Hillary Clinton puts the media in its place -- the men's room

In an obvious bid for the Ron Paul media conspiracy vote, Sen. Hillary Clinton's Democratic presidential campaign dumped the traveling press corps exactly where many voters believe they belong today -- in the men's room of the Burger Activity Center.

While the New York senator held a town-hall meeting elsewhere in Austin, Texas, pushing hard for every last vote in tomorrow's crucial state primary/caucus, reporters could watch it on television. Then, the candidate came to the center for a rally nearby in the same building.

The reporters, including The Times' Louise Roug, were set up in the toilet with tables right next to the urinals. Their dinner was delivered there too -- tamales piled in the corner and candies served in paper cups. One reporter cried out, "Metaphor alert!"

But a Clinton spokesman Doug Hattaway said: "These accommodations should in no way be taken as a comment on the quality of our media coverage."

The press crew had started the day about 5 a.m. with the candidate at a windblown factory gate in Toledo, Ohio, before descending into muggy Texas. According to Roug, there were moans among the reporters when only two wall plugs were found. But then came sighs of relief that despite the unsavory circumstances, the bathroom did have Wi-Fi, just like a Starbucks toilet.

--Andrew Malcolm

                                                                             Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Comments

[coolrepublica]

O.K the picture is funny. You have to be crazy not to laugh at it. I am the campaign did not know that the locker room had urinals in the room. I would not have expected that.

At least if the men have to go, they don't have to go far. That is a big plus.

[Landon Bales]

One of our reporters had to use the urinal while denise was in there and said it was very awkward.

[libelian]

A comment on the coverage of Clinton's campaign? Not if they were honest.

A comment on the state of Clinton's current approach to campaigning? You bet.

[Daryl Herbert]

I didn't think it was possible, but I found a reason to like Hillary Clinton.

[FatSam]

First rate. And no real loss to Clinton, either. It's not like they could be any more unfavorable in their coverage.

[John B Sheffield]

What has changed in the last 72 hours, why have the media started a "Love In" with Hilary - both HRC and Billy seem to get lots more coverage than Barack Obama, do the media Love a LOSER?

[Tara Gardner]

This picture is in line with what Hillary is doing. Being Funny and trying to connect with Voters. Same goes with her Saturday Night Live Clip. She is really trying Hard to win. But who can blame her. Her husband was playing the Sax on Late Night TV. Check out the SNL video at http://CenterLine.tv

Tara - Hillary Supporter

[Larry Mallet]

Well I guess that Hillary's campaign style belongs in the urinals, along with the reporters she put in the men's room. Is that where she would answer the famous 3 a.m. call? If she hasn't given us an explanation of why she's divisive and unpopular, at least she's given us an indication of her skillfulness or should I say skill-less-ness in this area. This approach might entertain those who are on her home team, but I suspect it will push those sitting on the fence into the urinals along with the reporters! Good going, Hillary. If Sen. Obama weren't outclassing you on political skillfulness and intelligence alone, you've created the ultimate metaphor. Class-less-ness versus class-i-ness. You might keep your giggle, but is this really the way you want people to remember you? I guess this political strategy might be called "winning by making enemies" or alternatively "I lost but at least I'll giggle at the discomfort I've created for you and my rivals. What a way to inspire loyalty! Certainly, this isn't what I'd call a leadership skill; nor an indicator of an experienced person to deal with a crisis!

[tiredofit]

Maybe now when they cover Obama rallys they will pay attention to what is actually being said rather than act like star struck teenagers that cover the nonsense rather than look for the substance.

[CC]

Huh? Was this what the feminist movement was supposed to be about? Men and women, sitting together in a public men's room, dining?

[Steve Wimer]

Today is going to be a pivotal day in politics. Whoever wins today, wins the election, methinks. McCain is an old Bush clone. People want something new. Not a rehashed version of something that has failed, miserably. Clinton or Obama? I hope Clinton wins, but Obama seems to have that Reagan aura around him. He'll probably win. By the way, that quote about snatching defeat from victory...what possible victory could we win in Iraq? The people there hate us. It costs too much. We get nothing in return.

[bungalowrose]

The media likes a winner that would be HILLARY!

[Big Sam]

...and I guess men who actually needed what the accommodations were meant to be used for were sent scurrying like rats down halls and corridors and wishing and knowing the next time they pull this type of duty (no pun intended), they will be wearing Depends.

[jen]

Say they even ATE in there? Not funny, it's nasty.
Hillary, that is shameful.

