On Thursday afternoon, MSNBC host Andrea Mitchell reminded viewers that no segment on her show discussing Hillary Clinton would be complete without claims of the former Democratic presidential candidate being a victim of alleged "sexism."
As longtime Clinton aide Huma Abedin appeared as a guest to discuss her book on her time in politics, it only took until the second question for Mitchell to bring up the topic and suggest that Clinton had been mistreated by the press because she was a woman: "And women deal with sexism all the time, but Hillary Clinton is really unique in this regard, certainly during her first run for the presidency. And you certainly experienced that. Have we made any progress in the way we cover women in politics?"
As she responded, Abedin began by recalling the 2000 Senate race in New York with then-Republican Congressman Rick Lazio:
It's one of the reasons why I chose to recount in the book in a fair amount of detail, I talk about how, in the White House, us not even, as women, just not even expecting anything more. We were just grateful to have the work. But in the 2000 Senate campaign, the first time I had witnessed what it was like -- what women were up against in politics -- in the debate that she had against the then-Republican congressman who marched over the debate stage to wave a piece of paper in her hand.
Without giving any details, she then complained about sexism in the presidential campaigns from 2008 and 2016:
And then, in 2008, you know, Andrea, I don't think we even knew how to deal with the sexist comments. We would laugh and giggle it off just nervously because we just assumed it was the price we had to pay to be in the game. And then, in 2016, all of the outside forces that impacted that race. But, in part, though, there was a lot of sexist and sexism that she had to deal with. It's hard and continues to be hard, and it's one of the reasons I spent so much time in the book talking -- just sharing the experiences of being on the inside and what it was like to have some of those moments.
Without pressing on the issue of why Clinton mishandled work-related emails and violated federal law, or what she knew about the matter, Mitchell followed up by asking about then-FBI director James Comey announcing in 2016, close to election time, that the bureau was investigating newly found emails on Abedin's computer that were relevant to the case.
Here's Mitchell: "And then, I will never forget that day -- I think it was a trip to Iowa 11 days before the 2016 election -- and then you get the word on the flight that your emails with Hillary Clinton had somehow turned up on your husband's laptop. How do you think it effected her chances?"
This episode of MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell Reports was sponsored in part by Philadelphia. Their contact information is linked.
Transcript follows:
Andrea Mitchell Reports
November 10, 2021
12:49 p.m. Eastern
ANDREA MITCHELL: And women deal with sexism all the time, but Hillary Clinton is really unique in this regard, certainly during her first run for the presidency. And you certainly experienced that. Have we made any progress in the way we cover women in politics?
HUMA ABEDIN, LONGTIME HILLARY CLINTON AIDE: It's one of the reasons why I chose to recount in the book in a fair amount of detail, I talk about how, in the White House, us not even, as women, just not even expecting anything more. We were just grateful to have the work. But in the 2000 Senate campaign, the first time I had witnessed what it was like -- what women were up against in politics -- in the debate that she had against the then-Republican congressman who marched over the debate stage to wave a piece of paper in her hand.
And then, in 2008, you know, Andrea, I don't think we even knew how to deal with the sexist comments. We would laugh and giggle it off just nervously because we just assumed it was the price we had to pay to be in the game. And then, in 2016, all of the outside forces that impacted that race. But, in part, though, there was a lot of sexist and sexism that she had to deal with. It's hard and continues to be hard, and it's one of the reasons I spent so much time in the book talking -- just sharing the experiences of being on the inside and what it was like to have some of those moments.
MITCHELL: And then, I will never forget that day -- I think it was a trip to Iowa 11 days before the 2016 election -- and then you get the word on the flight that your emails with Hillary Clinton had somehow turned up on your husband's laptop. How do you think it effected her chances?
