OPINION:
CLEVELAND — The mainstream media is exasperated that Republicans would dare take jabs at Hillary Clinton, and her demonstrable public record, at their convention.
“The GOP’s new convention theme: ’Lock her up!’ ” a Washington Post headline read on Wednesday.
“Over the first two nights of the GOP convention, at least three speakers have called for Hillary Clinton — the presumptive Democratic nominee — to be imprisoned,” the article read. “New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie recited a series of Clinton’s misdeeds and led the crowd in shouts of ’guilty’ after each.”
Oh, the horror!
Republicans don’t like Mrs. Clinton!
They even think she should be in jail! Gasp!
Mr. Christie did an excellent job on Tuesday night painting the reasons why Mrs. Clinton should never return to the White House — especially as president of the United States. A former U.S. prosecutor, Mr. Christie laid out a compelling case — one in which the mainstream media refuses to believe — on why Mrs. Clinton is a criminal.
FBI Director James B. Comey first presented the case earlier this month when he politically indicted the former secretary of state and her use of a private email server. Unlike the lies Mrs. Clinton told for the last 18 months, no, her server was not authorized by the State Department. And yes, she did send and receive classified information that could’ve put the nation’s security at risk.
And the public agrees — Mrs. Clinton is not honest or trustworthy. Her national lead has plummeted after Mr. Comey’s press conference, with her holding a mere 2.7-percentage-point advantage, according to a Real Clear Politics national average. A new NBC online tracking poll finds only 28 percent of Americans think she’s trustworthy — 69 percent say she’s not.
Yet, those facts are too much for CNN’s Chris Cuomo to bear.
In the middle of an on-air interview, criticizing Republicans for not being forthright about Melania Trump cribbing some of her speech Monday night, Mr. Cuomo spoke to how double-sided it was for the GOP to defend Mrs. Trump, yet attack Mrs. Clinton.
“Lying matters. If you lie small, you’ll lie big in politics. Look back in the Iraq war that Donald Trump is such a big fan of, what happened with the yellow cake, it was about lying. Weapons of mass destruction was about lying. You’re banging on the email situation not because classified information got sent, because it didn’t in any real way, and we all know that, but it’s about lying. How is that not communicated by this situation?” Mr. Cuomo asked incredulously.
Except Mrs. Clinton did lie. Classified information did get sent. Perhaps Mr. Cuomo was too busy to listen to Mr. Comey’s press conference, or read any of the articles about it.
Still, the mainstream media — especially Mr. Cuomo — can’t seem to accept this fact and don’t understand why the Republican convention would focus on Mrs. Clinton’s shoddy public record.
“Anti-Clinton Republican National Convention crowd chants ’Lock her up,’ ” a Huffington Post headline read on Wednesday, noting “the chants were among the loudest moments of the night.”
Scary stuff.
“Two days in, literally the only thing I think the GOP can totally agree on is that Hillary Clinton should be in jail,” MSNBC host Christopher Hayes wrote on Twitter.
And he maybe right — but why is that a news flash?
After this decisive primary season, Republicans can unify over our disgust of Mrs. Clinton, and we need to come together. November will present all of us with a binary choice: Vote for Mrs. Clinton or Mr. Trump. No Republican wants Mrs. Clinton in office, even if they have reservations about Mr. Trump.
An affirmative case for Mr. Trump will be made — we’re only two days into the convention — with vice-presidential pick Indiana Gov. Mike Pence laying out the case on Wednesday night. Mr. Trump’s family has also made a favorable impression, giving familial and business anecdotes on why their father is best positioned for the job.
So why does going after Mrs. Clinton come as much of a shock to the mainstream media — or is even reported as bad thing?
Because that’s the message that the Clinton camp wants to get out there.
The Clinton campaign compared the GOP convention to a “witch hunt,” saying Republicans are barely one step removed from screaming “burn her at the stake,” CNN reported.
“With positive words for Donald Trump few and far between, Republican speakers have resorted to their only real strategy — lie about Hillary Clinton,” the Clinton campaign said in a press statement.
Mrs. Clinton, again running to play the victim — and the press is all too eager to defend her.
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