Clinton's planted question in Iowa: Crowd control

Wow. A FEMA official just got canned for planted questions. Expected denials aside, Hillary obviously was prepped for the answer so she had to be in on the plant. The question now is how many times this has been done in the past, whether she has had questions also planted in news conferences, and why she feels the need to know the questions in advance. This is like the old Quiz Show scandals where the contestant knew the questions in advance. There's an old saying: You can't be just 99 percent honest. If you're 1 percent dishonest, then you are, indeed, dishonest.

it could have been worse

By Matt Chapman
10 November 2007 12:16AM

An email sent to the Dutch foreign ministry by a group of Israeli journalists has sparked a diplomatic row, thanks to an unreliable translation by Babelfish..

The journalists wrote a set of questions before a planned fact-finding trip to The Netherlands, running them through the online translation tool to turn them into Dutch.

The beginning of the email read: 'Helloh bud, enclosed five of the questions in honor of the foreign minister: The mother your visit in Israel is a sleep to the favor or to the bed your mind on the conflict are Israeli Palestinian.'

The translation was flawed as Babelfish confused 'ha'im', the Hebrew word for 'if', with 'ha'ima', which means 'mother'.

Another question in the email asked: 'Why we did not heard on mutual visits of main the states of Israel and Holland, this is in the country of this?' And a third said: 'What in your opinion needs to do opposite the awful the Iranian of Israel?'

"How could this email possibly have been sent?" an Israeli diplomat told the Jerusalem Post. "These journalists have sparked a major incident."

Given the Clinton past, should anyone be surprised?

Phony question, phony candidate.

Its like a scripted and contrived TV show that has a fake laugh track and no substance. A New Low!

The Billary Show

Yeah, but Lafayette, you forget: Bush is evil. He lies all the time. People are dying in Iraq. So shut up and go away.
But on this note, how many of you would be surprised or shocked if you learned that just about every campaign stop or "townhall meeting" has similar stooges planted in the crowd to ask deep, probing questions of the candidates?

Kudos to the Tribune for reporting this story. The NY Times and Wash Post both had reporters there and are ignoring it. What a contrast to other attempts to manipulate the press. Seems like the Times and Post do not mind being used by a political candidate they both clearly support. Nice going, Tribune.

This still proves that a Clinton cannot be trusted. Just like her retard husband she is nothing but a con artist. She conned her way into the Senate, finding a loop hole in New York law. she gets campaign donations from wanted fellons. Down with hillary and down with the Dummycrats.

Yeah, JB, but Hillary got caught!

Stumbling in the debates. Now caught planting questions. Can Hillary do anything without a prepared script? If her writers go on strike with the Hollywood screenwriters, the silence will be stunning at her appearances. Maybe she can do her famous Marcel Marceau imitation of a political candidate.

Hillary Clinton is a phony. Her handlers are going to try and keep the right amount of shine on her in situations like this one. They know one of her weaknesses is answering real, unscripted questions. The bigger facade they will need to maintain, is that most people know she is not a down to earth person or somone they would want to work or socialize with. There will be plenty of opportunity for her opposition to showcase and expose her extremely nasty, vindictive, and manipulative sides. Kudos to the Trib for reporting this story!

just fyi--
I live in NH and we are currently seeing every candidate every day and every single night in every high school gym that we possess. It's very, very exciting.
But, believe me, if you take the time to go to an event, it's much better to have some intelligent questions that might be planted than some truly stupid questions that are off the cuff (and off the reservation, if you get my drift).
That's just my pov from actually caring to hear intelligent questions for all the candidates.

To goose and other Hillary haters - I am continued to be amazed at the intensity of your dislike of the Clintons. You are extreme and quite ignorant in your responses. I really do think there is a correlation among the public where the dysfunctional support the current administration, and the intelligent have the insight to acknowledge the strengths of the Clintons. And that's the truth!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This doesn't say anything good about Hillary, but it's not like she issued a White House press pass to a gay prostitute in order to have him ask scripted softball questions in press conferences...

Shandra, but will the Tribune put this story in the actual newspaper? They have a history of covering some not-so good things about Democrats in the Swamp, but either burying the story or not covering it all n the newspaper.

Anyway, I wonder if we'll find this staffer dead in the woods somewhere now? Or will the Clinton campaign start saying this college student is part of the "vast right wing conspiracy"?

If Hillary was aware of the planted question before hand, it makes it all the more disgusting that she prefaced her answer to the "canned" question by stating that "she mostly gets questions about global warming from young people". That shows the calculating, cynical being that is Hillary. I wonder if the question asker's ethnicity was pre-screened as well. It wouldn't surprise me at all. Hopefully, the veil she is hiding behind will continue to be raised so that the less informed citizens of this country can see her for what she really is- a cynical individual that will do anything to accrue more personal power over others. She's frightening!

