The Patriot Post® · Friday Short Cuts

Upright: “The Washington Post’s reporting notes that [Gov. Terry] McAuliffe’s [clemency for felons] was popular, with 61 percent of respondents expressing support. What difference does this make to the law? If we’re going to have government by plebiscite, let’s repeal the Constitution and do everything by SurveyMonkey.” —Mona Charen

The Clinton lowdown: “The central problem with Hillary Clinton’s emails was not the classified material. It wasn’t the headline-making charge by the FBI director of her extreme carelessness in handling it. … The real question wasn’t classification but: Why did she have a private server in the first place? She obviously lied about the purpose. It wasn’t convenience. It was concealment. What exactly was she hiding?” —Charles Krauthammer

Non Compos Mentis: “[Hillary Clinton] has no reasons to trust the press corps. And the so-called email scandal is one of the reasons.” —Howard Dean

For the record: “During a focus group in Milwaukee last night, a dozen Wisconsinites who have voted for both a Democrat and a Republican for president in the past 16 years lamented the choice that looms before them in November. … The group reflected the electorate’s disenchantment and lack of enthusiasm. Asked to name a scent or smell that best describes the 2016 campaign, the answers were sulfur, rotten eggs, garbage, manure and a skunk’s fart.” —The Washington Post

The BIG Lie: “The [climate change] deniers have been very successful — surprisingly successful — because they are almost exclusively funded by the fossil-fuel industry. … [T]his whole anti-science movement has been set up to preserve an economy that is going away.” —Bill Nye

And last… “Iranian ships pushed the US Navy around for the 4th time this week. President Obama said if this keeps up, he might slow down our cash deliveries.” —Twitter satirist @weknowwhatsbest