MSNBC's Martin Bashir Harps on Gingrich's Past, Omits Clinton's Perjury
The day after Newt Gingrich announced his candidacy for president, MSNBC's Martin Bashir took the opportunity to rail against the Republican contender for criticizing former President Bill Clinton's adulterous behavior while he was engaging in sexual transgressions of his own.
On his eponymous program today, Bashir admonished the former House speaker's "hypocrisy" but failed to mention even once that the Democratic president didn't just cheat on his wife, but committed perjury to cover up the affair.
"So when [Gingrich] commits adultery, it's all about his predicament," spun Bashir. "He was under pressure from work and all kinds of professional responsibilities. But when Bill Clinton has a fling, well that has nothing to do with his predicament; that's all about his corrupt personality."
The former ABC anchor spoke of "forgetting the past," but his soliloquy was focused entirely on the history of Gingrich's personal life.
"You may recall that at the very moment when he was pursuing a relentless attack on President Bill Clinton for his relationship with Monica Lewinsky, Mr. Gingrich himself was cheating on his second wife."
For an anchor who conducts a daily segment dubbed "Clear the Air," misleading his viewers into believing that Gingrich's "relentless attack" was about adultery and not perjury serves only to, borrowing another phrase, muddy the waters.
A transcript of Martin Bashir's May 12 "Clean the Air" segment can be found below:
MSNBC
Martin Bashir
May 12, 2011
3:57 p.m. EDT
MARTIN BASHIR: It's time now to "Clear the Air" and following the news that Newt Gingrich is putting himself forward as a Republican candidate for 2012, there's been an understandable focus, not just on his policies, but also on his personal life. You may recall that at the very moment when he was pursuing a relentless attack on President Bill Clinton for his relationship with Monica Lewinsky, Mr. Gingrich himself was cheating on his second wife. He since offered a somewhat self-serving explanation for his serial adultery, claiming it was his obsession with work that led him into temptation.
NEWT GINGRICH, former speaker of the House: There's no question that at times in my life, partially driven by how passionately I feel about this country, that I worked far too hard and that things happened in my life that were inappropriate.
BASHIR: Now what's interesting about Newt's explanation is that he committed the same error that all of us do when it comes to making judgements about others but exonerating ourselves. So when he commits adultery, it's all about his predicament. He was under pressure from work and all kinds of professional responsibilities. But when Bill Clinton has a fling, well that has nothing to do with his predicament; that's all about his corrupt personality. And that's why people are finding it so hard to forgive and forget Newt's transgressions. It's not that he broke his vows – that's par for the course in about half of marriages in this country – it's that he chose to condemn one man for his failings yet uses an entirely different measure to explain away his own misdemeanors. It's called hypocrisy and a double standard. If Newt really wants to forget the past, then here's what he might consider doing. First, he should offer an apology to President Clinton and admit that he failed too. And second, he should apply exactly the same standards to himself that he's used against others. And I suspect that what he'll quickly discover is a capacity for far more understanding and compassion for the predicament of other people than he's ever had before. Thanks so much for watching.
--Alex Fitzsimmons is a News Analysis intern at the Media Research Center. Click here to follow him on Twitter.
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Comments
Guys, the 2012 MSM Obama reelection campaign is going to make us
Submitted by lsudolemite on Thu, 05/12/2011 - 6:24pm.
look back fondly on 2008 as the good old days. These hacks are just getting warmed up.
And if Gingrich is looking for sympathy for unfair coverage, then he won't be getting any from me. Maybe he can sit on a couch with Pelosi for a therapy session.
That...
Submitted by MidAmerica on Thu, 05/12/2011 - 6:46pm.
.... image of newt sitting on the couch with Pelosi is the moment I lost faith in Newt's reliability. Ever since then I find him just a little more trustworthy than John McCain.
