Editorial: Clinton pulls a fast one
Donald Trump shouldn't get all the attention for questionable behavior on the campaign trail of late. There may be no better use of the Stephen Colbert-coined term "truthiness" than to apply it to Hillary Clinton and her assertion that the FBI director found her to be truthful in her explanation of her handling of emails when she was secretary of state.
"Director Comey said my answers were truthful, and what I've said is consistent with what I have told the American people, that there were decisions discussed and made to classify retroactively certain of the emails," Clinton said during a Fox News interview on Sunday.
Where to begin?
Well, at the beginning.
"Director Comey said my answers were truthful ... "
Actually what Comey said in testimony before Congress was that there was "no basis to conclude Clinton lied to the FBI" - which when you think about it isn't the same thing as declaring her to be truthful.
And even if Comey believes that Clinton was truthful in her private interview with the FBI, by no means did he ever assert that she was truthful in her explanations to the American people , which is the impression she was very clearly trying to leave in that Fox interview.
On the issue of classified emails, at best Clinton was telling a half-truth in that same interview, or lying by omission. Some emails may have been classified retroactively. But, as Comey was clear to point out, there were several email chains involving matters that were classified at the time Clinton either sent or received them .
It comes as no surprise that Clinton - a lawyer, and wife of a man who once tried to parse the definition of "is" - would engage in elaborate rhetorical gymnastics to buff up her standing before voters.
That she assumes any voter would fall for it reveals her dim view of their intelligence.
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