Hillary Clinton's "real Russia scandal": The vast right-wing conspiracy will never die

Right-wing media’s latest concoction: Stir a few old stories into the cauldron of Hillary hate. It just might work

HEATHER DIGBY PARTON
10.27.2017•8:20 AM

On Tuesday I happened to write about the brewing hysteria I saw in the right-wing media over what they're calling the "real Russia scandal." Lo and behold, later that very morning, House Intelligence Committee chair Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., came before the cameras to announce a new investigation into a 2010 sale of uranium to Russia, which was approved by the Obama administration's State Department -- then headed by Hillary Clinton -- along with eight other departments.

Rep. Trey Gowdy of the House Oversight Committee also announced a new investigation into the Clinton email probe -- yes, that would be an investigation of an investigation --and the Washington Post published a reported that lawyers for the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee had picked up the tab for the infamous "Steele dossier" after the original Republican clients had decided to drop it. (Not news. It was reported as early as October 2016 that Democrats had paid for it.)

Republicans have been desperate to figure out a way to discredit special counsel Robert Mueller and at the same time muddy the waters with some parallel scandal implicating Hillary Clinton. They understand perfectly well that pursuing her is something of a compulsive neurosis among the political media. They seem to have decided that their best bet is to throw several different Russia-related threads out at the same time to try to overwhelm the system.

Paul Waldman at the Washington Post, David Corn at Mother Jones (who first broke the story about Democratic funding a year ago) and Jonathan Chait at New York magazine have all written excellent pieces deconstructing the ridiculous pseudo-scandal of the Steele dossier and what the Republicans are trying to accomplish.

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https://www.salon.com/2017/10/27/hillary-clintons-real-russia-scandal-the-vast-right-wing-conspiracy-will-never-die/