However my big problem with Newt is that his time has passed. He's a smart guy but like when your car breaks down the first guy you deal with is the service manager. That guy is usually knowledgeable but the guy who will actually fix your car is the mechanic. Newt is like the service manager but what we need is a mechanic, one of our successful governors.
MidAmerica---
Submitted by matthewdean on Thu, 05/12/2011 - 6:55pm.
best description I have run across regarding Newt G.
MD
Hey thanx...
Submitted by MidAmerica on Thu, 05/12/2011 - 7:01pm.
When your grip on reality is as tenuous as mine you tend to think in analogies (LOL)
Mid---
Submitted by matthewdean on Thu, 05/12/2011 - 7:09pm.
Indeed, when liberals are in a position to run things, everything becomes tenuous. :o)
MD
MA and MD
Submitted by jon_torlin on Thu, 05/12/2011 - 7:13pm.
FoxNews.com is already posting stuff about that ad with Pelosi and I'm with you, Newt lost any kind of credibility with me when he did that. He won't get a lot of help from Fox News bringing that up.
I'd rather he stay where he is, a talking head that we can change the channel on. There's no way he's electable. I wouldn't vote for him. (unless it's between him and the Chairman, and even that, I'm quite sure people wouldn't have learned their lesson and vote for the Chairman again)
I hope the Republican Primaries get their acts together this time.
I doubt it.
-Jon
I don't know why those people on MSNBC are complaining about him, they ought to be embracing him just like they did with John McCain.
jon---
Submitted by matthewdean on Thu, 05/12/2011 - 7:19pm.
I think the hand-holding with Pelosi came first, but Gingrich's support for DeDe Scozzafava in Noo Yawk was the clincher for me.
MD
Newt is a political opportunist dressed in conservatives'
Submitted by lsudolemite on Thu, 05/12/2011 - 7:07pm.
clothing. He smoked whatever was left of his conservative street cred after his "era of Reagan is over" comment IMO. He'll say all the right things initially to please the base in the primaries, but will likely pull a Mitch Daniels/John McCain great lurch to the center in the general for those oh-so-precious moderates.
Wow, this is shaping up to be an outstanding field. I don't think I've seen a more vulnerable, beatable president in my lifetime (and that includes W), and the GOP is absolutely determined to screw this up.
Calling all charismatic, witty, sharp and eloquent conservatives
Submitted by Chris Norman on Thu, 05/12/2011 - 10:37pm.
"and the GOP is absolutely determined to screw this up."
I know what you mean, but it's not like the GOP can force a great candidate to run or give eloquence, wit, and charisma to some random mediocre politician.
The fact that we're running nothing but 2008 losers + Newt
Submitted by lsudolemite on Fri, 05/13/2011 - 8:19am.
as far as possibly "electable" candidates go speaks volumes about the ability of the states/national party to produce, AND fund, these candidates. (See the Joe Miller/Murkowski and Scozzafava debacles for examples.) The half a dozen or so I can name off the top of my head have already stated they won't be running. The establishment, comfortable with the scraps their Dem friends throw them from the government table and the path of least resistance with the MSM, will act to preserve and perpetuate itself, as usual. And, if necessary, act to undermine the Herman Cain's of the field if they become too much of a threat in the primaries.
2008+ Newt
Submitted by Agnostic on Fri, 05/13/2011 - 8:45am.
I agree but I also think the less exposed candidates have seen what will happen to them in the media once they announce and are waiting to shore up their defenses (perhaps I am hoping that is the case is more accurate). If Palin does nothing else for her entire political career she will always be the example of what the media will do to a Republican, especially a Conservative Republican, when your name gets put out on the national stage. The only way a Republican can avoid this fate in today's media atmosphere is to attack Republicans often and loudly. That way the person has no chance of being elected by Republicans and the media can use the sound bites against other Republicans.
If you play the game scared before it even starts,
Submitted by lsudolemite on Fri, 05/13/2011 - 9:00am.
then you've already lost.
scared?
