Conservative journalists simply won’t play by the liberal media’s bizarre rules about being vague on Bill Clinton’s sexual misconduct – especially when asking him a question. On Thursday in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, the Daily Caller’s Kerry Picket (an MRC alum) asked the former president directly several times how he felt about “Juanita Broaddrick’s reemergence.” He refused to utter a word. Broaddrick tweeted "It never goes away" about her charge of being assaulted by Clinton in 1978.
NBC’s Kristen Welker asked in a much vaguer way if his “past” would hurt Mrs. Clinton. David Rutz at the Washington Free Beacon reported while MSNBC aired Picket’s questions live in mid-afternoon, MSNBC played by Clinton rules and sliced Picket out in re-airings:
In an Alex Pappas article headlined “Bill Clinton Avoids Reporter’s Question About Reemergence of Juanita Broaddrick,” the Daily Caller posted the full video of the exchange that played on MSNBC at 2:29 ET. Clinton answered NBC reporter Kristen Welker’s questions, which did not mention Broaddrick, about the effect of his past on his wife’s campaign, but Clinton ignored Picket’s queries with the actual name of the accuser.
When asked how he would handle Trump's playing the Bill card, he told Welker, "I don't have any response. If he wins the Republican nomination, we'll have plenty of time to talk.I have no interest in getting involved in their politics or doing anything except trying to help Hillary."
When MSNBC re-aired Welker’s package in the 3pm and 4pm hours, Picket’s questions about Broaddrick are skipped over. Only Welker’s question was shown.
Journalistically, editing out Kerry Picket’s naming of Broaddrick can be an easy call – because Clinton refused to acknowledge the question, there’s no real exchange. On the other hand, it strongly suggests that Clinton can veto the airing of questions he doesn’t like by refusing to answer. In the Reagan years, the media used to run footage of President Reagan failing to answer questions over helicopter noise. They implied Reagan was denying “the people” those answers to the media.
Since 1999, Clinton has never had to give a direct answer to the Broaddrick accusation of rape. He merely referred reporters to his lawyer, who issued a statement calling it "absolutely false."
