- Some very good sleight of hand by the press.
While the rest of the country has been preoccupied by the GOP follies on television, there has been relatively little said about the Democratic race, and I believe this to be by design.
On the one hand we have Senator Bernie Sanders who is an admitted Socialist popular with young people and the remnants of the Occupy Wall Street movement. On the other hand we have Secretary Hillary Clinton who is leading in the delegate count, yet possesses a low "trustworthiness" rating by the American public, including her own party. For example, a recent Quinnipiac Poll shows 67% of voters do not find Mrs. Clinton "honest and trustworthy," that includes 74% of Independent voters.
It is rather ironic the Democrats are willing to elevate someone to the highest office in the land, yet do not trust her. Couple this with her other scurrilous affairs over the years, and a blank track record for accomplishments in office, and you have a flawed character easily prone to attack. Mrs. Clinton tends to laugh such accusations away and blames conservatives for the attacks, but sadly, nobody else is laughing.
In the popular political book, "This Town," by Mark Leibovich of "The New York Times Magazine," the author confirms the incestuous relationship between the media and the Clintons who are treated as American royalty. Government officials, journalists, and lobbyists, all scratch each other's backs in order to climb their respective totem polls and grab as much money as possible along the way. He paints a picture of unadulterated collusion and makes it clear Washington exists not to solve the problems of the country but to line the pockets of the residents there. From this perspective, we shouldn’t be surprised how widespread the problem really is. Whether you are a government official, lobbyist, or a member of the press, it's about making money and control of the system. This is why Mrs. Clinton is staunchly defended by the press; she get's it.
So the challenge becomes how to distract the public away from Hillary's foibles. The answer is rather obvious, create a diversion by focusing on the rivalry of the Republicans. By doing so, not only does the public overlook Mrs. Clinton's indiscretions, it causes a serious rift in the GOP. Frankly, this "divide and conquer" strategy offers a brilliant win-win scenario.
Added to this is a take-down of businessman Donald Trump who is the one person, an outsider, who could potentially disrupt the system in Washington. We have already seen the media pull out the stops to knockout Mr. Trump, such as creating misinformation about his Trump University, his bankruptcies, and any other trivialities designed to assassinate his character. Remarkably, he keeps winning in spite of all this.
The biggest fear of the media and the Democrats is that Mr. Trump might very well become the Republican candidate and would dice up Mrs. Clinton in a debate.
So, if you have heard little about Mrs. Clinton's problems, you can thank the media for defending her.
If you are a conspiracy theorist, you've got to love the 2016 presidential election.
Also published with News Talk Florida.
Note: All trademarks both marked and unmarked belong to their respective companies.
Tim Bryce is a writer and the Managing Director of M&JB Investment Company (M&JB) of Palm Harbor, Florida and has over 30 years of experience in the management consulting field. He can be reached at timb001@phmainstreet.com
For Tim's columns, see: timbryce.com
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Copyright © 2016 by Tim Bryce. All rights reserved.
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