"The Daily Show" Reports From "Anti-Hillary HQ" To Explain Press Bias

Last night on "The Daily Show," Samantha Bee satirized the media's grand "plan" to destroy the candidacy of Hillary Clinton. "We're at debate 20, and I think everyone here is a bit disappointed that it took Senator Clinton this long to catch on to our plan," Bee said, reporting from "the media's Anti-Hillary War Room in the Paula Jones Conference Center."

Bee explained to Stewart that Clinton is not being paranoid and that the press is, in fact, "out to get her," referring to two moments from Tuesday night's debate — one in which they accidentally cut to video of Clinton when they introduced it as an unflattering clip of Obama, the other when moderator Brian Williams did not let Clinton speak after Obama, insisting the need to go to commercial and explaining, "Television doesn't stop."

Watch:

Comments

[trailrunner9]

I know this will probably fall on deaf ears, but everyone ought to be alarmed about the media's hand in interjecting themselves into forming public opinion all the while claiming neutrality and objectivity. We were mislead as a nation into Iraq because of those tactics and they have increasing become propagandists and anything but ethical and objective, this site included. I encourage all to step back and combat the takeover of our free press. Without a free, unbiased press, we will cease to be a Democracy. I know it's a hard thing to do when things are going your way, but believe me, they won't always and the objective is not worth the abolishment of our principles as a society. We can figure out things for ourselves if a free press provides us the information and not the indoctrination.

[hopefulidealist]

Trailrunner9

You are right on the money, I couldnt have said it better! The media is outrageous these days. I cant remember the last time I read an objective, unbiased article especially regarding poiltics. My disappointment grows daily, especially of the HuffPost !!!!!!!!!!!! I used to come here daily in excitement to read the posts. Now, when I do if I do, I just feel jaded and dirty. HuffPost has stooped to MSM level and lost alot of credibility with me!

[democratICnpround]

To all three previous writers, I share your thoughts, feelings and frustrations pertaining to the "uneven" coverage between HRC and BHO. I am an HRC support (NOT a BHO hater !) and am both concerned and amused when I watch this bias in action and listen to the perpetrators applaud themselves while blasting the "other" stations for their faults. I believe that the HRC campaign is doomed to fail and consider that a loss. I will be watching / reading with great interest the BHO camp reaction when these same pundits and talking heads now lifting him upward show their true colors and turn on them to give John McCain the hero treatment and push him into the White House. I tell you this now, it will take ALL HRC and BHO camps united to prevent that disaster from taking place.

[malisam]

I used to come here daily and today I just happened to come back here to A) I was checking my favs and this is in it and B) I wanted to see what Anti-Hillary crap they had today. I was not disappointed. I am sick of the press and Arianna. I just wonder if Arianna wanted to be the BJ girl for Bill Clinton. Her hostilities towards the Clintons are not normal. I would really like to know the history of what the Clintons did to her or I guess could be what they didn't do to her that has made her this way.

[BlackHawkDown]

I have to agree. I used to make HuffPost my first stop each day. Now I barely visit. It seems where there is "success" it oftentimes leads to bias. I used to feel that the blogosphere was going to be the saving grace- I am not too sure about that anymore.

[lillianjane]

Me too! It's so depressing--like a bad relationship that you stay in out of habit, remembering when...

[sideways74]

I also agree. Attacking the media coverage should not equate to hating Senator Obama or hating Senator Clinton. People are concerned about the quality of reporting. CNN and MSNBC literally interview other reporters all day. What a joke. All reporting seems so defensive and lacks any balance.

[AMERIKA]

Clinton is a whiner

[ObamaEdwards]

Funny! Williams only had to cut her off because she would not shut up. Every time she moved her head, the words came spewing out. Let's hope she has the dignity and good sense to quit after Tuesday. She would still be great in a cabinet position--if she doesn't drag this out with the super delegates and the paranoid accusations, hurting her credibility even further.

Did you see her on the news yesterday, saying it's time to "stop whining" and get to work? Man, she has got to get out of that Rove way of thinking: Accuse your opponent of doing what you do. This sneaky style only works when people can't SEE what you're doing. We watch Clinton whining her way through the last four debates, then she says, "Stop whining." It looks like she's talking to herself. Weird.

[wyorange]

"Funny! Williams only had to cut her off because she would not shut up. "

Funny you would say that about Hillary. As I was thinking the same thing about Sen. Obama. He seems to go on forever instead of getting to the point. I got to thinking he was just trying to impress the viewing audience with his knowledge of how many words he knows.

