The controversy over the planted questions by the Clinton campaign appears to be deepening. A student now alleges seeing a typed page of prepared questions that identified the type of person who should ask the question. It does not sound that a passing idea of a campaign worker. The response from Hillary Clinton has been tepid at best. While the FEMA officials were disciplined for their fake press conference, there is no indication that the Clinton campaign will take serious action in this case. For the full story, click here It is not a minor issue. The staging of these events has been repeatedly and rightly criticized when committed by the Bush Administration. Even before the FEMA controversy, the Bush Administration was chastized for feeding questions to troops and staging sessions. These Q & A sessions are supposed to be some of the few unrehearsed moments for candidates. Candidates today are so wired and rehearsed that such events become meaningless frauds if they are also staging the questions.
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I can’t imagine the Clinton campaign taking such a risk now, with where they are in the polls…It makes no sense, and is now causing me to look more closely at what she is doing – she’s given her opponents an opening.
It is remarkably stupid, I agree.
People who attended Hillary’s “breakout session” at YearlyKos wondered if some questions were planted, too. The question now is: when the campaign says they won’t do this going forward, do they mean they won’t do it in a way that will get caught?
It’s easier to get supporters to ask questions; they won’t talk to the media. Or at least they are more likely to obey the campaign’s request not to talk to the media, which thankfully this young woman did not.
This whole thing stinks.
What I find curious is how a high-ranking campaign official can show up at an event with typed questions and profiles for the questioner — yet, there was no knowledge of this practice. Moreover, this is a major deception. However, there has been no effort to identify the official and question him about the practice.The staging of politics is a practice that the Bush Administration and others have made an art. When these abuses occur, it is important to run down the facts and hold people accountable.