they kick off their season wednesday against the orlando magic. that's it for today. have a great week. we'll see you next "fox news sunday." for "sunday morning futures." i'll see you on the fox business network next week. buzz leader this sunday, hillary clinton grilled about benghazi for hours by a polarized panel. and the hearings largely portrayed as a partisan exercise. >> i would say the lead from the day, so far, is hillary clinton repeatedly offers false or misleading testimony and journalists yawn. >> i think you have to go back to joe mccarthy, to find a process as abusive in a congressional hearing as this one was. >> why are so many news outlets saying hillary emerged unscathed while they insist the new evidence is damaging. just as most of the media were

saying joe biden were about to jump into the race -- >> joe biden's decision, i think the announcement's going to come tomorrow. i think he's going to get in. >> joe biden's going to get in, i'm confident. tomorrow or tuesday. >> the vice president says he's out. how are so many so wrong so often? and will the press now down play hillary's expected coronation? as donald trump keeps surging in the polls, the media establishment finally grudgingly acknowledging the obvious. he could well win the republican nomination or more. >> i know all about dismissed trust. early on, all of us, the so-called experts, i am beginning to believe he could be elected president of the united states. >> why have the pundits spent so many months in denial? i'm howard kurtz, and this is "media buzz." >> the media narrative when the

house ben gghazi hearings began. which surfaced repeatedly as republican lawmakers grilled hillary clinton, hillary clinton and she pushed back with the help of democrats playing defense. >> i understand there are people, frankly, in both parties who have suggested this investigation is about you. let me assure you it is not. >> set up this committee with no rules, no deadlines, and an unlimited budget. and they set them loose, madame secretary because you're running for president. >> so, if there's no evidence for a video-inspired protest, then where did the false narratives start? started with you, madame secretary. >> i've lost more sleep than all of you put together. i have been racking my brain about what more could've been done or should've been done.

>> and much of the coverage seemed to favor hillary clinton, although, not on fox. >> she sounds like a real human being trying to save somebody who worked for her over there in benghazi in a very dangerous situation. i don't think it hurt her at all. >> a very bad day for the republicans, theatrically, at least. >> the republicans were trying to throw everything they had at hillary clinton. but it ended up being a very good day for her. >> because she doesn't believe it was about a video because she's covering up what we weren't supposed to hear. >> well, there was a smoking gun. >> it's a bombshell. >> it impacts hillary. >> joining us now to examine the coverage and the impact on the campaign. u.s. news columnist, political consultant and former spokeswoman for george w. bush. kirstin powers, and chief congressional correspondent for the "washington examiner." the mainstream consensus was the hearing was a not. here's "usa today," no smoking

gun. but some conservative commentators seem to see a different hearing. are most of the media right that hillary emerged unscathed? >> well, i don't think the media's right. i think they used that word unscathed repeatedly. and the fact is, she, it brought up the new questions. there were 600 security requests. she basically said, well, no one came to me with those security requests. so what are we saying? is she a passive observer on this? >> are you saying the mainstream media are wrong? >> i think what they were covering was more about the calm demeanor, about the fact she didn't have that explosive, emotional moment like she did back in january. so i think they're giving her kudos for that. but i don't necessarily think they're right. >> some of the coverage on fox said the hearings proved hillary clinton's a liar. but the rest of mainstream media saw mostly old news or rehashed news. >> it wasn't just the mainstream

media. this was a marathon hearing. >> benghazi bust was the headline. >> right. and you had erik erikson saying the same thing. mike huckabee saying the same thing, saying it was, basically a net win for hillary. so i don't think that -- i really do believe that the people who didn't see this as hillary performing well, a, and the republicans performing ba y badly, it wasn't just a hillary performed well. it was they performed badly. are people who just really just hate hillary. like, i think they're incapable of seeing in front of them, which was that the republicans had this -- first of all, the obsession with the blumenthal e-mails. it was pathetic to watch. and i'm somebody, i think anybody who watches me or reads my writing knows i'm sympathetic to the idea that we need to be investigating benghazi. i'm saying, they blew it. >> there are the conservative talk show radio hosts that came out and were basically saying,

