Today the media gently laughed at Clinton’s multiple attempts at swiping her Metrocard to enter the subway system in New York City, but generally excused the mishap as something that happens “to the best of us.” Bernie Sanders was bashed by the New York Daily News for not knowing that the subway system requires fare cards, not tokens, but his gaffe was also largely a non-issue for the rest of the media. But Fox News anchor Trace Gallagher pointed out Thursday on The Kelly File that not every President or presidential candidate has gotten away with making these types of small mistakes.
Gallagher pointed out that while the media was covering the Democrats’ “subway snafus” in a “light-hearted way,” the media took a complete opposite approach when it came to a “snafu” made by George H.W. Bush in 1992. Bush had visited a grocery store and appeared surprise at the scanner technology.
He recalled the the New York Times had bashed Bush as out-of-touch from the general public, writing at the time, that the scanner technology had been in use for at least 10 years.
“The Times was later criticized for exaggerating Bush's lack of scanner knowledge, but at the time he was battling Bill Clinton and the recession, and the criticism had a lasting impact on the campaign,” Gallagher noted.
How is that for double-standard?
