The 'new' Hillary debuts on NBC

Hillary Clinton is borrowing from Richard Nixon, a man she worked to impeach while a staff member of the House Judiciary Committee in the early 1970s. Like Nixon, whose handlers successfully fooled a majority of voters by trotting out a “new Nixon” after his election defeats in 1960 and 1962, Clinton is trying to change her public image with voters, a majority of whom—according to several major polls—finds her unlikeable and untrustworthy.

Clinton and her staff have not been secretive about their plans for a makeover. They announced it to The New York Times.

The biggest step so far in her transformation came last weekend on NBC’s Saturday Night Live. In a sketch featuring Kate McKinnon—the designated Hillary Clinton character for this election cycle—the real Hillary appeared as a bartender named “Val.” Reading from cue cards with scripted political and even self-deprecating jokes, the real Hillary presented herself as warm, fuzzy, and funny, characteristics heretofore unknown in the former first lady, former U.S. senator, and former secretary of state.

In case there was any doubt as to where NBC’s political heart is, the opening segment of the show ridiculed several Republican candidates as mentally ill and in need of pharmaceutical help. Yucks all around as the audience went wild with laughter and applause. I wonder if shows still have the old applause signs to ignite fake spontaneity, which would be appropriate in Clinton’s case.

But SNL wasn’t the only NBC property to host Clinton recently. Over the past week, the Peacock Network has rolled out the red carpet for the Democratic presidential front-runner. Within a span of 72 hours, in addition to Saturday Night Live, Clinton sat down for an interview with NBC­owned Telemundo and participated in a town hall event hosted by the Today show. But that’s not all. She also appeared on MSNBC’s PoliticsNation with Al Sharpton. Politico put it this way: “Three days, four appearances: Hillary Clinton just hit a free media jackpot on the NBCUniversal network.”

What’s more, Today show co-host Savannah Guthrie recently interviewed Chelsea Clinton, a former NBC correspondent. Guthrie asked Chelsea these hard-hitting questions about her mother: “What’s she like as a grandmother? I mean, paint us a picture of Hillary Clinton at home, hanging out, talking baby talk. … You say she sings. Does she have a good voice?”

During the 1992 campaign when Bill Clinton ran for and won the presidency, critics referred to CNN as the “Clinton News Network” for what they perceived to be the cable network’s uncritical boosting of his candidacy and its over-the-top criticism of President George H.W. Bush. Maybe NBC will come to stand for “Nothing But Clinton.”

In the end, no amount of generously donated network face time can change the facts. The truth is, there is no “new Hillary,” any more than there was a “new Nixon.”

© 2015 Tribune Content Agency LLC.

Listen to Cal Thomas’ commentary on The World and Everything in It.