Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton is apparently on a “winning” streak, and all it took was for her to make it through a congressional hearing and for a better-liked Democratic politician to announce that he wouldn’t run in 2016.
“Hillary Clinton is on a major roll,” the Washington Post declared this weekend.
The New York Times’ Charles M. Blow wrote of last week, “Hillary Clinton Wins Again.”
The Post explained in a separate article, “Why Hillary Clinton is winning.”
The spate of “winning” news for Clinton began last Wednesday with Vice President Joe Biden announcing to the surprise of many that he would not run for president in 2016.
“As the family and I have worked through the — the grieving process, I’ve said all along what I’ve said time and again to others: that it may very well be that that process, by the time we get through it, closes the window on mounting a realistic campaign for president. That it might close,” he said at a surprise address delivered from the White House Rose Garden, referring to the recent death of his son Beau Biden.
“I’ve concluded it has closed. I know from previous experience that there’s no timetable for this process. The process doesn’t respect or much care about things like filing deadlines or debates and primaries and caucuses,” he added.
The press wasted no time declaring his decision a “win” for Clinton.
“Joe Biden decides against presidential bid, a big boost to Hillary Clinton,” the Los Angeles Times reported.
Poynter added, “Joe Biden post-mortem: Clinton wins, media loses.”
National Journal said the vice president’s decision is a “gift to Hillary Clinton.”
The day after Biden made it clear he would not run, Clinton testified before the Select Committee on Benghazi, which has been tasked with investigating the events surrounding the Sept. 11, 2012, terrorist attacks on U.S. facilities in Benghazi, Libya.
The press declared she “won” that, too.
“The Daily 202: Eight reasons Hillary Clinton won the Benghazi hearing,” the Washington Post promised in a headline.
Slate reported, “Hillary Clinton Has Won the Benghazi Hearing.”
Time magazine added, “How Hillary Clinton Won the Benghazi Hearing.”
Taken together, the Benghazi hearing and Biden deciding against a White House run, it’s clear the last 10 days have been nothing but “win” for Clinton, the press explained repeatedly this weekend.
“Pundits on CNN and MSNBC repeated the ‘ten days’ line incessantly over the next day. MSNBC host Chuck Todd was particularly taken with the phrase, using it six times in one day on two different shows,” the Washington Free Beacon’s Blake Seitz reported.
Much of the press’s coverage this weekend for the Clinton campaign stands in sharp contrast to how it characterized her candidacy earlier this year, when reporters and pundits regularly suggested that her unfavorable polling numbers and ongoing email scandal could do real harm to her in the long run.
“Hillary Clinton has a huge problem because she does not tell the truth very, very often,” CNN contributor and former Washington Post reporter Carl Bernstein said earlier this month.
MSNBC’s Chuck Todd said in August of the scandal involving the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s criminal probe of Clinton’s use of a private email server when she worked at the State Department, “Look … [Clinton] is certainly, I think, appears more vulnerable than ever. I think the fact that you have the three letters here that made this email story here sort of go to another level of seriousness is FBI.”
That same month, CNN hosted a few panels addressing Clinton’s authenticity problem.
“Hillary Clinton has the negative numbers when it comes to being viewed as trustworthy,” CNN’s Nia-Malika Henderson remarked, noting a problem that has long dogged the Democratic presidential candidate. “She’s had problems with her campaign generating that enthusiasm and a sense of connection.”
“If you look at the internal poll numbers, they say people don’t think that Hillary Clinton represents or relates to people like them,” she added, suggesting that Clinton’s multi-million dollar ad buy will likely do little to create a connection with voters.
But now Clinton seems to be full of nothing but “win.”
