title:  Why The Latest Email Revelations May Help Clinton, Not Hurt Her
text: On Thursday, the Inspector General of the State Department released a stinging report on Hillary Clinton regarding the use of her private email server. As expected, republicans pounced on the  findings  in an effort to paint her as an incapable, dangerous criminal (like they haven t already). Democrats, on the other hand, are taking a different approach and surprisingly have a strong defense from the conservative Forbes. Saying the newest findings in the  email-gate  vindicate rather than harm her, contributor Charles Tiefer, who served as Solicitor of the House of Representatives and as an attorney for the Senate Legal Counsel, says the  scandal  may not lie with Hillary Clinton but really with the Bush Administration:It does not add any new serious charges or adverse facts. And, it shows she was less out of line with her predecessors, notably Colin Powell, than has been charged. Powell s handling of his email was so similar, in fact, that when House Republicans drag this issue through hearings up to Election Day, Powell should be called as a witness   a witness for Clinton. To put it differently, she is having a double standard applied to her.If there is any person in the history of American politics that is the poster child for having double standards applied, it would be Hillary Clinton. For obvious reasons (she s a woman), Clinton seems to bear the brunt of rage from people who remain silent when men (or members of their own party) do the exact same thing: embassy security; mere ambition; votes (think crime bill); paid speeches; and now email procedures.Once again, Hillary Clinton is put on blast for an 83 page report, in which only half a dozen pages actually address the Secretary s personal emails   the rest of the pages are appendices, historical context and precedence established by predecessors including Albright, Rice, Powell and now Kerry. And the few pages that do mention her emails mostly discuss broad cyber security policies pertaining to emails.No new information has come out of the report. Just a scathing slap on the wrist for Clinton, who has already admitted that she could have gone about a much better way of handling her emails. But still you ll find Republicans (and indeed some left wing liberals) cry out  smoking gun.  As Tiefer points out:[T]o the extent that she is criticized because  she did not comply with the Department s policies that were implemented in accordance with the Federal Records Act,  the report is making a legal judgment that is not particularly strong. Note how she is not labeled as violating any statute, but rather, a real mouthful of mush    the Department s policies that were implemented in accordance with the Federal Records Act.  So we are talking about obscure, dull, bureaucratic policies. Not a criminal statute. Not even a civil statute   just the bureaucratic policies.The fact of the matter is that this is not a smoking gun   just a politicized report of things we already knew. Based on the IG s report, Clinton did nothing illegal, she just created a bureaucratic headache. Shouldn t Republicans be giving her a medal given their intense hatred for the rules and procedures established by bureaucracy?So how does this help her? Well, for starters, it doesn t really hurt her. There s no legal framework established for an indictment, yet (unless we are counting on the FBI or the DOJ to somehow find a smoking gun). Second, it s more ammo for Clinton to use against a very sexist double standard that is applied to women in politics and not men. Third, it s another light shone on the Bush Administration, a penchant for lies, crooked shenanigans, and again, double standards.Featured image via Justin Sullivan/Getty Images