As I've said before, Hillary Clinton is one of the least self-aware people on this planet, and she proved it once again in remarks she made Tuesday in a speech given on the second day of the Clinton Global Initiative Meeting in New York City.

One of the panels held at the two-day event was "Journalism on the Frontlines: How Protecting Freedom of the Press Supports All Human Rights." After the panelists held their roundtable, Clinton took the stage to give her .02 on the topic, where she proceeded to discuss the issue of the threats reporters face worldwide and here at home while noting we had a duty to defend the media from attacks on their right to ask questions and report the news.

Clinton portrayed herself as a staunch defender of journalists and the First Amendment and talked about how she saw the dangers the press sometimes faced firsthand during her time as Secretary of State under then-President Barack Obama.

She could not of course resist ranting about how journalists here in America faced attacks on a daily basis from people who she said wanted to create "alternative facts to support false narratives."

"We have a very real war on truth, facts, and reason," she also declared, while calling on people to do their "duty" in defending "free and honest journalism, to help keep all of us informed, to hold institutions to account."

She went on to say, "You can't have a democracy if you don't have people reporting on what leaders are doing."  

Watch a short clip below (or the full speech here starting at around the 1:04 hour mark):

We're in the midst of a real war on truth, facts, and reason. Assaults on the free press have to be taken seriously.

Thanks @jrezaian, @DanaPerino, @jodieginsberg, @almarlatour, and @InternewsJeanne for taking on this important topic at #CGI2023. pic.twitter.com/K16SyJgQgS

— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) September 19, 2023

The first thing I thought when I watched that clip was that this woman had absolutely no shame considering everything she's done to undermine the institution of journalism over her decades as a power player in national politics, not just as First Lady in the 1990s but also as Senator in the early 2000s, as Sec. of State, and most notoriously of course during her two failed runs for president in 2008 and 2016.

I wasn't the only one with that thought:

Hillary Clinton warns the U.S. is fighting a "war on truth". @CharlesHurt: "The Clintons, both of them, were blessed with an extraordinary degree of not having any shame whatsoever." pic.twitter.com/dV3vnhj7iq

— The Bottom Line (@BottomLineFBN) September 19, 2023

Hillary Clinton wanted to drone kill Julian Assange and created a private server in order to circumvent foia requests from the press. https://t.co/cjdA0EAoNb

— a newsman (@a_newsman) September 19, 2023

"This is rich coming from the woman whose campaign paid for the Steele dossier to be disseminated..." another astute Twitter user pointed out.

Other inconvenient reminders for Hillary Clinton include how she kept reporters behind a rope line like cattle during her 2016 presidential campaign, a tradition the Clintons started in 1992:

Reporters following Hillary Clinton dragged behind an actual ropeline pic.twitter.com/0dPKTT2KpW

— Liz Kreutz (@LizKreutzNews) July 4, 2015

Clinton and those closest to her have also been known to keep lists of reporters, grading them on who was the most friendly and the least and leaning on the ones they felt would give them the most favorable coverage, like the New York Times' Maggie Haberman (who was with Politico at the time) while avoiding the ones they believed wouldn't. 

That's not respect for freedom of the press; that is a manipulation of it, pure and simple. It's not unique to her, to be fair, but for her to pretend as though she's been a paragon of transparency with the media is outright laughable. 

On the subject of defending the First Amendment and the press from unfair attacks, I'm all for it - but at the same time that doesn't mean reporters should be off limits from being criticized and called out because quite frankly they've earned a lot of the criticism they've received over the years. 

That is something that is unlikely to change considering the fact that they're just getting worse.

In any event, had this been anyone else standing on stage defending the press, I probably wouldn't have taken issue with it but Hillary Clinton being behind the mic on this one was just too much for me to stomach. Enough with the revisionism already.  I mean Hillary Clinton has about as much credibility to speak on press freedoms as Bill Clinton does on remaining faithful to your spouse.

'Nuff said.

Flashback: Hillary Clinton Blurts Out the Quiet Part About the Democrats' Elder Abuse of Dianne Feinstein