Sure winner Hillary Clinton had a pretty good ride while her campaign fanned the flames of the trial by media her opponent has been subjected to. Now the negative spotlight shines brightly upon her. Clinton’s dangerous election strategy turned around and bit her on the backside.
When you play with fire you can get burned. If you are a public figure determined to whip up the media to condemn someone you had better be beyond reproach.
Clinton is a lot of things. Beyond reproach is not one of them.
Trial by media? The press eats its favorites.
The field day the papers had at Bill Clinton’s expense in the days when we still held the news in our hand is probably something Mrs. Clinton prefers not to remember. Thanks to technology not only will she continue to suffer her own never ending political scandal, she will experience it as fast as electronic media can deliver the updates.
Ask any Republican and you’ll hear about this year’s appalling media favoritism towards the Democratic Party. The truth is that bias only goes so far. When there is a feeding frenzy to be had it’s open season. The best blood is fresh blood, whether it comes from left or right.
When Comey sent his letter on Friday the feasting began.
The buzzword for the Clinton camp used to be “unfit.” Now it’s damage control time. The new buzzword is “unprecedented.”
Dangerous strategy is one you can’t control
The accusations that poured out about Trump became true before anyone questioned the factual basis for what we were hearing. A trial by media convicted him in a nanosecond as voters lapped up every breaking update. The Clinton camp joined in. Democrats and too many Republicans believed the worst because they wanted to.
Left-leaning media sites are still holding back on Hillary, but bad press doesn’t have to be negative press. Even if the spin is positive, repeatedly having your name and “FBI” in the headlines is a bad thing when you need people to trust you.
Biased or not, the media loves train wrecks and this one is getting larger.
White House: Comey looks beyond politics
In September the FBI director had the full support of the White House when immunity was handed to officials involved in the Clinton scandal. Noting that Obama nominated Comey because of his “reputation and commitment to putting politics aside,”1 Press Secretary Josh Earnest remarked:
So the President has got a lot of confidence in the ability of senior officials at the FBI to make decisions based on their judgement, not on the politics. And that’s what the President wants his FBI Director to do.2
California’s Dianne Feinstein doesn’t agree. Expressing shock at Comey’s newest announcement,3 the senator’s anger over endangering what seemed like a Democratic shoo-in was obvious:
However, one thing is clear: Director Comey’s announcement played right into the political campaign of Donald Trump, who is already using the letter for political purposes. And all of this just 11 days before the election.4
A candidate for president doing something for political purposes? Perish the thought.
The senator didn’t have a problem going after Trump just two weeks ago because of media reports:
Based on media reports I have seen and briefings I have received, I can only conclude that the Russian government is attempting to interfere in our election with the goal of electing Donald Trump.5
No one ever said only media outlets could generate biased press.
Trial by media could make Clinton a foe
The Obama administration’s efforts to protect Hillary Clinton have gone above and beyond. At some point the shameless endorsement of this tarnished candidate will be too much for even the White House to cover for. Will Obama permit his legacy to be stained by an ongoing scandal?
Democrats want Hillary Clinton in office. They know if they have big wins in Congress it won’t matter what she’s done or will do in the future.
The media, on the other hand, would rather watch her go down in flames if it boosts ratings. Trump’s issues are old news. Hillary may still be the media darling, but new news is the best and the news about her isn’t good.
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