What's easily more egregious than a planted question?

It's what's required of Dubya's censored, redacted, pledge requiring, event participation audiences.

That's facism.

to JB and all of the other Hillarevisionists who spin for her like crazed black widows protecting their egg sack - two wrongs will NEVER make a right - two losers will NEVER make a winner - the nation does indeed need to move away from politics of the past and the ONLY way to do that in 2008 is to NOT ELECT HILLARY - HILLARY IS THE CLOSEST THING TO BUSH LEFT IN THE RACE - BUT MAYBE MUCH MUCH WORSE - LIES / DECEPTION / MONEY FROM THE CHINESE (with their missiles still pointed at US and taiwan) AND WALMART (biggest seller of the lead-laden unregulated anti-green chinese toys built by exploited workers in the world AND the largest NON-UNION employer in the history of human existence) / TALK ONE THING AND DO ANOTHER ON CAMPAIGN FINANCE / FLIP-FLOPPING / ATTACK FIRST AND PRETEND YOU DIDN'T / THe POLITICS OF NEGATIVE CAMPAIGNING REVISITED / VOTE FOR THE WAR AND NEITHER APOLOGIZE NOR COMMIT TO WIN IT -- AT LEAST THE OTHER TWO TOP DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATES (AND A FEW REPUBLICANS) - HAVE THE GUTS TO EITHER STICK WITH THEIR CONVICTIONS OR APOLOGIZE - HILLARY (AT HER BEST) WOULD BE ANOTHER TABLOIDESQUE "STYLE OVER SUBSTANCE" FRAUD WHO TAKES FROM THE MIDDLE CLASS MERCILESSLY TO GIVE BACK TO HER RICH RICH RICH CAMPAIGN DONORS - THIS NATION CANNOT AFFORD FOR HISTORY TO READ "BUSH-CLINTON-BUSH-CLINTON" - SHE'S A FRAUD - A PHONY - A JOKE - WAKE UP AND SMELL THE COFFEE

little t - tom the independent

and FYI - she can't even make sure to leave a simple 15% for a single mom with two jobs before she goes out and talks about how she feels the woman's "pain" - BILLARY felt our pain before - then they BUILT NAFTA (I could remind you of their mutual character flaws that are unacceptable traits in any leader but you will either have the light bulb go on in your mind - or not - but mark these words - if Hillary gets the nomination, she will dwarf all prior spending records on her campaign - I mean MORE than triple them - just like her husband MORE than quadrupled the use of polling and focus group analysis to make his political decisions - it is power for the sake of power - perhaps rewrapped to look like a new idea - but it's the oldest idea in the book - vote billary and you are a sucker who is voting FOR the same old an insatiable power luster who will say anything to be in power - and you will NOT be voting for your country)

To Jan and everyone else in IA or NH:

How about videotaping the questions and then uploading them to Youtube? Especially if the question points out a flaw in the candidates' policies and shows that they haven't thought everything through or they're just plain lying.

The MSM won't ask real questions, so citizen journalists will have to fill the gap.

Wow. This was actually a very balanced article from Swamp. I'm truly surprised. I wouldn't have expected such a detailed concession that although Hillary got caught, they all do it.

stop abusing the caps lock people your post reads im paranoid, im schizophrenic, im deaf, im angry, my keyboard is broken, i get easily excited, i suffer from a bi-polar disorder, in no particular order

I love all the frothing at the mouth. Guess it's your turn to have a president you can't stand to hear or listen too.

[quote]
Anyway, I wonder if we'll find this staffer dead in the woods somewhere now?

Posted by: John D | November 10, 2007 12:56 PM
[/quote]

Geographically Challenged Dumb Dumb Little Johnnie D, "the Joseph Stalin of Streamwood", that's an incredibly idiotic statement to make, completely above and beyond your usual rants.

Your mommie must be so proud of the hatred that you have against anyone who belongs to the Democratic Party.

