CNN Joins The Smear Hillary Campaign
By Nicole Belle Tuesday Oct 09, 2007 8:36am(guest blogged by Bill W.)
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This is perhaps the most shameless hit piece I've seen on CNN since...well, I can't seem to remember ever seeing such a thing on CNN.
Apparently the news is that Sandy Berger, a favorite topic of Republican smear merchants, is NOT part of the HRC campaign. Did I just miss the disclaimer 'this ad paid for by 'swiftboat vets for smearjobs'? I really thought MSNBC was bad yesterday when they let a pundit call Hillary "shrill and fishwife-y," but this wasn't just some bobblehead talking, it was apparently supposed to be an actual honest-to-God news story.
How exactly?
I'm sorry, but everyone and anyone not officially connected to any campaign can offer advice and that isn't a scandal.
From what I gather, CNN apparently got the story hitpiece from the Examiner, a publication whose "right-wing slant" has been well-documented. Beyond their questionable sourcing, if, as CNN reports, that Berger has "no official role" in Hillary's campaign, then CNN knew before they even began shooting that Examiner story was tripe.
What's more, Blitzer then segues into a story that VP Cheney's daughter is now a co-chair to Fred Thompson's campaign. Well, ok, that MIGHT be newsworthy on a slow day, I suppose. At least she is 'officially connected' to the campaign. But if you're going to run with that, wouldn't it have been MUCH more newsworthy to at least mention that another Thompson co-chair is former Sen George Felix 'Macaca' Allen? I'm just askin'.
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Ditch the corporate media, turn to the blogs.
I guess it's all about the ratings. This kind of shit works for FOX so CNN seems to be giving it a shot. I'm more pissed off about the debates yesterday when no one would refer to Senator Clinton but instead chose to just call her Hillary. She deserves their respect.
ZOMG! I negative report about THE HRC?!?!!? Start making your signs, we need to protest. Don't they know OUR Hillary is OFF-LIMITS!?!?!?!!
/snark
HRC is not going to end the war, and anyone who believes what she says is about the same as a left wing version of a bush voter.
What is their fascination with Berger?
The Bush administration leaks the name of a CIA to punish her husband. Then one of their insiders is indicted for lying to a grand jury about it and has to be pardoned so he doesn't go to jail. Yesterday news reports said they leaked to FOX News a classified report gathered for them about bin Laden. I think they should clean their own doorstep off before they criticize anyone else.
W H O C A R E S ?
Please catch up, C & L. It's already been reported that Macaca and Cheney's spawn will not be a part of the train wreck better known as Fred Thompson's campaign.
It was reported in WaPo yesterday.
"This is perhaps the most shameless hit piece I’ve seen on CNN since…well, I can’t seem to remember ever seeing such a thing on CNN."
Tell me you're kidding..the heavy rotation on the "Dean scream?" The lying Gupta about Moore's film? CNN is always pulling this sh*t, they're just less blatant about it than FOX, but make no mistake, they are just as bad or worse.
GOOD I hope it helps bring her DOWN
ANY DEM but Hillary!!!
SHE PANDERS ALL THE TIME....
Let us not forget that it has been reported that 'Mendacious Mary' Matalin has also joined not so fiery Fred campaign.
Why should we be surprised that Conservative News Network ran a hit piece on Hillary?
I mean, really?
hanshiro @ 7:
=================
I dunno about CNN being worse than FOX, but they are definitely worthless as a source of propaganda-free unslanted news. CNN is rife with political cunning and plotting, but it is a bit cleverer about the way it tries to spin; they have to try harder to keep the wool pulled over the eyes of all the moderates and liberals who STILL trust them. Maybe they are worse in the sense that they've been much more successful at "playing news" than Fox News Channel and people trust them more. We shouldn't trust any main-stream media these days, period, seeing as how they're all bought and paid for by right-leaning corporations.
OMG you took of my comment...
I SECOND THE WHO CARES
it's going to be a looooong year.
"Hilary Clinton has inextricable ties to her husband's administration..."
:D
Really?
LOL
xoites defends Constitution @ 14:
Perhaps...(sarcasm alert) because SHE'S HIS WIFE??? (end sarcasm)
Suggestion: With this kind of story, you might include a link to take action (e.g., a link to send an email to the producers).
I count myself as part of the 50% of C&L readers who still have a memory. Hillary has been adopted by international CORPORATE interests. What is wrong with people that they cannot see beyond a candidates team jersey? She's a Dem only in label. Supports the Iraq occupation and has smiling corporate lobbyists lined up down the hall to write checks. Don't you all think it's time to support a candidate who has the PEOPLE's interests in mind?
