Clinton Blames Comey, Russia, WikiLeaks, Facebook, Fake News, Voter ID Laws, Sexism, and Misogyny for Losing
‘And let’s not forget sexism and misogyny, which are endemic to our society’
Hillary Clinton believes that were it not for James Comey, Russia, Wikileaks, Facebook, fake news, voter ID laws, or America's "endemic" sexism and misogyny, she would currently be president of the United States.
In just under two minutes, Clinton rattled off eight separate excuses for losing the 2016 election.
Clinton claims that, "If the election were on October 27, I would be your president," singling out James Comey in particular for re-opening an investigation into her mishandling of classified material. (Others notably argue that Comey kept Clinton in the campaign by preemptively exonerating Clinton before the FBI had concluded its own investigation.)
"I went from 26 points ahead to 13 points ahead, and I needed about 18 points in order to be sure to win Pennsylvania," Clinton said of the impact of Comey's notorious letter explaining he was re-opening the investigation. "I watched how analysts who I have a great deal of respect for, like Nate Silver, burrowed into all the data and said that 'but for that Comey letter, she would have won.'"
"So it was very personal to me," she said in an interview with CBS's Jane Pauley. "I think my general election prospects were badly damaged because of that, so that even though I was starting to come back, it was not enough time to overcome it."
Clinton also rattled off Russia, Wikileaks, and even fake news as other culprits in her failed presidential run.
"But even though [the Comey letter] was the primary blow to my campaign at the very end, it has to be looked at in context -- with the Russians weaponizing information, negative stories about me; this whole Wikileaks beginning to leak in early October of John Podesta's emails -- which if you read them all were, they're pretty anodyne, but they were taken out of context; stories were made up about them."
Clinton then cited a recent story about Facebook accepting advertising from a Russian firm as another reason for her loss.
"We now know that Facebook was taking money from Russian companies to run negative stories about me," she continued. "If you look at all of this, yes, it affected me and my campaign. But I am more concerned now going forward that we haven't come to grips with what it means for future elections."
In comments that echo Donald Trump's claims that the votes from illegal aliens affected the vote totals, Clinton likewise claims that Republican-led "voter suppression" enabled Trump to win toss-up states.
"I would also add that the voter suppression that we now know had been in the works and really put into effect in a lot of states like Wisconsin and North Carolina, etc., played a role," she said."
And she blamed America's "sexism and misogyny, which are endemic to our society. And certainly as I write in my chapter called 'On Being a Woman in Politics,' have to be factored in as well."
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