[EBennett]

If Obama wins (and I don't think he will), I hope Senator Clinton has the good sense to steer clear of his administration. At best he will be a one-term President. The question really is whether he will be weaker than Carter.

[shinybear]

Keeping up my list of people and things you have to hate, mock and openly diregard in order to live in Clinton world:

The black vote, medium and small states, white men, women under 65, John Kerry, Ted Kennedy, Caroline Kennedy, Oprah, Maria Shriver, Michael Moore, Jesse Jackson, Frank Rich, Susan Sarandon, caucuses, fairy tales, public speaking skills, The New York Times, MSNBC, CNN, all "media" and hope.

The "in" list as of this week consists of: SNL, Gloria Steinem and Dunkin' Donuts.

[lillianjane]

This is absurd. Why would you assume that disagreeing with someone means one has to hate, mock, or disregard them? Or, if your comments are about Clinton herself, why would you assume that she hates, mocks or disregards them?
And why is the opinion of Oprah more important than mine? Or Michael Moore? And hey, wait, I am a woman under 65 and I support Clinton--am I self-loathing? Or does Clinton hate me?
I am really confused by your remarks.

MSNBC is worthy of mocking by anyone, by the way.

[uberlefty]

What did Hillary expect when she made an issue of MSNBC having the nerve to question her daughters roll in her campaign. She pushed to have a journalist fired for the use of a contemporary slang term. Did they think they were going to control the message through intimidation? How Putinesque. The only person to blame for Hillarys failure is Hillary. If she cant manage her image as a candidate how will she manage it as the President. What we are seeing is Hillarys true combative nature. Rather than skillfully managing the media to get her message out she chooses to indulge her baser instincts and fight. Imagine her with congress or Iran.

[EBennett]

She asked for an apology when a reporter called her daughter a prostitute. Do you have children? How would you like someone to say that about your child.

By the way Shuster is a reporter not a commentator. I don't really understand why is is allowed to give opinions.

[PJay]

I found it interesting that when Jon showed the clip of Hillary pointing out about the first question going to her, the SnL reference about the pillow was edited out.
Maybe now she can plug the Daily Show too.

[PJay]

Type your comment here.

[PadrePio]

If Obama gets the nomination the press will be forced to decide between the two current media darlings, John McCain or Barack Obama. Who do you think the Washington DC chattering class will chose? If David Brooks and Charles Krauthammer are any indication Obama is in for a rough time. After all there can't be two media darlings in a Presidential race.

[oscarp]

I am sitting here, waiting until - unfortunately - Hillary might be out of sight, to see when the press gets bored, and turn to Obama, that's when the fun will start!!! And then his campaign will start complain about being biased and blah blah blah. Well, nice, what goes around comes around. They have been enjoying a free pass for quite a time now, but be aware, nothing lasts forever. Next week will be crucial, when the skeletons start to open closets... but at that moment it will be too late, you will have eliminated the only candidate that would help us go forward

[misterbone]

The press has had Hillary on respirators, just to keep from being bored. This race should have been over two weeks ago, but now the press is talking up Pennsylvania.

[KPinSEA]

Got a good laugh out of this bit, great finish with Samantha Bee saying that she only enjoys kicking over a sandcastle at the very last minute.

TDS loves to poke fun at the media being as dumb as it is today, and at politicians puffing up with self-importance and transparent B.S. This campaign is gold for them Jerry ... GOLD!

[rh654]

If Obama had lost the last 11 elections to Clinton - was behind in the popular vote and the electoral vote everyone would be pushing Obama out the door and telling him to give it up.

It is truly astounding how Hillary went from where she was six months ago to where she is now - it is almost unbelievable.

[lunadove]

Yeah, we all know it isn't her fault though. She was supposed to win, and the media completely ruined it for her.
Why is everyone so bent on blaming everyone but Hillary?
She got planty more air time than my man Kucinich. Is this really a conspiracy? Or is Obama just pretty damn good at running one hell of a campaign? Hillary has had much more experience on the campaign trail as Obama. Hmmmm......
Again, I don't hate her, I think she'd be better than McCain, but SHE VOTED FOR THE WAR!!!!
I know that many look past it, but I have a real hard time with that. Maybe, just maybe, other thoughtful voters feel the same way. Maybe, just maybe, it was her own undoing.
There was another way, the Levin ammendment. She knew what she was getting herself into.
All those senators who voted for war did.