you know, looking at the fact. it wasn't about her emotional status, it was more of the fact that she, for example, told her family one thing while and the egyptian president one thing that it was about, you know, a real attack, this was not about the video, and then she told the american people another thing. that was really an emotional. it was something they spoke about on conservative talk radio. but maybe on the conservative side, it was a little more divided where you had byron york saying one thing. >> he says, yes, that happened. but this is actually old news to people. i'm not saying it shouldn't be -- i think it's new news. >> i don't think there are that many people that think there wasn't misleading that happened around the benghazi attack. >> being able to get her on record, i think is critical. >> do you need seven hearings to establish that? >> well, my take on this e-mail is, indeed, it was a significant revelation that hillary clinton was e-mailing her family saying it was a terrorist attack while she and others were saying something different. that takes you back to the original argument about the administration's talking points

after the attack, which we have known for years were misleading. if you agree with your washington examiner colleague, do you think that going into the hearing, the media had a mindset that republicans are going to try to sabotage her, the democrats are going to try to defend her and this was a partisan exercise. >> unfortunately, yes. and i think the role of the media and all of this is to hold leaders accountable. she was secretary of state at the time, we lost a u.s. ambassador and three people on her watch. so little attention was paid to her role in this. her responsibility. what kind of leader she would make as a president. she's running for president. all of that seemed to be on the back burner. instead, we were focusing on her demeanor. we were focusing on the politics. we were focusing on, you know, the democrats on this side, the republicans on this side. but our role as the media is to hold leaders accountable. and i think that's what this hearing was supposed to do. all of that got lost. >> but wait a minute. if you have a hearing with one witness who happens to be the democratic presidential front runner and the last time, one of

the last time she testified, she kind of got testy. and this time she took the questioning. she looked bored at times and some of the republicans were seen as some as being openly hostile. congressional politics is that part of the story. >> became the dominant theme in the story. and i think what happens, the politics overtake so much of the substance. and what you just mentioned about the motor home moe where she's telling one story about there being a terrorist attack and then having susan rice go on the air and talk five times about it being about a video. that's really significant. the media just gets lost. >> it is incredibly significant. and i think you're going to see that continue to be covered along through the general election. >> but it seems to me that if you look at the coverage the next day when you had headlines like "politico," hillary's best week yet. and biden not getting into the race. there's a consensus and maybe the consensus is wrong that --

there was the kind of revelation that, you know, remain in the news for the next seven days. >> right. i watched every minute of it. and i did not -- her demeanor, okay. we can talk about her demeanor. she was grilled and what they came up with, the smoking gun is something we already knew. so i don't -- >> well, added a layer. >> i'm interested in what happened in benghazi. the point is, i'm thinking, wait, 11 hours to get this? i don't understand. even i'm starting to say, what is the point of this? i think there was a high expectation surrounding this benghazi hearing from the beginning. and i think the media was saying, how is she going to perform? is she going to survive? not going to survive? >> right. look, if she had gotten angry.

>> yeah. >> that would have been the moment. that would have been the moment. >> she didn't give them a moment. >> another important thing, they really, in my mind, showed this is really a politicalish about -- >> no, it's part of the process. >> no, really, so the obsessiveness about blumenthal and the fact they won't release all the transcripts and all the e-mails. this is very back to the '90s kind of stuff. you know, you really feel like -- >> washington insiders, the role -- >> right. >> what happened to bill clinton. >> the washington insiders, fascinating as the guy trying to do business with libya, trying to advise hillary. but there are a lot of people in the country that have to wonder. let me ask you about a poll, season. 53% believe the committee was trying to damage hillary politically. but also, 57% disapprove of her handling of e-mails. maybe the public has concluded. >> it's, again, an issue of trust. and i don't think this hearing helped her. now, what they can do, if you want to play politics with this is each side can take bits and pieces of that video, keep using it going forward to either

embarrass the republicans or to embarrass hillary clinton, to put her trust into question, where she says one thing about the video and then another th g thing. >> bottom line, do you think the coverage was off base. the thrust of the coverage that basically said this was a good day for hillary clinton. >> i think the coverage missed the point was that this was about her leadership skills and what -- it was lost in the 11 hours of political bickering. >> fox news took seven hours of the hearing live and then broke away. cnn and msnbc took all 11 hours. by the time, 8:00 at night and she has a coughing fit because she's gotten hoarse, i think some people would feel a bit sympathy for her. >> well, i think that definitely plays into the role. i think everyone, again, was looking for that moment where hillary clinton would crack and she didn't. so, that was definitely played to her favor. i think the media primarily focused on that. with that being said, i think we go back to susan's point, which is that this is about the fact that she comes across as being this passive observer as a leader where she missed the ball. and i think the media failed to