[Ed benti]

After the six or so straight months of negative coverage of Clinton (anybody notice that even after winning Super Tuesday, the media conuldn't bring themselves to use the word 'victorious' describing Clinton's win?) a urinal is exactly where most of the so-called journalists deserve to be. Why isn't Tim Russert in there? And the media owners deserve to be there too. Looks like a cozy spot for Mr. Zell.
BTW, another poster wondered why the media have decided to "love a loser" in the past 72 hours. Clinton is a loser if the media tell the electorate she's a loser. Study modern propaganda and see how it works... 72 hours makes no difference. Media campaigns generally take about 6 months to be thoroughly effective.

[wallace]

The good news? The press had easy access to Senator Larry Craig.

[WitchHazel]

Could be worse....

She could poison the reporters. Or throw them out of windows. Not that I'd think that would be beneath her, its just that we still have laws in this country.

It will be fun watching her kiss up to said press when she's running for whatever next time.

[ron]

Sober-minded people from Texas and California also share a bond. They see right through the ambition and lies that Hillary Clinton so meticulously forged. She's a great living example of what you DON'T want your children to grow-up to be.

[crissyo]

And she wonders why, according to her, she doesn't get any "positive coverage"??? This certainly isn't going to influence the press to move towards more Hillary-friendly coverage. If these are her skills as a chief executive, perhaps she will try to cool tensions with the Muslim world by placing a portrait of Mohammed in the ladies room of the West Wing.

And for God's sake people, PLEASE stop citing lame SNL skits as things voters should watch in order to educate themselves. The show is sophmoric and lousy, has been for many years, and better you should encourage someone to pick up a Government textbook.

[Steve Wimer]

Didn't the owner of the Times flush most of the newsroom out with the garbage awhile back, himself? Perhaps the newsreporters are used to it by now.

[Steve Wimer]

What's with these people that hate Hillary Clinton because she is ambitious? They act like she is Lady Macbeth, with blood on her hands, or her husband's? Why do they let irrational hate take the guise of moral superiority? Being sober has nothing to do with it, in my opinion. Which candidate in this race is not ambitious?

[rose]

How you manage your campaign shows how you will manage your country.

[Beverly]

Funny! How can you not laugh after all the complaints about the media. Well deserving, but the media went into the bathroom because of WI-FI as stated in the article.
This will hit every late night talk show and some people will actually believe it was intentional. It was just meant to be- - -

[Tom]

To be blunt, how stupid is the press corps to go along with this? There are two words that occur to me to say to someone who tried to do that to me and they aren't "thank you". I can't wait to see where the Clinton campaign sends the press next.

[ron]

Hillary is a selfish, hard-hearted soul. What woman would stay with a husband who obviously does not find her sexually pleasing, then is caught in a compromising act that stunned the American public which symbolizes her impotency to build a healthy marriage? Need not worry, Hillary's own ambition to become the first woman president, blinded the true fact that she's no woman at all. She's "used" Bill's name to its fullest and now finds herself in a bigger debacle than she had ever expected. Imagine her conscience if the inevitable happens, her losing? If she does somehow wins the Democratic nomination, her image has been permenantly damaged. Oh well, the silver lining is, at least the next woman running for our nation's highest office will have a lot of "do's" and "don'ts" to run a presidential campaign. I'm all for a woman president, it's just not Hillary. She's just another Bill Clinton wearing a dress.

She'll take her place in history as the sexually-incompetent wife and a wannabee pollitical figure, whose negative doings manifested in her humilliating failure to be the first in something. I've heard of humble pie, however she's in for a humble seven course meal.

With the media's provisions right next to the toilet is merely one of a billion of examples that shows Hillary's class. What a loser!

[Ron, Redlands, CA]

Great! When Clinton's campaign goes down the toilet later today, the press will be right there to report on it. Remember, be kind, please flush..... HER!

[Crush Liberalism]

Look at it this way: this is what Hilldawg would do with the Marines she demands serve lunch to her. "Thank you for the fois gras, Lt. Murphy...now get your ### in the bathroom!"

[Conspiracy]

Nice! Media is so harsh on her and whether she wins or not, media belongs to the urinals...

Let's be real. Obama is supported by some Republicans not because he can unite the country. It's because they don't like Hillary specially the hard-core Republicans. I just hope that Obama and the people realizes that because the fact that they are dividing the Democrats, the Republicans will win especially that some Democrats even like John McCain's policy. When voting happens this November these Republicans who support Obama will return back to their core party and the Democrats will loose the presidency.

And Hillary is also correct that media is too harsh on her. Why would that be? Because media is big business(mostly Republicans control it) and in the end they will leave Obama behind this November.

