Hillary's Holiday Halo
A year of reporting on
Monicagate wound down with more of the same strange themes -- for
example, that Hillary Clinton’s victimhood made her ever more admirable.
On the December 9 Today,
Katie Couric delivered an early Christmas gift to the Clintons: a chance
to appear on television together without tough questions and with
gushing praise for the First Lady. In a tour of the White House
decorations, Couric softly pressed the President for comment on the
House impeachment probe, but also noted: "Meanwhile, your wife looks
incredible...She spent a lot of time in New York last week going to many
events. And everywhere you [Hillary] went you got such an incredibly
positive response. That’s sort of an early Christmas gift. Are you
grateful or gratified by that display of affection that you really see
wherever you go now?"
Today Executive Producer
Jeff Zucker conceded in the December 10 USA Today, "it is
slightly awkward talking solely about how many wreaths and bells there
are at the White House when this (the impeachment inquiry) is going on.
It’s a fine line."
A December 28 CBS special,
The Ladies Home Journal Most Fascinating Women of ‘98, also praised
Hillary for standing by her man. CBS 60 Minutes reporter Lesley
Stahl handled the portion of the show on Mrs. Clinton: "Why were we so
riveted by her performance? Was it that we expected to see her crumble,
cry, agonize? And how do we explain her spike in popularity in the face
of her husband’s scandal? Part of it was surely sympathy, maybe even
pity, and she became more human, more vulnerable. There’s also something
appealing about her loyalty, her standing by her man, and the dignity
with which she has comported herself. We are all grateful for grace in
the midst of disgrace."
Stahl didn’t address the
"dignity" with which she went on Today in January and lied about
how the allegations about Lewinsky were false and then maligned
conservatives as being part of a vast right-wing conspiracy, a charge
she has never had the "grace" to withdraw.
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