DC:
Reports painting Flint’s lead problems as a crisis skyrocketed after former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton used the town as a primary campaign talking point during her run for president, according to a Daily Caller News Foundation analysis.
The volume of news coverage discussing elevated lead levels in the town spiked after Clinton discussed elements of the scandal during a Jan. 17, 2016, Democratic debate in South Carolina. Toxicology experts worry the reporting blew the problem out of proportion, especially as data showed Flint’s lead levels were not exceptionally high.
Clinton’s comments and former President Barack Obama’s decision to declare a state of emergency in the town generated droves of media content characterizing Flint as a small town poisoned by lead. She ripped Michigan Republican Gov. Rick Snyder for allegedly dragging his feet on the matter. “Every single American should be outraged,” Clinton said.
Reports on the lead in the town’s water exploded following Clinton’s debate.
The Wall Street Journal, for instance, published a post Jan. 19, 2016, explaining how Flint Mayor Karen Weaver elevated the matter further — she praised Clinton for being the only candidate who contacted her directly and for bringing media attention to the city’s plight.
The New York Observer noted Weaver depicted Clinton as “a fighter” who would be the “friend in the White House” the impoverished city needed. Media sophisticates, activists and even some politicians crafted narratives during and after the presidential campaign depicting Flint as a town the U.S. left behind.
Flint native Michael Moore, for instance, claimed in a Jan. 30, 2016, editorial for EcoWatch that elevated lead levels caused housing prices to plummet. Flint’s average home sale price dipped slightly during the crisis, and in the past year prices have surged 39 percent. New York Times writer Charles Blow took the issue several steps further.
“The residents of Flint consumed this poisonous water, knowing that something was wrong because of its changing colors and smells, but mostly unaware of just how dangerous it was,” Blow wrote in a Jan. 21, 2016. editorial. “An entire American city exposed to poisoned water. How could this be?” Researchers are now questioning that narrative two years after Clinton’s debate.
Data Show Flint’s Lead Levels Were Not At Crisis Levels
Yet during an actual crisis, the earthquakes in Haiti, she shows up and rips them off. Then later in another crisis, the Louisiana floods, she doesn’t show up at all. And we all know how she handled the crisis in Benghazi. Not a good record on crises, real or fake.
Funny, how it was the city’s town council that decided to use Flint river water and not the hook up with Detroit, yet it was the Republican governor who was pillared and eventually stepped in to mitigate the crisis.
It should not surprise anyone that Hillary would skew data and blow an issue out of proportion to make a political point, regardless of how many people are destroyed by her posturing. There seems to be a trail of bodies and broken people in the Clintons history. I hope I live long enough to see her in stripes or orange pantsuits.
Flint has been building a pipeline from Lake Huron for the past few years. It’s just North of my town. They’ll have very good water soon. In 1971 Detroit was building their pipeline and there was a methane explosion. I was in Jr. High and had several schoolmates who lost father’s.