Submitted by Agnostic on Fri, 05/13/2011 - 2:01pm.
hiding your assets until needed : laying groundwork on defense before allowing points of contention to be vulnerable : controlling the message for as long as it is your hands
Are these steps acting scared or good policy when dealing with a hostile opponent?
Also, isn't putting your self out there just playing into the DNC media's hands?
Playing not to lose doesn't work, and it will not beat Obama
Submitted by lsudolemite on Fri, 05/13/2011 - 4:42pm.
The MSM will savage any Republican opponent regardless of how long he throws his hat in the ring. Whether the media gets a 1-month or 3-month head start is irrelevant. I think you give these people way too much credit. If our candidate isn't willing to stand up to the media scrutiny of a campaign, how can we expect him to withstand 4 years of constant assault and stay true to conservative principles?
People are desperately looking for clear, decisive leadership, because it is precisely the opposite of what Obama offers. They are looking for an aggressive candidate who is not afraid to call out Obama OR his media minions, and not afraid to espouse the conservative vision for this country. That's the beauty of alternative media, you don't need the MSM bullhorn and filter to reach voters anymore, and those voters are very conscious of their slavish, sycophantic adoration of Obama.
This is going to irritate the moderates, but Trump is the blueprint for how to win, and I am NO Trump fan at all. He accomplished in a matter of weeks what no GOP politician could do in 4 years, which was force Obama's hand on the birth certificate. I wouldn't suggest profanity-laced tirades after the fact, but aggressiveness and fearlessness are the keys. Obama is vulnerable to an almost ridiculous degree if anyone had the guts to challenge him, day in and day out on the campaign trail, on his policies.
So I reiterate: play hard, play aggressively, and play to win, or don't play at all.
if you are right
Submitted by Agnostic on Mon, 05/16/2011 - 8:50am.
no one can beat Obama because any strategy to avoid the media onslaugt will not win and no one will survive a media onslaught over time. See Trump - the media had only just begun.
Guess I might as well vote Obama - thanks for convincing me. Maybe I'll just stay at home instead - guess I'll see. (sarc)
Not like the Horn-Dog-in-Chief at all
Submitted by MidAmerica on Thu, 05/12/2011 - 6:27pm.
But as far as we know there is not a trail of women from Newt's past that allege he made inappropriate advances up to and including rape. Nor has he degraded the women he has come in contact with by calling them trailer trash.
GINGRICH 2012: "More Moral Than Clinton
Submitted by Jer on Thu, 05/12/2011 - 8:02pm.
and Less Of A Prude Than That Huckabee Guy"
Yeah, that should work.
Jer
Jer
Submitted by well99 on Thu, 05/12/2011 - 10:00pm.
You forgot and perjury free
.Breitbart.For old times sake.
True, well99...
Submitted by Jer on Thu, 05/12/2011 - 10:05pm.
I'd say that ranks right behind "Forced To Resign, But Never Impeached"
Jer
Jer
Submitted by well99 on Thu, 05/12/2011 - 10:43pm.
Nice one.You might think of joining Newt's campaign.I don't like him myself.
Bill Clinton was cheating on the whole world..
Submitted by Gary Hall on Thu, 05/12/2011 - 6:36pm.
.. not just on his wife (and other sexual targets).
The decade of the 90's - notably the later 90's, was marked by more deaths from civil wars, genocide and the like, than any other decade since the end of WW II.
I can add.
Of course, no one's actually going to write an article or book about this, and no journalist will direct a question to Clinton about it either. Swept under the rug - them millions of souls.
What a legacy.
(;~/ Gary
Liberals love to point to the
Submitted by Liberallies on Thu, 05/12/2011 - 6:43pm.
Liberals love to point to the 1990s under clinton as some time of greatness in the world thanks to Clinton. Funny how they omit the fact that anywhere between 800,000 to 1 million Tutsis, human beings, died under Clinton's watch because he was more interested in the political damage that it would cause to get involved in Rwanda. Sadly, this is President Clinton's legacy that the Left loves to "forget" about.