[swanky]

It's totally believable. She got sandbagged by the Kennedy's. Obama is nothing more than their puppet. He's Teddy and John Kerry's last hope of getting a seat at the table. And since the MSM never has a bad thing to say about the Kennedy's, You can believe they're not going to start now. What still cracks me up is that the holier-than-thou attitude of Obama's campaign, perpetuating the myth of its own destiny, can't win where it counts. He'll get absolutely slaughtered in the general election.

[EBennett]

How about that? How does Obama get away with all this "candidate of change" stuff when he has Teddy on his team. Kennedy is the democratic establishment.

[EBennett]

I'll let go if you learn to proofread. Do we have a deal?

[Strywever]

She's failing because she assumed she was a shoo-in for the nomination, and didn't bother to prepare for the risk that she wouldn't win on Super Tuesday. That willingness to assume future events to the point that she doesn't even prepare for a different possibility is *not* a strong recommendation for the presidency! After all, haven't we seen the results of a similar lack of preparation in Iraq over the last several years?

[TadAllagash]

Whatever advantage Obama enjoys in the "mainstream media" is being trumped by the cynicism of the "sketch-stream media."

Thank God the writers ended their strike. What would we have done without them.

I have long suggested that it was actually a good thing that The Daily Show and SNL and other shows were off the air while we were picking a nominee.

It made us, the electorate, less cynical and more wiling to hope.

[SKayum]

We were like Lear without his fool.

[VicPerry]

The humorless always find their reasons why it would be good if everyone else were humorless, too. The rest of us just make fun of them.

[fun2bfree]

Hillary LIED in the debate about release of her tax records...How much has the press played that story. How much are they pressing for an explanation why she LIED about releasing her taxes? They are going easy on her and you are hearing this whole media BIAS story in the MEDIA as a way to prop up her failed candidacy--not because they hate Obama or are racist---but because they want this to go on and on and on to the convention. It is all about ratings....

[cae]

I posted this under another story last night:

I have a theory about Chris Matthews, whom I do believe has had it in for Hillary. I believe it could be because of his own wife, who I saw on Hardball once when she was co-hosting. She's a journalist in the DC area, and he referred to her a few times as "Queen Kathleen" and she looked a little stern IMHO. He also mentioned a few of her criticisms of him. Anyway, she wasn't exactly cheery, and and I wonder if he's taking out his anger/displeasure with her on Hillary. Someone who's being emasculated at home and it comes out on someone else, i.e., Hillary. Anyway, a theory I have.

[junglejane]

I think that Tucker Carlson and Willie Geist especially must have issues at home to make the kind of comments they make about women.

[zull2]

It's pretty obvious to most why the media is biased against Clinton. When you kick someone in the shins enough times, they're probably not going to be your friends anymore. The Clinton campaign, at the first whiff that Obama might be picking up steam, painted the media as their enemy.

Since that time, every single time someone in the media "dares" to take Obama's side (even if they do it in a gracious manner that doesn't insult Clinton), that person then can expect a flood of incredibly obnoxious emails and calls denouncing them as "sexist", attacking the person's personal background, attempts to raise issues without any fact checking references...it goes on and on.

And Hillary Clinton wonders why the media likes Obama more than them. Obama didn't point at the media and say "those guys are our enemy". So far, his campaign used any negative attacks the media has made against him into efforts to motivate fundraising. Instead of having legions of angry people storming down the gates, he's taken those people's energy and focused it into supporting his campaign and allowing him to get the facts out. Wonder why, all of a sudden, left wing radio pundits and even the TV talking heads are suddenly talking up his specifics...when only a month ago, they'd constantly say "why does everyone like this guy?" and that everpresent little ignorant falsehood "his campaign is devoid of specifics!" Now, they "suddenly know" what the specifics are. It's in part because their favorite dropped out and they finally took a look at what was left, and in part because the campaign was able to get the message out persuasively (instead of angrily).

[maggipost]

When someone in the media describes Obama supporters as castratos or eunuchs (as Chris Matthews described Sen Bob Kerrey, among other Hillary supporters), or talks about the thrill that runs up his leg when he hears Hillary, perhaps the Obama campaign will have grounds for complaint.
The gloating and chortling that accompanied HRC's anticipated demise in New Hampshire, the numerous comments about the so-called Bradley effect, the disdain with which various reporters spoke about HRC's support among elderly downscale white women ... had the media spoken of Sen Obama's supporters in similar fashion, there would be hell to pay.