really capture that. >> we have now, in the media, more benghazi fatigue or more on snegs obsession? >> fatigue, for sure. i think it is -- i don't think that it did establish she was a passive leader. i think it established there are maybe some things that need to be revamped. and i think, but if -- >> leaders want -- >> this is the thing that republicans keep saying that's not true. she didn't ignore the security request. >> it didn't come to her. >> okay. >> buried in the hearing was the fact that she created an atmosphere there. she didn't get any direct information. she let other people make the decision. >> i've got to wrap. i've got to wrap this up. >> and how secretary of states typically operate. and what i'm saying is i think there could have been things that could've been changed. >> this is typical in congressional hearings these days democrats, the opposition party goes after the witnesses and other plays defense. let me get a break here.

tweet me @howardkurtz. when we come back, mainstream media love paul ryan and his are reluctant bid for speaker. but some commentators, not so much. and later, the pundits finally figure it out. donald trump could win the republican primaries.

many of the national reporters covering hillary clinton's campaign, are women.

politico talked to some of them who said the candidate sometimes sympathizes with them and could seem maternal while others avoided writing about her appearance because she's a woman. all of this did not sit well with rush limbaugh. >> if you the hillary news coverage is the way it is, you simply have to look at that picture. the chickfication of the news is made up of many facets. they can't fully relate. >> chickification. the thing is, she's had rough relations with the press corps after the e-mail scandal erupted. andrea mitchell, for one, gave her a hard time. >> you said using your personal e-mail while you were secretary of state was not the best choice and you take responsibility. are you sorry? that people don't trust your answers on this. there was a quinnipiac. this poll was everyone, republicans and democrats, but

the first words that came to mind when asked about you were liar, untrustworthy, crooked. how does that make you feel? >> well, certainly doesn't make me feel good. >> reporters like the washington post and the "new york times," they're hardly going soft on hillary. far more political reporters are women since the boys on the bus was published back in the 1970s. this reminds me how many black journalists were assigned to cover jesse jackson's campaign in 1984. it was a black washington post reporter who wounded the candidate by disclosing he had referred to new york city. let's not assume they're cheerleaders because of their gender. liberals in the media piling on george w. bush after donald trump uses 9/11 against his brother jeb. but, coming up, the media kept telling us joe biden would run, was about to run any minute. how did they blow it so badly?

the media spent much of the year mocking or minimizing donald trump. first a side show, then a summer mr. fling, then kept saying things that would lead to his imminent demise. all showing donald with a bigger lead. members of the media establishment are saying what they once regarded as unthinkable. >> the republican establishment for the first time saying off the record, this guy could win. >> i don't hear anybody saying he can't win the nomination anymore. >> you're looking at somebody who has a tremendous head of steam and might become impossible to stop.

with a disaffected republican electorate. his nomination now becomes something that everybody has to say is possible. >> i think the longer that donald trump continues to remain on top, be more of a viable candidate he seems to be. >> joining us now, matt lewis, senior contributor at the daily caller and a columnist for the week. and columnist for "the daily beast." >> are you willing to admit you were wrong, you underestimated trump and seek mercy in the court of public opinion? >> yes, i was wrong. >> we can stop there. >> i was wrong. >> okay. >> i think we're, you know, people make wild predictions, but i think responsible commentators base it on history and experience. and any other cycle, donald trump would have been a joke. but i think what we're experiencing right now is that we underestimated how frustrated and desperate republican voters are right now and trump is a vessel for that frustration, and he's strong and that's what they're looking for. >> kelly, why do you think so

many journalists and commentary simply ridicule or totally underestimated trump in this campaign cycle? >> well, this is something we talked about on your show before, howie. this idea of who comprises most press outlets, right? and it's sort of the washington, d.c., new york, beltway dinner party crowd. and a lot of us talk to each other and because we talk to each other. what's that famous line about someone who i'm forgetting who said i can't believe walter mondale lost so badly everyone i know voted for him. there was a little bit of that. >> i think it was "the new yorker" and i think it was george mcgovern. but go ahead. >> i butchered the entire anecdote. but the idea that we all sort of talk to each other. and it becomes this echo chamber and that's why people surprised that donald trump has tapped into something which some of us are not surprised by, which there are a lot of angry people who feel like our country has changed too rapidly for their liking whether that's on things

