Clinton admits planting questions in public forum

Hillary Clinton stopped at a bio-diesel plant in Newton, Iowa earlier this week to see alternative fuels in the making and drive home the week's campaign theme of her energy plan. After a tour, the candidate took questions from the crowd.

She called on a young woman. "As a young person," said the well-spoken Muriel Gallo-Chasanoff, "I'm worried about the long-term effects of global warming. How does your plan combat climate change?"

"Well, you should be worried," Clinton replied. "You know, I find as I travel around Iowa that it's usually young people that ask me about global warming."

There's a good reason for that, too. The question was a plant, totally rigged in advance, like a late-night infomercial. Just before the public forum a Clinton staffer had chosen the young woman, a student at Grinnell College, and asked her to ask that specific question. To watch a video of the staged question and the pefectly-formatted response, click here.

Trouble is, the young woman told others and today her account showed up on the Grinnell website, including a mention that the staffer signaled Clinton who to call on.

Tonight, as other campaigns chuckled and hypocritically spread the news far and wide, a Clinton campaign spokesman admitted sheepishly, "On this occasion a member of our staff did discuss a possible question about Senator Clinton's energy plan at a forum. However, Senator Clinton did not know which questioners she was calling on during the event. This is not standard policy and will not be repeated again.”

Perhaps in large urban centers such stage-managed set-ups are acceptable, even expected. But in smalltown Iowa and New Hampshire, where even political opponents run into each other at the Dairy Queen after the high school football game, they take great pride in genuinely meeting candidates face-to-face in living rooms and diners for honest questioning. Rigging a show like this is extremely bad form and Clinton could take a real hit for it, especially since it suits her reputation for being calculating.

But here's the catch. Although other campaigns are righteously denying it tonight, virtually every...

professional presidential campaign plants questions. It's a routine part of preparation for the advance people staging every event.

Not every question is planted, as you can tell from the weird ones that sometimes pop up. But enough are to ensure the campaign gets the necessary rehearsed sound-bite for the TV cameras on the day's theme. The candidate may honestly not know of the plants, but as soon as she/he hears the question, the answer carefully prepared by the political staff comes flowing forth.

Most planters will be far smoother than Clinton's simply grabbing a passing college student. They'll plant questions in advance with known local supporters who can be trusted and, frankly, who are flattered by their moment in the limelight addressing the possible next president in front of friends. They want it to look like their own question.

A twist on this strategy is for another candidate's team to smuggle one of its supporters into an opponent's event to ask an embarrassing question while the cameras roll. That's why attendees are usually screened and tickets issued. (UPDATE: We've been reminded of the very public run-in Clinton had last month in New Hampton, Iowa with Randolph Rolph, a persistent questioner whom she accused of being a plant from another campaign, which he denied. Clinton later apologized.)

So this time the Clinton camp got caught, the latest in a series of stumbles the last couple of weeks. It's embarrassing, at least for the moment. Right now, some clever Clinton communications staffer is no doubt advising her to make a self-deprecating joke about the slip. At the next forum the first questioner she calls on, Clinton should smile and say, "Now, I want to make sure, you're not a plant, are you?"

And the sympathetic audience will laugh and move on. That's how this presidential campaign game is played.

-- Andrew Malcolm

Comments

[Bernie Quigley]

Here in New Hampshire it seems obvious. In her travels here in northern NH, she manages to find the most esoteric voices of people with attitudes more commonly found in Brooklyn Heights or the West Side. People unlike any we actually know here in the mountains: People with advanced solar cell systems (here where the sun rarely shines past October) like we have never seen or heard of. She asks them: "Do you sell back to the grid?" Puh-lease. Perhaps we could trade back energy credits for Bondo for our trucks or more recycling bins at the trailer park?

[Larry from Purdue]

This is pathetic. If we elect Hillary, we are going to have the worst case of buyer's remorse since...we reelected W.

[MissV-Raleigh]

Wait til it comes out how much she is paying black 'leaders' in various states to sing her praises about "experience" while John Edwards LACK of experience but PLENTY of money got the black vote before.

