|
MEDIA : The Hunting of President
Clinton
THE MEDIA'S
GORE-ING OF PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON
(AND HILLARY CLINTON)
[Click
here for the eRiposte Media Bias Home Page]
PREFACE
You may select any of the
links below to view my collection. If you would like to submit
data-driven, evidence-based examples of media bias against specific
individuals or groups, or just have some comments (politeness is
requested and appreciated) please do so by emailing me at
feedback-at-eriposte-dot-com. If
you want to know more about the whats, whys and why nots of this
"study" (for lack of a better word), please click
here.
MAILING LIST:
If you want to get on my mailing list for notifications on updates to
this page, let me know by emailing feedback-at-eriposte-dot-com.
BILL/HILLARY
CLINTON - COMMENTS: The media's overall
treatment of Bill Clinton (and for that matter Hillary, in some cases)
was not just appalling but
reeked of journalistic malpractice and incompetence.
As with the treatment of Al Gore I find insufficient emotion to
express my outrage against the truly egregious, pathetic behavior of,
and massive perpetration
of lies, distortions and insults by, many in the American Press and
Media towards/against Bill Clinton.
They unknowingly or knowingly participating in what was
clearly an orchestrated campaign by a powerful "cabal"
(borrowing Joe Conason's and Gene Lyons'
term) in the right-wing. It
would be quite appropriate to refer to the political period of the 90s
as being a mix of Pressgate, GOP-gate, and Rightwing-gate.
It is true that Bill Clinton is not someone whom I would think of first
when asked to name someone who is morally outstanding or honest. It is true that
I found his lies about Monica distressing, his adultery distasteful and
his pardon of Marc Rich terrible. But, the
sad part is that in comparison to most in the right-wing, including
prominent Republicans, and to most of the right-wing and mainstream
media, Bill Clinton can actually be called exceedingly honest
and moral (relatively speaking). That paradoxical inference is a simple way
of stating what the right-wing/media were during the days of Clinton and
Gore. There is no compelling evidence that things have changed
substantially since the year 2000.
One of the difficulties of stating the
truth arises from the fact that some of the allegations against Clinton
involve sexual harassment, sexual assault or rape. I consider these to
be very serious charges, not to be taken lightly. I believe strongly in
women's rights and women's causes, having devoted a
section of this website to that area (with particular focus
on assault and sexual assault against women). Given that, it was
difficult for me to highlight some of the evidence debunking the
allegations of a sexual nature. Nevertheless, the evidence I capture
below is not intended to simply brush off the accusations of sexual
assault, but only to point out that the allegations when looked at in
completeness, show a sufficient number of false statements (and in many
cases un-provable assertions) that casts doubts on the allegations as a
whole. I apologize in advance to all
individuals who may feel insulted by the featuring of such evidence,
because I fully understand how difficult it can be for women to prove
they were sexually assaulted or raped.
I believe it is only appropriate to applaud the following individuals in
particular - Murray Waas, Gene Lyons and Joe Conason of Salon,
and Bob Somerby of the Daily Howler.
Kudos also go to many of the other Salon writers and others mentioned in
the tables below. (Indeed, I have decided to renew my Salon.com
subscription indefinitely largely because of their superb investigative
reporting team). I also highly recommend to the reader, this book by Joe
Conason and Gene Lyons, "The Hunting of the President: The Ten-Year
Campaign to Destroy Bill and Hillary Clinton". I have read it
and believe it deserves the top prize possible for investigative
reporting. The list below is largely incomplete.
TARGET: BILL/HILLARY CLINTON
Last update: Mar
2003
(A) So-called
SCANDALS
| Perpetrator(s) |
Myth,
Lie, Deceit,
Bias, Denial or
just plain B.S.
on |
Proof
of Myth, Lying,
Deceit or Bias
provided by |
Date |
Most
recent
update? |
| Almost all
media |
Media bias
against/
hate for Bill/Hillary
Clinton + extreme
journalistic malpractice
and
Evidence presented on
the above by
Joe Conason and Gene
Lyons in "The Hunting
of the President"
and
Evidence presented on
the above by
Gene Lyons in "Fools
for Scandal" |
Gene
Lyons
Salon
Nicholas Confessore
The
American Prospect
(catalogs the drudge - slew
of books with lies - from
Regnery Publishing)
Daily
Howler
1,
2,
3,
4
5,
6,
7
(comments on
Maraniss' book
"Clinton Enigma")
8
(comments on Bill
Bennett's book "The
Death of Outrage")
More to come! |
Various
|
.