WAKE UP!!! Let's not ruin our great country. We are already in a mess right now.

Our future depends in our vote this November. Think hard and vote for the best to lead this nation. And the best is either McCain or Hillary.

[Liz Wetzel]

AH, RON is an unhappy male who failed to meet his soulmate because he is so shallow that women are only attractive if they are young. Therefore, here he is an old , lonely man who hates women.

[Alien8]

Hillary said it was the first time she had ever been in a Republican pressroom.

[nancy]

this isn't about a conspiracy, it's about media egomania. sure, the accommodations suck, but what has hillary gotten from reporters in return for trying to accommodate their highnesses? the worst possible editorializing garbage thrown in her face for a year! the press has screwed dems and this country BIG TIME with the last 2 elections, and has a LOT to answer for.

[Gerrrg]

Someone should review CBS' news coverage of Super Tuesday. In it, they'll find Couric saying, "Good news", when announcing the results of Obama winning a state.
Much of the media is preferential, but that's not always because of their desire for Obama to win (except for Katie Couric). They're just following the trend of where the public is headed and what's going to make their news popular to read/listen/watch. In this regard, the media just becomes a spectator instead of journalists.

[Dave]

"In an obvious bid for the Ron Paul media conspiracy vote" Ha, come on Andrew, we will only vote if its a real conspiracy, Have you not figured that out by now?

[vicsmith]

Ron, think i see a urinal cake with your name on it.

[ChicagoPat]

That's disgusting. How can anyone be expected to use a bathroom that's defiled with political reporters?

[zammy]

As much as I dislike Ms. Clinton, she got one thing right. Where she placed the media symbolizes their self worth. It's like putting hubby Bill, Ted Kennedy, and Antonio Villagairsoa in a conference near a self-help organization called "Infidelity Ananymous", or simply put "IA" meetings. The nearby surroundings fit the professions.

[Hack Foe]

It is hard to say whether my contempt is greater for the Clinton campaign for conceiving this juvenile stunt, the person who let the Clinton campaign commandeer the rest room, or the toadies who degraded themselves by acquiescing to this treatment. If these clowns had any self-respect, they would have refused, to a person, to work under such conditions. And their editors and publishers would have backed them up. But that didn't happen, did it? They all played along, because they are gutless, spineless wimps. Nothing is funny about this. Nothing at all. Anyone who thinks it is funny has sawdust for brains. This is yet another indictment of our pathetic press corps.

[thebronze]

They got put exactly where they belong...in the toilet.

Right along with their credibility.

Way to go Hilary!

From a Republican

[Blueman1]

This sad episode says a hell of a lot more about the press than it does about Clinton. Have they no shame or self respect? Oh wait that's right, they don't.

[Jean]

Seems appropriate, toilets hold what their coverage has been over the last year.

[Lou]

I hope the voters are taking a real hard look at this story. Its obvious that if this woman becomes the head of this country, we will all end up in the same place.
She should be apologizing on national tv for this disgrace. But since disgrace is a way of life for the Clinton family, I can't imagine she gives a....well something the room used to be used for.

[Xeno]

This picture is the most perfect metaphor for the behavior and status of the press that I have ever seen. The Clinton campaign put you unprofessional hacks exactly where you belong. Perhaps this will give the self-important idiots who infest the media a measure of the disgust they inspire in most Americans. Once, it was only the most rabid rightwingers who hated the press. Now, people all over the political spectrum despise and distrust it. Given the level of intelligence, honesty and introspection of the average media moron, they doubtless believe that being universally hated means they're getting it right. It would never occur to them that the opposite is true.

Having to eat dinner next to a toilet is the equivalent of having to eat $#!+. Now you know how the rest of us feel when we have to see your professional excretions. Bon appetit!

[Kellygirl]

I can't think of a better place to put the press. It's a shame that no one flushed them all away, they wouldn't be missed.

[Rex Range]

Joke of the day was writer above who said, "The good news is...the media had instant access to Senator Larry Craig." My take: venue completely appropriate because the Clintons have been wiping their butts with the U.S. constitution for decades now and the news & entertainment media (NEM), including the Hill Shills who put her on The Daily Show and SNL right before these latest primaries, are only too happy to help them do it.

[Rorschach]

Muggy Texas? It was a high of 72 degrees and sunny yesterday in Austin and a low of 34 degrees. How on earth does that fit the description of "muggy"?

(Have you ever been hanging around a factory gate in Toledo Ohio in March and then flown to Austin and spent six hours or more with other working men and women reporters crammed into the men's room and served tamales? "Muggy" is the polite word for it.)