http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/vicious-sids-state-department/article/2567488Vicious Sid's State Department
By Washington Examiner | July 2, 2015 | 12:01 am
The big find in the first dump of emails from Hillary Clinton's secret email server, aside from a few insulting comments about Cuban Floridians, is the fact that The New York Times was on to a much bigger story in May than it realized.
Sid Blumenthal, the former Clinton hatchet-man from the 1990s, was not just sending Secretary of State Clinton briefings about the situation in Libya, but was briefing her about nearly every corner of the globe. Though barred by President Obama's minders from any official job in the administration, vicious Sid had constant access to Clinton.
Blumenthal's sense of self-importance in these communiques is as absurd as his undue influence over Clinton is scandalous. Under the centered, all-caps header of "CONFIDENTIAL," he offers up one assessment after another of British, Iranian, Italian and Afghan affairs as if he were some kind of mobile CIA station chief.
At one point, he asked (or politely demanded) that the secretary expedite a hiring at State. He passed messages from former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, now the head of an African energy company, seeking access to America's chief diplomat for a business pitch. The emails also hint that he and Clinton had very frequent phone conversations. Who knows what sort of bad advice they contained? Was he the mastermind behind the botched reset with Russia?
The public learned from a New York Times report in May that Blumenthal had extensively advised Clinton on Libya, where he had financial interests that he now refuses to discuss. He would pass along often erroneous information. Clinton would remove his name and then pass his rumor-filled memos to senior officials at State as something from "a contact," as though they were credible.
Blumenthal was reliable as a friend, rather than as a source of information. He was loyal to Clinton, and in Clinton-world that's the golden ticket. He was put on the payroll of Clinton's family foundation, to the tune of $120,000 per year. George Stephanopoulos's donations apparently went to a good cause.
This international man of mystery schtick is a far cry from Blumenthal's real role in the life of the nation. He was a Clinton sycophant, brought into the White House in times of crisis, who would lie and defame freely to preserve the illusion of an ethical Clinton White House.
His greatest accomplishment came in the late 1990s, when he told reporters the lie that Monica Lewinsky was a slutty stalker who had demanded sex and even threatened (in the manner of Potiphar's wife and Joseph) to blackmail the poor, innocent President Clinton. He made the mistake of peddling this and his plans to smear alleged sexual assault victim Kathleen Willey, to the late Christopher Hitchens, who made the entire conversation part of the public record.
One can learn a lot about people based on the company they keep, and about leaders based on the advice they take seriously. In a world where the Clinton name was less slavishly worshiped, these emails would already disqualify the former secretary from the presidency. As it is, they should at least worry every voter about whom they're putting in positions of trust and authority.
Clinton's association with Blumenthal doesn't pass the smell test. It doesn't pass the laugh test either.
