Anatomy of a Hillary Clinton photo op -- the pictures and the reality

It's a silly, stale staple of virtually every day of every campaign everywhere, a lame, awkward, almost always successful attempt to stage a political event for the benefit mainly of photographers and TV camera operators -- and, of course, the candidate who hopes to get free publicity underlining the theme of his or her campaign day.

The photo op.

Sen. Hillary Clinton had another one Wednesday. They're usually staged before 1 or 2 p.m. to give crews time to edit the film and prepare their stories for the dinnertime news.

What TV viewers eventually saw was Clinton at a South Bend, Ind., gas pump with high prices. (See how she's perfectly positioned so you can also see the prices? No accident. Although, truth be told, $3.75 a gallon looks pretty good to many Californians).

Clinton had along as a human prop commuter Jason Wilfing, allegedly on his way to work at a sheet metal factory. A real normal guy, no doubt, recruited by a Clinton advance worker for 12 of his 15 minutes of fame.

Wilfing filled up the gas tank and the meter whirled and she talked about her proposed gas tax holiday for Americans this coming summer, which her opponent Sen. Barack Obama has called a "gimmick" that would cost billions and save the average family a whopping $28. (See video after the jump.)

But the Clinton campaign believes this stop is another good opportunity....

for Mrs. Clinton, who reported $109 million in joint income with her husband the last few years, to drive home her really genuine interest in the economic concerns of regular folks. Kitchen table issues, which is the latest thing for candidates to appear sincere about.

Also the ridiculous price of energy and the evil OPEC oil cartel and while she was at it how the Bush administration "bails out" big investment houses but lets the average American family wilt under the pressure of high gas prices. And how it's necessary to "sound the alarm" about these conditions.

Anyone here need an alarm to become aware of high gas prices? And how many years do you think it's been since former first lady and Sen. Clinton, who lives every second in a Secret Service cocoon, has hopped out at the self-service pump or checked her own oil?

And, by the way, how much was the burdensome gas bill in the end? $63.67! Awful! Just terrible. Thank goodness this candidate is on the case for the little guy in Hoosierland, which -- what a coincidence! -- has a close Democratic primary next Tuesday.

All the candidates play these charade games. Sen. John McCain on his biographical tour and his "hardly-anybody-ever-goes-to-these-places" tour that produces plenty of TV footage but changes nothing. Sometimes these photo ops can bite the candidate's behind like Obama's widely reported, wildly unsuccessful attempts at bowling in Pennsylvania that actually added to his elite image.

Fire the campaign guy whose idea that stop was.

Now, here's the reality of Wednesday's Clinton photo op. It wasn't really Wilfing's vehicle, which the Secret Service had vetoed as unsuitable for Clinton, according to MSNBC's Ron Allen. While Clinton rode up front, crammed in the back were security agents. And trailing behind were no less than eight Secret Service SUVs. A regular parade to pretend to be on a normal commute and gas up enroute.

When they just happened to pull into one Marathon gas station, a mob of media just happened to be gathered there all properly positioned to get shots of the pump where Wilfing would stop. And he stopped there. And the cameras rolled.

Later, Clinton went into work with Wilfing and folks got some shots of her talking with workers assembled by their foreman on the factory floor. And she told them how the country must muster the political will to confront the oil companies that produced the oil and refined it into the gasoline that she was a few minutes before just so eager to be photographed helping to purchase.

The Clinton campaign, by the way, paid Wilfing's $63.67 gas bill. So that leaves 34 cents left over from some supporter's $64 campaign donation after Clinton's Pennsylvania victory.

You know, someday somebody should write about these games that the media and politicans play together for their own mutual interests.

-- Andrew Malcolm

Photo: Hillary Clinton in South Bend, Ind. (Elise Amendola/Associated Press)

Comments

[ARMENIANS ??]

All nations committed crimes but the Armenian "genocide" was an idea which was created by Americans and Armenians at the time. Many American historians have proofs! to be continued.