[Lewinski]

Once a cheater always a cheater.

[Vote for Hillary Online]

This story has been way overblown. So what if she had a planted reporter asking questions? Hillary Clinton is our only hope to take back America and get it under control, and sometimes you have to do whatever it takes to win. The fact that people fail to realize this is simply shocking.

[Duane]

Surprise, surprise!

[Brownknows]

Dirtbag is as dirtbag does.

[Lee Beebe]

Let me get this straight, FEMA uses people as "plants" to "ask" questions, and the one responsible is denied his promotion and publicly condemned.
HilLIEry does the same thing and it's politics as usual?
Her lies, schemes and manipulation are so wide and profound, I can't even grasp a starting point.

[Michael Snyder]

Once again, with feeling. if it walks like a duck, and it talks like a duck, it must be a duck.
If you really believe this is an "isolated incident" then I've some blue chip stocks in a famous Northern California bridge you may be interested in.
Anyone who scratches the paint on Hillary will find a two faced woman who has already established just how fast she can flip on any issue at a moments notice. Republicans love her because they feel she's the only Democrat they can beat... And they're right!

[Michael]

Why are we recycling the same old garbage. Hillary clinton doesnt answer questions and when she does if you listens carefully, she is all things to all people. (A liar) When she can't think of an answer her auto-response is "because of the fauled policies of the bush admin"...blah blah blah. Are we that stupid to even consider electing her.

[Min Yi]

It is becoming harder and harder to know the truth about our candidates. Everything seems or is staged. Everyone is afraid of saying anything substantial lest it gets played out of context on YouTube that night. Media makes it worse by arranging a debate format where the candidate has 30 seconds to answer a question that should take at least half an hour. All we get is soundbites from such debates and some editorial on who is ahead of the game. At this point, we shouldn't care about who is ahead so much as who the heck we should care about. True democracy is nurtured by open dialogue and that has been sorely lacking for several presidential cycles.

[Jim Ramsdell]

It appears Mrs Clinton claims she knew nothing about the plant. For such a smart woman she doesn't seem to know much about all the crooked deals around her, such as recent campaign fund raising frauds. Maybe she is really too stupid to be President. (i.e. Bush tricked me into voting for the war).

[Larry Smith]

When one evaluates a candidate you look for integrity.
We are now evaluating all condidates including
Senator Hilliary Clinton. This incident bothers me some.
It tells me that we may have another stage president.
What bothers the most was what everyone at work is talking about.
That is her alleged relationship with her female aide, Ms. Huma
Abedin. Ms. Abedin was raised in Saudi Arabia and is a muslim.
I check the internet and was surprised that there are over 92,000
entries about this relationship.

[Mahendra Goel]

Thanks to the present US Economic Situation there are far too many questions the Presidential Hopefuls will be faced with and they better be ready to answer.
Even otherwise, the New Incumbent to the White House will have to face the Turmoil the nation is undergoing. MEDIA HAS TIME TO POINT OUT AND THEN CRITICIZE BUT THEY DO NOT WANT TO SET UP "FORUMS" THAT MAY BRING OUT GOOD AND SELF SUSTAINABLE SOLUTIONS. LET US ALL PRAY AND HOPE A MIRACLE WILL HELP US OUT, IF AT ALL.

[Keith]

Clinton, Inc. bombed out, funny, man that's happening at a quickening pace. Dem's better pick Obama or this race is going down the tubes for them.

[John]

Every candidate from every party plants questions. Get over it. Even non-candidates, such as Bush's FEMA, held a completely fake press conference! This is the political reality of the USA.

[F. W. Brown]

Today the Chinese hold billions of dollars of our debt. Oil is through the roof. Personal debt is in the billions. The euro is outpacing the dollar to the point that China and other countries are desserting the dollar and pegging their currency to the euro.
And all these useless politicians can think about is getting elected.

[amir]

"One of the senior staffers told me what [to ask]'
Do not we all voters are barked at (to get attention) by the Media pundits how we have to think, why we have to vote or not vote particular candidate?
Look at number of Political Pundits (totally polarized fanatically) in the media whose goal is only to plant their dogmatic views (mostly self serving) on voters mind?

