released footage useful in opposing the Iraq War, Wikileaks was the hero. But as soon as Wikileaks first released documents embarrassing to Barack Obama's administration, they started to attack it and stood by as the Amazing Mr. O tried to break the group by blocking its access to donations. And when this past fall the group released documents embarrassing to Hillary Clinton, well, that was it, obviously Wikileaks is part of some anti-American cabal. I have had some true believers tell me in so many words that Julian Assange is and always has been Putin's agent - actually, the term used was rather more colorful and in fact homophobic, so I won't use it here.

The point is, the Democrats and their faux lefty partisans have tried to turn Wikileaks in the public mind into nothing but an extension of the Kremlin, its word to be doubted, its revelations - particularly any ones embarrassing to Democrats - to be ignored. The fact that the phrase "Russian Wikileaks" can be used so casually and produce so little response is evidence that the meme is beginning to take hold.

And that is not a little thing.