Democrats have not had to answer for the actions of Democratic National Committee chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz (who offered to change a policy position in exchange for not being criticized, and threatened to paint President Obama as anti-Semitic and anti-women). Or for the Bill, Hillary, and Chelsea Clinton Foundation (which accepts foreign donations). Or for Joe Biden (who said last week he knows Somalis because “there’s an awful lot driving cabs”).
But Republicans have had to answer for Rudy Giuliani (who said Obama doesn’t love America). Why? Because, “Clearly, there is a double standard,” according to Republican National Committee spokesman Sean Spicer.
Spicer lays out the case in a memo, set to be released later this morning to “Interested Parties.”
“A review of news coverage from the last week using the TVEyes media monitoring database reveals that the controversies surrounding the Clinton Foundation’s foreign donations, Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s plot to paint President Obama as anti-Semitic and anti-woman, and Vice President Biden’s Somali cab driver gaffe have generated just over 1,300 TV and radio hits combined. Remarks made by Rudy Giuliani tallied over 8,600 hits Monday afternoon, and that number is still growing. Coverage has been fueled by reporters grasping for new angles or asking any Republican in range of a microphone to respond to his comments and other unrelated questions,” Spicer writes.
These aren’t throw away Democrat scandals either. Politico reported that the head of the DNC, the leader of the Democrat Party’s campaign apparatus, lined up her allies to accuse President Obama of being anti-Semitic, and anti-woman if he decided to replace her.
Not a single Democrat candidate has been asked, “Do you think it’s anti-Semitic to remove Wasserman Schultz as chair of the DNC?”
Hillary Clinton was not asked, “Do you think it’s anti-woman to remove Wasserman Schultz as chair of the DNC?” Likewise, when it was revealed that Wasserman Schultz tried to sell her support for marijuana legalization in order to silence critics, prominent Democrats weren’t bombarded with questions. And remember: this is the chair of the party and a sitting Congresswoman.
Joe Biden was not questioned about the appropriateness of the actions of his party’s chairwoman. Clearly, there is a double standard.
And, of course, nowhere in the frenzy of the past few days has there any mention of the first person to question President Obama’s roots or patriotism: Hillary Clinton, the party’s 2016 nominee-in-waiting. In the 2008 primary campaign, she wouldn’t take a stand on the president’s religion. Her campaign sought to highlight his “lack of American roots” (their phrase).
This is all just par for the course. A Republican former office holder says something, and they think every Republican must answer for it. A current Democrat party leader does and says something, and it’s no one else’s problem.
Likewise, if a conservative commentator says something controversial, the media say it’s a reflection of the Republican Party. When Al Sharpton or Chris Matthews says something offensive or jaw-dropping, they draw no link to the Democrat Party.
Yet another example: Columba Bush was dragged into the media spotlight this week with a hit piece from the Washington Post, which consisted of old news from years past. Yet there was hardly a single headline over Bill Clinton’s travels with Jeffrey Epstein, something we learned about only recently. Where are the articles on Clinton’s spending habits?
There’s a pattern here, and it’s time to treat the parties equally. I look forward to Hillary Clinton and other potential 2016 Democrat contenders to have to answer for the actions of their fellow Democrats. (Then of course, Hillary hasn’t held a press conference or done an interview in over 200 days, and her “spokesman” responds to every question with the same answer: “No comment.”)
