They have a media pundit network, who shills for them constantly, that no other candidate can boast:
There is
Suzanne Estrich on
Fox:
Estrich appears frequently on Fox News as a legal and political analyst, giving the liberal perspective. She has also substituted for Alan Colmes on the debate show Hannity & Colmes. Estrich writes regular articles for NewsMax for which she is a pundit.<1> and is also on the Board of Editorial Contributors for USA Today. On January 10, 2008, she joined the Quinn Emanuel Urquhart Oliver & Hedges law firm, a litigation powerhouse based in Los Angeles.
Until recently, James Carville, Paul Begala, and Robert Zimmerman on
CNN:
Exclusive: After Obama Complaints, CNN Bans James Carville And Paul Begala From Appearing As Analysts Until Dem Primary Is SettledJanuary 24, 2008
Okay, this is interesting. I've just learned that CNN has told top Dem strategists James Carville, Paul Begala, and Robert Zimmerman -- who are CNN mainstays but are all Hillary supporters -- that they will not be doing any more political analysis on the network until the Democratic primary has reached a conclusion.
link Two weeks ago,
The New York Times quoted CNN president Jonathan Klein saying that connections between on-air contributors James Carville and Paul Begala and Hillary Clinton should be "disclosed as much as we can." Klein noted that Carville "has disclosed all of this previously and repeatedly on our air" but added, "He happened not to last night, and it's an unfortunate omission."
Klein was referring to Carville's November 15 appearance on CNN to discuss the Democratic debate that the cable news channel had just televised. Klein explained that though Carville is not on the Clinton campaign payroll, his support still required disclosure:
"He's not on the Hillary payroll, but he's on the Hillary bandwagon, and that should be disclosed as much as we can," Mr. Klein said. "I wasn't comfortable with it myself as I watched it.
It isn't exactly a state secret that James Carville and his fellow CNN contributor Paul Begala like the Clintons. They are, after all,
James Carville and Paul Begala. Still: Klein was right. When Carville or Begala appear on CNN to comment on the presidential candidates, their support for one of those candidates should be disclosed.
linkOne-time Clinton basher becomes a key defender
BY GLENN THRUSH | Newsday Washington Bureau
September 7, 2006
WASHINGTON - David Brock, the reformed right-wing reporter who once took aim at Hillary Rodham Clinton, has cultivated surprisingly deep ties to the senator - paying $200,000 to a Clinton confidant for working at his watchdog group, Media Matters.
In the strange-bedfellows world of Washington, few couplings are odder than the Clinton-Brock alliance. The ideological chameleon has emerged as a reliable defender, while she's quietly nurtured his $8.5-million-a-year nonprofit empire.
"David is immensely valuable to Hillary," says a wealthy Democrat with ties to Brock, speaking anonymously. "It's like having your former prosecutor running around saying you were wrongfully prosecuted. He's living proof the right wing is out to get Hillary. ... I don't think anyone really trusts him. He'll never get a job in the (Hillary Clinton) White House, but he's useful."
Back in the mid-'90s, Brock, now 44, seemed the perfect choice to write the definitive anti-Hillary tome. While at American Spectator, reporter Brock repeated claims that she had an affair with her family friend Vince Foster. He also broke the Paula Jones sex scandal, creating the cascade of denials that ultimately led to Bill Clinton's impeachment.
But researching "The Seduction of Hillary Rodham" domesticated the attack dog: Brock ended up admiring Clinton, infuriating his backers and driving him into the Democratic fold. "In finding Hillary Clinton's humanity," he later wrote, "I was beginning to find my own."
more David Brock is the author of four political books, including The Republican Noise Machine: Right-Wing Media and How It Corrupts Democracy (Crown, May 2004). In his preceding book, Blinded by the Right: The Conscience of an Ex-Conservative (Crown, March 2002), a 2002 New York Times best-selling political memoir, he chronicled his years as a conservative media insider. Brock was the recipient of the New Democrat Network's first award for political entrepreneurship. He currently serves on the board of The Progressive Legislative Action Network, an organization created to support progressive state legislators. He is the President and CEO of Media Matters for America.
linkby kos
Tue Jan 08, 2008
I see Clinton's surrogates complaining about the unfairness of the media coverage, about how Obama is getting a free pass.
Does this sort of whining ever work? It sure didn't in 2004 as us Deaniacs complained about the governor's shitty media coverage. It looks particularly petty for a former president of the United States to join the whining.
And come on, the Clinton campaign has had surrogates like Begala and Carville embedded in the punditry promoting her campaign from within! Who else had such advantages?
Regardless, the media is unfair. I think we can stipulate that without argument. It sucks. But the Clintons have had every advantage in the world -- just about the entire party establishment. The fact that $100 million, the best campaign team in the (Democratic Party) universe, the bulk of the party establishment, well-placed pundit allies, and a fragmented field haven't been enough to put this thing away for Hillary points to her flaws as a candidate.
It's not the media's fault that people are sick of the Clinton machine and want change. The only reason she has even been competitive is that the "change" forces never coalesced around a single candidate. But even in a fragmented field, Hillary is in serious trouble. God help her if she only faced a single serious candidate. She'd be crushed.
Whining about the media doesn't change that cold, stark reality.
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