"the caps lock people your post reads im paranoid, im schizophrenic, im deaf, im angry, my keyboard is broken, i get easily excited, i suffer from a bi-polar disorder, in no particular order "

to keyboard - guilty as charged but you left out getting in too big of a hurry - as another reason - i'm not angry - yet - hillary is not a shoe in for the presidency (if dems are dumb enough to nominate her) though I am absolutely right in my prophecy that upon receiving the nomination she will try to buy the election more so than any person has every tried to buy any election - ever - nevertheless , just because an american citizen that loves their country more than any party is bound to be paranoid about another clinton in the bush - clinton - bush - clinton cycle does not mean that Hillary isn't the most phony , egotistical , power-driven , two-faced , friend of the rich and elitists candidate in the entire presidential race

here's my all cap rant for the last time today

BUSH CLINTON BUSH CLINTON - what kind of schmuck likes the sound of that ???

little t - tom - the indePENDENT with CAP problems but he is right that billary is WRONG for the country

also; how predictable of Bill R to attack the "frothing" when he can't find a legitimate reason to defend billary's phoniness - this is so typical of the culture among clinton supporters that we have seen for three decades now - example, you can't defend perjury and sexual harrassment so you attack ken starr as an extremist - you can't defend NAFTA and bill's presidential pardons so you attack "the neocon hit men" even to the degree of falsely accusing obama and edwards of "swiftboating" for merely talking about the issues on which billary is weak - how dare they ???

JB wrote "Yeah, but Lafayette, you forget: Bush is evil. He lies all the time. People are dying in Iraq. So shut up and go away"

as I said before - two wrongs don't make a right but just in case you forgot JB - HILLARY VOTED FOR THE WAR - but I agree with the logical conclusion to your point - Hillary is evil - thanks for finding yet another way to demonstrate that truth

sorry for the "paranoid schizophrenic" all caps for those 5 words above - but it's true - HILLARY VOTED FOR THE WAR - in her typical phoniness, she attacks bush over a war she voted for - at least edwards has the class to apologize and others are talking strategy when billary does nothing but point the fingers at everyone but themselves - especially at the man who is not even running for president in 2008 - honestly how can the democratic faithful be so delusional as to let her get away with paying lip service only to the voters, the country and the issues ???? (even if she cons you into the nomination with her ridiculously defensive campaign style and then wins the election by tripling all campaign spending records, she will be ineffectual at implementing any democratic platform policies because she is such a devisive personality and such a weak leader - how can you not see that ??)

little t - tom the independent

20 seconds after vowing not to "plant" questions, Hillary Clinton has been caught again.

"SIOUX CITY, Iowa — For the second time in as many days, Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign has had to deal with accusations of planting questions during public appearances.

In a telephone interview Saturday with Fox News, Geoffrey Mitchell, 32, said he was approached by Clinton campaign worker Chris Hayler to ask a question about how she was standing up to President Bush on the question on funding the Iraq war and a troop withdrawal timeline.

The encounter happened before an event hosted by Iowa State Sen. Gene Frais on a farm outside Fort Madison, Iowa."

Q: How do you know when Clinton tells a lie?

A: When her lips move.

good one bruce

I'd love to see a woman as president one day - but I love my country too much to want that to be Billary

I'd be quite happy with a democratic president who has experience and character -- or at least one that cares more about their country than power - this obviously leaves out Hillary as a possible choice

little t - tom - the independent

to jan - the point is; the deceptiveness of pretending to have a spontaneous question when you don't - it's an act staged to cover up her inability to think on her feet , act like a true leader and speak outside of the soundbites and canned speeches - I'm glad she was caught - now if I know my clintons, there will be a sudden surge of persons claiming to have been plants in the audience of other candidates (who are actually hillary supporters)

to june - I could not possibly disagree with you more - for one , if a person truly dislikes the rich taking advantage of the poor and/or abuse of power, then they would have to be against billary clinton who is at least as guilty of that sin as any bush -- the "truth" is that there is a strong correlation with regard to blind party allegiance -- period -- way too much -- this fact also explains why so many doggedly try to defend the billary clinton record (or the bush record for that matter - but he isn't running in '08 is he ?) despite all evidence indicating that they only SAY they are for the working class while they simultaneously take major steps to HARM the american working class ---

Why do so many let this CURRENT candidate get away with that ??? this is what you should be asking yourself - but I doubt you will - instead you'll just buy into hillary's BS that all of Bill and Hillary's perceived failures (or any criticism against them) are simply the rantings of the uninformed, the extremists or the "neo-con hit men" from the "vast right wing conspiracy" - I gotta admit they can sell swamp land - I suppose even if it became clear that Billary would abuse public power - say to start an FBI investigation against an innocent man just to cover up a politically unpopular decision, then you would still keep your blinders on (oh wait, they did do exactly that and much more)

little t - tom the independent

Idiot-for-life BC, still waiting for your admission that the western third of Cuba borders the Gulf of Mexico and that Havana is considered a Gulf Coastal city.

Come on, loser, fess up.