Yes
|
| Various |
Illegal/criminal
behavior by
Office of Independent
Counsel and unethical
behavior by Judge who
appointed Starr
Ken Starr's and Robert Ray's
(a) conflicts on interest
(b) illegal leaks
(c) attack against Judge
Woods
Robert Ray's illegal
conclusions in Whitewater
report
Requests for investigations
against Starr/Ray
Right-wing conspiracy
against Clintons, in which OIC
participated
Other
Potential criminal involvement
of Bush I Government in
Whitewater probes |
Jonathan
Broder and
Murray Waas
Salon
Murray Waas
Salon 1,
2,
3
Murray Waas
Salon
(5-part series
highly recommended!)
David Talbot, Murray
Waas,
and Joan Walsh
Salon
Gene Lyons, Joe
Conason
and Murray Waas
Salon
Joe Conason
Salon
Gene Lyons
Salon
Mollie Dickenson
Salon
Bruce Shapiro
Salon
Doug
Smith
Arkansas
Times
(email us if you want
to know what this said)
AP/New
York Times
Paul Krugman
New
York Times
Robert Parry
Consortium
News
The
Independent
Arkansas
Times
(email us if you want to
know what they said)
Josh Marshall
Salon
Paul Kane and Chris
Cillizza
Roll
Call
Joe Conason
Salon
Peter Ognibene
Salon Robert
Parry
Consortium News
1,
2,
3 |
Various |
. |
| Various |
Clinton
"guilty" in
Troopergate |
Murray
Waas
Salon |
3/98
|
.
|
| Various |
Clinton(s)
"guilty"
in Filegate (FBI) and
Travelgate |
Daily
Howler
1,
2 |
11/98
|
.
|
| Most media |
Bill
and Hillary's
being "guilty" in
the Whitewater case
|
Gene
Lyons
Harper's
Joe
Conason
Salon
1,
2
The
Independent
Suzi Parker
Salon
1,
2
Daily Howler
1,
2
(Office of Ind. Counsel
confirmation - scroll down)
3
4,
5,
6,
7
|
Various
|
New
.
|
| Most
media |
Liar
and criminal David
Hale
was a "reliable" witness (!)
(whose claims about the
Whitewater involvement of
the Clintons could be believed) |
Murray
Waas and
Suzy Parker
Salon
Murray Waas
and
Jonathan Broder
Salon
Murray Waas
Salon
1,
2
Murray Waas
Salon
(5-part series
highly recommended!) |
9/98-
3/99
|
.
|
| Various
media |
Susan
McDougal covering
up for the Clintons on
Whitewater |
Suzi
Parker
Salon
1,
2 |
3-4/99
|
.
