MSNBC Opens The Door On Hillary's Participation In The Family

Shortly before 2 p.m. Eastern today, Andrea Mitchell interviewed Joshua Green of The Atlantic regarding Hillary Clinton's participation in The Fellowship (a/k/a The Family). You can read my opinion of Hillary's participation in this organization (including links to background articles in Harpers in early 2003 and Mother Jones in late 2007) in my earlier post on this subject.

I am posting this follow up to acknowledge MSNBC for cracking open the door on this vastly under-reported subject and Joshua Green for his new reporting on the subject in The Atlantic. Here's how his report ends...

In my piece, I chose to focus on the Senate prayer group, but others have written extensively about the strangeness and secrecy of The Fellowship. As this Los Angeles Times story and this exquisitely reported Harper's piece make clear, there is something deeply strange about the group. They certainly do not like press coverage, so in that regard Clinton's attraction might make sense. Reporters hoping to look into the group might want to think again. A few years ago, The Fellowship's archives, which are held at Wheaton College, the evangelical school in Illinois, were reclassified as "restricted" and placed under lock and key.

You can watch his interview with Andrea Mitchell below. The most telling point for me was when Andrea said "... clearly she is involved in a religious organization that is much more right wing that she (pause) claims to be."

Yes, Andrea, who Hillary claims to be just may not be who she really is. The answer to this question "Who is Hillary and what does she want?" is not clear to many of us. We know she has embellished her claims of foreign policy experience while First Lady. But inflating what you tell us you have done is not the same as keeping secret what it is that you have actually done... or are thinking of doing with your right wing "Family" connections if you become President of the United States.

I hope Andrea Mitchell and her fellow reporters at the other networks will work hard to help us all learn what The Family is and why Hillary is so involved in this group.

UPDATE: There appears to be a problem with the YouTube video. I will attempt to fix this later tonight after I get back on line. Sorry I cannot do this sooner. Perhaps YouTube did not like that I had captured something from MSNBC... not sure. You can always go to MSNBC.com and see if it's there as well.

UPDATE: Late Wednesday night - I am now using Photobucket to host the video. I hope it stays up there for a while. It's working now (12:10am Eastern) but you may need to refresh your browser to get rid of the YouTube data from the previous version of this post.

UPDATE: Thursday morning - I'm switching back to YouTube in the hopes that this video will get a wider audience. I checked and it's working now.

Comments

[1dogs2]

I'm afraid that this very important story will never grow the kind of legs that the Wright flap did, at least not among the television MSM, which is unfortunately where most of America gets whatever news it consumes. It is unlikely that there are any 10-30-second snippets that illustrate the nature of this cult. The television MSM couldn't even follow and accurately sort out the "wink-and-a-nod to the Canadians on NAFTA" flap; how are they going to report a story as complex as the implications of the Family's secrecy, connections and goals? How are they going to tie Clinton's participation in a little bi-partisan prayer cell to the creepiness of the larger organization?

[doubleplusgood]

Good for you Stephen (and others) for bringing this nonsense to light. I guess if this cabal are really the Mason/ Club of Rome/ New World Order wannabees they appear to be, their exposure should result in the evaporation of Hillary's candidacy post haste! I generally take my conspiracy theories with a bag of salt, but there's just something downright unnerving about a global group of the connected and powerful taking pledges of secrecy to get more connected and more powerful. It certainly seems though at a minimum, they have an 'Elite Overwatching the Masses' philosophy as pretty central.. not really something you'd expect from a Democrat in an alleged Democracy.

[lbrillante]

Thanks for getting the video back up... I could not find it on you tube. I wanted to point it out to moveon'org. Does anyone know how to find it? I think people should get this infomation before any further primaries take place. The book does not come out until May...
I wonder if now and other women's organizations would feel so good about supporting Hillary if they new about this....?

[lbrillante]

If the blogosphere and radio and other media keep bringing this story out eventually it might get out there. Maybe someone could interview some of these people and make a video just for You Tube... if they find a way to mess with it just post it again etc.
It is very disturbing in the first place but moreso that the video is already gone....

I already don't trust Hillary and don't put cheating past her..
But now I am actually genuinely concerned about this and really don't want Hillary in charge of our country.

[Desiderata]

If Hillary Clinton is a member of this "Family", according to the Harper's article she, being a woman, would have left the room whenever the men talked politics.

Has anybody noticed that Clinton has been mostly cordial if not downright defferential when in the same debate room with Obama__protesting then immediately shrinking from a confrontation? Only when at rallies where mostly women surround her and are a majority of those seated in the first few rows does she feel comfortable enough to attack her opponent.

For all her talk about being ready to be Commander-in-Chief on day one, she will always wilt to the advice of the most Alphamale in the room.

[Lis]

As I posted earlier, to Lisa Gans' post today, I find it very interesting that of all the politicians listed to be known as members, most were Republicans.

But one Senator and one Representative, listed, are both Democrats. One is from Michigan, the other from Florida.

Odd, no?

