David Gregory Does Battle With Talking-Point Dispensing Robot

Earlier this morning, the Hillary Clinton campaign decided that they'd save a little money and use today's morning news shows to mount a lengthy campaign commercial, chock-a-block with all the new focus-tested sentences that have been the centerpiece of her campaign ever since its "Well, Okay, Then, We're About 'Change' Now, Too" Reboot. It was a perfect plan.
Unfortunately, this required her to confront the Today Show's David Gregory, who inconveniently decided to start "asking questions", and "holding" her campaign "accountable" to statements they had made.

GREGORY: So, Senator, if people look at the last six weeks and they might question how Hillary Clinton responds to a crisis or how she handles pressure and they might point to the fact that you complained about the all boys network of presidential politics in the wake of the Philadelphia debate, they would see your husband complaining about media coverage of you, they'd see your campaign raise the past drug issue and use by Barack Obama or questioned him for his ambition, and they might say, well, this is really what we don't like about politics. Is that fair?
CLINTON: Well, i don't think that's at all an accurate representation of my campaign. You know, campaigns are like life. You know, some days are perfect. Some days aren't. But what really matters is where you're headed, what you do when you suffer some kind of, you know, problem, how you put yourself back on track and, you know, I've been doing this a long time.
GREGORY: I'm sorry. You said that was unfair. You dispute those were how you handled things in the wake of hitting that rough patch?
CLINTON: I'm going to let voters decide that, not the press. I'm going to let voters make up their minds. what I see happening here and across the country is voters are responding very positively to my campaign. I'm a proven leader. That's what The Des Moines Register said, what a lot of my supporters say.

Right! Silly David Gregory! As they say: Post Des Moines Register, ergo propter Des Moines Register! Still, Gregory pressed on something one of Clinton's "supporters" has said.

GREGORY: Let's talk about a key issue you raise on the campaign trail, that's your experience. It was your husband, the former president, that said Barack Obama as president would be "rolling the dice" with america's future. Assuming you agree with that, let's be clear. an Obama presidency is a risk to what? America's national security, America's economic health? What precisely?
CLINTON: Well, i would ask people to read the Des Moines Register editorial. Basically what they said is we need a proven leader. We have tough times.
GREGORY: What does it mean? We know what The Register said.
CLINTON: I think that's one of the principal cases for my candidacy. If you want to know what changes I'll make, look at the changes I've already made. Everybody talks about change. Everybody talks about change in this campaign. Some people think you get change by demanding it. Some think you get it by hoping for it. I think you get it by doing really hard work. That's what I've done.
GREGORY: Senator Clinton, you're not answering the question. Your husband said it would be "rolling the dice" for America's future if he were elected. What's the risk to America if Barack Obama is the president?
CLINTON: [Pause] You know, he not only said that, but the Des Moines Register editorial implied that.

Wow! It's a good thing the Des Moines Register didn't come out in favor of Clinton jumping into the Dale Maffit Reservoir!
Anyway, Gregory, growing tired of this battle of wits, attempted to shift the discussion. But Hillary hadn't yet finished dispensing platitudes.

GREGORY: So you're choosing not to answer that question. let me ask you another issue --
CLINTON: No, I'm -- no, wait a minute. I'm making the case for my candidacy. I'm very happy that I have -- I have strong supporters and I have editorial support. Well, you know, I think that voters will have to judge us, and that's what I welcome. I invite people to do that.

Right. Scrutiny is welcome, so long as it leads to an endorsement. Otherwise: DOES NOT COMPUTE!
(Watch the video.)

http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1344596469 http://www.brightcove.com/channel.jsp?channel=1178199204

Comments

[hglindquist]

Ah so, Mr. Hemmingtop, you may not remember me ... the little Asian boy who waited tables at Harvard ... but I know your every idiosyncrasy.

Yes, yes the Clinton supporters are getting downright worried ... from what I read here in HuffPo ...

[PaMike]

Thanks for the update! Now I remember why I try to avoid tv election coverage.

[EspressoAtNoon]

David Gregory rocks!!