|
| Various |
Hillary
(and Bill) getting
$2000 a month payoff from
Jim McDougal |
Daily
Howler |
5/98 |
Yes |
| Right-wing
media |
Clinton's
so-called
"love child" with Bobbi
Ann Williams |
Daily
Howler
1,
2,
3 |
1-3/99 |
. |
| Various |
Clinton
"lied" about
Paula Jones |
Jonathan
Broder
Salon
Daily
Howler
1,
2
Jonathan Broder and
Murray Waas
Salon
James Retter interview
by Lori Leibovich
Salon
|
Various |
. |
| Various |
How
the Jones and
Willey situations were
similar to Monica's |
Daily
Howler |
10/98 |
. |
| Various |
Bill
Clinton "lied" about
Juanita Broaddrick |
Joan
Walsh
Salon
Daily
Howler
1,
2
|
2/99
3/99
|
. |
| Most
media
(outrageous ones
incl. William Safire
(NYT), Michael Kelly
(WP))
|
Bill
Clinton "lied"
about
Kathleen Willey |
Mollie
Dickenson
Salon
Florence
Graves and
Jacqueline E. Sharkey
The
Nation
Josh Marshall
Salon
Daily
Howler
1,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6
7,
8
(read how Linda Tripp
also lies in contradiction to
her grand jury testimony)
9,
10,
11
|
1-5/99
9-11/98 |
. |
| Most media |
Bill
Clinton "lied" about
Gennifer Flowers |
Daily
Howler
1,
2,
3,
4 |
4-10/98 |
. |
| Various |
Clinton
White House
"squeezed" Webster
Hubbell
Hillary "overbilled"
clients
(esp. outrageous malpractice
by Lisa Myers of NBC)
|
Daily
Howler
1,
2 |
5/98 |
. |
Various
(starting with
Dick Morris) |
Clinton
White House
running "secret police"
for intimidation of women
alleging sexual affairs
with Clinton |
Daily
Howler |
10/98
|
Yes |
| Various |
(a)
Monica Lewinsky's age
(b) Attack dogs set on
Monica Lewinsky
(c) Motivations behind
Clinton's lying about
Monica
(d) Wearing Monica-
gifted "tie" a signal
(e) Clinton lying to
Sidney Blumenthal,
Sid B lying to OIC
Vernon Jordan lying
to OIC
(f) Monica's talking
points for Linda Tripp |
Daily
Howler
1,
2
3,
4
5
6,
7
8,
9,
10
Robert Parry
Consortium
News |
Various
|
. |
Right-wing
media
and groups |
(Extensive
false garbage on)
Clinton's links to cociane,
unexplained deaths and
murders, etc. as documented
in the blatantly false
"Clinton Chronicles"
|
Robert
Parry
Consortium
News |
2/99 |
. |
Right wing
media
and others |
Bill
Clinton being
(a) a sexual predator and
criminal,
(b) responsible for
(im)morality of others
in the U.S. (e.g., kids
and Gary Condit)
(c) of poor character
(d) responsible for post 2000
corporate scandals
|
Brendan
Nyhan
Spinsanity
1,
2
Gene Lyons
Salon
Dan Froomkin
Washington
Post
Joshua Marshall
Salon
eRiposte
Daily Howler
1
, 2,
3
Peter Beinart
The
New Republic |
Various |
. |
| Most media |
Early
confession about Monica
would
have prevented media
hounding
Confession would have
prevented impeachment
|
Daily
Howler
1,
2
3
|
8-12/98 |
. |
| Tim
Russert (MSNBC) |
Clinton's
position on
"reasonable people" and
how long investigation
has gone along |
Daily
Howler |
9/98 |
. |
| Various |
Clinton's
childhood and
possible reasons for his
(reckless) behavior |
Daily
Howler |
8/99 |
. |
| Right
wing media |
Clinton
and Arlington
national Cemetery |
Jonathan
Broder
Salon |
12/97 |
Yes |
Richard
Benedetto
USA Today |
Bill
Clinton "eager to
please", "prone to
deception" |
Daily
Howler |
4/98 |
. |
| Most
media |
Clinton's
legalistic
"hair-splitting",
legal "lies", lapses of
memory |
Daily
Howler
1,
2,
3,
4 |
12/98 |
. |
| Various |
Bill and
Hillary's marriage
some kind of "deal" |
Daily
Howler (quoting
George Stephanopolous) |
3/99
|
.
|
| Various |
Hillary
"agreeing" with
Bill's condition as
(sexual) "addiction" and
"abuse" and
other
varying B.S. |
Daily
Howler
1,
2,
3,
4 |
1/99
8/99
|
.
|
| Various |
Did
impeachment vote
against Clinton get a majority
because of a vote on an item
Clinton was not formally
charged on? |
Daily
Howler |
12/98
|
.
|
| WP |
Anti-impeachment
GOP
moderates voted for
Clinton's impeachment
regardless of impact to
their jobs (!) |
Daily
Howler |
12/98
|
.
|
| New
York Times |
New
York Times' claim
that perjury about sex
is prosecuted and is a
precedent for what
Clinton was subjected to |
Daily
Howler
|
12/98
|
.