like race, whether that's on things like lbgt rights. and you actually don't find his surge that surprising. and i don't. >> i think there is a media echo chamber. i think we should acknowledge that. you said on the program in august, the media see trump as a clown, he's bad for the republican party, and demagogues are popular. >> yeah. i standby that. >> did your personal distaste for his bombastic style and maybe some of his positions because he's not a conservative call your judgment at all? by the way, you have plenty of company. >> well, i try not to let that. and there are other candidates. whether i like them, or not, i try not to let that cloud my judgment. but i do think that, you know, kelly was talking about the world having changed. i think part of what's changed, though, is helping donald trump in the sense. i think the politics is helping donald trump. i think the fact that we cover news as entertainment. and i think the fact that people used to value things like humility more. and now we like the -- i think that's part of why trump has

succeeded. >> well, they don't value humility in television anchors. kelly, it's fine to criticize trump, question his policies, question how much he has changed in the past, some of which he has acknowledged. so many sundays i have sat here and someone has said, well, donald trump said this, and this is it, clearly, hoe's done, he' going to implode and it doesn't happen. >> no, it doesn't. and the reality is setting in that donald trump is more of a viable candidate than a lot of people predicted. i still don't think that a lot of people are predicting he will win. i think that the prediction where things have shifted, howie, is that he is now going to be sort of the pat buchanan of this election cycle. which is -- it's as people will recall, pat buchanan occupies a significance place in both of campaigns he ran. and i think that's where the conversation should start shifting, which is as a mainstream candidate, no republican candidate has won without having the support of latino voters like george w. bush did. but the conversation around it has to shift in terms of voters

he's tapping into, much like '96 around buchanan. >> of course, donald trump has a lot more personal money than pat buchanan did when he ran in '92 and '96. let me turn to the coverage of ben carson who we could also say was underestimated by the media. clear number two to donald trump nationally. and so, he put out a fund raising letter, matt. and he has been getting to the media on many statements that we think are controversial. and he says i've come under attack. nearly every word twisted and spun and blatant lies being told about what i believe that's pretty sharp language. >> well, look, if fund raising is incendiary by definition. this goes back to the negativism. beating up oen the press, george h.w. bush. annoy the press, vote for me. this is a tried and true technique. it's bogus. ben carson says negative stuff.

and when we show things that are controversial, that's not liberal bias. >> you say crazy stuff. other people, they agree. but before you jump in, kelly, let me read to you another part of this fund raising letter. as a black republican, he says, or whoever wrote the earth la. i know i'm a threat to the liberal order. because of the color of my skin, i'm supposed to think certain ways. sorry, but that's racism. this surprised me because he doesn't talk about racism very much. >> he doesn't. he talks about his background. this is a smart, strategic move here because something that i've written about, although it hasn't been widely covered. there was a growing number of registered independents among young people. and we saw a shift when president obama was running and became the first black president. but what's smart about this is that ben carson could actually tap into something that is not widely covered, which is the growing number of african-americans who are not as party loyal as their parents or as their parents and grandparents. so for him to kind of tap into

this. it's a twofor in terms of potential coverage and money. he can get some of these, diversify the tent as republicans keep talking about. but he also speaks the language of a lot of white voters who are so sick of hearing people, quote, play the race card in their eyes. >> that seems like something the media need to focus more on about republicans, african-americans not automatically democrats. thank you very much. kelly goff in new york. matt lewis in washington. after the break, she's a workaholic and that turned out to be dangerous for the editor when work and family get way out of whack in a moment. amerivest selects the funds and manages your portfolio.

