Because I grew up in the New York media market, for most of my childhood we had the New York Times delivered to our home. It was our paper, not the national paper or the “paper of record.” We all had our problems with it, but we also respected what they did. That’s why when the paper latched onto Whitewater like a pit bull and wouldn’t let go, most people from where I lived thought there must be something to it. We were wrong.
The lesson was learned, however, and it was learned again when the paper let Judith Miller run amok in the lead-up to the invasion of Iraq. The New York Times may have a liberal lean, if you will, but they are not reliably good at what they do. And probably no couple in America has more right to harbor resentments towards the Grey Lady than the Clintons. I am not surprised at all to learn that the Times is getting ready to peddle the work of one of Sarah Palin’s former advisors, with whom they have hashed out some kind of exclusive agreement to have access to his “opposition research.”
Far from getting a free ride in the press, Hillary Clinton will not even be getting a fair shake.
That’s actually one of several reasons why I am not enthusiastic about her candidacy, but I can’t blame her for this one.
The whole Whitewater thing was a hoax perpetrated by the NYT in the first place. I never really understood the motivation.
Not a hoax. There was a story there. Easy to forget that there were a large number of people involved in failed S&Ls that were indicted and convicted of multiple crimes during those years. Few of the “customer” colluders with the S&L owners/operators/directors were held accountable and they were the ones that got the bulk of the money that US taxpayers had to replace. Poppy protected Neil Bush who wasn’t some casual innocent in the Silverado Savings failure — he cost the taxpayers many, if not tens of, millions of dollars.
That said, there was nothing illegal or unethical about the original Whitewater partnership land investment. Even if McDougal’s intent was to flip it quickly which was a common enough practice in AR for those with connections to earn some easy profits and generate cash. It became complicated after that when first subdivided parcels didn’t sell and second when McDougal bought a bank and then a S&L. Completely plausible that the Clintons didn’t know that McDougal was playing fast and loose with S&L deposits and some of that money went towards Whitewater. At some point they had to have known — and that’s where their story of innocence becomes a stretch. To be fair, they were caught in a trap.
To do the right thing and walk away from it at that point would have cost them serious money. (Chump change compared with the legal fees they later incurred over this matter to clear themselves.) They did what most people would have done — attempted to extricate themselves at a lower cost without triggering questions of them from federal regulators. Unethical? Probably. Illegal? Not likely. Big deal? Not at all.
Wouldn’t we need to know the amount of unwarranted NYTimes gushing Clinton coverage in comparison with other federal politicians as well as the full body of unwarranted negative coverage for all the respective politicians before claiming that the NYTimes will not “fairly” cover Clinton?
Jeff Gerth blames NYTimes editors for Whitewater mistakes. I attempted to read Gerth and Van Natta’s Her Way but gave up less than fifty pages into it because it’s such an obvious hit piece, and poorly written as well. Whatever important facts that the public has an interest in knowing that they may have had exclusive access to are so tainted by how they report it that they aren’t facts and truth at all.
I am not sure any Democratic candidate is going to get a fair shake. I honestly don’t see a Republican candidate with a decent shot at the Presidency and there is going to be tremendous pressure on our media to turn this into a real horse race.
So … 2012 all over again?
It was kinda impressive how bend-over-backwards so much of the “liberal media” was, trying to make that seem like a real contest.
And the wingers still reflexively screamed at the media for its supposed bias for Obama. It’s like any media coverage that wasn’t rehashed Repub press releases was proof, PROOF I tell you, that the media was all Obama-lovers. Hell, I remember there were at least a couple of times when the reports were rehashed Repub press release, and the wingers screamed about them anyway.
1932 and 1964 might have been the only exceptions to MSM preference for the GOP, and I’m not sure even that Hoover wasn’t their guy in 1932.
Might have been more of a level playing field in 1960 because more reporters identified with JFK than Nixon as did a majority of men. But the ladies that years went for Nixon.
