Clinton Campaign to Wolf Blitzer: Don’t You Dare Ask Hillary Any Tough Questions!!!
 
From the moment she announced her candidacy, Hillary Clinton has received the most uncritical coverage from an adoring, fawning and obsequious press corps of any candidate in modern history. Her nomination, feminist and most other journalists, assured us, was a fait accompli, a done deal; as such, there was no need to let journalistic scrutiny of her campaign get in the way of attending her historic coronation ceremony.
Lately, despite most journalists attempts at propping her up, the very thin and thoroughly inauthentic veneer that defines her candidacy is starting to show cracks. Her shameless equivocating and evasiveness at the last debate, planting questions at scripted campaign events, and now, a stark warning from the commissars at the Clinton campaign to next Thursday’s debate moderator Wolf Blitzer, don’t ask Hillary any tough questions…
For a press corps that has enjoyed being spoon-fed a pile of nonsense from the Clinton campaign for the past two years a question arises: when are you going to start acting like journalists?
Michael Crowley of TNR has an interesting article which describes how the mainstream press has been gleefully carrying Hillary’s water. He accurately notes that the Clinton campaign issues the press their marching orders and those who don’t toe the line are punished
Despite all the grumbling, however, the press has showered Hillary with strikingly positive coverage. "It's one of the few times I've seen journalists respect someone for beating the hell out of them," says a veteran Democratic media operative. The media has paved a smooth road for signature campaign moments like Hillary's campaign launch and her health care plan rollout and has dutifully advanced campaign-promoted themes like Hillary's "experience" and expertise in military affairs. This is all the more striking in light of the press's past treatment of Clinton--particularly during her husband's White House years--including endless stories about her personal ethics, frostiness, and alleged Lady Macbeth persona.
In a very real sense, the press has no one to blame but themselves for the deceptiveness and monolithic control exercised over the media by the Clinton campaign.
Meanwhile, the college student who winked for the cameras after asking the planted question is talking to reporters about seeing the Clinton machines canned question binder.
Maybe Wolf Blitzer will ignore the Clinton campaign and “pull a Russert” for the debate next Thursday. Pulling a Russert means asking a normal question and following through when the candidate is evasive, non-responsive or simply refuses to answer the question asked.
 
Beacon Street Journal
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
By Johnny K