What do you call a television network that cribs its segments from a Republican National Committee campaign? Why, it's called Fox News, of course.
Two nights ago, as part of his effort to make the Brian Williams scandal about Hillary Clinton, Sean Hannity launched another attack on Clinton that he acknowledged came right from the RNC, asking, “Where is Hillary?” Hannity added, “I don’t think she wants to come out in the middle of the Brian Williams issue and talk about sniper fire, so she’s going to avoid the press but she hasn’t held a press conference – put it up on the screen – in 202 days.” The graphic is below.
Yesterday morning, Fox & Friends followed suit, albeit without crediting the RNC. From Media Matters:
“Where in the world is Hillary Clinton?” Fox & Friends co-host Elisabeth Hasselbeck asked Thursday. “It’s been 204 days since her last press conference and 186 days since her last interview,” and according to Hasselbeck, “Hillary seems to be in hiding.”
Hasselbeck’s report is ripped straight from a Republican National Committee (RNC) memo announcing its “Hillary’s Hiding” campaign. That campaign, launched two days before the Fox & Friends segment, purports to “keep asking, ‘Where’s Hillary?’” and focuses on the number of days since Clinton’s last press conference and interview. At no point did Hasselbeck credit the RNC for the concept that framed her segment.
Even more dizzying, the RNC may have gotten its campaign from Sean Hannity. From Media Matters again:
As Slate noted, the RNC’s campaign got “a rather large unpaid push from” right-wing media, which quickly adopted the campaign’s attacks. The conservative Drudge Report, Washington Free Beacon and Weekly Standard blog amplified the RNC attacks. Rush Limbaugh mimicked the attacks, while Fox News’ Sean Hannity even credited himself with inspiring the RNC’s ads.
So while it may be debatable whether Fox News was the chicken or the egg for this particular meme, what's beyond question is that the "fair and balanced" network is intertwined with the Republican Party.
You can watch the Fox & Friends clip and Hannity crediting himself on the radio, below, via Media Matters.
But, for the GOPers, their candidates—especially the ones who haven’t officially declared—have already been campaigning for most of the past year (the ones that are truly egregious made their presidential ambitions pretty evident while they were running for other offices in 2014).
Of course, if Hillary had been “campaigning” as frequently as the GOP clown car passengers, you can be sure FoxNoise and the RNC would be complaining about that (“she’s the only Democrat in the field right now, so why is she working so hard now?”).
Hey, Fox/RNC — there’s one other number you’re forgetting:
DAYS SINCE RESIGNATION AS US SECRETARY OF STATE: 742
As such, she’s under NO obligation to hold a press conference, interview, or visit IA or NH for any reason other than sightseeing.
Its called PRIVATE LIFE.
.