Another Question Planted by Clinton Campaign

[Renew Deal]

Source: ABC News

One day after Democratic Sen. Hillary Clinton's campaign confirmed that a staffer planted a question for the presidential candidate at a recent campaign stop, another person has come forward with a similar story.

Geoff Mitchell, a minister who recently moved to Hamilton, Ill., from Iowa, told ABC News that he was approached this spring by Clinton's Iowa political director Chris Haylor to ask Clinton a question about war funding.

Mitchell, 32, said that the request "did not sit well with me in the tradition of the Iowa caucus."

"I grew up in Iowa and I value the tradition of the caucuses of answering the questions of the people," Mitchell said.

Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=3848826&page=1

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The Clinton plants are no longer an isolated incident. People should ask themselves if they want another 4-8 years of Bush style disingenuous campaigning.

[babylonsister]

1. OMG, this is the second story that's been discussed 'ad nauseum'

so don't you dare bring it up again! :evilgrin:

[Renew Deal]

2. I searched for some of the details and didn't find anything

Besides that, it doesn't make it any less important.

[babylonsister]

3. It was in GD-P, but it's now 'history'. Post away! Granted,

I spend way too much time here. :crazy:

[Renew Deal]

4. I just did the same search in GDP and found it.

I wonder how it missed LBN. Oh well.

[RaleighNCDUer]

5. I've been here almost all day

(yeah, it's pathetic, I know)

and this is the first I've heard of this story.

How's that happen?

[Renew Deal]

8. I was thinking the same thing.

I was surprised when I read it.

[Bitwit1234]

6. Oh shit they more they come the smellier they get...

next they will be lined up outside the door with questions they submitted. How low how damn low can the OTHER CANDIDATE's supporters get to post crap after piece of crap...I don't know...I am going to email Obama again and ask him what kind of people gravitate toward him. He should be ashamed for them.

[jgraz]

7. Wow, excellent attempt at spin -- worthy of Karl Rove.

You really have a future in politics. Though probably not Democratic politics.

[Renew Deal]

9. Your outrage is misplaced.

You're blaming the victim. Hillary's campaign did this.

BTW, I have not picked a candidate yet. It's a liberating experience.

[babylonsister]

17. You and Obama again, your hate is showing. Smellier? Jeeze.

He has nothing to do with this. nt

[jillan]

10. Why is she doing this? If she's afraid of questions from average Americans then how is she going to

take questions from leaders around the world.

She has been such a disappointment to me.

[merwin]

11. I'm confused. Are there confirmed reports of her NOT taking questions

from people? What this seems to be saying is that one of her people asked someone to ask a question on a particular topic. That's far from being "afraid of questions from average Americans". It's not like she will only answer one question and leave :)

[guruoo]

12. Exactly

[skoalyman]

13. good grief someone tell them its not easter yet lol

:rofl:

[bvar22]

18. Look up the word "shill".

They have been used by other Snake Oil Salesmen.
It is a dishonest practice.
The purpose is to fool the rubes in to buying something that they wouldn't buy if they knew the truth.

[merwin]

20. How is asking someone if they will bring up a topic being dishonest?

It doesn't say that she handed the guy a statement to read so she would have a completely prepared answer. It seems like he was being asked if he would bring up a topic.

Hardly snake oil sales.

[bvar22]

22. Shills are people who are "planted" in an audience before an event....

to do the bidding of the Stage Players while playing the role of an unaffiliated audience member. They are participating in a fraud. It is dishonest.
Magicians also use shills to sell illusions.

Why does the Hillary campaign feel the need to sell illusions?

[babylonsister]

21. She's using *'s game plan on 'winning', one I abhorred. Just be honest,

every day and in every way, and let the chips fall. She is stacking the deck by coaching audience members, or not allowing them in to begin with a la Code Pink/Medea Benjamin. She wore a t-shirt to a Clinton function where she was kicked out for her t-shirt. Over the top imo.

[Orsino]

36. Not very far.

We know how * runs out the clock with softballs to minimize the time he'll have to ad-lib, and we shouldn't let Dems get away with that, either.

Oh, if a candidate wants to be asked a certain question, go ahead and plant it. But plant it publicly, on the campaign web site and in press releases, so We The People know what the candidate studied for, and can decide to hit other questions harder.

[Renew Deal]

37. "We know how * runs out the clock with softballs to minimize the time he'll have to ad-lib...

and we shouldn't let Dems get away with that, either."

This is exactly the point.

[kster]

14. Hey now leave the Corporate mouth pieces alone

all the Presidential candidates D&R along with their media puppeteers are there to pit the people against one another. Common sense will tell you that Kucinich has broken away from the strings.

