Will Plant-a-Gate derail the Hillary Campaign?

[Botany]

With more stories coming out about "planted questions" can
the Clinton campaign get back on the tracks or has the Hillary/
Big Biz/Big Media train jumped the tracks for good?



With millions now asking the question why she needs to
have planted questions and does this not show a weakness in
her candidacy?

Rumor has it that Hillary is meeting w/ James Carvell,
Rupert Murdoch, and Mark Penn as to how to spin this
devastating news.

[peacebird]

1. good grief - if you are going get someone to ask you the questions that you want to answer

Then plant someone you KNOW won't blab about it.
:eyes:

Or - better yet, be straight and honest with us and answer whatever question you are asked. Politicians are pretty good at steering their answers into the topics they really want to talk about anyhow.

[MethuenProgressive]

19. It'll blow over soon - because all candidates do it,

The faux outrage is from the underinformed.

[gateley]

20. I don't agree that all the candidates do it. I think some may feel it's

fundamentally wrong.

Sign me,
Uninformed

[saracat]

25. All the candidates do NOT do it. That is not factual.The GOP does it.

Stop trying to "spin" this the usual Clinton way as "all the candidates " have similar plans etc. That tactic is getting old. The Clinton Campaign f88cked this up and they were caught.End of story. Apparently even the Clinton Campaign can make a mistake.They should admit it and move on, but they can "never" admit they were wrong. They are so afraid it would make Hillary look "weak" because she is a "girl" and can't afford to make a "mistake. Bull pucky. They were wrong. This was bad thing to do and there is no "faux outrage" about it.You don't get to attack Bush for what you yourself are doing!

[creeksneakers2]

43. Hillary's campaign admitted they did it and that it was wrong. n/t

[saracat]

48. Not really.It was a "non apology apology " kind of thing.

The minister stepping forward really caused them a problem. The college kid was one thing but the minister? Sheesh.

[bvar22]

45. SPAM

You have spammed this claim all over DU, but have posted NOTHING to back it up.
Unless you post some links, I'm calling bullshit.

[MethuenProgressive]

57. "You have spammed this claim all over DU" That's Bull Shit, bvar.

I've maybe said it 3 times before you posted this hysterical accusation.
"Spammed..." "all over..." - what bloviation. :rofl:
I call Bull Shit back at you.

[Forkboy]

54. Speaking of underinformed....

Why don't you prove your spam posts on this.We can wait.

[MethuenProgressive]

56. Like I said: Everyone does it:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x3065977

[Perry Logan]

2. Hope springs eternal in the anti-Hillarite breast.

[Botany]

3. She is now like the moose who has been "nicked" by the wolfpack ...

.... just a matter of time.



Plant-a-Gate ... does that have legs or what?

[pnwmom]

4. My gut feeling is that people figure candidates do this all the time.

So it won't end up being a big deal. Other issues are far more important.

[babylonsister]

5. It's a big deal to me; it smacks of dimson and I didn't like his

planted audiences one bit either. Still don't.

[acmavm]

24. Yes, it is a little too cute. But honestly, people are taking too much stock

in Hillary and how she has this whole nomination thing in the bag. There is still a long long time until the next election and everybody know that. People here are watching, but not intensely. They listen to the nightly news (not a good thing) and they don't hear anything much beyond that. UNLESS they are political junkies and alarmed citizens or belong to DU or post on KOS or some other political blog (even like the creepies and crawlies that post on that place who's name shall not be mentioned). Americans understand there's a problem and


And 'the polls' all say something different each and every day. As as for this bringing her down in the polls, I doubt it. Not for long, and depending on what poll you look at, on any given day of the week.

This is what people (unless I'm jaded as hell) expect of politicians anymore.

((((HOLD THE PHONE. Tom Brokaw is just giving some shit talk on Russert about "The Voices of the 60s" what the fuck ever that is, and he's talking about why certain republicans never served during Viet Nam. He mentions that bush** served in the TANG and took a lot of criticism over just serving in the guard (he mentioned McCain and Hagel serving for real). Then he brushed over the whole thing saying its be discussed elsewhere blah blah blah. NO MENTION ABOUT bush** going AWOL. Just that he's taken abuse for having served in the National Guard.)))

