2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumThe right’s new Clinton obsession just went mainstream:How a sketchy Hillary “exposé” hooked the NYT
Last edited Tue Apr 21, 2015, 03:41 PM - Edit history (2)
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Original Headline:
The rights new Clinton Cash obsession: Why a sketchy new Hillary exposé that hooked the New York Times
New Headline:
The rights new Clinton obsession just went mainstream:How a sketchy Hillary exposé hooked the NYT
The right's propaganda machine duped the media on the Clintons once before. Now they could be doing it again
HEATHER DIGBY PARTON
As the week began, the big news that had the political media all aflutter was the release of a new book called Clinton Cash which the right is claiming will blow the lid off of the Clinton campaign and have the Democratic Party throwing in the towel on 2016 in no time. (Or, at the very least, theyll soon be desperately begging for former Republican Lincoln Chafee to officially take up the banner, which amounts to the same thing.) The book is about the nefarious doings of the evil Clinton Foundation, a non-profit supposedly dedicated to doing good works around the globe, but which conservatives say is actually nothing more than a corrupt organization dedicated to selling out the interests of poor people everywhere so that Hillary Clinton can destroy the world. Or something.
It must be said at the outset that investigating the Clinton Foundation is entirely appropriate. It is a major fundraising organization, lots of wealthy people from around the globe have donated money, some of whom are not such nice fellows. Now, the taking of money from bad people and using it to better the lives of poor people around the world should not automatically be suspect. Some people might even call such a transaction a form of restitution. But it is certainly worth looking into even the possibility of an improper quid pro quo between Hillary Clinton and these nefarious actors when she was Secretary of State (or now). Responsible journalists can and will undoubtedly be looking at all of this throughout the campaign as they should.
However, the man who wrote this book Clinton Cash is not a responsible journalist. (Well, unless you consider his affiliations with Breitbart News an endorsement of his integrity.) The author, Peter Schweitzer, is a long time Republican political operative whose credibility rests on books such as Architects of Ruin: How Big Government Liberals Ruined the Global Economy and Will Do It Again if We Dont Stop Them and Makers and Takers:Why conservatives work harder, feel happier, have closer families, take fewer drugs, give more generously, value honesty more, are less materialistic and envious, whine less
and even hug their children more than liberals. That latter literary masterpiece was actually a sequel to his earlier work called Do as I Say (Not as I Do): Profiles in Liberal Hypocrisy. Lets just say theres no mistaking Schweitzer for an unbiased journalist.
(Media Matters has compiled a full dossier on Schweitzers far right connections. They are as deep as they are wide.)
The fact that a right-wing propagandist would publish an exposé on Hillary Clinton is as surprising as Bill OReilly proclaiming himself to be a war hero. This is just how the right rolls. Youll undoubtedly recall the work of fiction called Unfit for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry by another far right operative by the name of Jerome Corsi which, when it was published in 2004 took the election by storm. It was an audacious move and it paid off. One can certainly understand why theyd try it again.
more
http://www.salon.com/2015/04/21/inside_the_rights_new_clinton_cash_obsession_the_sketchy_new_hillary_expose_that_hooked_the_new_york_times/
EL34x4
(2,003 posts)Sarah Palin employed a foreign policy advisor?
awoke_in_2003
(34,582 posts)for all those Alaska/Russian trade deals- and the fact that Putin's head might come into Alaskan airspace
Abouttime
(675 posts)Nothing but rehashed unsubstantiated rumors just like the so called email scandal that is already long forgotten. Garbage like this rolls off the Clintons like water off a duck.
Suck it up GOOPERS, Hillary is our next President.
Romeo.lima333
(1,127 posts)Romeo.lima333
(1,127 posts)66 dmhlt
(1,941 posts)From what I've seen so far there's not much "There" there.
And Media Matters has done a good job of providing background on this hack:
http://mediamatters.org/research/2015/04/20/clinton-cash-author-peter-schweizers-long-histo/203209
CTyankee
(63,912 posts)Some on the panel tried to push back a little but the fix was in. Mark Halperin did say this author was a right wing operative. Then they had on Media Matters David Brock and tried to belittle him for supporting Hillary. I expected it from Joe but Mika seemed eager to join in. I know she "says" she wants Warren, but it would help her image if she put a little distance between herself and Joe. Is that asking too much?
Cosmocat
(14,564 posts)That whole show is repulsive.
It is like an 80s after school special on enabling abusive fathers, with everyone having their roles.
The mother (Mika) as the dutiful wife, the kids each taking different roles sucking up to the father.
It is visceral that every stinking one of the sycophants they put around that table are in fear of Joe either going dead intern on them or, for them even worse, cutting off their cushy little gigs, if they dare challenge him or say something he will view as unfavorable.
My stomach turns, literally, watching the freak show.
Which I have sparred myself from the experience of for a few years now.
myrna minx
(22,772 posts)has been debunked time and again. It's just like believing that hack - James O'Keefe about anything.
William769
(55,147 posts)quadrature
(2,049 posts)the Kazakhstan uranium deal
looks kinda fishy.