It’s easy to conclude that Media Matters for America is too tied to the Clintons to be a credible source, but this MMFA takedown of Peter Schweitzer makes clear that he’s a serial fabricator.
MMFA or its founder may be too tied to the Clintons, but until they start publishing false information about her or the campaign as the NYT seems inclined to do, I’m going to give them the cred they’ve earned to this point.
And it’s clear we’re going to need a solid, regularly-published source, maybe one that would be allowed to appear on some MSM outlets to rebut, that can expose the MSM’s many lies and distortions.
And I hope and trust Hillary has an effective War Room this time. Otherwise this could get ugly.
Of course, for some of us the NYT has not been the “paper of record” but more like the old Pravda, for some time now. I first noticed their lies and distortions on the Kennedy assassination, a chronicle of 50 years of repeating and rehashing the Official Story with no independent, honest original reporting done.
Before that, they deliberately underreported the Holocaust. In the early to mid 60s, iirc, their reporting was rather hawkish on the VN War. They have long been soft on hard reporting about the CIA and its ongoing and past crimes. The Iraq War run up as we know with Judy Miller as well as their chief correspondent over their, the Brit guy who just retired, also gung-ho for that war.
Missing the story of the Reagan/Bush ticket’s theft of the 1980 election (October Surprise). A few major lies and distortions during the 2000 campaign, including a coverup of who actually won the race.
It’s the same old ruse I suppose — they keep publishing enough liberal-leaning editorials to fool enough media pundits into thinking they’re a liberal paper, but on the news and opinion pages they’re anything but.
Of course, for some of us the NYT has not been the “paper of record” but more like the old Pravda, for some time now.
Frankly, it’s garbage now. I haven’t trusted its reporting since Judith Miller’s Iraq War cheerleading. Its editorial page is a Neocon joke, and will remain so as long as clowns like DFB and The Moustache of Understanding are allowed to blither away without any editorial oversight whatsoever.
Pinch Sulzberger is hopeless as an owner/manager of the “family business,” a third generation dilettante completely out of his depth.
Did you see the rather contentious interview that Chris Hayes had at the beginning of his 8 p.m. show this evening with Miller? It went on for awhile. On my cable his show will be repeated at 11 p.m.
http://on.msnbc.com/1K0zSus
Hayes practically tripped over his words, so infuriating were Miller’s rationalizations. Zero conscience, honesty, or introspection from Judy.
Well, I’m sure she lives VERY comfortably, so there’s a reward for this.
The thing about Clinton is that there’s been oppo researchers, official and unofficial, crawling all over her business for 25 years. The skeletons in her closet are awfully well picked over.
Which means anything sensational you hear is likely to be entirely fake. If not, it would have been found years ago. If only dems could keep that in mind before panicking.
People had fallen for fake before, particularly when it’s not rebutted or well rebutted (see Gore, Al, 2000).
I would imagine the new “stuff” or pseudo scandals will come from her years as SoS, somewhat less well trod terrain.
I want to see those toy ships and tanks being moved around on the big board in the War Room basement. I want to see rebuttals and media liars being kicked in the teeth. No time for namby pamby Mr Nice Guy approaches. Better to be safe and not let the nonsense sink in as fact at the outset.
Not all. There is the Clinton Foundation and Hillary’s time at SOS. That’s what they’ll go after as evidenced by this new book. Look at the money the Clinton Foundation gets from shady governments.
Not shadey necessarily, but foreign. sounds like a major issue. I’m already tired of it, G’O’Malley.
in other news, a demo of 10,000 ppl against TPP in Vienna
http://www.wienerzeitung.at/dossiers/netzpolitik/747239_Globaler-Aktionstag-gegen-TTIP.html?em_galle
ry_open=1
I agree with what you say about the Times and Hillary. They’ve also been unfair to Obama, IMO. However I don’t understand when you say you were wrong when the paper latched on to – nevermind. You said Whitewater, not Watergate. Agree with you on that, too.