The political genius who contrived Hillary Clinton’s response to the revelations of Clinton Foundation and State Department corruption that there may be smoke but there’s no fire should be, and likely will be considering who he/she works for, taken out to a park somewhere and suicided (just kidding, of course, but…). If there is any folk wisdom that goes back further in the history of mankind than the common sense knowledge that indeed, “Where there’s smoke, there’s fire,” I don’t know what it is. I’d wager it most likely precedes Homo Sapiens’ adoption of fire to his own uses, first for warming, then for cooking, as in situations where rising smoke on the horizon meant grass or forest fire to be avoided, or even exploited for tasty roasted animal carcasses.

Not only is this bit of common sense universal, with some version being a part of virtually every culture in the world, it is a truth that is instilled into virtually every child’s learning from an early age. This is a truth so widespread it is known even in the animal world although it may be sensed there more by smell than sight, although humans as well also frequently are alerted to the presence of fire by a first whiff of smoke rather than a billowing cloud. Show me someone who doesn’t know the meaning of, “Where there’s smoke, there’s fire” and I’ll show you someone with a severe mental or educational deficiency. Let smoke appear on any skyline and it’s likely the children who will demonstrate the first excitement as to the possibility of an impending inferno.

So how in the world did the Clinton campaign seize on such a lame defense as there may be smoke but there’s no fire when we all know that the very admission of the presence of smoke is a de facto admission that there must be fire somewhere? Every time Clinton and her defenders raise that argument they remind us of the common sense wisdom we have been taught all our lives that, “Oh yeah, where there’s smoke, there is indeed fire,” which just reinforces the suspicion that Clinton is trying to blow this particular smoke up our rear ends.