The Real Reason Republicans Hate Hillary

Whoever said “Elephants never forget” wasn’t just talking about pachyderms, he was also talking about Republicans.

The latest e-mail scandal that erupted only 11 days before election day wasn’t really about e-mails at all. It was about revenge. It wasn’t about bringing Hillary to justice, it was about avenging the injustice they believe had been inflicted on their fearless leader during the Watergate scandal.

On Friday, October 28th, the ghosts of Tricky Dicky and his crew — that’s former President Richard Nixon and The Plumbers, for all you GOP fans — returned and took center stage on CNN.

Just when I thought Wolf Blitzer was heading for retirement, he pulled off an interview that echoed one of Edward R. Murrow’s memorable exchanges. Wolf’s big moment happened yesterday when he was interviewing a Republican congressman who shall remain nameless. As of now, CNN is shifting the focus to his interview with former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, but he really showed more journalistic integrity and alacrity during his time with the Republican congressman. Although I’ve checked CNN’s website, I can’t find the name of this congressman. All I know is that he looked like a balding insurance salesman in a really nice suit. But then, that’s what most Republicans always look like to me. If CNN had featured a video of that interview, I would’ve been able to share exact quotes in the exchange. Unfortunately, in this op-ed, I can only offer a synopsis of how that conversation went. And it turned out to be a pretty surrealistic conversational exchange at that.

This congressman actually admitted that this latest e-mail scandal could be even bigger than Watergate! When Blitzer probed further, though, the congressman couldn’t give any intelligent reason for his conclusion. He was just giving another emotionally-loaded opinion from the I-Hate-Hillary-Club.

But when this congressman started in about how Hillary Clinton had lied, Blitzer stepped in with facts.

That was the previous e-mail investigation, he reminded the congressman, and she was cleared of lying in that investigation. The FBI Director himself said she didn’t lie. Now we’re talking about another investigation, Blitzer continued, a new investigation with new evidence about different e-mails.

But the congressman couldn’t move on. He was so mired down with his script, he couldn’t stop his impertinent talking points about Hillary’s lying to the FBI.

Again, Blitzer reminded him that Secretary Clinton had been cleared of legal wrongdoing after that investigation.

We don’t know that, the congressman shot back. Then he proceeded with more Not-So-Fast-Wolf retorts. During her last interview with the FBI, he said, she wasn’t under oath, she wasn’t interviewed by the FBI Director, and there was no recording of the interview.

So duh, Wolf, she still could have been lying.

Wolf’s response? It didn’t matter if she was under oath or not. You can’t lie to the FBI. It’s against the law to lie to the FBI.

And yet, the congressman maintained that she HAD lied to the FBI.

Then Wolf countered with the obvious: all those things — being under oath, being interviewed by the FBI Director, being recorded — didn’t make any difference in that case. Secretary Clinton was interviewed by the FBI, and the FBI said she wasn’t lying.

Again, the congressman maintained that she hadn’t been interviewed by the FBI Director. He said she was just interviewed by an FBI agent.

Why, Wolf asked, can we not believe the FBI when they say Hillary Clinton wasn’t lying? (In other words, was the FBI lying when they said she wasn’t lying?)

Wolf’s question was never answered. The congressman kept on with his retorts until the end of the interview, facts be damned.

When it comes to destroying — okay, for now let’s just say defeating — Hillary Clinton, facts have never been important. With Hillary, actual information has never been as essential as emotionally-loaded opinions when it comes to her ritualistic smearing. Forget about her obvious successes or accomplishments. It’s her pantsuits, mean-spiritedness, stone-cold heart, and cheatin’ spouse that Republicans have been keeping alive for public consumption.

And let’s not forget their outright misrepresentation of actual events. For further enlightenment on these tactics, please revisit The Richfield Patch for my previous op-ed “Smearboating Hillary with Media Distortions” that was posted on July 12, 2016.

Let’s face it, when it comes to Hillary Clinton, reality has always taken a backseat to the lies and misperceptions from the GOP Braintrust. It’s how the Republicans roll. For a voter like me, such tactics seem decidedly undemocratic and unAmerican. And yet, their subversion of Hillary continues. Why not? They hated FDR so much that they’re still trying to kill Social Security.

President Obama and The First Lady, and now Hillary, have become fond of saying, “When they go low, We go high.” But when they go THAT low, there’s no way we’re going to be able to actually win any elections…is there?

We might be able to sleep better at night, but are we really going to make it to the Oval Office?