Noonan: For MSM, To Know Hillary Is Not to Love Her

Noonan: For MSM, To Know Hillary Is Not to Love Her

By Mark Finkelstein (Bio | Archive)
March 28, 2008 - 07:14 ET

People are figuring Hillary Clinton out. And that's a problem. At least, it is if you're Hillary Clinton. That's a theme of Peggy Noonan's Wall Street Journal column of today, Getting Mrs. Clinton. Along the way, the indispensable Ms. Noonan dispenses numerous valuable insights into Hillary's persona. From our NewsBusters perspective, of particular interest were these paragraphs on the way the MSM has come to view her, and vice versa [emphasis added].

Many in the press get it, to their dismay, and it makes them uncomfortable, for it sours life to have a person whose character you feel you cannot admire play such a large daily role in your work. But I think it's fair to say of the establishment media at this point that it is well populated by people who feel such a lack of faith in Mrs. Clinton's words and ways that it amounts to an aversion. They are offended by how she and her staff operate. They try hard to be fair. They constantly have to police themselves.

Not that her staff isn't policing them too. Mrs. Clinton's people are heavy-handed in that area, letting producers and correspondents know they're watching, weighing, may have to take this higher. There's too much of this in politics, but Hillary's campaign takes it to a new level.

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So apparently it's not just a case of that Obama-inspired tingle running up the MSM's collective leg. It's also the media experiencing sensations of a very different sort after close encounters of a Clinton kind.

I'll leave you to savor the remainder of the column on your own, but can't resist sharing one more marvelous morsel [emphasis added]:

She [falsely claimed to have] landed in Bosnia under siege and bravely dodged bullets. It was as if she'd watched the movie "Wag the Dog," with its fake footage of a terrified refugee woman running frantically from mortar fire, and found it not a cautionary tale about manipulation and politics, but an inspiration.

Ouch.

Bonus Coverage: Mika's Sub a Switch from Collins to Krauthammer

Over at Morning Joe, Savannah Guthrie is sitting in today for Mika Brzezinski. During the portion of the show in which the panelists share their top headlines of the morning, Mika almost invariably focuses on lib-friendly items. Yesterday, for example, Brzezinski enthused over a Gail Collins column. When it came Guthrie's turn this morning, she chose a column by . . . Charles Krauthammer, writing in the Washington Post. Not to accuse Savannah, a magna cum laude grad of Georgetown law school, of a rightward tilt, but it was a refreshing little change of pace.

—Mark Finkelstein is a NewsBusters contributing editor and host of Right Angle. Contact him at mark@gunhill.net.

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It's amazing to me...

March 28, 2008 - 07:24 ET by Iowa Boy

...how the "Often Wrong Media" is just coming around to figuring out what Conservatives have for years known about the Clintons. It not unlike a woman who couldn't believe her boyfriend is dating other women, even after she's been told by her best friend.

Peggy Noonan is the smartest woman in America...next to my wife, of course.

"I'd rather be governed by the first 2,000 people in the Boston
telephone directory than the 2,000 faculty at Hardvard Unversity." -
William F. Buckley Jr.

Wow

March 28, 2008 - 08:06 ET by BeanMan

Excellent piece by Ms Noonan.

Most of the time she "gets it" too.

I like the story of the man who described what really happened on the tarmac.

Since government is coercion, politics is largely the exercise of deception regarding the intended use of coercion - George Orwell

Hypnotist Tale

March 28, 2008 - 09:03 ET by KC Mulville

Human beings do this all the time, to different degrees. Again, I refer to the story by Scott Adams, creator of Dilbert, because it reveals this very psychosis.

A hypnotist brought several people on stage and put them under, and gave them all bizarre (but entertaining) suggestions. He brought them out, and gave them the trigger. They all began doing what they were suggested to do, and the crowd laughed. When the hypnotist asked them why they were doing these bizarre things, each of them instantly concocted an explanation, on the spot. No matter how far they had to twist reason to justify their bizarre behavior, they each created an instant story, and moments after having created the story, it became reality to them.