Wake up voters. Do not listen to these like ” that one is holier than other”. All politicians in one way or the other are crooks. It is the last resort to scoundrels.
You got to choose the one that is least harmful to this great country; you have plenty of time to do that – a year. Till then, just watch the fun. Do not get planted.

[RuthieM]

It's simply amazing how you and others for Clinton lighten your articles on Clinton, give her the pass, the 'benefit of the doubt' on everything and darken your articles on Obama, dig for the dirt, sling the negative, write with an ugly tone about Obama. It's awful. this is another Clinton slime move, another example of her not wanting to answer questions that should not be condoned like this article does. Look what you are trying to force on the American people by doing that. You are trying to force dishonesty, evasion, weaving and dodging, lying, deceit, and you should be ashamed of yourself.

[Christine Beatty]

Oh, puh-lease. Every crowd that Bush addresses is hand-picked, protesters are kept blocks away every time he speaks. Why is this even news?

[madison]

If your going to do it don't get caught!

[frank carter]

Ms. Clinton wins the election, I'm out off the country, enough is enough. What is Bill going to do, serve Tea?....Her and slick Wily have no shame or pride. All accusations roll off their selves While holding their heads way up high.

[slbalcacer]

This blog is just as disingenuous as campaigns planting questions. The title indicates Clinton herself admitted to the plant. Yet, the blog states that a spokesman confirms staffers set up the plant.

The blog also states that most presidental campaigns do this but so far only the Clinton camp has admitted doing so. The rest continue to lie!

Thank you for outing everyone.

[W. Gary Johnson, New York, NY]

It isn't just political campaigns that do this. The other day I was at a book signing for Ronnie Wood of the Rolling Stones. Before he showed up, a man stepped up to the podium and asked "is so and so here?" And "is what's-his-name" here? How about the woman in the pink hat? Is the woman in the pink hat here? When Ron Wood came on, he took exactly three questions, including one from "the woman in the pink hat".

[Rob]

This story is exaggerated with respect to what it means about Clinton per se. This type of question planting and stage managing is all part of politics. The Obabma supporters I am sure would be interested to know how stage managed his events are (answer: they are extremely managed). There is not a lot of spontaneity for any candidate. Also, since the press can not always be counted on to ask the important questions, I think a planted question about the impact of global warming is a service rather than wrongful.

Grow up.

[jer miner]

I suggest that the debates are co-hosted by different hosts, from the Programs of all stations, so that there are no "plants" involved....
Send your questions to the moderators ahead of time, and let them pick the questions, as with the DEMO debate with Tim Russert,
who got to the female candidate ( hilLIEry) ....and made her look like the ' badnik' she is....

I am an independant, I still vote for the candidate who is more to my thinking, from how honest and sincere they appear, ....
so far , I like Thompson, and Mitt Romney....hopefully either will win....

[Randy Amundson]

When will it become part of politics to answer questions that concern the voters without planting, or screening? These people want to lead our country and they don't have the spine to answer real questions from real people about real issues. Questions on energy, social security, veteran's benefits, taxes, the farm bill, SCHIPS, the deficit, and the list goes on ad nauseum. Still they accept canned questions for which the give canned answers.

It would be refreshing to have a candidate like Mike Huckaboe who hasn't learned all the nuances of dodging the issue that some of the others have be the standard bearer for the Republicans and Barack Obama be the standard bearer for the Democrats. Let the newbies speak from the core of "their" beliefs and let the best person win.

Clinton should be soundly defeated for this little episode. And to be so arrogant as to brush it off with the excuse that everybody else does it is conduct unbecoming anyone who thinks they have the integrity to call the shots for our great country. I would hope she didn't accept an flimsy excuse like that from her daughter growing up, why should the American people accept it from her?

[A.O.]

Hilary has demostrated that she is not honest with the public . The democratic party better pick someone else , if they want my vote.

[Tony]

So what if this was a "plant?"