..... Young Turk Cenk Ugyur absolutely TORE APART Jim Clancy CNN reporter who was talking with General suckup err Petraeus about how brave the men and women are fighting for us over there are and how Al Qaeda was battling us all over the country and how Clancy was being wholly uncritical and totally unbalanced (government shill). Oh we are so through the looking glass, of course having gotten rid of my TEEVEE a month ago I find myself less annoyed at the banal stories that I had to view in the past.
Dimples @ 17:
Oh, i support Kucinich, but i am in total disagreement with smear campaigns. Pointing them out is a very good idea if you ask me. We can defeat Hilary with facts not wierd crap like this CNN hit piece.
The Examiner isn't based in Wichita, it's from Colorado. Anyway, the media has determined that Clinton will easily win against any Republican opponent so they are trying to do to her what they did to Howard Dean. If they can prop up Obama or Edwards in the polls then they feel they have a better chance of losing to a Republican candidate.
It's the illusion of democracy that the media leaves us with. How considerate that they are continually lax on reporting details about Iraq and Iran but happily go into every detail with the Clintons or some blond tart that sings or poses for Playboy.
The Reslugs are scared shitless of Hillary's brains and their lack of balls and brains.
xoites defends Constitution @ 14:
All the more reason to nominate anyone but Hillary. The attacks are mild now compared to what they will be if she is nominated. The repugs want her to be the one they run against.
..... It is possible to defend Hillary and also have no intention of voting for her. It's like saying George Bush has been a wildly successful President, it is juss the .03% of the population he has been wildly successful for (the monied and corporate interests) and everyone else that has fallen off the cliff/ It still makes the wildly successful comment true....
as long as they keep up their unfounded smears against hillary, all it does is push people like me to have a closer look at her and possibly change my vote to hillary. for so many reasons though, aren't the repubs actually pushing hillary because they feel she is the most apt to lose of all the front running dem candidates? it's hard to gauge exactly where they're coming from at this point. have they already conceded that she will be the candidate therefore with respect to that, they have already begun their smear campaign. i would surmise that that is the case. hillary plays it as close to the middle as possible. do not alienate either side. stay that middle course and if she has to "bed" with the likes of elmer fudd lieberman in the process, i guess in her mind the end justifies the means. truble is you do alienate those who would support in the most vocal way. that's why at this point, i'm sticking with kucinich.
Sen. Clinton claims that she's prepared for these attacks, so let's see. Regardless, the media is going to push out these hit pieces against whomever carries a (D) symbol so this shouldn't be any surprise. However, with Sen. Clinton, it's a heck of a lot easier. Those who claim "who cares" should be careful with the dismissal as these attack pieces exist because they work and this shit should have been expected.
Ron @ 22:
I won't go that far. I think it is all the more reason to nominate Kucinich. The media is trying to set up Hilary for the big fall. They have been doing their homework on her and have lists of things to say and do. Kucinich baffles them so they merely ignore him.
I want Senator Clinton to lose fair and square. I can't be the only one who thinks "Bush, Clinton, Bush, Clinton" is a seriously problem--Bush Junior being the most insidious, of course.
no longer a proud american @ 24:
No, no, no. You don't get it. They have been pushing her because they think she will bring the Republicans out to the polls in droves.
xoites defends Constitution @ 26:
Doing their homework? They will bring up everything they have for the last 30 years.
CNN is trying to get street cred with the freepers with Sandy Berger segments and the continued employment of Glenn Beck
I, for one among many, am so glad to see Mrs. Clinton's past and present associations finally get brought under the critical microscopes. It is high time.
Letting her slide into the Dem helm, only to get killed next Spring and Summer will be a disaster for this country, and for the world.
She can't win. I repeat, she can't win. Being in denial of this fact will give us four more disastrous years of GOP "I got mine, so fuck you" politics.
Mrs. Clinton will never make it past Christmas as the leader, now that the inevitable critiques of her have started to come out of the wood-work.
Ask yourself: Why have the Republicans been so quiet on her? They want her to be the nominee, because, as Rove said, she is "fatally flawed." So, they are dying to have her be the nominee.
Let's get her out of the way as soon as possible so someone who can win can have the opportunity to start getting an image built before it is too late.
Mrs. Clinton cannot win. She has too much baggage and her "negatives" too high to pull it off.
If you support Mrs. Clinton, no disrespect intended, but you must read Maureen Dowd this morning in the NYTimes for a reality check.
