Playing By The Marquis De Queensbury Rules

Questioned on "Morning Joe" about the controversy swirling around Hillary Clinton for use of a personal e-mail account when she was Secretary of State, Senator Dick Durbin (D-Illinois) replied

I'd like to hear her explanation. I think Dianne Feinstein was right. She should come forward and explain the situation.I think it's only fair to say to Hillary Clinton "tell us your side of the story." Other Secretaries of State have done this. What was your side of the story? What did you put on your personal e-mail?

Please, Mrs. Clinton: Don't hire Senator Durbin as your campaign adviser.

Whatever Hillary Clinton put onto her e-mail, one thing is sure: it would get exploited for all its worth by both the GOP and the media. (After all, whatever she has on there, it is more important than oral sex. And that almost cost her husband the presidency.)

It's an old (and unfortunately valid) cliche- the best defense is a good offense. Rephrased: attack, attack, attack.  In related news, soon after GOP TV's Bill O'Reilly was revealed (a few years after Keith Olbermann did so in "the worst person in the world" segments) as a serial fabricator, Fox News issued a statement adamantly maintaining

Bill O’Reilly has already addressed several claims leveled against him.  This is nothing more than an orchestrated campaign by far left advocates Mother Jones and Media Matters. Responding to the unproven accusation du jour has become an exercise in futility. Fox News maintains its staunch support of O’Reilly, who is no stranger to calculated onslaughts.

Characteristically, O'Reilly went on the offensive, remarking  "I expect David Corn to be in the kill zone. Where he deserves to be."  Concerned a New York Times reporter covering the story might be critical, he warned "I am coming after you with everything I have. You can take it as a threat" (video below of Olbermann in his MSNBC days).






And Bill O'Reilly's ratings, already impressive, have soared in the wake of the revelations that, though he boasted he was "on the ground in active war zones [like] the Falklands," he was in Buenos Aires; saw photographs of nuns murdered in El Salvador, rather than having been a witness as he claimed; and was in Dallas during the suicide in Palm Beach, Florida of George de Mohrenschildt, a friend of Lee Harvey Oswald, at which O'Reilly claimed he had been present. (Video below is of Bil Maher acquitting himself much better than the passive Matt Taibbi and David Axelrod.)








Obviously, Hillary Clinton herself cannot threaten to kill reporters. However, amongst the groups and individual heavy-hitters who are publicly ready for Hillary, there must be someone who could put the fear of God into the media.

The Clintons, more than anyone, know that these these figurative brush fires will continue to flare up. If Democrats want to keep the White House and, eventually, regain Congress, they should let the media and the GOP know they will no longer play defense. They must exact a price when they are under siege (video below of Bill Maher guests Matt Taibbi and David Axelrod demonstrating how not to do it).

Dick Durbin wants Clinton to explain her side of the story. But the facts will not matter.  It makes little sense for the Repub establishment, such as Fox News, to fight a skirmish like it's a war while the Democratic establishment fights a skirmish like it's a skirmish.

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