The Clinton cohorts are out to defend Hillary, and their maxim is that no Democratic scandal is really a scandal. Former Obama spokesman Bill Burton was on Fox News Channel’s The Kelly File Tuesday night, where he was pressed by Megyn Kelly on the “cloud of corruption that follows” Clinton everywhere she goes.
When Kelly asked Burton about The New York Times’ story on Sidney Blumenthal and his relationship to Clinton, he dismissed it as simply as a “confusing” and trumped up story:
“It's a confusing story. It's not clear that he was given that was directly related to someway that he had a business interest or anything like that. It seemed like he sent a bunch of memos, some of which were seen as helpful, many of which were seen as not helpful. They were sorted out that way, there are lots of people who are getting e-mails all the time, this is sort of a trumped up controversy, that's not going to bear much in the way of fruit and will probably be gone in about 20 minutes.”
Kelly then asked Burton about the “cloud of corruption that follows her, between the e-mails, the Clinton Foundation, and this [Blumenthal] report.” He blamed the Fox News Channel.
BURTON: Maybe it only follows her around on your network?
KELLY: The New York Times wrote the e-mail story, The New York Times broke the Blumenthal story. It's not just the Fox News Channel.
BURTON: Right, but of course the right especially is going to take these news reports and talk about them as much as they can, because they think they can make ground by going after anything that smells like scandal. Here's the most interesting dynamic in this race, is that if you look at what's happening, Hillary Clinton is out there talking about the American people and the Republicans are all talking about Hillary Clinton. If they keep up with this dynamic, Republicans do not stand a chance in this election.
Kelly interjected that another way to talk to the public and get more exposure is to have a one on one interview with the media, which after announcing her candidacy a month ago, has yet to do. Burton told Kelly there was plenty of time between now and the election, and “no election has ever been won or lost by how many questions were taken from reporters.”
Republican presidential candidates have been making the rounds on the Sunday talk shows, answering tough questions, trying to build their image and credibility. Clinton, whose public image and credibility were already an issue, could only be making a bad situation worse the longer she stonewalls the media. But the cohorts insist Republicans are silly to make the media an issue.
