Posted on 04/14/2015 2:30:35 PM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
I’ve spent much of my life observing and writing about media bias, so you’d think nothing could surprise me at this point. But the fawning, deferential coverage of Hillary Clinton really is amazing.
Hillary Clinton went to Chipotle yesterday. ABC described this as an “adventure” as Patrick notes below. An. Adventure.
No wonder she thinks she’s named after Sir Edmund Hillary, they’re both such bold risk takers, pushing the envelope.
On Morning Joe earlier, Mark Halperin offered a somewhat more serious analysis of Indiana Clinton and the Raiders of the Ohio Chipotle: “Her problem is not to prove to people that she’s ready for president . . . The two words she needs are ‘fun’ and ‘new.’ And part of why yesterday was so successful is, she looks like she’s having fun and she’s doing, for her, new stuff. We’ve never seen her get a burrito before.”
Good Lord, what are we in for? I mean there are a lot of things we’ve never seen Clinton do before. That doesn’t mean if she does them in front of cameras it will be exciting, politically savvy or, you know, news. “Hillary Clinton seen buying dental floss, news at 11:00!” “Report: Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is said to have put splenda in her Starbucks coffee.”
Now, to a certain extent, Halperin’s point has some merit. Hillary Clinton is uninspiring save to those who have an ideological fixation with electing a female president or are otherwise smitten with the Clintons. Being seen as fun and new would be a huge political win for Clinton because she needs to be more likable.
The problem with Halperin’s analysis is that it discounts the hugely important fact that he and his colleagues in the media are treating a trip to Chipotle as if it’s a really exciting, fun, and new thing — an adventure even. This is a gift, and Halperin & Co. don’t seem to want anything in return. Personally, I’d find it sexist and condescending to marvel at the fact an older lady can still figure out how to buy lunch, but apparently the rules say that only inconvenient or negative coverage of Hillary Clinton is sexist.
Of course, this whole road trip is a manufactured stunt (as most campaign “happenings” are). The press knows this. But even Chuck Todd is calling it a savvy bit of spontaneity. Maybe it would be unfair or premature to cover Hillary’s road trip with the sort of cynicism and skepticism I have for it, but it’s no less biased for the press to let their personal giddiness over her burrito trip color their analysis. The press is covering her Chipotle adventure so positively because they are having fun with it (or perhaps because they’re eager to curry favor with the Clinton communications shop).
I don’t expect the MSM to treat Hillary the way it treated another older, out-of-touch politician she’s being compared to a lot these days. The press, specifically the New York Times, fabricated a storyline when it savaged the first president Bush over his polite surprise at a checkout scanner at a trade show. But that does raise a worthwhile standard: at least tell the truth. That means explaining how carefully scripted this thing is. Or at least get the little facts right: she didn’t order a burrito, she ordered a burrito bowl. That means Halperin has something exciting to look forward to, because we’ve still never seen Hillary Clinton get a burrito.
Journalism edit rooms must CAUSE Alzheimers.....
They cannot remember much of anything...
UNLESS, it deals with a republican..
“..Being seen as fun and new would be a huge political win for Clinton because she needs to be more likable.”
The Clinton campaign will be ENTIRELY about showing her as SOMETHING SHE IS N-O-T. Likeable? Never. And is that a qualification to be President of the United States? Then why did we get Obama?
What a crock.
Bill would not want Hillary to do something
she’s not done in a long time.
What will we do if she ever goes to a cafeteria?
In a rational world, her decades of crime, cronyism, and corruption would have her hooted off the stage immediately.
Instead we have journ-0-lists cheering her to the finish line.
I’m gonna puke....
My wife is a couple of years younger than Hillary. Oh if only she is able to still be able to go into a fast food joint and order a meal when she reaches the decrepit age of Hillary. I’m surprised the staff didn’t marvel and say “Who is this spry old woman who is able to do this wonderous thing?”
They’re trying to make her a celebrity!
Everyone follows celebrities, don’t they?
Like Kim Kardashian.
Maybe Hillary can get a permanent, daily write-up/photo published in the Daily Mail.
How big is her butt?
Astonishing. The woman can do anything!
Politicians are at their very funniest when they pretend to be real people. "Kin Ah git me a huntin' lahcense heah?" out of John Effin' comes to mind. Media celebrities who do it are even funnier.
Hillary goes to restroom......film at eleven................
Her new kick is doing NEW stuff?
Kay, let her TELL THE TRUTH, for once in her life —that oughtta be a real wowzer.
Good to know that Monica’s ex-boyfriends wife went to Chipotle!
Does she have any other qualifications?
ROFL!
Stand back, she's gonna blow!
Not surprising. She prefers tacos.
Future Mt. Rushmore bust for sure. Very likely none of the four Presidents honored at Mt. Rushmore ever ate a burrito, so Hillary has surpassed them all even before taking office.
I don’t want to see the results hours later of Hillary and her adventure getting a burrito bowl..........
Are these people for real? The media I mean??? Its a thrilling adventure to go in a fast food place??? Really????
When you are creeping along at the lowest of low, there is only whale feces, Progressives and the MSM,
I always thought of here as a mountain Clymer.
There’s something very odd about this attempt at publicity.
If you’re campaigning, you walk around and say hello and shake hands. You don’t put on huge sunglasses and hope nobody recognizes you.
Driving to Iowa for her first campaign swing, Mrs. Clinton’s van — with two aides and Secret Service agents aboard — pulled into a Chipotle restaurant for lunch in Maumee, Ohio, a suburb of Toledo.
And no one recognized her.
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