|
| A
lot of the media |
Clinton's
involvement
with Buddhist temple
"fundraising " and
technology transfer
to China |
Joe
Conason
Salon |
6/00
|
.
|
| Various |
Clinton's
statements
on loss of nuclear secrets
(to China); transfer of
missile technology to
China; his
supposed
"contradiction"
of Sandy
Berger |
Robert
Parry
Consortium
News
Daily
Howler
1,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6,
7
|
2/01
5/98
4-6/99
|
. |
Various
(started by
Jeff Gerth, NYT) |
Clinton
allowing neutron
bomb making secrets to get
to China |
Daily
Howler
1,
2,
3 |
4/99 |
Yes |
Right
wing media/
Newsweek |
Clinton
being "unpatriotic" |
Robert
Parry
Consortium News
1,
2 |
3-4/96 |
. |
(B) Other Inventions
| Perpetrator(s) |
Myth,
Lie, Deceit,
Bias, Denial or
just plain B.S.
on |
Proof
of Myth, Lying,
Deceit or Bias
provided by |
Date |
Most
recent
update? |
Chris
Matthews
(MSNBC) |
Clinton
lying about his
draft notice |
Daily
Howler |
8/98 |
Yes |
| Washington
Post |
Clinton's
"failure" to
keep "promise" of
balancing budget in
4 years |
Daily
Howler
1 |
4/00 |
. |
Various
(e.g., Michael Kelly, WP) |
Clinton's
foreign policy |
Daily
Howler
1 |
9/98 |
. |
| Mostly
right-wing media |
Clinton's
policy towards
North Korea being responsible
for current (12/02) crisis
Negotiation = appeasement
|
Glenn
Kessler quoting
Colin Powell
Washington
Post
Talking
Points Memo
1,
2,
3
Ivo
H. Daalder and
James M. Lindsay
The
American Prospect
Richard Wolffe
Newsweek
Hendrik Hertzberg
The
New Yorker
Atrios
Quoting
Sandy
Berger on CNN |
12/02
1/03
|
Yes |
| Various |
GOP
medicare cuts
and Clinton "lying"
about it |
Daily
Howler
1,
2,
3,
4 |
10/99
6-11/96 |
. |
| Los
Angeles Times |
Clinton's
"Wag the Dog"
foreign policy |
Daily
Howler
1
(Northern Ireland) |
4/98
|
.
|
| Various |
Clinton
"loathing the
military" |
Daily
Howler |
12/98
|
.
|
| Washington
Times |
Clinton's
"ploy" on or
responsibility for
"Government shut down" |
Daily
Howler
1,
2,
3,
4 |
8-9/98
10/99
|
.
|
| Most media |
Bill
Clinton was just
"lucky" with Kosovo
(no casualties) and it
was "not a victory"
Bill Clinton erred in not
sending ground troops
|
Daily
Howler
1,
2,
3,
4
(compare with what was
said about Bush in
Afghanistan despite
casualties and with
Afghanistan in trouble again!)
5
|
6/99
|
.
|
| New York
Times, MSNBC |
Bill and
Hillary:
(a) paid too much taxes
due to donations, and
could have donated more!
BUT WAIT!
(b) they also paid too
little taxes! |
Daily
Howler |
4/98
|
.
|
Right wing
media
(e.g., Sean Hannity in the
Faux News Channel) |
Bill
Clinton applauding
past segregationist
William Fulbright |
Michael
Medved
WorldNetDaily |
12/02
|
.
|
Sean
Hannity (Faux
News Channel and in
his book) and others |
Clinton-Gore
Presidency
linked to tax burden
being at record highs
for US families |
Ben
Fritz and Bryan Keefer
Spinsanity
eRiposte
Myths v. Reality on
Personal
taxes
Corporate
taxes
Daily
Howler |
8/02
12/02
9/99
|
.
|
| Various
media |
Enron
then-CEO Ken
Lay "sleeping over" at the
Lincoln Bedroom during
Clinton's presidency |
Brendan
Nyhan
Spinsanity
1,
2
Daily
Howler |
2/02
|
.
