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Comment by knodi123 | Hacker News Reader

> or that Hillary Clinton received some debate questions in advance (again, not a crime!).

Also, not actually true!

There were claims that she received debate questions weeks in advance, which are a complete and total fabrication by a probably-not-innocent prank website.

There were separate claims that she received debate questions shortly before the town hall debate. And there was an effort to do so from someone outside of her campaign - but the questions that were provided were not the ones asked, so.... It's false to say she received some debate questions in advance.

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/clinton-received-debate-qu...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/10/31/ha...

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> but the questions that were provided were not the ones asked

Oh come on, the 2016 election is in the past, you don't have to spin it. The questions asked were similar enough and it can't be denied that Clinton got the questions in advance, but not Sanders.

https://www.politico.com/story/2016/10/donna-brazile-wikilea...

> An email later obtained by POLITICO showed that the text of the question Brazile sent to the Clinton campaign was identical to a proposed question Martin had offered CNN. (A similar, though not identical question, was ultimately posed to Clinton at the town hall).

> In the newest email, sent one day before the March 6 Democratic primary debate in Flint, Michigan, Brazile tells senior campaign staff that “One of the questions directed to HRC tomorrow is from a woman with a rash. Her family has lead poison and she will ask what, if anything, will Hillary do as president to help the ppl of Flint.”

> The next night, a woman named Lee-Anne Walters asked both candidates a very similar question.

> The questions asked were similar enough

Honestly I'm confused why people are so hot and bothered about the questions asked. Are any of you seriously surprised by the questions asked? Of course the candidates prepared to answer these questions. If they weren't prepared their prep team should be fired for being woefully incompetent. Seriously, all the questions are about the most popular topics. I honestly would have been shocked if Flint wasn't brought up considering it being part of the national conversation.

Should she have gotten them? No. Is it cheating? Yes. Is it a big fucking deal to detract from actual issues? No. It is just another example of minor cheating that they are doing constantly. But this is like cheating on a test where the teacher pulls questions from the homework and changes a few numbers and you already memorized how to do all the homework problems.

Believe or not we need to trust the integrity of our elected officials. That's the only way government works.

Really hard to discuss the integrity of our elected officials given the current President's penchant to lie like a marketer.

It is important to discuss, because at the margin having more integrity will get more turnout and help boot out the current President.

I'm not sure why you think I disagree with you. What I said is focus on the bigger lies because all the little ones pull away from a continued conversation.

The Constitution of the United States was explicitly designed to create a government where people do not have to trust their elected officials, and still have a functioning government.

> Is it a big fucking deal to detract from actual issues? No.

I think its a big deal when candidate keeps on cheating or lying. It establishes a pattern of dishonest behaviour which the other candidate can easily make a soundbite by calling her crooked.

What some people claimed seems entirely irrelevant to the factuality of whether Hillary Clinton received some debate questions in advance of the debate. On that, the evidence seems pretty cut-and-dry. From your article:

> In an email released Monday morning by WikiLeaks, Brazile provides details to top Clinton aides about what Clinton would be asked at a CNN debate March 6 in Flint, Mich., by a woman whose family had lead poisoning.

> “One of the questions directed to HRC tomorrow is from a woman with a rash,” Brazile writes in the subject line of an email to Jennifer Palmieri and John Podesta. In the body of the email, she adds: “Her family has lead poison and she will ask what, if anything, will Hillary do as president to help the ppl of Flint.”

I hate Trump. But acting as if people are so stupid that you can just deny that this even happened? You're only hurting Democrats at the ballot box.

What I said was "there was an effort to do so from someone outside of her campaign - but the questions that were provided were not the ones asked, so.... It's false to say she received some debate questions in advance."

Was there dishonesty from the DNC? Yes! But it's important to say what happened. Someone did a bad job of trying to supply her with a couple of questions. Instead the only thing they managed to provide her was a hint about two of the subjects that would be discussed. So to the point I responded to - Did she "receive some debate questions ahead of time" - nope! She didn't! Just some things that were close.

Did that give her an unfair advantage? Maybe! But I doubt it - if Bernie's campaign didn't expect a question about the Flint water issue, then they're idiots. And I don't think they're idiots. The help offered to Hillary was inaccurate and of dubious worth.

If you attempt to commit fraud, but are really shitty at it and bumble the attempt - I don't think that that makes it any more morally benign.

The emails [0] show pretty clear strategizing with Clinton campaign staff over preparing answers to the exact questions being proposed at the CNN town hall. That the CNN town hall ultimately chose to go with similar questions worded slightly differently does not in some way absolve the Clinton campaign.

[0]: https://wikileaks.org/podesta-emails/emailid/5205

> The help offered to Hillary was inaccurate and of dubious worth.

If you buy a gun and then rob a bank with it -- except the bank teller laughs at you because there's water dripping from your "gun" -- it doesn't diminish the fact that your intent was to rob a bank while yielding a deadly weapon. Just because you're ineffective and can't tell a water pistol from a Glock doesn't mean the intent doesn't, or shouldn't, count.

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