MSNBC, yet again, featured liberal celebrity James Taylor on Monday. This time, the singer admitted that he was “baffled” as to why anyone wouldn’t trust the “honest” Hillary Clinton. Talking to Katy Tur, he earnestly cheered, “I think that she is a positive, caring, sincere and honest person in spite of this.”
Taylor chided the “sort of baffling depiction of her as being this corrupt person, this untrustworthy person. I think it is a stretch to say that.” Host Tur gingerly wondered, “Why do so many Americans believe that then?”
The journalist quizzed, “Have you taken a look at any of the WikiLeaks e-mails?” Taylor replied with a simple “no.”
Last Wednesday, MSNBC featured Taylor and host Andrea Mitchell fawned, “...This is about supporting Hillary Clinton, it’s also about Barack Obama's legacy....You have been a big fan of the President.”
In comparison, Tur wasn’t that easy on Taylor. On the issue of honesty and Clinton, she hammered:
KATY TUR: Hillary Clinton, to play devil’s advocate, has done private speaking engagements with banks. She did not want those transcripts released. Some at her and they say, “Hey, listen, she's got something to hide. She has got a private and public persona. Is she really representing me or is she representing her own self interest and the special interest she has been working with for so long?” With the Clinton Foundation, et cetera. Does that — do you find that people mistrust her for those reasons?
A partial transcript is below:
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MSNBC Live
11/7/16
2:45PM ETKATY TUR: Last night, you were campaigning for Hillary Clinton here in Manchester. You played a bit of a concert. Tell me why Hillary Clinton is the choice that you think Americans should make.
JAMES TAYLOR: Um, just — because she's a public servant. I think she is known quantity and prepared for all of her life to — for this job. I think of her--- partially because she's a Democrat and I am a Democrat. I think she is a positive, caring, sincere and honest person in spite of this — for me a sort of baffling depiction of her as being this corrupt person, this untrustworthy person. I think it is a stretch to say that.
TUR: Why do so many Americans believe that then?
TAYLOR: You know, I don’t know. I think maybe because they have been told that over and over again by people who known they are going to running against her for a long time. She's had a target painted on her back for a long time.
TUR: Have you take a look at any of the WikiLeaks e-mails?
TAYLOR: No.
TUR: No. Do you think it is fair they're coming out against her? That WikiLeaks has been released and you are seeing the inner-operations of Clinton’s campaign and the infighting and all the things, the minutia they struggle over.
TAYLOR: I think that people do have to be able to be candid and, you know sort of protected conversations between each other. You know, if I — I would wouldn’t want every word that I speak to Kim or to my brother, it is important to know what the context is. It’s important to know people speak in shorthand sometimes. Sometimes they are joking. You know, it is difficult to know exactly what is meant particularly in an e-mail. I do find it alarming that things that were intended to be sort of privileged, well if not privileged, then private conversation.
...
TUR: Do you guys understand why Trump voters find him appealing? Why they feel frustrated and why the government has not been representing them? The economy passed them by. Do you understand where that sort of support comes from?
TAYLOR: I do, I do understand some of it. But I don’t understand why people who feel this enfranchise and they have been dis-empowered and why they would choose someone like Donald Trump to champion them.
...
TUR: Hillary Clinton, to play devil’s advocate, has done private speaking engagements with banks. She did not want those transcripts released. Some at her and they say, “Hey, listen, she's got something to hide. She has got a private and public persona. Is she really representing me or is she representing her own self interest and the special interest she has been working with for so long?” With the Clinton Foundation, et cetera. Does that — do you find that people mistrust her for those reasons?TAYLOR I don't think of her as a saint. I think her as a human being. I do think of her as a public servant and someone who believes in government, who believes that government can do good things for more people.
