“We grade Donald Trump on a curve. If he does not drool, we call him presidential.”
-Eugene Robinson,
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist
We used to have some appearance of decorum in American politics. We actually used to get things done in Washington and in state houses across our country. But over the past two decades, Republicans figured out that they don’t really have a positive course to governing, so they adopted a crash and burn approach of making things up and seeing what sticks … especially when it comes to Hillary Clinton.
A quick Google search of Republican-pushed fantasies over two decades of attacking Clinton include:
She once invested in commodities futures on the advice of a friend and made $100,000, proving she’s a crook.
She once invested in real estate on the advice of another friend and lost $100,000, also proving she’s a crook.
Unnamed and unverifiable sources have told Peggy Noonan things about the Clintons that are simply too terrible to repeat.
The personnel murdered at Benghazi make her the first secretary of state to lose overseas personnel to terrorism (forgetting Condi Rice, Colin Powell, Madeleine Albright, George Shultz, Dean Rusk and some others).
This list of falsehoods could go on and on. Again, keep in mind that all have been disproved. A more complete list of the debunked conspiracies may be found at http://www.marketwatch.com/story/all-the-terrible-things-hillary-clinton-has-done-in-one-big-list-2016-02-04
Then there are the interviews. Nearly all begin with some version of: “You clearly have a trust issue. Why do you believe that people think you are dishonest?”
It is a no brainer that if you keep asking someone why no one trusts them, suddenly no one trusts them. It is also pretty easy to wrap sexism around the bile-regurgitated package and just magnify the effect.
Instead of writing about policies, programs or plans, the press call people to ask them what they think about rumors and how they feel about perceptions. These are not stories. This is not journalism. Those driving such drivel actually reinforce the false perceptions by treating them as facts.There are polls about polls, perceptions about feelings, and optics versus facts.
A new report released by the Harvard Kennedy School’s Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics, and Public Policy found Clinton has received far more negative coverage than any other candidate in the race thus far. The study was based on an analysis of news statements from CBS, Fox, the Los Angeles Times, NBC, the New York Times, USA Today, the Wall Street Journal, and the Washington Post.
The findings indicated Clinton received nearly double the negative coverage of other candidates. The study reflects the facts of the unbalanced coverage just during this active race. It doesn’t even go back to the three decades of coverage that paved the way. The decades of stories about the fabricated distrust have actually created distrust. Not one of the reasons written about as the source of distrust has ever been real, but the presence of the stories and the constant drip of the questions have created the illusion. These are optics created by the stories themselves.
What this illustrates is that the press ate it up and spit it out for voters to consume. In spite of all the “stories”—about Hillary’s supposed dishonesty, her hair, her clothes, her husband’s affairs, what she eats, who her friends are, her alleged murders, her alleged pay-to-play, her emails, and so many other hit pieces—she can and should win the election and, with your support, will be one of our nation’s greatest presidents.
It shouldn’t be this hard against a neo-Nazi who has degraded the reputation of American politics around the world. This scam artist is clearly the beneficiary of a media double standard in the race. The myths confused with reality that are packaged in misogyny and kept alive by the press have made it politically correct to hate Hillary and have fueled the frightening possibility of a Trump presidency.
And still she will rise.
You can make a positive difference by taking a bus to Reno. How? Every Saturday there is a bus to Reno for Hillary. It leaves at early dawn and those of us who take the journey spend the day registering voters or canvassing to draw support for Clinton. Getting a little dose of the reality of the voting in the rest of the world gets me off my butt and into action.
During past weekends, our travels took us to a rib festival where we cajoled with proud NRA members and got plenty of stink eye from some drunken Trump supporters. On another weekend we mingled with motorcycle gangs while deflecting sexist comments. We occasionally find an anxious Clinton supporter: nervous not to be seen, but who is wanting to register. These are brave folks. There are also plenty of eager new voters who are just waiting for someone to come register them.
As complacent as we can feel about the election here in California, where this race is really being run is in Nevada, Ohio, Wisconsin and Florida—that is to say, in the swing states around the country. An interesting observation is that in almost every state at play, the pro-Clinton efforts are being led or assisted by activists and organizers from California. What we do here therefore makes a huge difference.
Many working on the ground in San Francisco in the primary got hired by the campaign to go work in these swing states. That is why it remains so important for us to play our parts here: to join in making calls into swing states every day of the week at our HQ and in every neighborhood, or to join us on Saturdays driving to Reno and making a difference in this election.
As I have been working with amazing, passionate, committed Americans over the past few months, I am re-inspired on a daily basis to make sure the woman who moves us to do these crazy 18-hour bus trips, and make hundreds of calls each and every day is elected president. Our country needs her.
If your entitlement lets you believe that you are standing on principal by continuing the Republican litany and attacks against the most qualified candidate for president ever then you, my ex-friend, are as big a part of the problem as Trump is.
I am so with her because she is so with us. Join us. As a start, go to www.hillaryclinton.com/events and enter your zip code.
Debra Walker is a Commissioner for the City and County of San Francisco Building Inspection Commission. A past president of the Commission, the Harvey Milk LGBT Democratic Club and the San Francisco Arts Democratic Club, Walker is also an internationally recognized painter and printmaker. For more information: http://www.debrawalker.com/
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