Politio's John Harris watched Hillary Clinton's press conference today and saw something that, apparently, he's hardly ever seen before:
Hiillary Clinton was likable enough, answering questions calmly though with a weary smile. She even offered a feint toward humility, allowing that, “looking back,” perhaps there was a “smarter” way for her to have handled her correspondence as secretary of state besides bypassing official government email entirely.
Beneath the politesse, however, was an unmistakable message in her 21-minute news conference in New York on Tuesday, easily distilled into three short words: Go to hell.
It's shocking to Harris that Hillary was angry at the press:
Go to hell is not typically a sentiment expressed by politicians on the brink of a presidential campaign.
Um ... really? It isn't? Has Harris never heard of, y'know, Republicans?
If you're a Republican "on the brink of a presidential campaign," expressing the sentiment "Go to hell" to the media is practically mandatory. And it's not a subliminal message, as it is with Hillary -- it's overt.
Here's Chris Christie at CPAC:
As the governor of New Jersey, Christie told [Laura Ingraham] he has reporters from The New York Times covering him every day and accused journalists of taking sides on issues he has stood up against.
"When you do things like I've done in New Jersey, take on a lot of these special interests that they support they just want to kill you and that's what they tried to do to me every day and here's the bad news for them, here I am and I'm still standing," Christie, 52, said.
The governor added he will "continue to do what matters more," which is "knowing how to fight for the people for my state and I don't care what they write about me in the New York Times. I don't subscribe, by the way," getting cheers from the audience.
And Scott Walker a couple of weeks ago:
Gov. Scott Walker on Monday said news reporters had created “gotcha moments” that are of little concern to most people and that he would seek to build a campaign that addresses issues important to “everyday Americans.”
“You’ve seen in the media a lot of talk over the last few days about these self-made, gotcha moments from the media,” the Wisconsin Republican governor told a convention of religious broadcasters. “And they want to talk about things that I don’t think most Americans want to talk about. Our commitment is going forward — we’re going to talk about the things that matter to everyday Americans, and we’ll leave the nonsense to the media aside.”
And Bobby Jindal in late January:
Stand Up to Washington PAC, which was launched by Jindal last year with a mission to send more conservatives to Capitol Hill, urged supporters on Wednesday to stand up to the “liberal media” and sign a petition in solidarity with the potential 2016 contender.
“Tell the liberal media to stop their shameless attacks against Governor Jindal for telling the truth about radical Islam,” reads the page on the PAC’s website.
Jindal promoted the petition on Twitter.
The petition’s page features a video reel of several cable news commentators mocking Jindal for his assertions about “no-go zones” in Europe, areas where some claim non-Muslims are unwelcome.
And Mike Huckabee in January:
Likely Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee is calling out the media for their ignorance on guns, the world outside Washington’s Beltway and the reason he recently left his Fox News Channel show.
Kicking off his tour to promote his new book “God, Guns, Grits and Gravy,” Huckabee told Secrets that he finds the media “laughable” and sometimes playing the “idiot” role when covering America and his probable campaign.
When Hillary Clinton is brusque in her dealings with the media, John Harris stumbles toward the fainting couch. When Republican wannabes bash the media, Harris appears to be oblivious. They can angry all they want, I guess. Hillary, apparently, doesn't have the same right.
Crossposted at No More Mr. Nice Blog
