But, but the Republicans… (tu quoque). A venerable strategy for avoidance. Argue that the fact that Scott Walker and Jeb Bush had private email accounts means that we should have no questions about Hillary Clinton’s own use of private email. A variant on this approach, advanced by Jennifer Granholm on The Last Word earlier this week, is the claim that Secretary Clinton was following “precedent.” (This argument conveniently sidesteps the differences in positions and their respective legal obligations — especially the fact that her likely GOP rivals for the presidency were not responsible for handling crucial national-security information.)
An aide did it (deflection of responsibility onto the help). Another venerable strategy in politics. Aides are always responsible for all bad things, while principals are responsible for all good ones. Hillary’s a genial grandmother — how could she know anything about a scheme to circumvent federal transparency requirements using a private email server!?
Read the rest here. And see how many you can spot over the next few days. Of course, I'd be glad to hear about any strategies that should be added to the list.