[JDPriestly]

15. Hillary is being marketed like a corporate product.

Nothing in her campaign can be believed due to the influence of her handlers. Remember how Bush said one thing when he was running for office and did the opposite once in office. I predict Hillary, if elected, will repeat that act. This extreme marketing of candidates makes elections meaningless. We have no way of knowing whether the candidate is stating his or her beliefs and intentions or whether the candidate is just responding to polls.

[PSPS]

16. They're ALL being "marketed like a corporate product" -- both democrats and republicans.

That's the way presidential politics has been for a very long time now.

[JDPriestly]

25. Edwards and Kucinich control their own campaigns.

Obama also has a lot of grass-roots energy in his campaign. Richardson is also pretty free of corporate control. I will say it again. Edwards is my favorite. He is the only one that is not controlled by the corporations and is truly wary of the corporations.

[Renew Deal]

35. The standard Clinton answer: "Everybody is doing it."

That's the Clinton answer for all the bad stuff they do and say. But everybody isn't doing it. It's particularly heinous after all these years of Bush doing it.

[kster]

19. A new angle, I like it, We are now in the media control of the election

where they dictate to us, who we must pick from, its easy, exclude all the other candidates from having face time ON TV.

We are being played as we speak. Then we go to the corporate owned vote counting machines to vote for the candidates that the media already pre-selected for us to vote for.

Their machine is at work RIGHT NOW, before the first vote is cast!!!

[babylonsister]

23. Why do you think we don't hear about Kucinich? At all? nt

[kster]

24. We do because we are on to all these crooks

but main street America(People who get their news solely from TV), not so much, the media is manipulating our election as we speak, by not giving all the candidates equal air time.

Dennis just brought the hammer down (impeachment), we don't hear about it in our so called media, because it would undoubtedly make him the front runner not only on the DU but across the nation and the media AND THE corporate todies (politicians) know this, thats why I am saying the media is manipulating our elections AS WE SPEAK!!

[JDPriestly]

26. Same reason as why we don't hear about Edwards.

[kster]

31. Edwards is still playing ball with the media election manipulators, Kucinich isn't

every once in a while you have to say F-ck it, I am not going to go along just to get along, thats where I believe Dennis is.

Just my two cents.

[Susan43]

27. Shilling????

Correct me if I'm wrong, but usually when someone gets a shill to ask a question, isn't it usually a softball question? Is an Iraq funding question a softball question?

Is it really such a terrible thing to ask someone to bring up a subject that the candidate would like to cover?

Maybe I'm crazy but first it just doesn't seem like a softball subject and second, if Hillary wanted Iraq funding brought up why is it so dreadful if they ask someone to bring it up?

[Divine Discontent]

28. isn't it possible that...

it's more appropriate for the candidates to listen to what the VOTERS want to talk about, rather than what the candidate has practiced that whole week that they know their campaign staffers are going to go out and find someone to ask them what they want to hear?

wow... I never imagined that saying that all candidates should stop doing this that do it, would be so hard to get everyone here to agree upon. this is a GOP move... not a DEM move...

[jillan]

29. If she wanted to talk about a particular subject, then all she would have to do is talk about it.

Why does she have to have people planted in the audience?

[truthisfreedom]

30. I don't give a rat's ass what her campaigners do to get certain questions asked.

As long as the questioners are free to ask whatever they want, I don't see the harm.

[bjobotts]

32. Growing up in Iowa is the real problem. Who gives a rat's ass?

Wooooo...Clinton's not a saint. 2 times so far she actually planted a question...or her staff did. Notice it was a subject question..."ask her about war funding".. good way to get the subject to come up in case it didn't. Clinton doesn't know who is going to be the planted question so she may not even call on them.
This is such a petty thing to even mention...and to relate it to four more years of anything relating to Bush is just absurd.
It's a really ignorant point to try to smear a candidate with and really has no place at DU.
I support Kucinich but still this is just low life ridiculous trying to make Hillary look bad...it's demeaning.

[bjobotts]

34. Her campaign staf asked, not her. She may not even call on that person

because she doesn't know about it. Staff was just trying to make sure certain topics got brought up. Clinton isn't doing this stuff, her staff did and I'm sure she's told them not to. This was in the past and is making a mountain out of nothing. For you to even be bringing it up is just stupid, you should know all this before posting if your brain worked. Seems you're in such a hurry to smear Clinton with something that you didn't think it out, how the whole process works, She doesn't talk with her staff before appearing before the audiences except maybe one or two of them. This was not worth mentioning much less attributing all the premeditated crap to it. Just pathetic.

[iburl]

33. Democrat vs. Republican

Democrat gets caught lying, they claim was a one time mistake, continue to lie. Republicans impeach.

Republican gets caught lying, says that the people who claim he lied hate America and will enable the terrorists if they keep pointing out lies. Democrats stop asking questions and fold like lawn chairs.