On Sunday’s Meet the Press, NBC’s Chuck Todd reacted to his trip to the Iowa State Fair by admitting that he “was stunned at how many -- how easily it was to find these Democrats willing” to criticize Hillary Clinton over her e-mail scandal among other issues.
Given that much of the Washington liberal media has downplayed Hillary’s ongoing scandals as a distraction, Todd’s admission that he was “stunned” to see how negatively actual voters view Clinton exposes the disconnect between the Washington press and the rest of the country.
Earlier in the segment, liberal Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson dismissed Clinton’s argument that the latest investigation into her private e-mail server was a GOP witch hunt because it was the Obama administration leading the investigation:
But it’s hard to claim this is all just a partisan witch hunt when the Justice Department under a Democratic administration is looking into the whole e-mail mess. So, that doesn't ring so true. It is not going to have an impact on people the way she wants it to. And clearly a lot of Democrats are worried.
Later in the segment, longtime reporter Jeff Greenfield accused Clinton of having a “tin ear” when it comes to her handling of her e-mails and rejected her campaign comparing her private e-mail server with those that Republican governors have used in the past:
And I'm thinking, did they [Republican governors] deal with classified material, with CIA matters, with -- no. They were dealing with, how do we fix the off-ramp off exit 70. It's the tin ear quality of so much of what the Clinton -- Mrs. Clinton has exhibited this campaign, the 2008 campaign. The distinction between her and her husband is monumental in terms of a kind of natural ability to deal with this.
While Greenfield did acknowledge that Clinton’s e-mail server potentially containing classified information was a “problem” he asserted that the media needed to calm down and not overreact to the significance of her e-mails:
I think the entire press corps, by the way, should switch to decaf because everything’s caffeinated but there’s a problem here.
Greenfield never provided any actual evidence to back up his claim that the media "should switch to decaf" in how it covers Hillary's e-mails given that the press repeatedly labels Hillary's e-mail scandal as a "distraction" rather than a substantive problem.
See relevant transcript below:
NBC’s Meet the Press
August 16, 2015
CHUCK TODD: Let me bring back the panel. Interesting backhanded compliment there by Tom Harkin, Gene Robinson. How about that?
EUGENE ROBINSON: Yeah it really was. That was kind of interesting. The whole thing -- first of all, the joke that Hillary Clinton made was pretty effective, right? We're talking--
TODD: To that room. A room full of activist Democrats.
ROBINSON: But it’s hard to claim this is all just a partisan witch hunt when the Justice Department under a Democratic administration is looking into the whole e-mail mess. So, that doesn't ring so true. It is not going to have an impact on people the way she wants it to. And clearly a lot of Democrats are worried.
TODD: I was stunned at how many -- how easily it was to find these Democrats willing to say these things. That was on camera. Molly Ball, this morning's Washington Post, blind quote central. “A lot of people who were hired by the campaign were new to the Clintons. I kind of assumed it would be different but it hasn't changed.” Another strategist, “I don't think there's a big smoking gun but it's hard to explain why you had a private server, why you just now turned it over. Shouldn't you have had better judgment?”
MOLLY BALL: And the fact that this story has not gone away has really worried a lot of people in the inner circle. And you do have this tension within the campaign. You have this sort of Obama veterans who like to take the long view. They believe that this is a long game and that you wait it out and that you don't get caught up in the politics of the moment and in the process. But that's not the Clinton people's view and they want to fight on everything. And they get very nervous when there is all of this discussion. And so, you know, then it turns into an organizational mess which is what bogged down her campaign in 2008. And it's going to be the in-fighting, all the people in her ear and her inability to mediate those disputes.
TODD: Let me read you Jennifer Palmieri, the campaign communications director, sent this to the Washington Post, and she says “The bottom line: Look, this kind of nonsense comes with the materiality of running for president. We know it, Hillary knows it and we expect it to continue from now until election day. It's okay. We'll be ready. We have the facts, our principles on our side. Is it enough?
JEFF GREENFIELD: I’m glad you mentioned Ms. Palmieri because one of her statements about the e-mail issue just brought me up short. She said well, you know what, four other governors running for president in the Republican Party they also had private servers. And I'm thinking, did they deal with classified material, with CIA matters, with -- no. They were dealing with, how do we fix the off-ramp off exit 70.
It's the tin ear quality of so much of what the Clinton -- Mrs. Clinton has exhibited this campaign, the 2008 campaign. The distinction between her and her husband is monumental in terms of a kind of natural ability to deal with this. Now, look, every front-runner going back decades has at one point or another faced these kinds of --
TODD: The near-death experience.
GREENFIELD: They can't get off --
TODD: The campaign near-death experience.
GREENFIELD: I think the entire press corps, by the way, should switch to decaf because everything’s caffeinated but there’s a problem here.
