The War Between Us: How the Clinton Media Machine Just Lost the Democratic Primary

NinaIllingworth April 8, 2016November 5, 2022 2008 Primary, 2016 Election, 2016 Primary, Adam Lanza, Barack Obama, Bernie Sanders, Bill Clinton, Bill Clinton is a Racist, Clinton media network, corruption, Democratic Party, Essays, Fantastic Lies, Free Trade, Gun Control, Hillary Clinton, lie, Media, Morning Joe, Mort Zuckerman, MP6, Naomi Klein, neoliberalism, New York, New York Daily News, New York Times, Nina Illingworth, Opinion, Politics, Sandy Hook Massacre, smear tactics, superpredators, The War Between Us, Vermont, war in Iraq, Washington Post, Why Clinton Will Lose the 2016 Primary

Editor’s note: this article is about corruption, lies and openly dishonest attempts to manipulate public opinion by the Hillary Clinton campaign and its notably biased media surrogates over the course of the past three days. While, on the surface, three days worth of lies in the middle of a mere primary election may not seem all that difficult to catalogue; the sheer size, complexity and brazenly corrupt behavior of the Clintons, Hillary’s campaign staff and their openly supportive lackeys in corporate media, make this task quite literally exhausting. Throughout this entire piece, you’ll find scattered links to articles, videos and social media posts that directly prove the various claims I’ve made in this article. While these links are numerous, they also represent what I feel is likely to be the most complete catalogue of the Clinton campaign’s recent malfeasance currently available on the internet; including who said what and which collaborators in the media are clearly helping to drive the narrative. You don’t have to click on any of the links to understand what I’ve written, but let me assure you that it will be almost impossible to understand the size and scope of the Clinton network’s many-tentacled opinion manufacturing operation without doing so. – NI

The War Between Us

There is an old saying in life, often whispered during times of extreme fear and overwhelming despair, which says “the darkest hour comes just before the dawn.” I mention this now, my dear friends, because we are surely in what will later be known as the darkest hour for the American political process in our collective history. Together, we the people are standing on the edge of an impossibly gigantic wave fashioned from incalculable, gnawing greed, open collusion in the media and staggering indifference for human lives; unless those lives belong to a handful of wealthy, influential, co-conspirators currently riding at the top of this unarguably monstrous pyramid of money, influence and power.

Between the Panama Papers, the shocking Edward Snowden leaks and detailed investigations into the 2008 worldwide “financial crisis;” it’s no longer a question of if there is a vast network of obscene wealth and influence manipulating our media, governments and public opinion against our own interests, but rather precisely how vast that network actually is and who specifically is involved. In short, while detailing the precise minutiae of this corruption is well beyond the scope of this essay – I am not exaggerating when I say to you now that we live in literally the most corrupt time in human history, on both a global scale and more specifically in the dominant cultures of the Western World – the United States, Europe and sometimes Canada.

Nowhere in the world is the overwhelming influence of money, regulatory power and the press more openly obvious, yet actively denied than in the United States of America – the proud home of a chickenshit corporate media machine full of hired goons, con artists and fawning collaborators so desperate for half a second of access, they’ll gladly tell whatever story their corrupt employers demand of them. For the most part, this machine survives or rather, thrives, not on stunning artifice or clever deception, but instead the sheer, overwhelming banality of evil that governs virtually every aspect of our lives in 2016. There’s always some billionaire found dumping toxic waste into a community river, some politician caught accepting millions of dollars in bribes, or some journalist openly lying to defend power. The staggering, unrelenting pace of it all combined with a direct attempt to provide false equivalency after false equivalency by the very same media structure that’s profiting from this corruption, causes most people to rightly assume that there are no good guys in this story; collectively turning our heads away in disgust and trying our very best to get on with whatever lives we’re allowed to have under these circumstances.

