During CNN’s Tuesday night primary coverage of Nebraska and West Virginia Van Jones pondered why “there's a pouncing I don’t see with others,” when it comes to Hillary Clinton. “We can sometimes get used to this and forget, but we've never had a woman do this,” stated Jones using the classic ‘it’s because she’s a woman’ argument. And what example did Jones use to back up his claim? A conversation he once had with a cab driver.
“I tell you, when I had that conversation with the guy in the cab and he had something great to say about Bernie and Trump and Obama, but not one good thing to say about Hillary Clinton,” Jones recounted, “the odds of that are weird.”
It didn’t take long for CNN’s Chief Political Analyst Gloria Borger to pop a hole in Jones’ theory. Borger said the path for Hillary could be rough since she could become the first woman president, but said it was too early to tell if there was a bias there. “I think what is more relevant here is that Hillary Clinton has been around an awfully long time,” she said offering another explanation for Jones’ concerns, “and the reason your cab driver might not love her is there may have been things about the Clintons he didn’t like over the years."
Jones also said that he feels there is “a relish and a glee if Hillary Clinton makes a mistake.” To which commentator S.E. Cupp joked, “a [vast] right wing conspiracy?”
Cupp then really got right to heart of Clinton’s problems:
“Polling generally shows that people trust women politicians more than they trust men. I don't know if that's a materialism thing, I’m not sure. But her deficiency is with trust. I don’t think have anything do with her gender. I think it's just a long history of, seemingly to a lot of people, of living by another set of rules, living, you know, above other people, rigging the system. I mean, there's a lot in Hillary's past.”
Partial transcript below:
CNN
America’s Choice 2016: Nebraska and West Virginia Primaries
May 10, 2016
9:45:54 PM EasternVAN JONES: I do think there is almost a relish and a glee if Hillary Clinton makes a mistake and there's a pouncing I don’t see with others. I think there's an extra attack gene.
ANDERSON COOPER: Why do you think that is?
JONES: I don’t know what it is.
S.E. CUPP: A right wing conspiracy?
JONES: I think it could be, perhaps.
[Laughter]
NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON: Do you think it's gender?
JONES: I think that it may have something do with gender. I don’t think-- We can sometimes get used to this and forget, but we've never had a woman do this. We’ve just never had a woman do this. I tell you, when I had that conversation with the guy in the cab and he had something great to say about Bernie and Trump and Obama, but not one good thing to say about Hillary Clinton? The odds of that are weird. And so, I do think that she does get -- I think she gets treated tougher.
…
GLORIA BORGER: It's also a difficult thing to do because she's potentially a historic candidate, you know, first woman president. And I do think, you know, that to your point that we may hold her to a different standard, but we don't know that yet. I think what is more relevant here is that Hillary Clinton has been around an awfully long time. And the reason your cab driver might not love her is there may have been things about the Clintons he didn’t like over the years.
[Indiscernible arguing]
CUPP: Polling generally shows that people trust women politicians more than they trust men. I don't know if that's a materialism thing, I’m not sure. But her deficiency is with trust. I don’t think have anything do with her gender.
BORGER: No.
CUPP: I think it's just a long history of, seemingly to a lot of people, of living by another set of rules, living, you know, above other people, rigging the system. I mean, there's a lot in Hillary's past.