This is the kind of questioning she and every candidate should get day in and day out.

I'm so sick of candidates being given the easy interview where they can just stick to "talking points" while their campaign is involved in SwiftBoat style politics. If they get into that kind of stuff, they should be forced to address it and David Gregory did a fine job trying to get her to have a frank discussion about the stuff regarding the things about her that we are disgusted about.

[camanoone]

Gregory, Matthews, Russert, Blitzer et.al. They all love to trip and trap. But the only one they do it to is Ms. Clinton. If they do it to Edwards or Obama it is unfair. Trippi and Axelrod are on every program they can get on whining about how unfair it is to bring something of their past up.

Matthews has Edwards on tomorrow watch his show go from Hardball to mushball. Obama won't go on a show unless Oprah is there as his surogate.

Be careful what you wish for.

[kdjoins]

Hillary's still well ahead in the national polls and is showing strength despite all this scrutiny....looks like a resilient candidate. The voters aren't buying the media onslaught.

[bodi1313]

Why do all the Obama supporters freak out when these things are mentioned. (drugs, Muslim, inexperienced, etc.)
What do you think the Republicans will do to him in the General election, not mention it?

If you are confident in your candidate and think he is the 'right' one, then accept the vetting. You guys think that Obama is now the 'frontrunner', so now you have to deal with the frontrunner scrutiny.

[roxnev]

You can tell David Gregory is a Republican, who else would want Hillary to try and explain what some on else said. he should ask bill to explain it. why are all Republican so stupid

[noamjunior]

Bush is on TV threatening war against Iraq TODAY
yet huffpo gives us this non-story
just because huffpo is getting more popular doesn't mean it needs to adopt the framework of the US mass media

[gman87]

Hillary reminds me of a Mission Impossible episode in which a politico was drugged and brainwashed into saying what his handlers wanted said.

Little did I know how prescient the episode turned out to be. Robo-candidate.

[Roses]

I'm REALLY tired of Hillary beating the drum about "experience". I am an occupational therapist, and I have been married for 30 years to the same man. Can my husband claim experience in OT because he has visited my clinic, accompanied me to hospital parties, and met my patients? I don't think that would fly with the licensing board or employers.

Same for me if I claimed experience in finance and energy, (my husband's profession).

[elion10]

Yeah- you're so right. Clinton should have just folded her tent and said, "Yes David Gregory, all I ever do is complain about the old boys network- and the bad coverage." broken down in tears and run away.

Cut me a break.

And oh- the last time I saw David Gregory he was back up dancing for Karl Rove..

I would have welcomed a little of this hard- nosed- reporter act from gregory - oh- say BEFORE we invaded Iraq wrongfully.

But- yes- you are so clever to point out how a politician avoids giving him a straight answer--

and - I actually think the "roll the dice" question was fair- and she should have said - it would be a roll of the dice on all counts.
But - she was too busy not walking into the soundbite of the day-

[cephalgia]

I've read quite a bit of Hillary Clinton bashing on HuffPo, but this is going to ridiculous extremes.

I hope no one ever takes anything this blogger says and writes and makes fun of it by snide little comments on the transcript. (Oh, yes I do.)

I thought the middle of the HuffPo was for news and the left side was for slanted blogging. Here I thought we vilified Fox News for blurring the line between fact and opinion.

[jojostan]

No wonder the GOP wants her as the candidate. You could ask her for directions to the park and she would give you 3 sets of directions going nowhere, and then tell you how much she's done for the park system over the years...

for the Republicans, if she gets the nomination, it will be like shooting fish in a barrel...

[joeamerica]

Oh and I'm not impressed with any newspaper endorsement. She got the Des Moines Register and Obama got the globe. So what?

[joeamerica]

George Will put it best yesterday. The most relevant experience Hillary has had was with Universal Health Care, which she botched terribly. Otherwise, as a senator, she voted for the dumbest war of all time. If you were a boss doing a performance evaluation, what would you give her on a scale of 1-5. Oh and she was really good at opposition research and destroying accusers. Good job.