Once in a while however, often during the chaos of a “democratic” election; something so shocking, so brazen and so obviously wrong happens – that for a moment the spell of banality and apathy is shattered. Through arrogance, error or some unholy combination of both; the puppet-masters and their tools attempt to push a given narrative too far and accidentally expose the strings governing their fantastic magic show for anyone paying even the slightest bit of attention to see. Although the powers that be, their media lapdogs and millions of collaborator zombies in our society at large will deny that anything important happened and try to walk back their mistake – in that moment the entire, horrifying Rube Goldberg machine employed to manufacture consent is exposed for all to see and it takes but one incorruptible voice to remind everyone that the emperor is indeed running bare-ass naked around the room bragging about his, or in this case her, fabulous new clothes. Ladies and gentlemen, please allow me to be that voice.

On April 5^th, 2016, during both the lead-up to and the aftermath of the Wisconsin Democratic Primary, the Hillary Clinton campaign actively coordinated the most ill-advised, poorly executed smear job in the history of modern US politics on Bernie Sanders as part of her desperate quest to avoid blowing yet another, and perhaps her final, chance at becoming President of the United States.

Over the course of three short days, Mrs. Clinton has not only purposely mislead the American public herself, but also employed virtually every mainstream media, drone journalist inside her considerable sphere of influence in a vicious, openly dishonest attempt to steal the Democratic Nomination from a Sanders campaign that clearly has all of the momentum and now represents a real threat to the Empresses’ self-ordained coronation as leader of the free world this November.

Although the assault on Sanders (and democracy) by Clinton, her campaign and its media surrogates remains ongoing, it has thus far primarily revolved around three specific blatant untruths either stated outright or directly implied by this network in the wake of Sander’s comfortable win in Wisconsin. Let’s take a look at each of these shocking falsehoods in turn, the media spin surrounding them, and the extremely obvious facts that debunk each and every one of them:

Lie # 1 – Bernie Sanders has no idea how to actually break up big banking institutions

The opening salvo in the Clinton army’s war on Senator Sanders actually occurred in the wee hours of the morning on April 5th, before Wisconsinites went to the polls but long after internal data would have predicted Bernie’s win with some measure of certainty. As dawn broke, the NY Daily News published an embarrassing and openly disingenuous interview of Bernie Sanders that was immediately decried by many as “bungling the facts in an interview designed to show that Sanders doesn’t understand the fine points of policy.” To say that the NY Daily News editors played stupid in support of an obvious agenda to embarrass Sanders would be a gross understatement of truly stupefying proportions; there is nothing about that interview or transcript that even resembles honest journalism and a great number of knowledgeable people noticed it immediately. Now wait a moment, I know what you’re thinking; right now you’re thinking “but Nina, you can’t prove that Clinton or her campaign had anything to do with this and furthermore, this could all just be incompetence by a NY tabloid rag and not the opening thrust of a vast pro-Clinton conspiracy to smear Sanders!” The are unfortunately two obvious problems with this idea:

Clinton herself not only repeated the attack, but has actually continued to repeat the attack since it’s been debunked.

The owner of the NY Daily News is a one Mort Zuckerman and a guy who’s not only donated thousands to the Clinton Foundation but has actually attended Clinton fundraisers and vacations on Long Island. Keep ole Mortimer in your mind folks, we’ll get back to him and his corrupt little rag in Lie number #2

Now, you would think the fact that I, all by my lonesome and merely with the awesome power of Google, was not only able to completely discredit this story, but also expose it as an obvious attempt to smear Sanders by a publication owned by one of Mrs. Clinton’s closest personal friends, would prevent the mainstream corporate media from dishonestly running with this ridiculous lie and splashing it all over every available screen on the internet – if not out of a sense of morality, at least out of some sort of professional pride, right?

You would, of course, be completely and utterly wrong. Were all of these papers and journalists, with their vast research and editorial staffs, also deceived as well – despite the fact that any idiot (including myself!) who can read could tell you this story stunk to high fucking heaven the moment they glanced through it? I guess you could choose to believe so my friends; but then you’d either be a complete fucking idiot or just another silently enabling collaborator in a system absolutely chock fucking full of them.

