Hillary Clinton, a divisive candidate who managed to completely alienate the actual liberals in her voting base, has blamed quite a few people for her loss to Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election.
She has blamed Republicans, Democrats, the FBI, the CIA, the DOJ, Bernie Sanders, the Russians, Julian Assange, and a “sexist” America. Arguing from within the neoconservative Democrat bubble, a (thin) case can be made for most of those groups or individuals having some impact on the outcome. But another of Hillary’s claims – expounded-on in her new election biopic What Happened – is that it was also the media’s fault. The mainstream media, even. That’s a pretty good joke, did she make it up herself?
Only a full-blown remake of 1984 could produce a media friendlier to an establishment politician than Hillary enjoyed in 2015 and ’16. CNN (dubbed the “Clinton News Network” by conservatives and punk-lefties) has been a long-time front-runner in Clinton worship, bashing her opponents as naïve (Barack Obama), insane (Bernie Sanders) or Attila the Hun (Donald Trump). Trump’s win last November provoked outrage on the air from distinguished CNN talking heads such as Van Jones. MSNBC may come in a close second, but there’s no doubt that “the most trusted name in news” has been solidly in the corner of Bill and Hillary Clinton for over two decades.
Until now.
In case you’ve been under a rock since Sunday afternoon, major Hollywood producer (and Clinton donor) Harvey Weinstein has been accused of at least 21 varying levels of sexual harassment and battery, including three possible rape cases.
The harassment claims date back to incidents beginning in the 1980's and stretching to at least 2015. In addition to the horrific rape stories, Weinstein is accused of pressuring models and actresses (including a horrified Ashley Judd) to disrobe and perform nude massages with him.
Many have commented on the overflow of harassment claims over the last six days, including many celebrities and politicians. But some remained oddly silent – or maybe not so oddly silent. That includes the Clintons and Obamas, perhaps for good reason. During the 2016 Clinton campaign, Weinstein often served as a connection for Hillary Clinton between the political world and Hollywood. The Pulp Fiction producer was known to be a major Democratic Party fundraiser, raising around $1.5 million from 1990 to 2016 for Hillary Clinton according to the finance-tracking site Center for Responsive Politics.
Weinstein also raised and contributed substantial funds to the Obama campaigns for the President. Michelle Obama even credited Weinstein for his assistance in the 2013 White House event for student films, speaking about how “wonderful” Weinstein was, and calling him “a good friend.” Photographs of Hillary Clinton partying with “Horny Harvey” are a 5-second Google search away for anyone who cares. Whatever else there is to be said, it’s readily apparent that Democratic First Families are quite embarrassed by the revelations. But even for some liberal journalists, that’s no excuse for silence.
It began with a tweet. Long-time CNN reporter Erin Burnett unexpectedly carved a hole in Hillary’s aplomb with an elephant-in-the-room tweet on October 10th. Burnett wrote, “HRC spoke for 90 mins last nite, didn't mention Harvey Weinstein. She won't give women a "pass" for not voting for her, but she gave him one.”
Burnett’s brave salvo, aimed at Ms. Glass Ceiling herself, opened the floodgates to a torrent of criticism of Clinton in the mainstream press, led somewhat-incredulously by CNN. Clinton's silence added to the narrative that liberals were avoiding the Weinstein topic and the donor's relationship to the DNC altogether. Some left-leaning TV shows such as Saturday Night Live didn't address the allegations at all. SNL's executive producer Lorne Michaels even went on to call Weinstein “a New York thing” in response to the lack of jokes made about the Hollywood producer in their latest episode. CNN continued their attack along those lines, calling Michaels and SNL “enablers” of Weinstein.
The comment from the SNL camp read as offensive and disturbing to a Twitterverse already burning white-hot with revulsion and contempt for rich, toxic white men. CNN reporter Kate Maltby followed up with an editorial in which she discusses how powerful men like Weinstein make it impossible for women to climb the ladder without being influenced or compromised. Maltby spoke out against Weinstein's former public image of “well-versed” feminism, and how men like Weinstein speak out against sexual assault on women to convince starlets in Hollywood (falsely) that they are safe.
CNN also appears eager to cover stories on well-known Hollywood actresses such as Gwyneth Paltrow and Angelina Jolie, who have come forward against Weinstein and his many abuses of power. But meanwhile, NBC-based websites such as Politico have barely covered the scandal this week. When Hillary finally made statements condemning Weinstein on Wednesday, the NBC empire dutifully covered her words with a graciousness they would never have extended to Trump (or any Republican) after the President’s delayed-reaction to Charlottesville.
But CNN has reacted with skepticism and disdain. Burnett, for her part, seems genuinely concerned about hypocrisy among Democrats. The journalist even expanded the discussion on a recent video segment, calling into question the Obamas’ mealy-mouthed endorsements of a privileged white donor whose misogyny was an open secret in California for 20 years.
The NBC empire may have an agenda to protect all friends of the Democratic Party. But that doesn’t mean CNN’s seemingly honest coverage of the Weinstein story is without an angle of its own.
Perhaps the Cable News Network has been waiting for an opening to attack Clinton and re-build their viewing base among hardcore liberals. Being known as the biggest pro-Hillary marks in the business is not healthy for ratings when the former Democratic nominee’s ratings are in the toilet themselves. Not only is CNN’s attack on Clinton somewhat spurious (are reporters bringing stopwatches to Capitol Hill to mark the quickest, and therefore most sincere, reaction to any tragedy?) but conveniently-timed.
What Happened? Politics happened. As the feeling grows among Democrats that Clinton needs to simply go away, expect CNN (and eventually other networks) to put less stock in her constant, vapid sloganeering. But praise must be given to reporters like Erin Burnett, who gives every impression that she doesn’t care about short-term TV ratings or orders from upstairs. Like many other Americans in 2017, there are a growing-few in the MSM who have had it with hypocrisy – from either side of the aisle.
