Today, the eighth and final installment of NewsBusters’ special report, “Hillary Clinton’s Media Fan Club,” documenting how the media have helped fuel Clinton’s political campaign by showering her with fawning news coverage, even as they discredit her critics.
For the past two weeks, we’ve highlighted quotes from the news media celebrating Hillary, a tilt that will be a huge advantage to the Clinton’s presidential campaign this fall. Today, we document how the entertainment media is also firmly on Hillary’s side, and have also championed her presidential aspirations for years. The full set of quotes follows the video compilation; links to rest of report added below.
■ “Hillary Clinton is a bad ass”
— Inscription on a shirt worn by singer Katy Perry at a March 2, 2016 fundraiser for the Hillary Victory Fund.
■ “‘I cried when I met her,’ says Moretz, who calls Clinton an ‘icon.’ ‘I’ve never gotten starstruck by anyone in my entire life, ever, and I couldn’t breathe. She was just sitting there in her little jacket....Well, I said, “I turn 18 on Feb. 10 and I will be 18 when you run for President.” And she was like, “Mmmmmm.”’”
— From an August 21, 2014 USA Today story by Jocelyn McClurg on actress Chloe Grace Moretz, star of If I Stay.
■ The Hollywood Reporter’s Michael O’Connell: “You have a huge platform in the next year and a half being the Hillary Clinton of SNL. How are you going to approach that? Do you feel pressure?”
Actress/comedienne Kate McKinnon: “I do feel immense pressure. I’m rooting for her, obviously....I’d be so nervous to meet her. I find her so resplendent!”
— From an interview with McKinnon, June 5, 2015 Hollywood Reporter.
■ “It is time we grew up as a nation. We should stop being afraid of women, and meet them on a level playing field without resorting to name calling and sexist condescension. Hillary Clinton isn’t afraid. It’s about time that a woman with strength, experience and compassion leads our already great nation in this time of global insecurity.”
— Actress/singer Barbra Streisand in a March 25, 2016 blog for The Huffington Post headlined: “The Sexism in American Politics.”
■ Host Stephen Colbert: “Well, how about politics? Are you supporting Hillary Clinton?”
Actress Sally Field: “You betcha I am. I have been for a very, very long time. I mean, I’ll go door to door. I’ll wash everybody’s car who isn’t voting for her. I don’t care what it takes.”
— Exchange on CBS’s Late Show, March 9, 2016.
■ “You are the smartest, most-qualified person for this job....If I look at all the other candidates, someone who is for rights across the board — equal rights for women, equal rights for every ethnicity, equal rights for everyone — it is — the only person I can look at is you.”
— Daytime talk show host Ellen DeGeneres to Clinton, September 10, 2015.
■ “Full disclosure: I love them with every fiber of my being. I love the two of them. You know, after watching the Benghazi hearings for 11 hours, I felt I was watching — finally — Secretary Clinton, Hillary, defining herself, as opposed to being defined by people who don’t want to run against her, and I felt like I was looking at a thoughtful, big-hearted, incredibly bright President.”
— Actor Ted Danson discussing Bill and Hillary Clinton on PBS’s Tavis Smiley, November 19, 2015.
■ Actress/activist Jane Fonda: “It’s so exciting that she [Hillary Clinton] may very well be our President.”
Host Ellen DeGeneres: “I mean, we could have a woman President! That would be amazing.”
Fonda: “Oh, my Lord!...She will deal with things that other people are not dealing with, like domestic violence, like equal pay. Like this ERA.”
— Exchange on the Ellen DeGeneres Show, May 3, 2016, presumably talking about the 1970s Equal Rights Amendment.
■ “I mean, obviously, I love Hillary Rodham Clinton....And so seeing her talk about early childhood vulnerability and brain development. Man, that woman is stout. She is stout. So yes, I will be all in when the time comes....I think she might be the most overqualified candidate we’ve had since, you know, Thomas Jefferson or George Washington.”
— Actress/activist Ashley Judd on Larry King Now, an Ora.TV show also carried on Hulu and broadcast on RT, the Russian TV channel, January 30, 2015.
Links to other installments:
Part One: A NewsBusters Special Report: Hillary Clinton’s Media Fan Club
Part Two: Journalists Cast Hillary as a Feminist Champion, Battling Sexist America
Part Three: Hating Hillary’s Enemies in the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy
Part Four: Journalists Saluting Hillary’s 'Dazzling Political Mastery'
Part Five: TV Reporters’ Top 10 Softball Questions for Hillary
Part Six: Journalists Help Hillary Overcome Her Many Scandals
Part Seven: Journalists Lead the Cheers for Hillary for President