People plan things in business and politics. How shocking! How naive are people?

[Robin B, Colorado Springs]

Does anyone REALLY think Hillary, Obama, or Edwards can defeat Rudy, Mitt, or Fred?

Hillary is a creepy two faced liar, Obama doesn't have a single thing he can point to that qualifies him to be President, and Edwards is a slimy ambulance chasing trial lawyer. And all three of them are closet Socialist/Communists.

Whomever the Dems run, that person will suffer a landslide loss to the Republican candidate. The U.S. isn't quite ready for a Communist President.

[Ajay]

If we pick Obama then we will get some republican crossovers. With this tutored lady, I dont think anyone from the other side is going to even come close. Republicans want to run against her and I can see that in fox news and National Review throwing dirt on Obama and Edwards but no on Hilary. We democrats are fools if we nominate her, this is a worse candidate than Kerry.

[Jake]

Rep. Ron Paul is the only choice to end the war, end over taxation, end restore the constitution.

[Andrew S.]

Oy vey. This is exactly the kind of horse-race coverage that distracts us from what matters, such as say, I dunno, THE MELTING OF THE POLAR ICE CAPS!

What are the candidates going to do about global warming (the question in question)?

What are each of our elected representatives doing about it?

Think about it.

[technofiend]

This is hardly a right-wing only tactic. I first saw this done 10 plus years ago by Sheila Jackson-Lee.
The most horrific off-camera stilted reading of phony questions you could ever imagine. On public access cable, no less.
Hilarious.

[Tracer Hand]

>>> Perhaps in large urban centers such stage-managed set-ups are acceptable, even expected. But in smalltown Iowa and New Hampshire, where even political opponents run into each other at the Dairy Queen after the high school football game, they take great pride in genuinely meeting candidates face-to-face in living rooms and diners for honest questioning. Rigging a show like this is extremely bad form and Clinton could take a real hit for it, especially since it suits her reputation for being calculating.

I'm so glad we have the press around to tell us what is "acceptable" behavior for campaign rally question-and-answer sessions, and what is not. Of course, then we find this:

>>> Although other campaigns are righteously denying it tonight, virtually every professional presidential campaign plants questions. It's a routine part of preparation for the advance people staging every event.

But wait -- I thought this wasn't done in small towns. Now we learn this is done by everyone, at every event! The way this article is written makes it literally impossible to know which bits are true and which are false -- whether "virtually" every campaign does this at every event, or whether they do it just at urban events. This paragraph appears to paint a very different picture from those opening grafs. This paragraph says: this is actually, despite our familiarity with Dairy Queens and small-town customs, totally, utterly a non-story. Wow, who'd a thought. Yet:

>>> This time the Clinton camp got caught, the latest in a series of stumbles the last couple of weeks.

Wait -- I thought "virtually" every presidential campaign did this, at "every event"! Assuming the press corps knows this, then on what planet can this particular "story" constitute a "stumble"? Why -- in the eyes of the press corps, of course!

[ron]

ummm you ever heard of RON PAUL? NOw if you are serious about taking back america then this is our answer!!!
Instead of pointing out the obvious faults of hillary and obama why dont we focus on the truth and get ron paul into office to clean up this horrible MESS!!!

PLEASE VOTE FOR MR. RON PAUL ITS OUR ONLY HOPE!!

moneymakers ...google video...educate yourself!

[chris dykstra]

It is difficult how anyone can express outrage over a common campaign tactic with a straight face without mentioning the total medial manipulation that has occurred under the Bush Whitehouse for the last 7 years.

You want to talk plants? How about Jeff Gannon - Gay prostitute under cover as a white house press corps journalist. Hey LA Times, how about that special access to the white house?

You want to talk plants? How about 1.7 billion dollars in PR, at least part of which has been spent producing unattributed news stories that have been placed in our evening news.

Taken in that light, framing Hillary as a neo con for prepping an audience, something that has been done by candidates for centuries, hardly seems rational, does it?

The LA Times is better than that.

[Jane Galt]

Hillary has already said she won't end the war until at least 2013! Ron Paul will bring the troops home within months. Vote Ron Paul for peace and prosperity!