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Those historians even wrote that the press during the war wrote that Turks killed Buddhist monks!!!! LOL.

Unfortunately Turks are being supressed by their government so don't have the courage to go after this story!

Turkey has many Jewish, Christian and Armenian people in the country. I know that they live peacefully.
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[Ryan]

This article is great. It's great to see a blog that doesn't play along with the role of the media. I wish more people would point out just how FAKE every single thing is.

This woman, Hillary Clinton, does not even know how to pump gas, literally. She doesn't know how. She admitted to NEVER pumping gas. She also stopped at a convenience store to get some coffee. Guess what, she couldn't figure out how to work the coffee dispenser. She honestly did not know that you have to hold the cup under the spout and press the button. This is the same woman who tells the U.S. how much of a down-to-earth person she is. This is the same person that tells America she will balance our budget, despite her own campaign being several million dollars in debt.

This woman was born into riches. She doesn't understand the definition of "affordable," yet, she promotes and vows to create affordable health care, although healthcare was one of her only jobs in the Bill Clinton administration and she failed to get the job done within Bill Clinton's 8 year term.

This is the same person that says she will create millions of new jobs, although, she fought hard and campaigned hard for NAFTA, which caused millions of American workers to lose their jobs.

This is the same woman who claims to stand behind the middle class working families, although, she worked as a lawyer for Walmart for years, fighting against and working hard to exterminate worker's unions.

This is the person who was under sniper fire in Bosnia, along with Sinbad, an 8 year old girl with flowers and a 7th grade field trip.

This is the woman who has a deceptive smirk on her face 24/7 as she gazes into the crowd of her victims. You are in her crosshairs as she is targeted and locked on to you, as she initiates manipulation sequence 79246 delta. What will you do?

[John]

Thanks for the profound a revealing insights. Next maybe you could do a piece on the utter drivel and lack of integrity that pollutes modern journalism.

[sawaya]

You know, one day, democrats will, with much glee, see the last Clinton trying to give us all the "you-know-what" and trying to make us swallow this bull shinola over and over again. Enough Clintonian duplicity, this sick determination to do anything to gain the power they once enjoyed at our expense. Walke up, guys, dump both Bill and Hillary and let them go back to making their millions by dealing with the shady characters they, themselves, have become.
Barack Obama does seem "so clean" ....let us all give this man the chance to gain our country back...and our pride.
Vote Obama.

[alee21]

Andrew Malcolm

You are showing your prejudice again - shame on you!
Focusing on the ridiculous minutia and not talk about policy issues.

It’s free publicity for Hillary, more bang for the buck, I am all for it. Compare to Obami’s mega TV ads stuck down our throats.

Why don’t you get real for once?

[Withheld]

Clinton is slimy. She doesn't seem real, everything she does seems contrived and an attempt at manipulating things. I love the lack of shyness she's got making promises like a slimey politician and the fools who believe her promises like they aren't being made in an election year to get votes. She is insincere, just so insincere. The woman does not know who she is. It is sad she is fooling stupid people into voting for her.

[BAGnewsNotes]

Interesting post, Andrew, but it doesn't make sense as you've presented it. How could the Clinton campaign have paid for Wilfing's fill-up when you also tell us he wasn't driving his own vehicle?

(And then, I was also curious whose vehicle he was driving. Given the absence of a front license plate and your mention of the 8 secret service SUV's, is Wilfing driving a secret service SUV?

Please explain....

[dave]

'you know, someday somebody should write about these games that the media and politicans play together for their own mutual interests.'
now is that a 'good one' - coming from someone committed to that same game as devotedly as the man who wrote the above item, sniggering?

[GoBama]

Too bad the wonderful "gas-tax holiday" wasn't in effect, he could have saved a whole $3 on that fill up (assuming of course that the oil companies decided not to jack-up prices any to compensate for the lack of the tax) Oh brother....