Was going to comment on the report I saw yesterday morning on the Today Show on NBC concerning the Monica Lewinsky article in Vanity Fair.
In the report correspondent Peter Alexander told of her article and some of the comments in it concerning Hilary and Bill. His report included a clip of Lynne Cheney, delivered on Fox News naturally, speculating that the Clintons themselves were behind the publication of the story. You know to get it "behind them" so that by 2016 it was "old news". (As if something that happened almost 20 years ago and figured in an impeachment proceeding from 16 years ago isn't already old news).
Alexander came out of the Cheney clip with the phrase "true or not...".
"True or not?", I wondered incredulously. The more accurate statement from a reporter following the clip would have been "As crazy as that is". I thought here is everything wrong with traditional network news media today. Take an inflammatory wild-ass statement from someone with no particular credentials to be considered an expert, and incorporate in your newscast, and give it the weight of credibility with a tepid "true or not".
"Fair and balanced" and false equivalency trumping accuracy and sanity once again.
Funny thing is I went to the Today Show and NBC News sites to find the clip so I could link to it for this post and guess what? No Lynne Cheney. The Alexander clip on the Lewinsky story does not contain the Lynne Cheney opinions/speculations regarding the article and its timing. Instead we find a clip of Ron Fournier of the National Journal opining on how this hurts Hilary because it is not moving forward but dragging us all back into the past. No "true or not" response to the wild speculation from Ms. Cheney. Here is the current video of the report.
Apparently even the people at NBC News must have looked at their report and realized they were re-peddling batshit insanity on their network and making it seem that they themselves found it serious enough to air.
And in case you're curious here is a link to a Politico story about Ms. Cheney's musings that includes the clip from Fox News.
Good times. Good times.