Boilerplate and number plates

Tonight on the ABC, Hillary Clinton will sit down with Leigh Sales to answer what will undoubtedly be  stock-standard questions, the sort the failed Democratic presidential candidate fields every time she  chats with a sympathetic media figure. What a pity the ABC lacks anyone well versed in the magma bulge of scandals increasingly threatening to erupt beneath Mrs Clinton’s sainted feet. Someone, say, like Roger Kimball, who writes:

Just about all major political campaigns engage in opposition research. It’s not nice. But it is business as usual. The great thing about being a Democrat, though, is that you can surreptitiously pay for opposition research on your opponent and then, even when the “research” is only hearsay…

…even if it’s just made-up gossip, you can encourage your friends in the CIA and other intelligence services to vouch for it and get the FBI to petition for and receive multiple secret court warrants to spy on American citizens who just happen to be connected with your political rival, thus giving you access to your rival’s communications and setting up a pretext for investigating him later on. Nicely done!

Kimball’s full column can be found here or via the link below.