[Keith]

Vote for Ron Paul

If you don't want your vote to count.....

Also the ice caps are melting? Thank God! Finally the period known as "The Little Ice Age" is wrapping up. The Little Ice Age followed after the Medieval Warm Period that ended about 1,000 AD. GWN (Global Warming Nuts) of course don't know or won't admit to the cyclical nature of Earth's climate and probably any of these events. They would also not know that Vikings populated and farmed on Greenland, but gave up those farms because it turned much colder. History??? pbbfffft! Mass hysteria rules through idiots.

[Peggy McGilligan]

WHAT ME WORRY

Hillary declines to speak to the issues - or at least provide real answers to real questions, while opting for the more PC Global Warming ones - even if she has to script them herself. Of which she currently says, “It’s news to me.” How else could the Clinton staged media have reported Hillary’s remarkable comeback, “you know,” after the Illegal Alien Driver’s License (Gotcha) debacle?

Like a good many Americans (and many good Americans), I don’t want that duo back in the White House. With the Clintons, what is past is prologue. Sure, Hillary will come back swinging. But what about the incidence of Al Qaeda flight students, trained at the University of Bill Clinton? Einstein said, “The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about it:” http://theseedsof9-11.com

Hillary Clinton: Positively Pandering, Definitely Duplicitous, Ultimately Unelectable.

[harold lowe]

I believe there is a grain of truth as to why Hillery is called Shillery.

[Roger]

Whole Hillary's campaign is controversial. At first, I thought she is a good candidate but her campaign shows that she can't be taken seriously. I started to change my mind about her when she struggled to give straight answers to simple questions. Next, I get very disappointed when I watched this video http://www.weshow.com/us/p/23714/the_student_who_asked_hillary_a_planted_question which proves that she plants questions during her campaign appearance. Shame on you, Hillary!

[Thomas Doettger]

If someone else than the Debate-Team should receive this: Please transmit it to the right Team! The Team caring for the Texas Debate that afternoon! I hope that there are public Questions from the audience allowed and wished.

Dear CNN / Texas Debate - Team

My name is Thomas Doettger, I’m 25years old and I live in Hannover, Germany

I have some questions to the Democratic candidates, maybe you can ask them those questions at the Texas -Debate on 21st of February.

At first I want to ask Ms. Clinton why she didn’t said “thank you for the support” to her Potomac, Wisconsin and Hawaian Primary voters? I mean she didn’t even mention them in her speeches after those primaries. Is that the way she treats her voters just a few hours or minutes after the end of an election? And is that the way she would treat her voters after a presidential election? Shouldn’t a politician be thankful to his voters? To the citizens of his country? Would you agree that a voter doesn’t exist only to satisfy the politicians at an election –day, but the politicians exist only to serve their voters? A politician needs to serve the voters and not the voters need to serve their politicians at an election. It is a privilege to be elected not a matter of course! What do you think about those things Ms. Clinton? Would you agree to me that a politician should act respectful and not irreverent to his voters?

Second I want to ask Senator Obama if he agrees to Ms. Clinton in her opinion to the Oil / Energy policy question? She said at her speech after the Super(duper)Tuesday that she wants to “give the Oil a chance”! Would you agree to it? And please explain me your plans for your massive Investment on the “green / renewable energy”- Field! I would say the only logic conclusion after all those terrible incidents (Iraq-war/ 9.11.2001/ Bush re-election) in the past 7 years, is precisely a refusal to the oil and all the consistencies and effects of it (Pollution / Violence / Lies / Corruption/ Terrorism). We need a new beginning, a new approach at the Energy policy. And we need that worldwide. That’s my opinion. And I clearly say that I don’t want to give the Oil another Chance again, I don’t want to give my future to it!

And you, the American citizens should not do that also, if you are clever.

Thanks for your time and efforts to understand my bad English. (Shame on me)

Greetings
Thomas Doettger

[Artracejr]

SUV'S unite
We can drive our SUVs and eat as much as we want .

artracejr

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