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sarah lacy has been working hard, way too hard as it turns out. she wound up in the hospital, has been strug will elling with a balance between family and an insane job. she joins us from san francisco. sarah, you are under pressure and wrote about this episode. i quite literally was drowning in the manifestation that demanded more and more and better stories. what happened to you personally? >> well, it was rough. i mean, we switched to this model like you said, and the trap i fell into -- i always had been pretty good about thinking long term with the business. but i noticed the more we would write really great stuff every day, the more subscribers we would get that day.

entrepreneurs crave some sense of control because so much is not in your control when you're building a company, particularly a media company. and it was a metric that i could control. it was something that i could do that would every day getting one step closer to being profitable. i've been on this four-year slog to get there. i just got obsessed and it made me think short term. i ended up in the hospital with knpneumonia pneumonia. >> you not only have the pressures of being an entrepreneur and the site you founded but you have two young kids. is it evident to you now that you let your life kind of get out of control? >> yeah, definitely. i've always felt like my kids made me a better entrepreneur because they did force me to have some balance. i don't really open my laptop on the weekends. i am a mother between 6:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. at night and in the mornings. but what was happening was i was going back to work after putting my kids down, working until 2:00

or 3:00 a.m. and get up at 6:00 for the kirds xs when you get pneumonia, they said it should feel like a hike to walk to the bathroom. imagine that while you're picking up a 4-year-old throwing a tantrum. it was not worth it. all the good that was done in the two months i was killing myself, september set us back. >> you can't put the kids on hold, of course. i think so many parents can relate to this struggle between work and family. but i wonder if this is what happened to you is also particularly endemic to the tech world, companies like google open up free food so they'll stay at the office more. or do you think it can happen in any business? >> i think there's entrepreneurs all over the country building small businesses who work way too hard and live the stress. but i do think in silicon s valley. one, there's a lot of young men and this macho sense, bro sense of i'm crushing it, i'm working all night. and this culture that can be kind of toxic in some of these companies. and i think it's one reason people liked working for me.

because i have two kids and a 40-year-old woman. i don't have that culture. i think also this obsession with metrics. if you lookt at a metric too long, it makes you think short term and you lose sight. >> i am so glad that you made it through the segment. you didn't cough or anything. stay well. thank you for sharing this with us. >> thanks. still to come, your topthat.

sna. all anchors have to interrupt their guests sometimes. for chris matthews it's an art form. the msnbc asked questions of his female guests and barely let them answer. >> i call it like i see it. >> you're not -- okay, good. >> i'm -- >> good. >> he's -- >> is she just a -- why is he running -- >> see the e-mail issue as controversial and. >> why does he talk about -- why didn't he use that moment to --

>> would you stop. >> hillary wouldn't have conceded a point to the opponent. she's a fighter. >> i think both -- >> would hillary have done that? >> i -- >> i've never seen that. >> i don't know but i -- >> you don't know? >> ha! as a frequent hardball guest said, chris asks you a question, answers it and asked you to comment on his answer. your top tweets. coverage of benghazi, has it been fair? elizabeth wiggins, absolutely not. as if they already anointed hillary queen. they're cheering the fact she whooped the panel. of course they're crowns. republicans cannot accept that hillary came out the winner after that lengthy witch-hunt. yes, and in so doing have proved they're totally incapable of identifying a path lot cal liar. so the talent may be be out in front of the cameras, but the key figures in tv news are tv producers who get in your ear. sometimes there's a little

tension between the two. >> people on television talking [ bleep ] about their producers. >> my producer said it's the record but i'm disagreeing. >> i don't like this stuff, but our producer anthony felt it was necessary to put in here. but really terrible. >> my producer can't fit into this dress. >> as you wanted to know, i wanted to show the cartoons from the week of the massacre. our producer wouldn't let me. >> forgive mef. this is all our producer. >> my producer is telling me i have to go. i'm going to take issue with him later. >> my producer has said wrap in my ear twice. >> my producer said we have to talk about this for the next couple of minutes. >> i told you that would be funny, lacy. you have to listen to me. that's it for this edition of "media buzz." i'm howard kurtz. like our facebook page as you know we post a lot of original content there. i'm on radio. check out news news's sirius station, 24 hour headlines. we are back here next sunday,

11:00 and 5:00 eastern. check us out. we appreciate the dialogue. e-mail me. back here next sunday with the latest buzz. newly released video shows a daring rescue that freed more than 70 hostages and when it was over, one american soldier was dead. i'm harris faulkner and this is the fox report. >> gunfire ringing out at their prison. the pentagon says those people were facing imminent execution. a mass grave was already dug. he is