Hillary Clinton’s testimony is a rorschach for all involved

By Dave Wieneke | in Politics | 24 Oct 2015 | No Comments

The facts are undisputed, Hillary Clinton testified to a Congressional Select Committee on Events Surrounding the 2012 Terrorist Attack in Benghazi on Thursday.

Beyond that, the coverage which has emerged shows disparately different views that editorialists and even photo editors read in to her participation. 

The Wall St. Journal provides a headline might be bliss to election year conservatives: Hillary Clinton Grilled.  Yum.  The photos selected, sort of a Seven Faces of Eve arrangement shows Clinton apparently still needing some heat. I’ve added helpful captions that might explain what this specific progression seem to suggest.

 The Journal’s editorial backs that position up, saying the former Secretary of State had spread “politically expedient fiction” for several weeks after the attach in order to help the President look strong on terror. So, from the Journal’s point of view – her emails and testimony have already shown the first signs of a campaign of disinformation.

But, the no less fervent GOP-leaning publisher the Boston Herald didn’t see Hillary being grilled, they say her skating.  All cool, relaxed and contradicting this global warming nonsense.

 

Meanwhile the uniformly pro-Democrat Boston Globe shows a super engaged Clinton, who looks ready to rumble.

And though this may seen trivial, the Globe’s use of “Libya” in the headline rather than “Benghazi” breaks the GOP branding which has sort of made that word Clinton’s Alamo. Using “Lybia” which suggests a broader narrative tends to spread individual culpability.  Best of all, the Globe rejects both grilling and skating — giving her a whole new posture, standing firm. Not unlike the unfortunate Florida gun law, stand your ground.

 

Finally. the Globe’s liberal leading cousin, the New York Times puts the liberal narrative in to context with a satisfied and composed witness, with other articles focusing on the World’s real problems: bible study groups and Palestinians who like that damn techno music.

The New Yorker even jests in a previously published article that Fox and the GOP would name her as President Lincoln’s killer on facts as flimsy as those they are today considering.

Beyond the length of Clinton’s testimony, all else is imbued with what writers, photo editors and readers seem to already believe.

Few ardent liberals seem able to connect how private emails might be used to show an effort to deceive the public. And few cultural conservatives have put this potential deception in the context of post 9/11 deception and the release of intelligence data for political expediency.  Whether malfeasance was actually proven remains a matter of debate – with each side having a photo record and set of perceptions supporting still contrasting stories.

There are no doubt more meaty issues to take on. But first, each side of America’s electoral divide seems set on constructing a self-supporting narrative for Benghazi, Lybia.