MSNBC's Adubato still questioning "exactly how Vince Foster died"

In a December 17 MSNBC.com column, MSNBC media analyst Steve Adubato asserted that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) "has been a major media darling," and claimed that she and former President Bill Clinton "want the media to focus on are only [sic] the positive aspects of her experience but won't say a word about such topics as ... exactly how [former deputy White House counsel] Vince Foster died." Adubato went on to assert: "I'm betting if we in the media focused more on these topics, [Bill] Clinton would argue that the media was being unfair to Hilary [sic]." However, while some right-wing commentators and websites continue to suggest that the Clintons were somehow involved in Foster's death -- as Media Matters for America has documented (here, here, here, and here) -- numerous investigations into the matter determined that his death was a suicide. The Office of the Independent Counsel -- then headed by Kenneth Starr -- completed its inquiry into the circumstances surrounding Foster's death with a report issued on October 11, 1997, concluding, "based on investigation and analysis of the evidentiary record, that Mr. Foster committed suicide by gunshot in Fort Marcy Park."

TPM Media blogger-reporter Greg Sargent noted Adubato's column and wrote: "You have to be seriously lacking in self awareness to criticize Hillary for not talking about Vince Foster's death in the same article that claims that the media is being fair to Hillary [emphasis in original]."

Regarding Adubato's suggestion that Hillary Clinton has not talked about her "role as architect of the failed effort for universal healthcare," Sargent also wrote that "Hillary actually talks on the stump about her health care failure. You may not like what she says or think she goes into enough detail, but she does talk about it."

From Adubato's MSNBC.com column:

Bill Clinton has come to his wife Hillary's defense and I'm not convinced that's a good thing. Clinton blames the media for not covering his wife fairly and he argues that we in the media are not focusing enough on Hillary's experience, implying that we are holding her to a different and unfair standard. According to the former President, who has become more vocal in the campaign than anyone expected; "One percent of the press coverage was devoted to their record in public life . . . no wonder people think experience is irrelevant -- a lot of people covering the race think it is."

That's completely untrue. From the beginning of this absurdly long campaign, Hillary Clinton has been a major media darling, along with Barack Obama, Rudy Giuliani and now Mike Huckabee. What seems to be upsetting Clinton is that Hillary's campaign is off track and they can't figure out why. Bill and Hillary must have been beside themselves when Oprah decided to go public for Obama -- which culminated in joint appearances last weekend in both Iowa and South Carolina. The most powerful media figure in the country has never endorsed a candidate, much less campaigned for one, so publicly. Oprah even opted not to support Bill Clinton in his reelection campaign in 1996.

[...]

The fact is, Hillary's experience, we're talking in the United States Senate, right -- not as First Lady, has been covered by the media from day one. In a recent New York Daily News article, Dante Scala, a professor at the University of New Hampshire, stated; "For most of the year Hillary Clinton's argument on experience has been well received -- and well transmitted by the media." Further, most ardent Clinton supporters know that Clinton's blasting the media on the experience issue is a disingenuous diversion. They know the campaign is stumbling and they know it's not the media's fault.

What's really ironic about Clinton's argument is that it has been the Clinton campaign that has been exceedingly secretive about disclosing the former First Lady's records when she was in the White House. Bill and Hillary want the media to focus on are only the positive aspects of her experience but won't say a word about such topics as "Travelgate;" "Whitewater;" exactly how Vince Foster died; missing billing records; or Hillary's role as architect of the failed effort for universal healthcare.

Does Bill Clinton really want more media scrutiny of these areas of Hillary's so called "experience?" I don't think so. I'm betting if we in the media focused more on these topics, Clinton would argue that the media was being unfair to Hilary. He would probably say the media was focusing on the "wrong" aspects of Hilary's experience.