That is what we are up against. It's not the bullshit like planting people in audiences that should make us wary and awake. It's shit like Brokaw spouting bullshit to people, many who are too damn stupid to try to find the truth out for themselves, so they swallow some journalist's take on things w

[mwb970]

41. We shouldn't go by what Brokaw says.

He seems surprisingly shallow to me in his TV appearances, including the one you mention.

[acmavm]

46. I agree. I am very disappointed in Browkaw. Like I was in Jennings.

I don't understand why they became such bush**/cheney apologists and defenders.

[quickesst]

6. Using logic,,,,,.

I can only conclude that if all the questions were pre-arranged, it could do great harm. If on the other hand, the majority of questions asked were not pre-arranged, logic dictates, that the pre-arranged questions could not negate, nor stop, the majority of questions from being asked. DU will soon be an isolationist board if the rate of making mountains out of molehills maintains it's current pace. Just my opinion. Thanks.
quickesst

[MADem]

7. No. I got some bad news for ya--everyone does it. Usually they

ask a local campaign volunteer to step in if it gets slow and highlight Issue A or Agenda B.

And just like in this case, it isn't the principal doing the planting requests--it's staff. The idea is to keep the show on the road.

Where'd you get that "rumor?" Without a cite, it probably has "had it."

[Joe the Revelator]

11. If we're going to talk about political realities...

it doesn't matter that everyone does it, it matters that Team Hillary got caught.

[MADem]

16. If we're going to talk about political realities, it DOES matter, for precisely the reason I stated.

Keep beating this drum, and mark my words, there will be other instances of "prepping" that come to the fore, from other candidates. Part of the reason you're not hearing a drumbeat of outrage is because only those without sin, or who are stupid fucks WITH sin, will cast the first stone.

It isn't a nefarious thing, when used judiciously. When the Monkey gets up and the questions are "Are you the best president ever, or the greatest ever?" And "Is it OK if I thank you for being the BESTEST President EVER?" well, that's bullshit. But if there's a lull, and someone who is a volunteer pipes up to fill it and says "Please explain your plan for (fill in a problem of national import)" that's just the way it is. It keeps the event moving and it provides the candidate an efficient opportunity to get their agenda out there.

You don't have to believe me. I really don't care. I've worked campaigns and I've seen how it goes.

[Joe the Revelator]

18. I'm glad you've worked campaigns...

..I've managed campaigns and I have planted questions a number of times. The fact of the matter is, it is always a gamble that I was taking. If I got caught, I knew full well that there would be a shit storm over it. To act like the practice is ok because everyone does it is ridiculous.

[MADem]

27. Your mileage varies. You certainly didn't lose that much sleep, otherwise you wouldn't have done it

[pnwmom]

32. But it won't matter if people assume everybody else does it, too. n/t

[Judge_Mental]

8. I beleive she had a plant here last weekend.

The plant, a young lady, read from a card a very long winded screed about "Will you be the president who saves 1 million unborn babies a year" or something similar.

The room was held in a collective gasp. "How did the right to lifer get in here" my wife asked.

But you know what? Hillary immediately launched into a very smooth non answer which ran on for 5 minutes. Knowing what we know now, I am convinced this young lady was a plant.

Why? You ask. Because the right to lifer appeared as a kook, hated by every in the room, and Hillary got to address the issue in front of a friendly crowd, the national media, and get her focus group approved answer vetted out.

[Critters2]

28. Welcome to DU!

[pnwmom]

34. Hillary doesn't screen her audiences to keep out non-Dems.

So I wouldn't assume a right to lifer was a plant.

This is a topic HRC has been speaking about for decades, so I don't think she would have any problem giving an on the spot five minute answer.

[Kolesar]

9. bugscuffle is racking up points at DKos for "It takes a Potemkin village..."

http://www.dailykos.com/comments/2007/11/10/14314/520/2#c2

[Joe the Revelator]

10. Her campaign derailed almost two weeks ago..

this is just adding to her amazing unraveling.

[L0oniX]

12. W()()T

[Fly by night]

13. The inconvenient truth is our best candidate is not running -- and that assaults all reason...

... and saddens me too.

[gateley]

23. Your sig line is incomplete

....and soft in the head.