Lie #2 – Bernie Sanders is responsible for the Sandy Hook massacre

As Sanders cruised to victory in Wisconsin and it became increasingly clear that the first attack by Clinton, her campaign and pro-Clinton corporate media had been largely unsuccessful – ominous warnings began to appear online about “taking the gloves off” and “going nuclear” on the Sanders campaign. First, the Clinton campaign announced on CNN that playtime was over and negative ads and attacks targeting Sanders were impeding. Then, known Clinton surrogates online began openly sharing and supporting specific parts of that same NY Daily News journalistic disaster we talked about in part one; with a focus on purposely misrepresenting Sanders as being pro-gun and callous towards the victims of the Sandy Hook Massacre.

Few were prepared however for the sheer dishonesty, ferocity and moral repugnance of what Clinton and her allies had in store for America the next morning when the city of New York woke up to the following shocking front page of, you guessed it, the NY Daily News (reminder: owned by Mort Zuckerman – a guy who’s not only donated thousands to the Clinton Foundation but has actually attended Clinton fundraisers and vacations on Long Island):

On it’s very face, this headline is clearly, unequivocally, a morally repugnant attempt to turn the immense suffering and personal tragedy of those victimized by Adam Lanza (not Bernie Sanders) in the Sandy Hook massacre, into a politically explosive weapon of mass destruction against Sanders – hence, the Clinton campaign’s own discussion of “going nuclear” after the Wisconsin Primary. This was of course, blatant, crass Ratfucking of the highest order my friends but at least it would be confined to the pages of some trashy, clearly pro-Clinton tabloid rag, right?

Not so fast; almost immediately after the story broke, Hillary Rodham Clinton herself was actively repeating the smear on the news and social media, including, specifically the absurd connection between Sanders and the Sandy Hook massacre – an attack committed in a state Sanders does not work in, by a deranged assassin Sanders did not know and with guns taken from Lanza’s first victim; his own mother, Nancy Lanza.

Predictably, known Hillary surrogates in mainstream media and pro-Clinton figures inside the Democratic Party immediately sprung into action, spreading the disgusting, immoral and in many ways utterly false narrative as far and wide as possible. This story was on every channel, in every paper and all over social media faster than you can say “the Democratic Party is corrupt, inhumane and morally bankrupt,” as the Clinton network repeatedly, dramatically and unmistakably attempted to tie Sanders in any way possible to the tragic murder of 28 American citizens; many of them mere children, cut down in the most brutally, monstrous way possible.

Now, setting aside the obvious fact that this entire story both reeks of an overt political smear and simultaneously proves that it is actually the Clinton campaign and her surrogates that are callously disregarding the suffering of Sandy Hook victims for political purposes, not Sanders – is any part of it even true?

No, not really. The simple truth is that Sanders does not support making it legal for victims of gun violence to sue gun manufacturers. Why? Simple, because it’s both utterly absurd and completely in violation of the American legal spirit to hold manufacturers responsible for legally selling guns that are later used in the commission of a crime. Sanders argues, correctly I might add, that the legal and moral responsibility for heinous gun crimes instead rests with gun dealers and the people who actually purchase these guns and commit violent, often deadly crimes with them. In other words, while Sanders actively supports a renewed ban on military style weapons in the United States, he’s unprepared to sign the Brady Bill because he sees it as a legally questionable, backdoor route towards banning “assault weapons” and not an actual solution to the real problem of gun violence in America.

Does that mean that Sanders is pro-gun, callous towards mass shooting victims or in any goddamn fucking way responsible for the horrible murders perpetrated at Sandy Hook Elementary? Of fucking course not and only a complete goddamn monster would imply as much! During the October 15th Democratic Debate on CNN, Sanders actually came out in support of many of the provisions in the Brady Bill itself – including instant background checks, attacking so-called “straw man” purchasers on the federal level and closing the ridiculous “gun show” loophole that effectively neuters many of the controls on firearms that are currently in place.

If Sanders is such an enemy of gun control, how is it that the state he represents had the lowest per capita gun murder rate in the country during the last federal census at literally 0.3 per 100,000 residents? If Sanders is such a friend to gun-toting lunatics, how is it that he has a lifetime’s worth of terrible grades from the National Rifle Association over the last twenty years – including five “F”s and a most recent grade of D minus? No, the simple truth is that while Sanders has indeed voted against the Brady Bill in the past, that does not in any shape or form make him anti-gun control, insensitive towards victims of gun violence or in any fucking way responsible for the most infamous mass shooting in modern American history. To continually suggest otherwise however is dishonest, immoral and outright cruel – qualities that seem to define the Clinton campaign at this point in the primary process.