[LisaGans]

Steven, I was hopeful and excited when I saw your blog. It now seems that the MSNBC footage is not available on you tube. Any idea what happened? If we can get this back on a major network, let's try. (I think that Jeff Sharlet would be interested in sharing what he knows.)

[Steven G. Brant - Huffpost Blogger]

The video is back up. Sorry I couldn't fix this problem sooner.

[Violist]

Well that story has been killed swiftly. If you do a search on MSNBC.com for it, nothing comes up. There's no hope of fair and balanced reporting in the MSM.

[PistonMoaned]

What story? The Ministry of Truth has no record of it.

War is Peace

Freedom is Slavery

Ignorance is Strength

[Budsmind]

Very glad, Steven, for your keeping on this case. Andrea Mitchell, often indirect and understated, is at least willing to go beyond MSM oatmeal at times. A good deal of the Shuster-and-Olbermann chutzpah in her. She has been a top reporter SUCH a long time --and married to A. Greenspan-- how much must she know?!? Lou Dobbs has bullhorn and the guts if he took a mind, but he's narrow-gauge however loud. One occasionally sees the MSM take the "This-seems-like-a-cult" slant towards Scientology-- when The Cruise-celeb connection allows it onto radar. This Family seems like it would have a lot of cross-pollination with Bilderberg group and New World Order acolytes. Folks need to know what HRC would be up to if she somehow got the Great Gig.
Help keep this in the air!
Two Imaginations:
1) CAN YOU IMAGINE if OBAMA were the one hooked up with a a crypto-capitalist-christian cabal?? TVs would shatter in living rooms everywhere!
2) How about an alternate network--say George Soros bought one-- and brought over these folks and many more, say Amy Goodman, Bill Maher, maybe Anderson Cooper? --I'm sure there are a lot of smart, talented people who would take a paycut to report the broad-gauge truth. Must be very difficult to be MSMuzzled.

So Steve you Go Boy--and THANKS for what Keith Olbermann and Arianna Huffington have been able to do! To Your Health! And Our Hopes---

[bluevillage]

This needs a serious investigative reporter. One of the best early pieces I've seen is "HIllary's Prayer" (Sept. '07) which was posted later on Mother Jones.

http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2007/09/hillarys-prayer.html

[DemandTruth]

The Harpers article is a fascinating read. I think it stumbles on a few answers of who is the REAL power behind the powers that be. Two images came to mind when reading it. I'm not going to analyse them, I'm just going to put them out there:
1. Sparta
2. Lord of the Flies.

Sycophantic, narcissistic sociopaths playing at being god. Not just playing - they're winning. Spooky.

[Indepatriot]

Normally I deplore any unconstitutional "litmus test" regarding a candidate's personal religious beliefs, and as an Atheist I find any candidates posturing regarding faith degrading and insulting'. However, since Sen. Smear-n-Fear has opened this fetid can of worms, let's do have a look at this secretive little congregation she belongs to. Oops gotta go,I think I hear incoming sniper fire......

[Noelle]

A woman from Air America brought this up on Lou Dobbs yesterday near the end of the show. When Lou asked her to explain the "Family" and who it's members are she looked a little scared. A fellow panelist seemed to sense she was uncomfortable, acknowledged she was right about it and then changed the subject. I think there are some journalists that want to investigate this but seem affraid. I think this is a job for David Shuster. He seems pretty fearless.

[hopeless277]

Even now phones in media penthouses are ringing off the hook calling the faithful to defend 'The Fellowship' or 'The Foundation' or 'The Family'. I fear this will get nipped in the bud. It is up to the blogosphere to disseminate the truth about Hillary. I have nothing personal against the woman. I simply want a president who does not lie and is not affiliated with a far right religious group. Is that really too much to ask?

[BBackSoon]

Seems it might be too much to ask. Or at least too much to expect.

[daderay]

A president who doesn't lie. What a novel idea. We got a Bush largely because of Bill being caught in a lie. Of course, Bush has felt an undeniable right to lie to America in order to further his polilcies. Now, we are being subjected to 'honest' errrors characterized as "I misspoke". I can onlky interpret her actions and speech as 'I will do and say whatever is necessary to secure the position as President'. The question that comes to mind is, is there a sense of entitlement at work here? Or worse, is this speaking to a Bush-like sense of imperial power from the other side of the aisle? I am uncomfortable with either thought.

[Opus007]

Go David go- dig into this.
We will all pray to keep the Clinton kneecappers away from you.

MSNBC- this would be the perfect assignment for David Shuster.

[bluevillage]

Not Shuster. This needs a much more serious investigative journalist -- and more time than MSNBC is willing to give it. I sat up today when I saw that Andrea Mitchell today was going to address it, and was incredibly disappointed at how superficial it was. They didn't talk about anything. I was left thinking they just wanted to direct people to the Atlantic Monthly website. Also, Shuster is already "branded" as anti-Clinton over the "pimped out" flap and won't be taken as seriously. Someone below suggests Olbermann take it up. He should, in time, but it needs more work first. This isn't a short story.

[Rule Of Law]

Palast, Sirota???