It was hidden in Politico's story on taxpayer money used by ex-presidents, in this case, Bill Clinton. And why? Because of the "Clinton Rules":
- Everything, no matter how ludicrous-sounding, is worthy of a full investigation by federal agencies, Congress, the "vast right-wing conspiracy," and mainstream media outlets.
- Every allegation, no matter how ludicrous, is believable until it can be proven completely and utterly false. And even then, it keeps a life of its own in the conservative media world.
- The media assumes that Clinton is acting in bad faith until there's hard evidence otherwise.
- Everything is newsworthy because the Clintons are the equivalent of America's royal family.
- Everything she does is fake and calculated for maximum political benefit.
Nearly 30 years of investigations, millions of dollars spent, hundreds of stories spawned, and the only illegality found was Bill lying about his affair with Monica Lewinsky.
Literally, this is what Politico found: Bill earns a stipend from taxpayers as do all previous presidents, and he used it to set up his foundation and his email server. Holy shit, Batman, there's nothing wrong!
Last week, AP put out an attack story supposedly showing illegal activities at the Clinton Foundation. (I would point to that original AP story, but for reasons listed in the paragraph below, it would be a futile exercise.) Vox and others pointed out that they not only got the story wrong but that there was nothing illegal about what the AP reported.
Then something interesting happened. The link to the original story was now sending people to a completely different story, titled, "Politicos spar over ethics surrounding Clinton Foundation". Subtly, the AP also modified their reports, removing certain portions from the original.
Fortunately, Archive.org allows us to compare the linked story from August 23 and August 31.
Isn't it amazing what passes for journalism in America?
Literally, this is what Politico found: Bill earns a stipend from taxpayers as do all previous presidents, and he used it to set up his foundation and his email server. Holy shit, Batman, there's nothing wrong!
Last week, AP put out an attack story supposedly showing illegal activities at the Clinton Foundation. (I would point to that original AP story, but for reasons listed in the paragraph below, it would be a futile exercise.) Vox and others pointed out that they not only got the story wrong but that there was nothing illegal about what the AP reported.
Then something interesting happened. The link to the original story was now sending people to a completely different story, titled, "Politicos spar over ethics surrounding Clinton Foundation". Subtly, the AP also modified their reports, removing certain portions from the original.
Fortunately, Archive.org allows us to compare the linked story from August 23 and August 31.
Isn't it amazing what passes for journalism in America?
No comments:
Post a Comment