Hillary Clinton’s Speech at the National Baptist Convention Didn’t Go Like the Media Hoped
If you ever needed an example of the mainstream media’s willingness to distort facts in order to advance the narrative that Hillary Clinton is winning the 2016 presidential election, you need look no further than her appearance last week at the National Baptist Convention in Kansas City.
It was supposed to be her campaign’s attempt to answer Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s successful appearance at an African-American church in Detroit in which she would “bare her soul” in front of a predominantly African-American audience. Here are some of the key lines from the speech:
“We are commanded to love. Indeed, Jesus made it His greatest commandment. When I used to teach the occasional Sunday School class, I often taught on that lesson. That’s a hard commandment to obey. Some days it’s really hard for me.”
“I still remember my late father—a gruff former Navy man—on his knees praying by his bed every night. That made a big impression on me as a young girl, seeing him humble himself before God.”
“The Scripture tells us that faith without works is dead. The epistle of James tells us we cannot just be hearers of the Word, we must be doers. And I believe that with all my heart.”
“I have learned to be grateful not just for my blessings but also for my faults—and there are plenty! I’ve made my share of mistakes. I don’t know anyone who hasn’t. Everyone here today has stumbled on their own stony paths. It’s grace that lifts us up, and grace that leads us home.”
It wasn’t the first time Clinton has brought up her personal faith during the campaign cycle, but it was the first since she won the Democratic presidential nomination. And, as expected, the mainstream media gave it a glowing review—and some less-than-ethical coverage.
None of their accounts bothered to note that Clinton’s speech was given in front of a nearly empty auditorium, or that event organizers closed off nearly half of the seating at the back because the seats weren’t being used—and less than half of those remaining were filled.
The images they presented to the American public instead conveyed the narrative they wanted to feed: Hillary Clinton is still immensely popular with African-Americans and faith-based voters.
A local TV reporter, however, posted the images on Twitter that Clinton and the mainstream media didn’t want you to see. Brian Abel of the Kansas City NBC affiliate later tweeted that attendance was roughly 3,000 rather than the 9,000 organizers had expected.
They quickly tried to downplay the lack of attendance by suggesting Clinton was a “last-minute” addition to the campaign schedule, although her appearance was announced two days prior.
