"But one of the very real responsibilities for this nightmare of a [Trump] campaign lies not with a candidate that normalized hate groups but with an elite political media that, by adhering to rules that did not apply, normalized that candidate. Donald Trump has hurled wild, vicious (and largely unsubstantiated) charges every since he first stood up behind a podium as a candidate. This is nothing new. So now, his wild, vicious (and largely unsubstantiated) charges are being hurled in a campaign context in which they have become the way people run for president, at least in 2016. And they're being hurled at a person for whom much of the elite political media has had a barely concealed grudge for 25 years. There now will follow some earnest chin-stroking about the tenor of the campaign. And nothing will change." (emphasis added) -- Charles P. Pierce, Esquire.com's great blogger, in a posting well worth reading.
The political media is straining desperately to conceal the fact that they should have been on the story that Hillary Clinton laid out yesterday in prosecutorial detail of the Alt-Right's control of neo-fascist Donald "Rump" Trump's campaign and the Rethuglican Party. Of course, now that Clinton is pushing back on Rump's smears, the same media is aghast! at her tone. Here's Time Magazine's political reporter clutching his pearls:
This Clinton speech is basically one big guilt-by-association attack. AKA politics as usual— Zeke Miller (@ZekeJMiller) August 25, 2016
Riiight, when Clinton quotes Rump and his campaign CEO, and cites Rump's past actions, that's "guilt by association," because "both sides" are guilty of unfair attacks. "Politics as usual," got it.
MSNBC's self-important spittle-sprayer and man who shouts in his sleep Chris "Tweety" Matthews got in on the act on his both sider "Hardball," when he badgered a guest (and former Rethug operative) when the guest supported the thrust of Clinton's speech yesterday. Crooks & Liars covered Tweety's head-scratching performance. It's as if the past 14 months of hate speech and cheers from the racist right for Rump never happened for Tweety, but it fits a disturbing pattern among his colleagues of normalizing Rump when clarity and honesty is needed about the danger he poses to the nation.
BONUS: There has been some pushback to Miller's asinine Tweet:
@ZekeJMiller @samsteinhp then you don't know what "guilt by association" means.— Armando (@armandodkos) August 25, 2016
@ZekeJMiller Yeah, how dare Clinton hold Trump responsible for people he's hired, praised & re-tweeted.— Jeet Heer (@HeerJeet) August 25, 2016
@Anomaly100 @charles_gaba @ZekeJMiller Oh, come on. Just because Bannon said that, and now runs Trump's campaign, and...well OK then.— Joseph Britt (@Zathras3) August 25, 2016
