Hillary Clinton’s email server disaster keeps getting worse and worse.
First, she got word that the FBI was conducting an investigation into her private email server. Then we get news Hillary may have committed a crime by mishandling classified material. On Tuesday, the Democratic presidential candidate hosted a press conference on the matter and it quickly turned into a dumpster fire.
In the aftermath of the revelations and catastrophic presser, Hillary’s flacks have failed to dampen the flames and have only further embarrassed the Democrat frontrunner’s campaign.
Fortunately for Clinton, some of her ardent supporters have concocted an ingenious strategy for combating the accusations of wrong-doing: throw back outrage at the accusers and pretend Hillary is a victim.
In contemporary America, the victim card is one of the most effective tools of persuasion, and Hillary’s supporters are milking it for all its worth to push back against the “media attacks.”
Former Clinton adviser Peter Daou penned an “analysis” Monday entitled, “Wolf Blitzer’s Outrageous Attack: Why Hillary Needs an Army of Digital Defenders,” that DailyKos felt fit to republish. In it, Daou blasted CNN and The New York Times for their “pathological need to bring down the most popular and powerful woman in American politics.”
The hillarymen.com proprietor goes into a rage spiral and claims that the media’s inquiry into whether Clinton will face criminal charges for her email misconduct is proof these outlets suffer from gender bias. He then calls upon his imagined legions of followers to fight back against the sexist media’s attack on poor Hillary.
Democratic strategist Angela Rye echoed the same line of attack on CNN Tuesday. Rye criticized Fox News reporter Ed Henry’s strong line of questioning of Clinton at the fateful presser. The strategist found Henry’s questions disrespectful. Why? Because Clinton is a former first lady and former secretary of state and it’s apparently beneath her to deal with “testy” inquisitors.
Rye also sympathized with Clinton’s plight of “wanting to run a campaign, talk about real issues…and having to constantly revisit this [email server].” (RELATED: Democratic Strategist Thinks Hillary Was Disrespected When Asked About Wiping Her Server)
Hillary’s supporters aren’t the only entitled leftists to claim victimhood to deflect accusations of misconduct.
Another recent user of the victim card strategy is Planned Parenthood in the wake of its undercover video scandal. Instead of addressing concerns about illegal sales, fetal harvesting and cruel abortion methods, Planned Parenthood has taken to scolding its critics as heartless destroyers of women’s health.
In a Washington Post op-ed, Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards denounced the videos as “extremist” and a “new low” for pro-lifers. Richards builds her entire argument around the victim card and how the clips are not an attack on her organization, but an assault on “women across the country.” The claims of inappropriate behavior are not even specifically mentioned — except to say they’re completely false. Because Cecile Richards says so.
However, the queen of the outraged victim tactic may be “Girls” starlet Lena Dunham. The actress has used it at least twice to defend herself from charges of misbehavior. When it was revealed Dunham glowingly described sexually abusing her younger sister in her book “Not That Kind of Girl,” instead of showing remorse, she lashed out at anyone who thought it was disturbing.
The outspoken celebrity even called her conservative critics “disgusting” and urged them to “back the fuck up.” (RELATED: Lena Dunham Verifies Sexually Abusing Sister, Calls Critics ‘Disgusting’)
Dunham also shot back outrage when she was caught lying about a rape accusation in the same book. In spite of being caught falsely accusing a completely innocent man, she excoriated her critics once more that they are “men” who “are enraged by stories of sexual assault that don’t have clear cut villains, pimps or men with guns.”
Even disgraced Black Lives Matter activist Shaun King is using the outrage defense to save face in light of the revelations he falsified a hate crime and possibly even his race. (RELATED: Shaun King Responds To Articles About His Past)
The reason these people and many others have used the victim strategy is simply because it has worked. Left-wing outlets have rushed to their aid and wagged their collective fingers at the persecutors. Mainstream outlets have so far covered their “plights” in a respective manner.
But when it comes to Hillary, it seems the mainstream media isn’t taking the bait. Her email server woes are making a splash in a news cycle that’s obsessed with all things Donald Trump, which is no mean feat. In what may be a response to the Clinton camp’s prior poor treatment of the media, the many scorned journalists are running with her email fiasco to the fullest extent.
They’re not following for the line that she’s a hapless victim of an evil conservative lynch mob.
For the future leftists who will rely on the trick, the mainstream media probably will treat them with kid gloves and more left-leaning pubs will rush to their rescue, as it has been the case with Planned Parenthood.
But Hillary’s woes show that it doesn’t always work. The victim card is so overplayed right now that many Americans are no longer falling for it — and rightfully so. A society should never prize wannabe victims who exploit fake outrage to avoid answering tough questions.
That’s why the best weapon for the right to use against these phony martyrs is relentless mockery. Let the public know you’re not buying their sob story and that they need to come clean about their bad behavior.
It’s working right now against Hillary. There’s no reason it shouldn’t work against other entitled liberals.