[Fly by night]

29. Soft-headed DUers support candidates with very soft support among the electorate.

Al Gore is the only Democrat whose multiple favorables and very low unfavorable ratings would make him a cinch for 2008. All the rest will be an uphill struggle -- all the rest. HRC and Obama would be among the hardest candidates to win a general election, and Edwards and Richardson, though more electable, also have several critical factors weighing against them. I like some (even much) of what I hear from Biden and Kucinich, but neither can break 5% in any poll other than DFA. Dodd helped bring us HAVA, which is enough for me never to support him. Who else is there?

Yes, only our current party -- with its passive-aggressive suicidal tendencies reflected in our Congressional leadership (sic) -- could set itself up to lose an un-losable Presidential race. I am hoping that truth and reason will win out in the end, and that my pal Al will lead us to victory. Anything else will be a crap-shoot and the Rethugs are very good at crap (Bush) and shooting (Cheney).

As far as my sig line goes, if you're referring to Bushies being soft in the head, I can agree.

If you're talking about me, as my country boy neighbors would say, why don't ya come getcha some and find out? But I can only assume that you didn't mean me, as that would violate the rules here. You know that, right?

PS: Just checked your profile. Since you've only been around here 10 weeks, you may not know much about the rules. But almost 5,000 posts in 10 weeks -- damn, now that's impressive (or a bit worrisome). I've been around here three years and I don't have that many posts yet. Not much night life where you live in North Carolina, 'eh?

[gateley]

37. Whoa. I should have added the sarcasm smilie but didn't think it was needed.

I was referring to the Bush Cartel -it was just a little joke. Why would I attack you? I don't even know you. Since you're checking up on me check out some of my posts. I don't bash fellow DUers, and rarely a candidate for that matter. Sorry I set you off.

Peace.

[Fly by night]

38. Sorry I took it the wrong way. Couldn't tell what you meant.

I just spent a very frustrating evening last night meeting with a very disorganized and dismissive state party staff -- really worried about where our party is going and how hard we are working to lose the 2008 Presidential election and the state legislature here in Tennessee.

Sorry to be so snippy. These days, I'm liable to shoot first and ask questions later. Didn't mean to be aiming in your direction when my gun went off -- makes me as bad as Cheney.

[gateley]

39. I understand and it's no big deal. It's difficult to get the nuances of posts -

which is why I should have included the sarcasm smilie. I always think I'm so clever that everyone will get my meaning. :7

Hope the rest of your evening and gets better.

And you are NO WAY as bad as Cheney!

:hi:

[BeyondGeography]

14. Related question: Will Democrats have the impeachably bad taste to nominate this woman?

in addition to muddy, calculated positions on major issues, this is obviously the most stage-managed candidacy in our party's history; almost freakishly Republican in that respect. She takes us for TOTAL boobs, and the polls say she's getting away with it so far. Audience plants and feigned surprise over personal stories that turn out to be from her own campaign workers...yeah, that's the ticket to our hearts and minds.

Plant-a-Gate is reminiscent of this story from NH last month:

==Oct. 13, 2007 | PLYMOUTH, N.H. -- President-in-waiting Hillary Clinton says she has come for a "conversation," a candid give-and-take, a sharing moment to connect the politician with the people while the television cameras roll.

She sits with two New Hampshire voters, Kim Beauregard and 16-year-old daughter Ashley, on a stage under bright lights. Beauregard explains how hard it will be to pay for her daughter's college education.

"You would think about taking out a home equity loan?" the presidential candidate asks, as if in disbelief.

"Yes," says Beauregard.

"You'd sell your house?"

"Yes."

The New York senator seems stunned, crestfallen. "Well, Kim, as a mom myself, that really touched me," she says, turning now to the cameras and the crowd. "Like most mothers, Kim wants to do whatever it takes to help Ashley live out her dream. I just don't think that a hardworking family like yours should be in that position."

..."She's boring as can be, but she's competent," explains Joshua Gordon, a voter from Canterbury, N.H., effectively summing up the current Democratic contest in New Hampshire. "Barack Obama was exciting, but she's competent." Then, almost with exasperation, he adds, "I think she would do a good job."

