Republicans got a huge assist from mainstream media this week in their quest to smear Hillary Clinton, thereby arresting her path to the Presidency in 2016. Press outlets, led by familiar Hillary-bashers MSNBC and The New York Times employed questionable reporting in an effort to manufacture scandal out of Hillary’s private email use during her time as Secretary of State. Facts can be inconvenient things: no laws were broken; business email chains were preserved on government servers; any law prohibiting her private email use did not take effect until two years after Hillary stepped down. So what is the endgame here? And will these early punches cause damage to Hillary or not?
Cable news’ frantic pearl-clutching on this subject reflects a familiar practice of attaching the word “controversy” to the name “Hillary.” It sells copy. Terrified of a boring election cycle, the 24-hour news cycle hungers to have a click-able “catfight,” guaranteeing continued speculation even if this is weak tea dressed up to look nefarious. Peter Daou, former Hillary communications director, penned an fascinating piece on the media’s possible motives in this latest Hillary dust-up: Pwning Hillary: Inside the Innerati’s Clinton Obsession.
But why are we continually distracted with “controversy”? Could it be so we don’t have time to look more dire issues, such as why our savings bank interest is at .03% when the Dow is near 18,000? There are many more, none of which have anything to do with transparency or security of a Secretary of State’s email. Even Rush Limbaugh has called Hillary Clinton a patriot. Are Republicans really accusing this woman of a crime here? They already have a reputation as the party of “no.” They do not want to walk into 2016 looking like the party of “no policy but bucket o’ smear.”
The wheels of government run slowly, so examination of Clinton’s emails, which she has asked to have released in their entirety, will take months. As a more reasoned news outlet stated today, we might want to relax. More will be revealed. Bet on it.
Jerry Doyle and I have a fabulous interview discussing the reality behind left and right spin and debate Hillary’s pluses and minuses going into the 2016 race. Don’t miss it!
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Anita Finlay is the bestselling author of Dirty Words on Clean Skin — exposing media bias in a society not as evolved as advertised. #1 on Amazon’s Women in Politics books for 16 weeks.
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2 Comments
The media likes to play this game of building someone up and then taking great joy in knocking them down. That is what they are doing to Hillary. The left is much worse at trying to distroy her. I can no longer listen to pundents on MSNBC. The Democrats want her to go away and instead put in Elizabet Warren . It does not matter if she has experience or not. Yelling at someone is not going to change things. None of her bills passed so what good is it. I would love to see Hillary change from a Democrat to an Independent and run as an independent. Now that would be something for the press to write about. Sorry for my rambling but I am angry because the real problems in our country are not being addressed.
Tina, I understand and respect your feelings on the subject. Thanks so much for sharing. You are welcome to come here and rant whenever you like!