|
Right
wing media (first),
then others |
Bill
Clinton cooking
the books of the
U.S. Govt. |
Bryan
Keefer
Spinsanity
1,
2
|
12/02
8/02
|
.
|
| Right wing
media |
Bill
Clinton being soft
on bin Laden and
terrorism!
including lies
such as:
(a) he never accepted
Sudan's "offer" to
extradite bin Laden
(b) he never went
after bin Laden or the
Taliban aggressively
|
Barton
Gellman
Washington Post
Part
1, Part
2
Indeed, even Gellman's
moderately disapproving note
that Clinton "stopped short" of
committing ground troops to
Afghanistan was proven
to be
essentially incorrect in a future
Time article pointing out that
Clinton had a plan that was
provided to the Bush
Administration, but it was not
executed
on until after 9/11
John Harris
Washington
Post
Bill Press
CNN
Joe
Conason
Salon
Conason remarkably
catalogs dogged Republican
opposition (esp. John Ashcroft)
to Clinton's considerable
anti-terrorism measures
(while they now praise
Bush II for doing the same
or often worse)
Eleanor Clift
Newsweek
(on anthrax) |
10/01-
1/02
|
. |
| Various |
Clinton
having neglected
the military and not having
focused on improving it |
Guy
Taylor
(manages to unravel
this myth without giving any
credit whatsoever to Clinton!)
Washington
Times |
1/02 |
Yes
|
Right
wing media (first
Washington Times),
then others |
Bill
Clinton blaming
9/11 on slavery
and America's
treatment of Native
Americans |
Bryan
Keefer
Spinsanity
Daily Howler
1,
2,
3
Bill
Clinton's speech |
11/01
9-11/01
11/01 |
.
|
| Most media |
Bill
Clinton's executive
orders/regulations
being rules derived
at the last minute and
"ill-considered" and
"ill-intentioned" |
Amy
Goldstein
Washington
Post
Bryan Keefer
Spinsanity |
6/01 |
. |
| Various |
WH
vandalism
by Clinton
staffers
Air Force One
vandalism
by Clinton staffers
Clintons'
"stealing" WH
furniture
|
Kerry
Lauerman and
Alicia Montgomery
Salon
Joshua Marshall
TPM
John Harris and
Dana Milbank
Washington
Post
William Raspberry
Washington
Post
Daily
Howler
Al Kamen
Washington
Post
David Goldstein
Kansas City Star
1,
2
Look at this site
Failure
Is Impossible for
more extensive evidence |
2-6/01 |
. |
| Various |
Bill/Hillary
taking gifts
when they left the WH,
signing a "gift registry"
(and other tales) |
Eric
Boehlert
Salon
1,
2
Daily Howler
1
(points out Bush I took
more!) |
1-2/01 |
. |
| Various |
Clinton
and race |
Daily
Howler |
9/98 |
. |
| Various |
Clinton
and gays |
Edward
Epstein
San
Francisco Chronicle |
12/02 |
. |
Especially
right-wing
groups/media |
Clinton
weakened the
U.S. military |
Michael
O'Hanlon
New
York Times |
1/02 |
. |
| Various |
Bill
Clinton's
various pardons
(and commutations
falsely stated as
"pardons") |
Bill
Clinton's remarks
Washington
Post
Joe Conason
Salon
Daily Howler
1,
2
Michael Powell
Washington
Post
Randal Archibold
New
York Times
Eric Boehlert
The
Nation
Salon
Anthony Lewis
New
York Times
John Dean
FindLaw |
2-6/01 |
. |
| Most
media |
Hypocrisy
about secrecy
in Bush II WH (relating to
Clinton files vs. GOP-related
files) |
Josh
Marshall
Salon |
7/02 |
. |
| Faux
News Channel |
Hillary
Clinton's
"looks" |
Daily
Howler |
9/99 |
Yes |
Various
(e.g.,
outrageous Margaret
Carlson) |
Clinton's
campaigning
causing Democratic candidates
to lose in Election 2002 |
Daily
Howler
1
(scroll down)
2
eRiposte |
11-12/02 |
Yes |
| CNN |
Hillary
Clinton essentially
"lying" about being a
Yankees fan |
Daily
Howler |
6/00 |
. |
|
