US News and World Report was a favorite read of mine going back almost 40 years. I first discovered USNWR when going through the Readers Guide to Periodical Literature while doing some research for a current events paper while in Jr High. I loved it. And, when I could afford it, I became a subscriber. It was probably the last news magazine subscription that I let expire a few years back. I just never read it any more. By the time it came in, the stories were cold, and the opinions, sadly, predictable.
I still read occasional posts that show up on some of the internet forums that I frequent, like this one from Bonnie Erbe which takes aim at fast-rising Mike Huckabee.
Erbe recycles a couple of stories that have made the rounds over the past few months, and breathlessly asks…
Destroying records? Misusing mansion funds? Helping a convicted rapist? Would Clinton still be a viable candidate if she faced such stories? Would Rudy Giuliani? Methinks not.
Oh, please.
Erbe, who claims to have covered Washington politics since God was a baby should be aware of at least some of Hillary Rodham Clinton’s numerous “stories.” There are so many. Story after story during the Clinton Administration, as well as the “Greatest Campaign Finance Scandal in American History” from HRC’s first run for the Senate. Maybe Erbe was out of pocket when Norman Hsu’s dirty money somehow made its way to HRC’s campaign war chest. Perhaps the Chinese dishwasher money or the Milberg Weiss money that also made its way to Hillary’s campaign is just the product of Republican lies, like Ms Erbe told Linda Chavez,
“I expect insecure people and especially conservatives to lie and play games.”
I expect very little from PBSers and progressive journalists like Ms Erbe, and they seldom fail to meet my expectations. Why is it that people like Erbe seem to fit the stereotype of the burned out hippie who substitutes nasty cynicism for journalistic judgement? This quote taken from her Scripps-Howard column as it appeared in the Denver Rocky Mountain News:
“I have a confession to make: More than 25 years ago I used an illegal narcotic. I’m not running for President, nor any political office for that matter. And the statute of limitations has surely run out on my transgression. So it’s safe to come clean. I won’t make you guess about which drug it was. It was heroin. And here come the gory details. I snorted it — no, I didn’t inject it. I was caught up in the drug culture of the late ‘60s and early ‘70s, which I state as a reason, not an excuse. And, oh yes, prior to trying heroin I smoked a lot of different types of marijuana and hashish (yes, inhaling all the time) and took a wide variety of hallucinogens: mescaline, LSD, you name it. Well, I not only survived that stupor, I excelled at high school studies and extracurricular activities during it.”
I do hope the Clinton campaign is “salivating”, as Ms Erbe suggests, at the prospect of facing Huckabee in the general election. It will be more than interesting. And, as I mentioned in yesterday’s column, it will be vicious…
Long stymied by their self-imposed quagmire of Dixiephobia, the over-the-top rhetoric from the Left, and wildly exaggerated claims of “theocracy” serve only to unite Southern Christians. Left-wing interest groups frame their criticism around their pet issues, but these early attacks signal a growing fear of the potential generational loss of Judiciary favor. Their fear will serve to drive a form of rhetorical arson in the general election that will make the current anti-war silliness look tame by comparison.
And, just in case Ms Erbe needs a few links to jog her memory on some of the Hillary “stories”, here are a few that I’ve gathered under the category heading “Truth-boating.” Enjoy.
Sources for this article: USNWR, Hillcap.org, and special thanks to: Media Research Center.
Update: Hey Erbe—-guess what, it made the Times, so it’s officially a story now, right?
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