FYI... the chimp is going to speak this morning about the NSA deal.
I gave up on CNN a long long time ago.
And as for Cheney's daughter - I will never understand gay republicans. Some kind of weird self flaggilation maybe?
Well its out in the open now. The single greatest weekness of Hilary Clinton is the ready made machine to attack her. All Dems and Liberals should know that the right wing is just now getting started. The "Arkanas Project", and "The Sift Boat Vets for Truth", will soon be joined by the "New York Project". Why talk about 'issues' when you can smear?
Personally I am sick to death of Bush Clinton Bush CLinton...... I dont ever want another Clinton or Bush in the White House in any position. I don't think they should be allowed to serve on anything anymore. And they can take their band of > merry men< with them when they leave DC town
If Hillary's determined and knowledgeable she's remote, if she responds to harsh questioins she's bitchy, and if she raises her skirt and spreads them on a public pool hall table she's frigid.
Mel @ 27:
.............. you're not the only one and save for a Nick Kristof editorial a few months back in the times no one EVER discusses this. I can't think of another country in modern times that has a string like this. Was Imelda Marcos ever in charge of the Phillipines (B Aquino/Marcos/C Aquino)? That comes closest and I don't think Imelda ever had a whiff of official power
The Political Junkie @ 6:
Got a link? I did find this in WaPo yesterday:
George Allen's Back And Touting Thompson
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2007/10/09/george_allen_is_back...
And this is still on Fred's website:
Were you confused by the news that they pulled both Cheney and Allen out of the post-debate spin-room?
http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/10/08/402183.aspx
I haven't seen any news that Fred dumped him.
Maureen Dowd
Correction and more info. The chimp will speak about the FISA reform bill and he'll do so at about ten minutes after eleven (eastern time)
That's Bush-Clinton-Bush-Rodham.
She might have married a president, but give Hillary her due. Her career is impressive on its own.
I'm still voting Obama in the primaries, but I'd have no problem voting for Hillary.
Since when does anybody expect anything resembling journalism from the Clownact Noise Network?
At the same time, I find it impossible to summon much sympathy for HRC or any other Neocon-Lite® Corporatist who misrepresents themselves to the public as a liberal/progressive servant of the people.
We still have a over a year to go. I am already so sick of this crap.
The republicans are so out of touch with the people. McCain says its fair for the rich to pay 15% taxes and the poor pay 30%. The smears and fake outrage stories like Obama and his missing lapel pin. Hilary has a crooked donor and its all over the news like flies on shit but they ignore the repugs getting money from child molesters.
CNN did run a piece yesterday (at least twice) about bush lying. They showed the clip of him saying because of the success of the surge there would be a brigade coming home for Xmas. Then they showed how they were already coming home and not being replaced because some other country is not sending in their troops. They haven't had enough rest. This was known before bush made his claim. They also said that there will still be more troops on the ground next summer than before the surge. They don't usually call bush out on his lies.
Not that WE didn't know he was lying, but it was interesting that CNN actually said it.
Yeah, I have to agree with almost everyone here leaving comments. Who made her the next King already? I don't care. Let everyone say all the bad shit they want about her, because frankly, the Rethugs are chomping at the bits like Pit Bulls in Michael Vicks palatial estate to tear her a new one and stick us with 4 to 8 years of a new ass fucker republican president. I don't WANT her to be the nominee.
>Personally I am sick to death of Bush Clinton Bush CLinton…… I dont ever want another Clinton or Bush in the White House in any position. I don’t think they should be allowed to serve on anything anymore. And they can take their band of > merry men< with them when they leave DC town
There is already a term limit ...
Why cant 'winning' POTUS be like a crappy sweepstakes with regulations that "Contest not open to Employees, former employees or their immediate families?"
OT
Kiefer Sutherland could get 48 days in jail. Al qaeda is going to hit us when he can't protect us.
What do expect from these corporate pigs, but this sort of grunting and flatulence?
Pay the corporate media no mind, and vote for the candidate you think will be best for change.
I hate to tell you but, no matter what Dem gets the nomination, he or she is going to be the lesser of two evils. I would prefer Kucinich, but he won't win crap. Hillary will probably be the nominee and, as team-Clinton are fighters not pansies like Kerry and, yes, Gore (and I do like Gore a LOT), they won't let themselves be Swift-boated. Further, I hate to sound paranoid, but I wouldn't be surprised if more has been decided behind the scenes already about this election than you think.