Very likely, the sequence in Hillary's mind went from "need to prove experience to be president" to "corkscrew landings in a war zone display experience" to her conviction that this is what must have happened. Like the subjects who never suspected that they were being hypnotized, Hillary can't bring herself to face the obvious explanation: she doesn't have the experience to be president.

What I want to know is this: Chelsea was there. When Chelsea heard her mother repeat an obvious lie, why didn't she correct Hillary? Sad, isn't it, that we all know the answer -- Chelsea's a faithful daughter, whose parents have placed her in an impossible situation. That kid who asked about Monica was probably not much of a gentleman, but what if the press asked Chelsea about the Bosnian landing? That's fair game, as far as I'm concerned.

" That kid who asked about Monica was probably not much of . ."

March 28, 2008 - 09:23 ET by FastEd

Here's a question - how many years ago did this occur? How many colleges or other speaking events has she been to? How many friends does she have, close friends? And this is the first time she was asked about Monica? She has either been VERY protected, crowds have been VERY selective, or her friends have been VERY uninformed or uninterested. If she is standing up for her mother, a presidential candidate, she should have answers prepared that are consistant with what will be asked time and time again.

There is no sense in being stupid, if you can't prove it! - my dad V

Excellent point

March 28, 2008 - 10:45 ET by pbanks7

With anything the Clintons say, we need the willing suspension of belief and analyze what they say. Nobody's ever asked her that before? Has she been sequestered in a convent? I started parsing their explanations long ago, it's very entertaining.

MSM - shaping all the perceptions you need to believe.

Good morning, Mark and all.

March 28, 2008 - 09:14 ET by marpel

Good morning, Mark and all. You know, I'm not a fan of Peggy Noonan, and even though she is pretty much correct on the Clinton thing, I think she is much too forgiving of the MSM, especially in this piece.

Thanks for mentioning the delightful sub for Mika this morning. Finally was able to watch the show and enjoy it for the first time in a long while. I wish MSNBC execs would come to realization that Mika pulls down this show in a big way. She certainly is counterproductive to the potential of this show.

Hillary's Irish Amnesia

March 28, 2008 - 09:47 ET by CapeCodScott

The old joke goes like this this: Question- “What’s the definition of Irish Amnesia? Answer- “You forget everything except the grudges.”

Well, Hillary it seems has a wee bit of a problem when it comes to remembering her involvement in policy when she was the wife of the President of the United States of America. Rather than rewind the entire history of her self described “accomplishments” let’s go to todays “History According to Hillary.”

Today, Hillary’s belief that she was a driving force in the Irish peace process has bubbled up to the surface of the MSM’s collective conscience. It seems that Hillary had a bit-o-bad luck this St. Patrick’s Day. Not only did the “30 Seconds over Bosnia” Sniper story come back to bite her, but her “Magical Thinking” about her role in the Irish peace process is, no pun intended, “in their sites.” Here’s what a real Irishman, who was there, has to say:

“It’s crazy for Hillary to say she played a role in bringing peace to Northern Ireland. … She seems to be confusing her record with her husband’s,” said Robin Wilson, founder of a Northern Ireland think tank, Democratic Dialogue.

In a December 2007 interview with ABC News, Clinton said: “In just the last few weeks, the new leaders of the Northern Ireland government, Dr. Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness, made a special effort to see me. Why? Because I helped in that process, not just standing by and witnessing, but actually getting my hands into it, creating opportunities for people on both sides of the sectarian divide to come together.”

Clinton’s longtime claims to have played a difference-making role in Northern Ireland attracted no criticism until the buildup to St. Patrick’s Day this year. To some ears, her most recent comments have raised a false impression that she helped produce the landmark Good Friday peace accord of 1998. (Full Story)

For Hillary, St. Patrick’s Day is turning out to be more like Groundhog’s Day (The Movie). I just hope that she’s never elected President as I would hate for her to answer the phone at 3:00 am and forget just who are our allies and who is the enemy. DSW

www.ScottOnCapeCod.com

"Most men lead lives of quiet desperation"... That was until they got angry enough to finally say something about it!

