The recent media intrigue over allegations of "question planting" in the audience of Hillary Clinton rallies and town hall meetings is ridiculous and lacks insight. Candidates who 'plant' questions are lightweights. Take George W. Bush for instance. He's a moron who can barely speak proper English, much less be capable of answering any question that may come his way.
Nobody has ever accused Hillary of being a lightweight or not up to speed on the issues. In fact, some people have intimated that she's too much of a policy wonk and lacks the charisma that her husband is so admired for.
Anyone who has seen Hillary in action knows that she is, quite possibly, the smartest, hardest working candidate in history. There doesn't seem to be any issue that she doesn't know everything about.
So, why would a candidate's campaign that is approaching 50 percent in national polls in a crowded primary do anything that would resemble planting questions? It's called spin.
The Clinton campaigns have always been known for their mastery of the press and spinning issues. What is happening here is that they have taken the talking points to the audience.
If you ask me, it's quite brilliant. Suppose that Hillary just rolled out a comprehensive energy plan. Why shouldn't the campaign spend some time working to drum up ways to continue the focus on their issue du jour? By taking it to the audience, they are furthering their mastery of controlling message. It's brilliant.
Certainly, they're not the only campaign on either side to engage in this kind of messaging. If they are, then they're further ahead than I already imagined.
So, instead of riding this ridiculous issue, the press would do well to concentrate on real issues. The other candidates would also be well-served to concentrate on increasing their poll numbers. Nobody is buying that Hillary is a light weight. Next?
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Umm... actually, as to your point [1], according to the student's comments, she was given the question verb sap - it was written out on a sheet of paper and at the top of the paper on which the question was written was a title to make clear the question was supposed to come from a [[ College Student ]]. This makes it easy for Senator Clinton to wax poetic about how (a) she gets asked about global warming a lot, and, importantly, how (b) it is usually "Young People" (*just like YOU, GIRL*) who ask the Senator this question.
As to your question pasted above as point [2], you may want to read up a bit. Senator Obama has stepped up to deny such practices. Also, former Senator Edwards has stepped up to deny such practices. So yes, Virginia, other candidates are indeed denying it.
You are wrong to defend the practice and spin it as good politics.
Manipulation of an "open" forum is wrong.
Claiming it's a positive borders on delusional.
Let's start asking real questions in this election. If the best we can come up with is that she plants questions and she doesn't tip, then we're in some trouble.
All candidates may do this- but it interferes with our ability to examine a candidtae under random circumstances.. you know-- REAL moments.. the kind of moments in which hair trigger decisions happen.. you kow - like when you are the President..
And - Bush's "town halls" kept any opposition blocks away behind a fence- and no one much cared- but it was disgraceful all the same.
She didn't help. It didn't help and I can't imagine how it would have helped.
It feels too much like people in her campaign feel voters have to be tricked into hearing her message. The message people get is her campaign thinks there's something wrong with us and maybe she thinks so too.
I would suggest she dump the PR people and the spin artists and get rid of all that extra noise. Then voters can HEAR HER MESSAGE and decide for ourselves.
http://www.letfreedomringblog.com/2007/11/13/feeding-the-image/
That's the most bizarre endorsement of a candidate's attempt to deceive the electorate that I've ever read.
Staging questions is BS. It is phoney. It represents the worst element in politics. It shows a candidate who is afraid of letting real citizens ask real questions about how her candidacy will affect their lives. Instead she puts "shills" out in the audience and just selects them, avoiding all the real citizens and their real questions.
You should get a job working for Karl Rove if that kind of despicable behavior impresses you. That's precisely what the rest of this country wants to extricate from Washington, DC.
Intelligence does not really seem to be the issue here.
it's a character issue.
Especially in light of how GW/Cheney do the same thing this is exactly why any candidate who wants credibility does NOT do this.
Why is Sen. Clinton the big story here? Do you see any of the other candidates stepping up to deny that they do the same things? Of course not.
What's next? An expose of the colour of Sen. Clinton's shoes?
If you want to do a story on how the political machine works, then fine. But all the candidates are in a political race and they all use organizers and handlers and it is disingenuous to suggest otherwise.
You're giving credit to a campaign for dishonesty. Now that's what I call spin! Hold on to this clip for your future records, Sport-o. If Hillary wins, maybe she'll have a place for you on the press relations team.
I couldn't disagree with you more, on several counts:
1) Shows lack of mastery of skills in messaging -- skilled communicators can shift conversations towards topics that they want to spin, without the need to rig the questions. Hillary does not have great skill in this area. And planting questions is just bad form.
2) Appearance of impropriety -- it really doesn't matter how smart Hillary is (and I disagree that she's the smartest candidate in history, by quite a margin) -- trying to rig what is supposed to be an open discussion is widely looked upon as dishonest. 'Nuf said.
3) It feeds criticisms of her Achilles' heel. Like it or not, people view Hillary as less-than-trustworthy. Whether it has to do with Bill's own slickness, or her triangulation, planting questions only exacerbates voters' concerns about her integrity.
Honestly, I don't know what she (or her campaign staff) was thinking when they decided to do this...how idiotic.
Ken