I had a Liberal tell me that over 600,000 Iraqis died under Bush, a lie of course, but I played along with him until I pointed out that over 800,000 Tutsis died thanks to Clinton, the Left, the United Nations doing NOTHING in 1994!
Bashir is a boring liberal
Submitted by Red Jeep on Thu, 05/12/2011 - 6:48pm.
As compared to the excitable Chris Matthews, the bombastic Ed Shultz, and the witty Lawrence O'Donnell.
Bashir is as dry as oat flakes.
Time to make MSNBC the Joan Rivers Shopping Network.
Not only did Bill Clinton
Submitted by stratman on Thu, 05/12/2011 - 6:55pm.
Not only did Bill Clinton commit serial adultery, he was a serial molester.
Clinton far surpasses Gingrich on the south end of the moral terpitude scale.
Serial adulterer
Submitted by Kingfish17 on Thu, 05/12/2011 - 7:23pm.
Clinton was one flakey President.
"You can’t go take a trip to Las Vegas...on the taxpayer’s dime." Barack Obama
Newt needs to stick to the two things he excels at
Submitted by Dave. on Thu, 05/12/2011 - 8:13pm.
Writing and teaching about history - as he seems to have a real talent for both.
It's when he gets into the nuts and bolts of politics and elected office that he gets into trouble.
-Dave
Vote for the American in November
I'll admit it, Dave. I like listening to Newt nearly as much as
Submitted by Jer on Thu, 05/12/2011 - 9:54pm.
he likes listening to himself. Gingrich is bright, articulate and forward-thinking. But the brutal truth is he's simply unelectable. His periodic spouse-dumps will never sit well with social conservatives, nor will the occasional cockamamie comments like "FDR was the greatest President of the 20th century" please a constituency which prefers a nominee who doesn't smoke crack.
Obama could personally slay every remaining member of al-Qaeda within the next six months, but if the jobless rate is still hovering near 9% a year from now he will be eminently beatable, assuming, that is, the GOP fields a candidate whose hands, unlike Newt's, aren't occupied with toting especially cumbersome baggage.
Jer
So here's the problem.
Submitted by hbnolikeee on Fri, 05/13/2011 - 1:17am.
You can vote for someone that has demonstrably lied on many if not most if not all of his promises.
vs. Newt
If you see a better choice then please do identify this person.
hbnolikeee...
Submitted by Jer on Fri, 05/13/2011 - 1:26am.
I believe he has every intention of serving out his senatorial term--which would exclude a presidential run for 2012--but, based upon what I've seen and heard so far, Marco Rubio impresses the hell out of me.
Jer
Marco would be a great choice.
Submitted by hbnolikeee on Fri, 05/13/2011 - 5:08pm.
Perhaps Marco with Ryan? Someone has to "draft" these people or we've heading down the proverbial crapper.
His wife dumping is the least of his problems
Submitted by Blonde on Fri, 05/13/2011 - 4:48pm.
It was all over for me when he sat on the sofa with Nanny and went along with the Global Warming nonsense.
Newt won't make it out of the first five primaries intact. No worries.
Handy Reference Guide to Obama's Gaffes and Goofs ~ Currently Numbering 200 (and Counting)
Bashir
Submitted by grammajane on Thu, 05/12/2011 - 9:18pm.
Where did this radical come from?? Is Comcast so broke that they hire anyone who knocks on their door? Clinton is/was a disgrace to America. He can try all he wants but, his legacy will remain a abuser of women and a president who lied under oath. Probably the most disrespectful so-called commander-in-chief plus owning zero morals, in history.
To Quote Bill Clinton
Submitted by donabernathy on Fri, 05/13/2011 - 3:46am.
Have a cigar Monica and STFU.... now suck
roflmao