Russert Marvels at How Clinton Visits 'Godfather' of VRWC's Paper

Change font size:  A |  A

Asked by anchor Brian Williams why Hillary Clinton chose Tuesday to assert that Reverend Jeremiah Wright “would not have been my pastor,” Tim Russert declared “the setting in which she did this is particularly striking.” The Washington Bureau Chief for NBC News proceeded to marvel at how she made her comments in an interview with reporters and editors at the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, owned by Richard Mellon Scaife whom Clinton's allies consider “the 'Godfather' of the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy.” Russert then recounted Scaife's presumed sins of questioning “the suicide of Vince Foster” and funding “investigations of Troopergate and Whitewater.” Russert pointed out:

The setting in which she did this is particularly striking. It's a newspaper in Pittsburgh owned by Richard Mellon Scaife, who is described by her allies as the 'Godfather' of the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy. The man who raised questions about the suicide of Vince Foster, the death of former party chairman Ron Brown, who funded investigations of Troopergate and Whitewater. It was that setting she decided to offer comments about Reverend Wright.

Of course, in the matter of Hillary Clinton's “Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy” effort to impugn critics of the Clinton administration for making recklessly false charges about her husband and Monica Lewisky, the supposed conspirators were proven correct.

Russert's preceding observation on the Tuesday, March 25 NBC Nightly News:

Well, Brian, all week long people have been asking the Clinton campaign about the Reverend Wright controversy. They would not respond. The overwhelming consensus in the political-media community tonight is that Senator Clinton went to bed last night, woke up this morning awash in all these stories about exaggeration about her trip to Bosnia, then Senator Obama released his tax returns today. More questions about that. And this is an attempt in politics to change the subject, to get the focus off of her, and back on Senator Obama....