That's all well and good,

March 28, 2008 - 09:51 ET by ConservativeRex

That's all well and good, expose Clinton for what we already knew her to be. Nothing to see here folks...move along.

Now, when will the same scrutiny be used on Obama? Why are they not hammering him for his consistent lies, half-truths and innuendos? We all know the answer to this.

I am not impressed by a media that just now doubts Hillary. Noonan points out what has been obvious for at least a decade and a half. Terrific, the media has lost faith in Hillary, much should be the same for Obama, but it won't be.

Someone will be around 10 years from now, once again, pointing out what should have been obvious about Obama in 2008 and everyone will be patting them on the back for such wonderful insight.

It remains up to us, folks like us here on NB, to light a fire under these national writers to comment on what we know to be right. The folks on here have more sense than any 100 nationally syndicated writers out there.

So right Rex

March 28, 2008 - 10:30 ET by iveseenitall

The media have given themselves over to the other communist, Barry Obama. His wife and his minister despise this nation and I wonder (not really) how much has rubbed off on him.

NEVER,NEVER trust a "liberal"

psst: Rush quoted hateful talk from wifey at a college last January. Blacks don't get much opportunity in America today, do they Michelle? From my experience, it's the often more qualified white men who get passed over. But as Rev.Wrong would preach from the pulpit, "God DAMN America".

What does "fair" mean?

March 28, 2008 - 09:52 ET by HelenS

It just seems to me that even this comment is indicative of their bias:

They are offended by how she and her staff operate. They try hard to be fair. They constantly have to police themselves.

They're terrified to just tell things like they are and let the rest of us do our own thinking and form our own opinions. They're so afraid we'll get a different picture from the one they want to paint for us.

Like someone said (Rush...?) they aren't reporters anymore, they're journalists. They don't report, they editorialize.

And they're so tiresome.

"Cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war" - Shakespeare

Been my point

March 28, 2008 - 09:57 ET by FastEd

"They don't report, they editorialize." And they're not journalists either - the word implies they know who to write original thoughts - when was the last time that happened. (Think NYT and all of their little mistakes.)

There is no sense in being stupid, if you can't prove it! - my dad V

Sad, but true.

March 28, 2008 - 10:04 ET by HelenS

"And they're not journalists either..."

Too true. In fact, it is my suspicion that if it were not for either regularly issued talking points or access to the same newspapers, the TV news people would have nothing to report. Their "news" is all identical, all the same stories, in the same order, and the same phrases used. They can't even think for themselves, never mind figure out how to put anything in writing.

"Cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war" - Shakespeare

Helen, I agree with you. I

March 28, 2008 - 10:15 ET by marpel

Helen, I agree with you. I think this is one of the things I don't like about Noonan. She's gullible and blind to the MSM. I think she drinks the KoolAid a little too much.

Kind of interesting and shades of what of expect

March 28, 2008 - 09:54 ET by FastEd

in the future. "Not that her staff isn't policing them too. Mrs. Clinton's people are heavy-handed in that area, letting producers and correspondents know they're watching, " This seems to be a perfect example of what we should expect from the next demolib candidate, another assult on free expression and speech, if it doesn't agree with their agenda.

There is no sense in being stupid, if you can't prove it! - my dad V

Getting bit in the you know where

March 28, 2008 - 13:49 ET by greenfairie

The Clintons have always treated the press like crap. Back in the '90s, there were many tales of media types who kept their ire in check with the way the Clintons treated them. You know, the way they pretty much treated everyone, with contempt.

They only clammed up about it because they agreed with the Clinton administration's policies. Now that Hills is running against a rock star, overboard she goes. The chickens, as Chutch and Rev. Wright put it, have come home to roost.