On the August 5 edition of CNN's Judy Woodruff's Inside Politics, CNN senior political analyst Bill Schneider repeated commentary from “one conservative website” but never said the website's name: NewsMax.com. In his report on the parallels between the recently released remake of The Manchurian Candidate and present-day politics, Schneider perpetuated -- without offering refutation -- the suggestion that Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY) was the inspiration for the “villain” character, played by Meryl Streep. Yet Streep told The New York Times that she based the character of Eleanor Shaw on former Bush adviser Karen Hughes, Senator Elizabeth Dole (R-NC), conservative pundit Ann Coulter, Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan, former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, and former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.

During his report, Schneider, who is also a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, relayed commentary from NewsMax.com's "The Left Coast Report" by James Hirsen; Schneider also suggested Senator Clinton is a “diabolical, cold, manipulative member of the U.S. Senate.”

From the August 5 edition of CNN's Judy Woodruff's Inside Politics (and also repeated Lou Dobbs Tonight):

SCHNEIDER: There's no end of speculation about the villain in it, played by Meryl Streep. ... Notice the haircut. One conservative website asks, "[D]iabolical, cold, manipulative member of the U.S. Senate. Any thoughts on a real-life middle-aged blonde who might fit the description?"

Displayed for viewers onscreen was a portion of “The Left Coast Report” including its title, "The Manchurian Senator," which had originally appeared on NewsMax.com more than six weeks earlier (June 22). Viewers were shown this sentence:

The New York Daily News reports that, much to the chagrin of Hollywood execs, Streep's character is frighteningly similar to a certain former first lady.