Verla Mae @ 48:
And that would be Kucinich. :)
Neither of the people I want to vote for are running. I want to vote for Gore and I want to cast a vote for Russ Feingold. :(
JustThisGuyYaKnow @ 49:
Hell, its all been decided. You have decided Kucinich can't win and I have decided to put that theory to the test.
Ali @ 33:
This is a different Cheney daughter.
I wonder if the right is as worried about our soldiers and innocent Iraqis being killed every day as they are about Sandy Berger's activities? I'm guessing they aren't.
xoites defends Constitution @ 39:
Here's a better link that won't make people have to register/sign in first.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/10/opinion/10dowd.html?ex=1349668800&en=e...
via the blog friendly NYT link generator ;)
http://nytimes.blogspace.com/genlink
For years we have all known the msm to be bush enablers, liars, misinformation carriers and telepromptor readers. There has been no journalism to speak of. So what surprises me is how many are ready to buy into it now. Hilary will win. Kucinich can't win. With all you know, why are you letting them tell you who you are voting for?
I don't mind it. She won't make a good candidate and I wouldn't vote for her as a democrat. She's basically a republican and a lot of her heatlh care ideas aren't that great.
She's the ultimate two faced talking head and little more. I'd say most of these smears are coming from the left to keep her from running away from ohio.
Whine all you want, but it's a mistake on the part of the Clinton camp. Berger should have been told to never talk to them again in any capacity. Why hand your opponents such a gift?
If every one who is voting for Mrs. Clinton as the lesser of two evils, rather than Kucinich because THEY have decided Kucinich "can't win", Kucinich would win in such a large landslide. Please stop allowing yourself to be manipulated by the tee vee.
pissed off patricia @ 2:
I am not going to vote for Clinton, but I do try to be consistent and respectful when I comment and refer to her as Clinton when I am referring to Obama and Edwards and so on. But I recall, POP, that having her known by first name only was part of the campaign strategy from the beginning. I'm going to watch out for some of her banners, signs, and bumper stickers and see what they call her.
Rooom @ 56:
Yeah. It's much worse than bringing in the entire Iran Contra Scandal team (minus Ollie North) into your administration. The press really went mild on that one!
Dimples @ 57:
Your vote wil not count if you don't vote for the person you want. If you vote against the person because you don't think that person can win, they certainly can't win.
Look, this isn't a "Right-Wing Media" assault. Its a corporate media ratings push. Brittany, Lindsey Lohan, Hllary...Its a fodder for their canon.
The real point is that this is how its going to be with her as POTUS. Do we really want four years (or more) of this National Enquirer type "journalism"???
Hillary's bitchyness, Hillary's sex life, Hillary's clothes?
Edwards...Please.
The Ratpublican Bastard Party has been treating Hilary's candidacy as a foregone conclusion for over 2 years now because they know that her nomination will bring out the hard core crazies on election day. They've been smearing her since '91, they don't even have to retrain their brain dead minions, they'll just rerun all the old stuff and they'll never know the difference.
Now I don't hate the Clintons, but they really disappointed me. I wish they would have put their fund raising skills to work on one of the other candidates. Personally, I would love to see a Democratic President nominate her for the Supreme Court, and Gore made Secretary of the Interior because that would really drive the right totally batsh*t crazy.
"shrill," "Fishwifey" "cackle", seems like they are all looking for the Howard Dean moment, the thing that will sink her campaign. Kind of a spaghetti smear campaign, throw all wer can manufacture at her and run with what sticks!
They suck.
"CHARLIE MANSON HAS NO OFFICIAL ROLE IN G.O.P"
John @ 62:
That is not a drive. That is a short walk.
jakethesnake @ 3:
Sen. Clinton has been the #1 target of every channel, news & noise, for a long time. She's never been ''off limits'' unless you don't watch TV. Even the daytime bubbleheads drag her into every political piece to slam her. Or they make up something to totally discredit all the polls she's leading in. If anyone but Sen. Clinton was leading, the poll results would be declared ''valid & wonderful.'' Then they'd bring it all back to how it proves Sen. Clinton really is as hated as they've been instructing everyone.
It's the other candidates who are off-limits. None of them gets more than puff-piece treatment which usually leads into more bashing of the frontrunner. Countless reminders that frontrunner Gov. Dean crashed & burned years ago so look for it to happen to Sen. Clinton too, especially if she godforbid ever laughs again (cue laugh footage). Look at how they all declared that Thompson did well in Tweety's debate because he made a funny joke. He ''went head to head with Rudy'' & looked real tall doing it. Wow. Did he say anything substantial? Apparently not, compared to how tall he is & his ability to pull off a standard one-liner. Which reminds them how Sen. Clinton botched a joke (cue stock footage of the Clintons) just like Sen. Kerry did (cue more old stock footage) & remember how he lost etc.
