> You agree that Tulsi is a Manchurian candidate sponsored by the Kremlin?
That's...not what Clinton said, but instead something that seems like a hyperbolic retelling of the initial NYT misreporting that mixed what Clinton said about Russia and Gabbard with what Clinton said about Republicans and Gabbard, and reported the combination as having been said about Russia and Gabbard. (But still, even as misreported, would not fairly be characterized as calling her a Manchurian candidate.)
So, no, agreeing with Clinton on Gabbard’s spoiler role doesn't require believing she is a Russian plant.
"Former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton said Thursday the Russians are currently "grooming" a Democrat running in the presidential primary to run as a third-party candidate and champion their interests."
CNN making the same misrepresentation (possibly as an uncredited copy) that NYT originally did, but lacking the integrity (or lacking ever going directly to the original quote because they were plagiarizing something that they didn't realize was wrong) to issue a correction?
The actual quote says the Republicans are grooming her, and that she's the Russians favorite (and implying that that plays a role in Republican calculations), not that the Russians are grooming her.
Do they read the article before writing the headline? Did you read the whole thing? From your link:
[Gabbard is] the favorite of the Russians. They have a bunch of sites and bots and other ways of supporting her so far, and that’s assuming Jill Stein will give it up. Which she might not, ‘cause she’s also a Russian asset.
"She" in the final sentence refers to Jill Stein. So, Hillary is at the very least slandering a genuinely good person with a baseless accusation. For shame.
But, there's another word in that sentence, "also". In isolation, we might think it means that Stein is a Russian asset in addition to her other allegedly unsavory qualities. That reading doesn't make sense in light of the previous sentence, however, which is mostly about Gabbard and only introduces Stein at the end as someone who might or might not do something. Might or might not do it, because she's also a Russian asset. In English you don't say "also" about the thing that explains the first thing. You say "also" about some unrelated thing. The only reasonable reading is that Stein is a Russian asset in addition to the only other person under discussion also being a Russian asset.
I can't believe we're trying to steelman something a Clinton said in an edited interview by a loyal Democratic "operative" she has known and worked with for years. Those are the perfect conditions for saying exactly what one intends to say. She wasn't taken out of context. There was no trick question. English is her first language. I really think she thought it was a good idea to make this baseless accusation.
Really, though. I can't believe you've got me suggesting you could trust the media a bit more, if only when it comes to reading transcripts. This whole thing has come under intense scrutiny. If this obscure financial site had unearthed a bombshell, do you really all the big media firms who love to hate on Gabbard would have ignored it?
Yes, the description of “grooming” refers to Republicans, not Russians. The CNN article made a gross error (if not an outright lie) and failed to correct it.
> "She" in the final sentence refers to Jill Stein. So, Hillary is at the very least slandering a genuinely good person with a baseless accusation.
Er, no, there's nothing baseless about Stein being described as a Russian asset; it might be disputable based on the public info, but there was plenty of information from which one could reasonably draw that conclusion that came out publicly during and in the aftermath of the 2016 election; that Russia was directing efforts at boosting her—as well as Trump and Sanders—is pretty much beyond dispute; that she (like Trump and unlike Sanders) failed to acknowledge and repudiate that effort is also beyond dispute.
> But, there's another word in that sentence, "also". In isolation, we might think it means that Stein is a Russian asset in addition to her other allegedly unsavory qualities. That reading doesn't make sense in light of the previous sentence, however, which is mostly about Gabbard and only introduces Stein at the end as someone who might or might not do something. [...] The only reasonable reading is that Stein is a Russian asset in addition to the only other person under discussion also being a Russian asset.
Yes, Clinton described Gabbard and Stein as Russian “assets”. That's she did so is not in dispute. Note that Russia, like the USSR before it, has and recognizes agents/assets with looser relationships that aren't of control the way the US intelligence community aims for in what it describes as it's assets.
> Those are the perfect conditions for saying exactly what one intends to say.
She said exactly what she intended to say, which is not what she has been widely characterized in the media (some of which has corrected the error) as saying, nor is it what she was characterized as saying upthread, which is even more extreme than the widely-spread media mischaracterization.
> I can't believe you've got me suggesting you could trust the media a bit more, if only when it comes to reading transcripts.
Since on the point actually in dispute, you've done nothing to actually defend the mischaracterization you say should be more trusted, which literally took what Clinton said Republicans were doing and said she said it about Russians, I can't believe it either, since it is clearly defending the indefensible. Yet here we are.
Wow, we've finally reached the bottom. If "Russian asset" is to have such a diluted meaning, I don't really see what the big deal is. By that definition anyone with a brain is a Russian asset. Of course, anyone with a brain also knows what was implied in the interview. This is like calling someone a racial epithet and then explaining, "oh but I didn't mean it in precisely that way". Give us a break.
That's...not what Clinton said, but instead something that seems like a hyperbolic retelling of the initial NYT misreporting that mixed what Clinton said about Russia and Gabbard with what Clinton said about Republicans and Gabbard, and reported the combination as having been said about Russia and Gabbard. (But still, even as misreported, would not fairly be characterized as calling her a Manchurian candidate.)
So, no, agreeing with Clinton on Gabbard’s spoiler role doesn't require believing she is a Russian plant.