Cillizza Dumps on Hillary's "Baggage"

The Washington Post's Chris Cillizza is no conservative, which makes his Hillary blog post so much more damning. Referring to a Quinnipiac University national poll about her, he writes:

More than six in ten (62 percent) of voters said Clinton has "strong leadership qualities." In that same sample, however, less than four in ten (38 percent) said that Clinton was honest and trustworthy. A majority (54 percent) said she's not honest and trustworthy, including 61 percent of independents.

That's a remarkable set of findings -- and speaks to the divided mind the public has about the Clintons broadly and Hillary Clinton specifically.  There's a widespread belief in her capability to do the job she is running for. There's also widespread distrust in her personally.  People admire her but don't know if she's honest.

And that is the central problem for Clinton with this series of stories today. It affirms for people that there is always some piece -- or pieces -- of baggage that come with electing the Clintons to anything.  It's part of the deal. You don't get one without the other.

Cillizza tries to soften the blow with his "don't know if she's honest" line. Face it, the 54% who said she was not honest and trustworthy included 61% of independents. Lack of certainty didn't enter the equation.