This craven, disgusting smear was also coupled with another, equally dishonest, but slightly less inhumane attack from Clinton herself that directly accused Vermont (the state that elected Sanders to the Senate) of providing the guns used in “many of the catastrophes that have taken human lives in the State of New York” during an exclusive gathering of Democrats – including lawmakers, lobbyists and a veritable room full of applauding, corrupt party mandarins. Unlike the Sandy Hook smear, which was about misrepresenting Sander’s position on the Brady bill to paint him as responsible for a horrific mass murder in the public eye; this attack was instead just a bald-faced, easily disprovable lie.

According to statistics released by the ATF, less than 1% of the guns recovered in New York during 2013 & 2014 were originally purchased in the state of Vermont; despite the state directly bordering New York. In fact, a detailed report by the New York Times reveals that the vast majority of guns seized in New York come from southern states along the highways in what the paper calls “the Iron Pipeline.” In short, not only is Clinton lying without the slightest goddamn hint of remorse; she is also fully, completely and indisputably aware that she’s lying because all of this information would have been available to her as a New York State Senator.

Look folks, I’m not asking you to take my word for it that both of these attacks are fundamentally unfair, dishonest and morally questionable; a quick google search will reveal numerous people calling Clinton out on aspects of these two, interconnected lies – hell, even Republicans are rushing to defend Bernie, although that might just be about a mutual loathing for Clinton.

Lie #3 – Bernie Sanders is a monster for calling Clinton unqualified to be president with no provocation.

In the heated moments after Clinton unleashed the Sandy Hook Massacre dirty bomb on Sanders and the public consciousness; the third, but unlikely to be final “lie” in the Clinton network’s arsenal began to worm it’s way across the internet – an attack born in part out of opportunity granted by Bernie himself and in part as a form of damage control once it became clear the previous two smear jobs weren’t exactly painting Clinton in a very favorable light.

During a Wednesday interview on the notoriously insipid Morning Joe show, Hillary was asked a series of leading questions designed to get her to say that Bernie Sanders wasn’t qualified to be president. Naturally, Clinton jumped all over that opportunity like a maggot crawling through a fresh pile of dog shit and promptly offered multiple reasons why voters might conclude that Sanders wasn’t qualified – including his status as a “real Democrat” and whether or not he really knows how to break up the big banks (see lie #1.)

What Clinton was far too cunning to do however, was outright declare that Sanders was actually unqualified; she merely implied it in a way so stunningly obvious that even a goddamn fool could tell she was saying Sanders wasn’t qualified to win the Democratic nomination. Instead, Hillary left the task of directly accusing Sanders of being unqualified to the blatantly Pro-Clinton Washington Post – who were kind enough to include the accusation right in the fucking title of their article about the interview.

The trap thus laid and with time running out as Clinton’s horrible Sandy Hook smear was causing chaos across the internet; someone showed Sanders the WaPo article and all fucking hell broke lose. Naturally, even rightfully outraged at the behavior of Clinton, her campaign and her surrogates in the media over the previous forty-eight hours – Sanders fired back that Clinton herself was unqualified to be president for accepting millions in donations from Wall Street bankers, supporting disastrous trade deals and voting for the horrifying war in Iraq.

Predictably, and within a matter of moments, the pro-Clinton media jumped all over Sanders comments’; once again flooding the internet and airwaves with anti-Sanders coverage while simultaneously pushing Clinton’s horrific Sandy Hook attack and the ensuing fallout out of the spotlight. Even as Sanders and his supporters, rightfully pointed out that Clinton had previously called him unqualified in all but the most direct fucking sense possible, mainstream media proceeded to double down on the ridiculous, almost childish argument that because Clinton had not actually, specifically said Sanders was not qualified (merely strongly, indisputably implying it) it was somehow overtly aggressive and completely improper to suggest that Hillary’s objectively proven flaws as a candidate would make her unqualified to be president.