Fox Noise has been pushing this bogus piece about Sandy Berger for days now. It was a constant topic in their crawl & on their ''news'' reports/talkinghead shows in the days after their roll-out. Extensive ''examination'' of SB's history, most of it wrong. Yes, he's a disgraced criminal but could they please at least get his rap sheet right? Anyone who knows even a bit about the ''source'' & Fox Noise knew what it was right off the bat. Nevertheless, they repeatedly said it wasn't confirmed, even their ''source'' said he couldn't confirm it but it sure sounded true to him. Any bells going off yet as to what this was? Still, they kept shrieking hourly demands that Sen. Clinton respond to them ASAP or else it has to be true. Now CNN, once again, has regurgitated Fox's vomit to fill their empty hours of ''news.'' Nobody ever goes after Sen. Clinton because she's ''hands off?'' Thanks for the laugh.
revko @ 64:
I thought he was the head of the RNC.
Ron @ 67:
No, he just advises the White House on Detainee Interogation Tactics.
crappy
neocon
news
cetylovx @ 25:
They haven't so far. Maybe they should pick a different target for a change & see if they work.
xoites defends Constitution @ 68:
We could start a rumor. Straw man, "Some people say."
"Hillary Clinton has inextricable ties to her husband's administration"? You don't say. Well that changes everything doesn't it? I mean if she had inextricable ties..... What a pantload! Somebody should tell these assclowns that Bill Clinton had a sixty five percent approval rating when he left office. Not 65% of Democrats...65% of everybody. That compares to the near 30% that the chimp has had for a year. That seems to me to translate into about 216% of the approval of the chimp right now.
Boy, the thought of a female president really scares those old republican white boys! What a lowdown bunch of syncophants on CNN. Wolf is a sheep!
Ruthless People @ 1:
While I agree that is good personal advice I think we need to be aware of this stuff. It is just a mini-preview of what the corporate media has in store for Senator Clinton. It should be a factor in the nomination process. Although I suspect any Democratic candiditate will be "swift-boated".
redjb @ 8:
Agree. If “shrill and fishwife-y,” is the worst they can do, they need to go back to their drawing boards, because the rest of the MSM has cannonized her. She will cost us dems the election!
Hillary will become the big distraction. Every Clinton closet will be re-opened and every skeleton will be re-discussed ad nauseum. Never will the war or the business of the day be able to be discussed and resolved. It will be all about that navy dress again. They're lying in wait.
Too much rotting baggage. Eliminate her early or this will continue to go on and on and on.
Is this REALLY news.... So she's seeking advice from someone caught doing something wrong... But isn't our current president was known to be a drunk? So he gets a free pass on being a drunk, but we're talking about someone who did something stupid only giving 'advice'...
Smarmy @ 75:
But...these attacks might have the opposite effect. Truth is they (The Right) want Hillary to be the nominee...Bad.
jakethesnake @ 3:
how true. I sincerely hope that C& L doesnt' become like Media Matters..aka The Hilary Defense Team.
Hilary is a pro-war, pro-death penalty hypocritical ambition machine. (and she's going to win the presidency.) Stop asking us real progressives to feel sorry for her.
[Deleted. Is Sandy Berger running? If he is, wait for a thread about him to bring him up. Off topic-Sitemonitor]
With her voting record and recent statements the right should be embracing her. She has morphed into Corporate America's Plan A.
So you use a smear from a fake story on a fake "advisor' to tell bedtime stories ripped off from a z-rated ABC telemovie?
How can anybody vote for Clinton what is she hideing in her records and documents that she had sealed up in the clinton liberay.Its the same trick bush did and said trust me well now you see what we got. I can not vote for someone hideing there records and knot knowing all about there decisions in life. If not we will land with 4 more years of bush and the war that are troops are being killed as troops, and mexicans geting status and destroying American for votes.
The editors of the National Review live in a fantasy world.
redjb @ 8:
The buzz over Senator Clinton's candidacy is the biggest load of prepackaged bull since the introduction of New Coke. Can we wait for the, you know, voting to start before making her the nominee?
They shouldn't have let the pundit say that? We might not like everything that's said, but wehen you start talking about "letting" jerky people say things, you start sounding like one of them.