It has taken Hillary Clinton a while to admit it, but she’s finally willing to call ISIS’ assault on Christians what it is: genocide. From the Washington Post:
The comment came Tuesday at a town hall in Berlin, N.H., where a voter asked if she would join Pope Francis and others in calling the assault on Christians and other religious minorities “by its proper name: ‘Genocide’?” the voter asked, according to the Associated Press. The former secretary of state answered that she had held back on using the term because of the legal implications and the weight, but now “I will because now we have enough evidence.”
Spoken like a true lawyer. Evidence of Muslim genocide has been public for years, so it’s telling that Hillary only feels there’s enough to state the obvious now. If you didn’t know any better, you’d think she’s only doing so because she hopes to appeal to some Christian voters, who may have qualms about the Democratic Party’s increasingly anti-Christian policies.
It appeared to be an impromptu comment made at a low-profile moment. But Hillary Clinton’s use of the word “genocide” to describe the Islamic State’s treatment of Christians could change her political profile among some voters — conservative Christians in particular.
Some conservative Christians responded immediately. Said Kathryn Jean Lopez of National Review: “Thank you Hillary Clinton.” She was joined by Chris Seiple, a government adviser on religious affairs who is also an activist for Christians in the Middle East, who called Hillary’s statement “a very important shift that will directly impact the presidential race”:
Saying you want [Syrian President Bashar] al-Assad to go or a bigger military is a cliche. Now a candidate will have to say something for which she/he will be held accountable, per one of the last words that still demands accountability: Genocide.
While it’s important that Hillary admits the obvious, we have to remember that she only does this for political gain — which is how the Clintons, both Hillary and Bill, roll; president Clinton’s refusal to call what happened in Rwanda a genocide is still widely criticized today. Hillary has apparently learned from that mistake and is now trying to warm Christian voters and more hawkish Democrats to her candidacy.
She does so at a relatively safe moment when she has fought off a surge by socialist Senator Bernie Sanders. Judging from the polls, there is no need for Hillary to continue playing to the far-left base of her party. Her lead is comfortable, she can now position herself for the general elections, which means that she’ll want to appear as a moderate Democrat with hawkish tendencies. In other words: like a female version of her husband, who remains a popular ex-president.
It would be a mistake to let her get away with that. There’s no reason to thank Hillary for anything. It’s not courageous of her to call an attempted genocide a genocide, and the timing is suspiciously opportunistic. Don’t be fooled: this woman has never stood with Christians and won’t do so as president.
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