It'll take more than these e-mails to knock Hillary out

Like Chris Christie, Hillary Clinton knows that annoying as it is, scandal-flavored news stories rarely cause an established politician permanent harm if they can batten down and wait out the storm. As I noted last month with a link to an AEI infographic, if Clinton patiently endures her falls from public popularity she’s almost always rewarded with a rise. Journalists, who are paid to remember, forget the general public’s difficulty in recalling anything that happened longer than a week ago or that can’t be explained in a paragraph. You couldn’t explain Sidney Blumenthal in 27-volume encyclopedia.

The scheduled release of the remaining emails—at month’s end for the next seven months—will work to Clinton’s advantage. Less water torture than intermittent showers, they may well continue to work to her advantage as they rill their way down from Foggy Bottom into scandal-loving newsrooms. Presently, the voters are yawning at their less than shocking contents, and in coming months the Clinton forces might end up thanking the Republicans for requesting the emails because they’ve done more to put a shine than a tarnish on her. Say whatever you will about Hillary Clinton, she never panics.