Rubin is a conservative blogger for The Washington Post. She is also a strong supporter of the #NeverTrump movement.
In response to Clinton’s remarks about Trump supporters, she put up a piece titled ‘Deplorables': Can the media ever get it right? that is worth taking the time to read.
First, she quoted ALL of Clinton’s remarks, including the 2nd long paragraph left out of many news accounts and pundit heavy breathing.
She followed with a statement from the campaign reminding people of her speech about the “Alt Right”, and then Clinton’s extended response where she did NOT actually apologize although she used the term “regret” about the proportion of Trump supporters in the basket.
Rubin then wrote the following about Clinton’s actions:
She never did any of the following:
— Call all Trump supporters racists. — Fail to talk at length about the concerns of working people. — Apologize.
She did:
— Say “half” was wrong. — Get the chance to restate many racists things Trump has said and his ties to the alt-right.
And yet the press managed to bungle. distort and out-and-out misrepresent the episode. Headlines and tweets announced she had called Trump supporters (without even mentioning “half”) racists. Nope. Other accounts left out entirely her remarks on the economically dislocated Americans for whom we should have empathy. There certainly is bias in many news outlets, but the problem here is either sloppiness, intentional hype to draw an audience or a severe reading comprehension issue. Then the media collectively seemed to decide this was a Clinton “gaffe.” It was nothing of the sort.