Posted on 04/23/2015 10:30:13 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
As a gift to American society on Thursday, John Podhoretz altruistically delved into the vast recesses of his memory and revisited a dark period in American history. It was a time when spurious McCarthyism inexplicably managed to exculpate the Clintons whenever they found themselves in trouble. “The ‘vast right-wing conspiracy’ is back,” Podhoretz wrote. He wasn’t kidding.
On Thursday, The New York Times gave Hillary Clinton a serious headache when they published a report alleging the appearance of favoritism given to Russian uranium interests following a well-timed donation to The Clinton Foundation. Even before bombshell allegations resulting from investigations conducted by Clinton Cash author Peter Schweizer began to appear in news outlets viewed by the left as unimpeachable, the Clintons were trying to preempt them by impugning the character and motives of the author.
Podhoretz noted that a memo composed by Clinton campaign press secretary Brian Fallon and obtained by Politico details how the Team Hillary plans to blunt the dangerous allegations exposed by Schweizer’s research.
“The book was backed by a Koch Brothers-linked organization and a billionaire family that is bankrolling Ted Cruz’s presidential campaign,” the memo read. It calls the book a “smear project,” and noted that the author has – gasp – “longstanding conservative ties, from working for George W. Bush to writing for Breitbart.com.”
“As the truth comes to light, it’s bad news for both the author and the Republicans taking part in his coordinated attack on Hillary Clinton,” Fallon wrote. “Simply put: his accusations are proving to be completely devoid of evidence even by the author’s own admission.”
Democrats are apparently eager to test the efficacy of these arguments in a real-world media environment like the set of MSNBC’s Morning Joe. Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean was the first to try to sell Fallon’s contentions with the two relatively reasonable hosts of a liberal cable news network’s morning program. He might have been surprised by the fact that no one was even remotely receptive to this manner of Clintonian arguendo and character assassination.
“The author is getting money from donors, big donors, billionaires in Texas who support Ted Cruz,” Dean insisted. “That is a problem.”
“You’re going back to the author?” an incredulous Joe Scarborough shot back. “You’re actually going to have to condemn The New York Times’ Jo Becker and Mike McIntire, because they’re the ones who wrote this story.”
Dean went on to insist that he teaches journalism students that any political story devolves from a recitation of facts to a series of value judgments by the fifth paragraph. He physically held a copy of The Times aloft to make this case in the most theatrical manner possible. Had he followed through with his threat, the former governor would have read the following sentence: “Beyond mines in Kazakhstan that are among the most lucrative in the world, the sale gave the Russians control of one-fifth of all uranium production capacity in the United States.”
If only Scarborough had allowed Dean to follow through with his thesis, the audience would have been privy to an exquisite self-rebuttal.
That’s not to say that Scarborough rescued Dean from the hole he dug for himself. New York Times reporter Peter Baker scolded Dean for his “unfair” characterization of Times journalists as “sloppy.” This lead to Dean’s determination to smear a variety of unnamed reporters who have reported on the Clinton Foundation’s alleged improprieties. Dean was forced to concede that he never had any reason to doubt the credibility of the reporters who wrote this bombshell report.
Even Mika Brzezinski appeared unconvinced by Dean’s line of argumentation when he refused to say that the optics of this scandal should have led Bill Clinton to cancel a speech in Moscow for which he was compensated to the tune of half a million dollars.
The old slur centering on the notion that a vast conspiracy was afoot to discredit the Clintons no longer has legs. Perhaps that is because the Clintons have done so much in the intervening decades to demonstrate that they don’t need help from a shadowy cabal in order to disgrace themselves. Whatever the reason, the press seems disinclined to help Hillary Clinton cast herself as a victim as more and more allegations involving her improper conduct as secretary of state dominate the headlines.
Old Dredge Clinton..trying to dig up old politics of the past yesteryear..... Old and Stale....
Nobody is buying it.
Social Media has already stuck the stake in Hillary’s heart.
She is dead.
Hey Hillary ? Did ya get a E.P.A approval to dredge up lies from the past ?
Let’s say the NYT continues, and finds some other curious donations...which ends up being a weekly thing from now until October. Big name fund-raisers for Hillary will shy away, and she will have trouble continuing a four-star campaign. Presently, based on what was said in March...I think she’s more than enough funds to carry her right now through the primary season with only O’Malley as a serious contender. If Warren enters....Hillary might burn through a fair amount of cash for the first couple of states and then run out of capital.
If you look at Warren’s present age....I’d say it’s now or never. So I’m thinking she will pull into the race by August and stack up some support in Iowa. If another “no-name” Democrat wins Iowa....I’d say it’s a disaster for Hillary, and leads back to 2008 repeating itself. Maybe a President Warren would offer Hillary the State Department job again?
If the Clinton team is watching the press conference,they had better have the windows closed!
Rush just stated that the Clinton Foundation gives a paltry 15 cents of every dollar raised to charity, while 60 cents goes to salaries. They are stealing from the earthquake victims in Haiti and the Ebola victims in Liberia. You can’t get lower than that.
What he did not bring up is that the Foundation racket is a gigantic tax dodge by the wealthiest families in America. If Hillary is so concerned about the Middle Class, she should promise to abolish all tax breaks for foundations such as hers and the Kennedys.
Old Drek Beyatch
Well, somebody has to pay for those Private Jets to Pedophile Island.
They should hold a Fundraiser at Chelsea Clinton’s new $10,000,000 New York Condo.
It has been that, indeed. Very, very lucrative, to be sure.
I think O’Malley is the new up and coming star for the commie left....
Hitlery can dangle the women’s rights, the gender war, gay rights carrot in front of her base, but the younger yoots like glittering things of new..
Although the Baraq Obama foundation will make the CGI look like small change shortly after Jan 2017.
Remember what I've said in the past: the Left loves Bill Clinton--but his wife, lots of mixed feelings.
We are VASTER than ever!!
You can’t teach an old dog (pardon my English) new tricks.
The Clintons are the richest Communists outside of Michael Moore.
The sad part is that our vast right-wing conspiracy can’t even defund Obamacare with control of the House and the Senate, and that they are planning to fund Obamacare subsidies even if the Supremes rule in accordance with the Constitution and the law that those subsidies are illegal. We need a better organized conspiracy, whether it is attacking the Clintons or defending our country.
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