Say Anything Blog

In all the hubub surrounding the primaries I missed the news a few days ago that some of Hillary’s papers from her participation in her husband’s administration had finally been released from the Clinton Library.  Among those papers was this startling (or perhaps not-so-startling depending on your level of cynicism) revelation:

  First, Senator Jay Rockefeller proposed that the federal government conduct smear campaigns against the opponents of the plan:

     

A “Confidential” May 26, 1993 Memorandum from Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) to Hillary Clinton entitled, “Health Care Reform Communications,” which criticizes the Task Force as a “secret cabal of Washington policy ‘wonks’” that has engaged in “choking off information” from the public regarding health care reform. The memorandum suggests that Hillary Clinton “use classic opposition research” to attack those who were excluded by the Clinton Administration from Task Force deliberations and to “expose lifestyles, tactics and motives of lobbyists” in order to deflect criticism.

  Rockefeller had allies in mind for this effort:

     

Senator Rockefeller also suggested news organizations “are anxious and willing to receive guidance [from the Clinton Administration] on how to time and shape their [news] coverage.”

  Wow. Media Matters should contact Rockefeller to disabuse him of the myth of the liberal-biased press!

Can you imagine what would happen if a Republican Senator was quoted as saying that certain members of the media stood willing and able to provide propaganda support for a certain conservative policy?  The media would go nuts.  There would be demands to know the identity of these would-be propagandists, and the witch hunt that would ensue among the Washington journalism rank-and-file would make what happened in Salem look like a traffic citation hearing.

So what has the reaction been now that a Democrat Senator has been quoted as such?  Nothing, despite the fact that this story broke four days ago and involves a woman currently running for President.  Which probably means that the media elites who stood at ready to shill for the Clintons back in the 1990’s are probably the same ones who won’t give this story any play today.