Khazen

hillary-clinton

By John Ziegler 

Yesterday, I examined the ten most undereported stories about Donald Trump
during this campaign, which I believe would have done great damage to
his candidacy if they had been given appropriate attention by the
all-too-easily-distracted news media. Today, I have complied a similar
list of topics, in no particular order, to which the news media has
given short shrift regarding Hillary Clinton.

1) Benghazi. Before Donald Trump was a
serious threat to make this election all about him, it was assumed/hoped
by most conservatives that at least a significant portion of the
dialogue would be about how Hillary handled the loss of four Americans under her watch at Benghazi.
And yet, despite a major motion picture having focused attention on the
heart-breaking story, almost nothing has been made of it during this
election. I guess, as Hillary infamously said in one of her testimonies
about the episode, “what difference, at this point, does it make?!”

2) Bill’s Presidency. You would think that
if someone’s spouse had been President of the United States for eight
years that their record might come up if that person ran in a general
election for the very same job. However, you would think wrong. At least
based on the fact that about the only thing we ever hear about Bill’s
presidency these days is that the economy was good. Nothing about why he
was impeached (no, not the sex, it was the perjury and obstruction of
justice), his outrageous last-second pardons (specifically of Marc Rich), his unwillingness to kill Osama bin Laden, or how the Republican Congress was responsible for much that got done.

3) Bill’s Role in a Hillary Presidency.
Even more amazing than there being no real examination of the first
Clinton presidency is the stunning reality that there has been
absolutely no serious discussion of what Bill’s role will be in
Hillary’s administration. Does anyone really believe that he will be
able to resist being a significant part of major policy decisions? And
yet the media has been completely uninterested in this topic. I honestly
think that the signs that Bill is starting to lose it mentally have
allowed Hillary to get a pass here. It seems everyone assumes that he
will soon be relegated to a rocking chair so he can harmlessly
misremember war stories to lesser White House officials (hopefully no
interns!), or something.

4) Hillary’s Lack of Accomplishments. It is
tough to do stories on nothing, but when someone wants to be President
of the United States surely they should be able to produce some sort of
major accomplishment by the age of seventy, right? And if they can’t,
the media should probably inform most voters of this problem. However,
in Hillary’s case, neither circumstance has happened. The irony that
about the only thing Hillary can come up with is that she was in the
room when Osama bin Laden was killed, when her husband passing on doing
the job before 9/11 is the only reason that needed to happen, is
remarkably rich. From a resume perspective, it is also pathetic. At
least Trump created a hit reality television show.

5) The “Colin Kaepernick” Issue. One of the
biggest breaks that Hillary got during the debates was that somehow the
“Colin Kaepernick” question (about protests over alleged police racism
during the national anthem at sporting events) never got asked. I have written before
about how dangerous this topic would for Hillary, especially in a
large/live event because she would be virtually forced to threaten her
standing with at least one key demographic group. If she backed
Kaepernick, she would turn off swing suburban white voters who loathe
Trump, but if she didn’t do so her support among blacks would likely
soften and open an opportunity for Trump. Fortunately for her, while
there was one “police” question at the first debate, to my knowledge she
has never even been directly asked about Kaepernick in any forum. It is
almost as if the news media knows there is no good answer for her and
that is why they haven’t asked it.

6) Hillary’s Tax Plan. Most voters probably
have no idea, because it has gotten very little press coverage, but
Hillary is proposing a massive tax increase on those households making
over $250,000. She is also seeking a radical increase in the so-called
“death tax,” which supposedly (but doesn’t) only targets the “rich.”
Much of this is likely political posturing to appeal to Bernie Sanders
voters and would be killed by congress if Republicans maintain a
semblance of control there. But shouldn’t there be at least some
coverage of the dramatic, mostly negative, impact such a plan would have
on our economy and specifically on growth and job stimulation? I guess
that would be too much to ask, especially since it might harm Hillary.

7) The State of the Economy.
Similarly there has been almost no substantive coverage of the economy
in general, which is rather strange considering that Hillary is
effectively running for a third term for our current president. You
would think that under such circumstances that an evaluation of the
economy by the news media would be very much in order, but that hasn’t
happened beyond “Obama led us out of the great recession.” That was
eight years ago. The stock and real estate markets are currently very
good, but Obama has had very little to do with either of those
recoveries. On wages, growth, and unemployment, the president’s record
is horrible, and yet somehow this has never become an issue for Hillary
thanks to the news media’s remarkable lack of interest in the subject.

8) The Status of the Terror Threat. It
seems hard to believe that, just a few months ago, the threat of
terrorist acts on our soil was at the forefront of the national agenda.
Horrific ISIS-led attacks were becoming commonplace in Europe, while
ISIS-inspired events were taking many lives here at home. Suddenly, this
issue, on which Hillary is weak for multiple reasons, has virtually
disappeared. It is not as if the threat has been remotely eradicated, or
even really lessoned. And yet, based on the lack of media coverage the
topic has gotten during the campaign, you would think we have been
transported back in time to the naïve pre 9/11 era.

9) The Massive Difference between Hillary “2008” & “2016.”
Maybe the greatest largely untold story about Hillary is just how
incredible her political “transformation” has been since the 2008
version of Hillary who lost the Democratic nomination to Barack Obama.
On a whole range of issues, this model of Hillary is vastly to the left
of the one we knew previously. And yet, the news media has largely
pretend that this just hasn’t really happened. Of course, it doesn’t
hurt that she is running against a candidate who has not only altered
his “beliefs” even more radically than she has, but who often does so
several times within the same day.

10) Obamacare/Hillarycare Disaster. We now
know that Obamacare, the signature Democratic legislative accomplishment
of the Obama administration, is a failure. We also know that Hillary
has bragged about having been the Godmother, if you will, of the highly
controversial law. And yet, somehow, she has not been forced by the news
media to answer for this. The media’s disconnect on Obamacare came into
hilarious focus earlier this week when the CBS Morning Show seemed completely flummoxed
at the news of massive rate hikes, even suggesting that, “Is the way
the law was set up failed? It’s a really interesting story.” Apparently
not “interesting” enough to actually extensively report on it, even when
Bill Clinton called Obamacare the “craziest thing in the world” (other
than, you know, this election).

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John Ziegler, who has worked as a pollster, is a nationally-syndicated radio talk show host and documentary filmmaker. You can follow him on Twitter at @ZigManFreud or email him at johnz@mediaite.com