Of course, in light of the brutal, dishonest and in some cases, outright false public image war Clinton’s network had just unleashed; such an accusation towards Sanders was flatly and utterly absurd. Yet, despite the sheer, obvious lunacy of it all – the issue today remains framed in the field of public media as gross misconduct by Sanders against poor, often besmirched (but infinitely strong and qualified,) future President Clinton. If you’re having a little trouble working your way through the mental gymnastics required to understand and defend that position, don’t worry – you are not alone. In living rooms, around watercoolers and across the internet, thousands of people, including numerous pro-Clinton voters are responding with outrage at the Clinton network’s obvious coordination of smears, deceits and misrepresentations.

Which of course, brings us together to the here and now – a moment in time when it is becoming increasingly obvious that Hillary Clinton’s “lie, disseminate and then declare yourself a victim” act is beginning to repulse and disgust the electorate – even more than her quasi-republican attitudes towards abortion, her previous efforts to block legalized gay marriage and her gleefully open warmongering already has. It has now become blatantly obvious to anyone not personally collecting a paycheck from a corporation friendly to the Clinton campaign that Hillary is a liar, a political opportunist who gladly exploits the suffering of others for her own personal gain, and objectively a terrible person to entrust with the Democratic Party nomination in what may well be the most important election in American history.

This is a serious goddamn problem for Clinton, who’s campaign has actively sold the candidate as some kind of modern day rendition of the Amazing Grace story after a lifetime of political decisions by both her and her husband that stink like fucking three day old fish in the rear-view mirror of history. Let’s be as real as penitentiary steel for a moment friends – when you’ve been objectively proven to be an Imperialist shitbag responsible for supporting an illegal coup that lead to the murder of anti-Junta activists in Honduras; all you’ve really fucking got left is to cry out that you’ve changed and pray to whatever dark and twisted gods you worship that the American people believe you. Unfortunately for Hillary Clinton, this isn’t 1992 and the rise of both the internet and social media have made it virtually impossible to cover up all of her horrendous flaws, falsehoods and schemes. The memory of the average American voter may be notoriously comparable to that of a drunken guppy, but the goddamn internet is forever – both Clinton’s lies and her husband’s odious policies are starting to catch up with her at breathtaking speed. Why just this afternoon, Bill was caught on camera defending his disastrous 1994 crime bill by hearkening back to racist dog-whistles about 13 year old crack addicts and black on black crime from his time as president; reminding us all that this is in fact the same corrupt, Washington power couple who employed numerous, overtly racists attacks against current President Obama during the 2008 primary of course.

It’s no longer a question of will the Clintons be caught lying again and thereby expose their true colors, but merely of when and how often they’ll continue to do so. Perhaps, this corruption and duplicity are simply a product of Clinton’s corporate-centrist worldview as described by award-winning author Naomi Klein in a recent The Nation piece. Or perhaps the problem is that Clinton is trying to seduce an electorate hell bent on tearing down a corrupt establishment while simultaneously literally embodying that corrupt establishment in nearly every word, action and deed she undertakes. Regardless of the whys behind Clinton’s inability to mask what a morally bankrupt, blatantly Nixonian campaign she’s running; in a world of twenty-four hour, independent news coverage by ordinary civilians dedicated to exposing the strings behind a society practically manufactured from lies, there is simply no running from the truth – and for Mrs. Clinton that truth is starting to look mighty fucking ugly.

Although the Clinton network’s objectively repugnant behavior these past few days has indeed been infuriating, I suppose in truth that we should all thank them. By succumbing to panic, surrendering to their basest impulses and employing an obviously dishonest “carpet bombing” strategy on the reputation of the seemingly incorruptible Sanders; Clinton has exposed not only her own wretched ambition for power, but the open, fawning duplicity of the entire established Democratic Party and precisely which papers/journalists have been in Hillary’s pocket all along – and not a moment too soon frankly, because Bernie was almost out of time to catch her in the Primary; for half a New York minute, I was afraid that fucking monster would actually become President of the United States this Fall.