In this context, the blatant artifice of her campaign shtick hardly registers for many voters, who brag afterward about having just shaken the hand of the next president of the United States. Who cares if Clinton's shock and emotion at the Beauregard story was planned and forced? Does it matter that Kim Beauregard volunteers at the Clinton campaign in Laconia, where Ashley works as an intern? So what if Clinton held a card laying out the details of the Beauregard story even as she expressed astonishment at the details? For the Clinton campaign, what matters is that the day's message came through: Hillary Clinton cares...==

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2007/10/13/hillary/

[babylonsister]

21. I had never seen that story! Ashley is a Clinton volunteer? That's

just politics at its cheeziest! I'm not surprised, but it makes me angry anyway. :mad:

[Kolesar]

22. Bill Clinton has made listening and empathizing his trademark weapon in two presidential campaigns

President Bill Clinton, who has made listening and empathizing his trademark weapon in two presidential campaigns. His wife can be persuasive in the same way. The only danger may be that voters will eventually realize she is prone to cruise by them on her own terms. At the apple barn, Clinton introduced herself, as usual, by saying she wanted to say just "a few things." "Then I would love to hear from all of you," she said. "And to have a conversation about whatever is on your mind." She spoke for more than 30 minutes, leaving only about half as much time to answer just five questions. Then she was back on the road, one "conversation" closer than before to the White House.

[cyclezealot]

15. No Hillary fan . But not because of plant a gate.

look to Bush and think about Jeff Gannon and the WH press corp . Plant a gate is nothing. Now troops in Iraq until 2013 and trade policies are another matter.

[dkf]

36. Nothing new because Bush does it?

This is SAAAD. Don't we want better than George W Bush? Now he is the standard?

[TwilightGardener]

17. If Rudy's the nominee, his mid-speech cell-phone calls from Judith

will cancel this out.

[hedgehog]

26. It may not derail the campaign, but it certainly is a hot box!

A couple more of those, and the campaign will derail!

[Canuckistanian]

30. Well, it comes down to one question

Do the voters CARE?

Bush has been doing it for years one way or another.

I suspect they'll just put it down to "politickin' as usual" and let it pass.

[hedgehog]

31. And that's the saddest comment of all!

If Bush and Senator Clinton convince enough people "that they all do it", then they will have killed the entire system of democratic elections.

[Lucinda]

33. Nope.

[Botany]

35. Do not count your cackles before they hatch

Plant-a-Gate goes against the grain of real democrats.

[Lucinda]

47. So...you're the self-appointed DECIDER of what a "real democrat" is then?

Your hobby suits you.

[Auntie Bush]

40. I thought that comment came from an Edwards' supporter!

Sure 'nough! I hope you as a fellow Dem didn't start that comment and are just repeating it.

[Botany]

42. Not just repeating it .... Plant-a-Gate

Came from my own little dendrites.

[usregimechange]

44. It is disgusting Bushismsness

[rocktivity]

49. Actually, this is John McCain's Straight Talk Express.

rocknation

[Evergreen Emerald]

50. The media is doing a good job of spinning everything negative all the time

about Clinton. They will succeed as they have in the past (Gore / Kerry / Dean). We are too stupid to realize that we are being played by the propaganda machine.

[Cameron27]

51. Joe Klein said it yesterday

and again this morning on Scarborough; they all do it and as an example he said he personally found and talked to a woman who was asked to plant the first question at a Kerry event in 04.

[RichGirl]

52. On MSNBC last night...

They did a story on the girlfriend of Kerik who was asked to lie when Kerik was appointed head of HS so it wouldn't hurt Guilliani's career. This is a mountain, "plant-gate" is a mole hill. It's only a mountain to those who want it to be...those who are desperately looking for a mountain!

[BigDDem]

53. Yes. Hillary's campaign is sunk, over...

because a staffer had someone ask a question about global warming.
This is a HUGE issue with Joe and Jolene Sixpack. "Millions" are talking about it.

Oh, and this just in also...John Edwards will stop wearing jeans to
campaign events.

[Forkboy]

55. No, but shit adds up and people remember.

[sampsonblk]

58. Nothing is going to derail Hillary - too many weapons in her arsenal

Wait till the time draws nearer. She has weapons she hasn't even used yet.

All the big name Dems that you know and love are going to be out on the trail for her - if she needs them - in Iowa and New Hampshire.

[Redneck Socialist]

59. No n/t