The Silence Of The Rodham, The Unfree Press

Some of my friends and I are wondering at the utter silence of Hillary Clinton since Gov. Palin’s introduction last Friday. Aside from her generic “we should all be proud” statement, Mrs. Clinton has been pretty mum, and my friends and I have been wondering about it, in a “so much for sisterhood” sort of way.

You’d think Hillary – a “lifelong advocate for women and children” – would be stepping up, mildly, even, to ask her Angry Left friends to at least pretend – give a little lip service – to the long-standing idea that women and their choices, and their children were sort of, you know…to be respected, a little? Where is Hillary? We don’t know.

BUT…the National Enquirer, which if I remember rightly is published by a FOB/FOH, is going to try to pimp Troopergate into “the scandal that will rock America”. I’m thinking Hillary is quite aware that no less a leftie smarty than Camille Paglia heard Gov. Palin speak last Friday and then enthused:

“We may be seeing the first woman president. As a Democrat, I am reeling…That was the best political speech I have ever seen delivered by an American woman politician. Palin is as tough as nails.” [emphasis mine – admin]

Kinda can’t help thinking that Mrs. Clinton does not want to have to deal with Gov. Palin in 2012, especially if she is Vice-President Palin.

And I’m sure Hillary does not want the “first female president” mantle on any shoulders but her own. So, Gov. Sarah Palin must be destroyed, by whatever means necessary.

Speaking of the press, one of my readers, noting that several major networks did not bother broadcasting Fred Thompson’s really excellent convention speech on Tuesday, sent this to me:

“…Liberty lives only when the press is free and unencumbered – when it is detached from events instead of entwined in them…”

The emailer said liberty can also only live when the free press is open instead of closed, and committed to presenting, not to editing and hiding. I agree. As to the quote, I thought it sounded familiar; turns out I wrote it.

The Editors at NRO, not writing specifically about Clinton, nevertheless say:

This shameful but predictable media performance stands in marked contrast to the rigorous “hands-off” privacy policy dutifully honored by the press throughout the Clinton years for the president’s then-teenage daughter, Chelsea. Indeed earlier this year, though Miss Clinton was now well into her twenties and an impressively poised surrogate for her mother’s campaign, NBC News suspended reporter David Shuster for asserting that Sen. Clinton’s campaign was “pimping” her daughter — a classless formulation, to be sure. But where’s the hyper-sensitivity about a candidate’s child now?

When Al Gore’s son was arrested on narcotics and speeding charges in 2007, moreover, the national press was a model of sympathetic restraint. The muted coverage was devoid of calls for a national “teaching moment” on drug abuse or responsible driving. The message was plain and correct: No news here, move along.

One also recalls that during Mrs. Clinton’s campaign, the press was told to stay away from Chelsea and not to burden her with requests for interviews, and the press complied. Chelsea, poised and quite lovely and capable-seeming, is still given the sort of kid-glove treatment reserved for royals, while Gov. Palin’s pregnant 17 year old daughter is to be hounded and held up to national ridicule and scorn.

And for what? For politics.

It is shameful, shameful stuff. Are they thinking at all of the fact that she is pregnant and they’re putting absurd pressure on her, because they must…because her mother must be made to go home?

I keep wondering what Tim Russert would say if he were alive. Or Tony Snow. Or Mike Kelly. I can’t think any of those men would be looking kindly on what the press has been doing, in these 144 hours of the Palin family’s national exposure. I can’t help wondering why Russert’s colleagues, so desolate at his death, do not try to honor his memory and his professionalism by doing better, fairer, calmer, work – with a touch of humanity left to it.

It’s so tiring, you almost don’t want to bother saying it. But we have to keep pointing it out, this mad descent of the press, and not grow weary or complacent. The only way to keep the press honest is to keep it accountable; that is our responsibility – yours and mine – a free press is an unencumbered, detached, open and honest press. And we must have it; we must insist that our press be free – unaligned with any cause or movement – because a free press is the hardy spine of liberty.

Our hardy spine, burdened by the demands of corporate interests, excessive attachment to distinct agendas and heavy competition from all sorts of media, is bending and crooking. It is not, at present, healthy, straight and strong. There is cause for concern.

MSNBC – The We’re Sorry Network

The Silence of the Rodham, the Unfree Press