Hillary is like Burger King. She has to have it her way. Everything must be scripted with her, because she is so shallow and has no core and therefore cannot come up with answers on the fly. She has to have everything laid out or she lays an egg like she did at the last debates in regards to illegal immigration. How can we expect her to lead in an uncertain world with all the variables therein if she cannot stand having questions that aren't prepared in advanced asked of her at campaign events. Two stories show how she is stacking the deck. First, from the Grinnell College Newspaper in Iowa:But under the pressures of major media coverage, with polls narrowing in Iowa, campaigns can potentially control questions and coverage by planning questions ahead of time.
While no campaigns admit to this practice, at a recent Hillary Clinton campaign event in Newton, Iowa, some of the questions posed to the New York Senator were planned in advance, planting some audience members in the crowd.
On Tuesday Nov. 6, the Clinton campaign stopped at a biodiesel plant in Newton as part of a weeklong series of events to introduce her new energy plan. The event was clearly intended to be as much about the press as the Iowa voters in attendance, as a large press core helped fill the small venue. Reporters from many major national news outlets came to the small Iowa town, from such media giants as The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, the Associated Press, and CNN.
After her speech, Clinton accepted questions. But according to Grinnell College student Muriel Gallo-Chasanoff ’10, some of the questions from the audience were planned in advance. “They were canned,” she said. Before the event began, a Clinton staff member approached Gallo-Chasanoff to ask a specific question after Clinton’s speech. “One of the senior staffers told me what [to ask],” she said.
Clinton called on Gallo-Chasanoff after her speech to ask a question: what Clinton would do to stop the effects of global warming. Clinton began her response by noting that young people often pose this question to her before delving into the benefits of her plan.
But the source of the question was no coincidence—at this event “they wanted a question from a college student,” Gallo-Chasanoff said. She also noted that staffers prompted Clinton to call on her and another who had been approached before the event
Now, at this event, there were a few unplanned questions, and according to the source Hillary's answers were confusing and off-message.
But this isn't the only instance. In fact, it appears she purposely didn't do a Q and A because some people didn't want to ask questions they were directed to:
For the second time in as many days, Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign has had to deal with accusations of planting questions during public appearances.
In a telephone interview Saturday with Fox News, Geoffrey Mitchell, 32, said he was approached by Clinton campaign worker Chris Hayler to ask a question about how she was standing up to President Bush on the question on funding the Iraq war and a troop withdrawal timeline.
The encounter happened before an event hosted by Iowa State Sen. Gene Frais on a farm outside Fort Madison, Iowa.
Clinton's Iowa campaign confirmed to Fox News that one of its staff discussed questions with Mitchell before her April 2 event, but denied attempting to plant a pro-Clinton question.
Mo Elliethee, spokesman for Senator Clinton, told Fox that Clinton staffer Chris Hayler talked with Mitchell before the event because the two knew each other from previous Democratic activities.
Mitchell told Fox News he knew Hayler because Hayler had once been with Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh's campaign
"They had a previous relationship and were talking before the event and the topic of the senator's position on Iraq came up and Geoffrey said he had some questions," Elliethee said. "Chris suggested Geoffrey ask a question."
Mitchell told Fox the Clinton campaign wanted to contrast Clinton to Sen. Barack Obama who had recently said the president would probably prevail in the Iraq funding battle with Congress.
Mithell said he refused to ask the question.
"I told Chris I had other issues I wanted to raise with Sen. Clinton," Mitchell said.
Asked what those were, Mitchell said, "I wanted to ask her why she voted for the Iraq war and why she didn't consider that a mistake."
Mitchell told Fox News, for that Hayler, the Clinton campaign worker, was unhappy and moved on to others.
"I know he tried to have others ask that question," Mitchell said.
Ultimately, Clinton took no questions from the crowd at the Fort Madison event that Mitchell attended. Elliethee said the campaign ran out of time to take questions.
How disgusting! This woman is not the intellectual marvel or the policy wonk she is made out to be. The emperor has no clothes. Why would we want a leader that cannot take questions from voters? What is going to happen when she would have to answer tough questions like to take action or not?