You know folks, I wouldn't be too upset about Hillary planting a person or two to ask some specific questions. I'm sure even good politicians stooped to that one from time to time just to make themselves look good.

One of many things that worry me about Hillary Clinton is her strength of character, or lack thereof. For instance, how she be trusted to confront and firmly deal with our adversaries in the world if she complains about fellow Democrats "piling on," and then has to send her husband out to conduct rear guard actions? She can do that on the campaign trail, or even in the safe confines of Congress. But will it get her (or us) anywhere if she tries to complain like that as President? How far will it get us to complain to the U.N. about Iran, Russia or any number of Arab states for “piling on” when they oppose existing restrictions on nuclear weapons? Can we afford spinelessness like that in a President? I don’t think so.

What happened to all the real leaders in this country? Don’t we have any more? You just gotta know we are scraping the bottom of the barrel (for both major parties) if Hillary and Rudy are the front runners, and most of the other candidates look worse. I get this very strong sick feeling that we will not survive much longer as a nation if we keep picking turkeys like these as our leaders.

John W., I agree in parts that the candidates running on both sides of the aisle do not seem to be the best. There are some candidates on both sides, particularly the Republican, that are better when one digs deeper into the candidate's experience and abilities.

But the real problem is the U.S. media and the American people. The media lifts up those it wants and tears down those it wants. And too many Americans just vote for who they are told -- nationally and locally. Look at Illinois, for instance. Is there a sorrier state in the union? Our two senators are nothing but political tools and hacks. We have perhaps the most corrupt governor in state history in Rod. Crooked County is even more embarrassing and while I give Daley credit for making Chicago look good, the corruption is rampant and shameful. The Illinois Republicans are spineless lapdogs and not willing to fight, seemingly satisfied to being the second party here.
Ultimately it is the people who are at fault.

February 13, 2007 --Whashington Post

WASHINGTON - Michelle Obama has lashed out at her husband's 2008 rivals for peddling "baseless claims" against him - including charges that "he is not black enough, he is not white enough," according to a transcript of her surprising remarks to supporters.

Michelle, a Harvard-schooled lawyer, took on the role of campaign hatchet woman against Sen. Barack Obama's political opponents when she introduced her husband to 1,000 donors at a $1.5 million fund-raiser Sunday night in Chicago.

"Don't be fooled by people who claim that it is not his time. We are all too familiar with those baseless claims," she fumed.

"We've heard this spewed from the lips of rivals . . . every phase of our journey: He is not experienced enough, he should wait his turn. He is too young, he is not black enough, he is not white enough . . . he is too articulate, he can't raise the money."

"Don't be fooled by these claims, because they are mere distractions," she said. "Distractions that keep us mired in fear so that we are unable to focus on the real issues that are dragging us down as a nation."

Only in the world of politics, Michelle Obama said, "would insiders dare to look at those accomplishments and dare to have the audacity to say he is not ready."

The unusually harsh comments - delivered the same weekend that Obama officially launched his campaign - appeared to be tough shots at other Democratic White House hopefuls.

Last month, after Obama announced his presidential exploratory committee, his rival Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) called for a "spirited debate . . . about experience" - a dig at Obama's short time in the Senate.

Clinton also has repeatedly refused to say whether she believes the Illinois Democrat is qualified to be president.

Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.), another presidential contender, apologized to Obama after saying in an interview, "I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy. I mean, that's a storybook, man."

Another presidential rival, Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), said recently on CBS: "I think experience matters to people. The stakes are very, very high right now. This is not a time for on-the-job training."

Obama spokesman Bill Burton, said Michelle Obama was only making a "lighthearted comment" that was warmly received. Asked which "rivals" she was referring to, he responded in an e-mail, "more than one candidate has made such allusions."

The comments were recorded by a newspaper pool reporter whom the Obama campaign had barred from entering the room when Michelle Obama was speaking.

The reporter listened to her speech through the wall of an adjoining room and then distributed quotes from the speech to other media. The Obama campaign didn't dispute the remarks attributed to Michelle.

Seems to me like every candidate's spouse comes on to vouche for their mate when "they" pile on. How far will it get us to go to Mrs Obama when we go eye ball to eye ball with Iran, Russia or any number of Arab states and they pile on and brush Mr Obama off as naive and arrogant US? Can we afford spinelessness like that in a President? I don’t think so. John W, Why don't we just call it a day and nominate Ron Paul for President shall we...

You guys are a riot. We're "going eye ball to eye ball with Iran and Russia"? Maybe the next president can ask little Georgie to come back and look them in the eye. That worked astonishingly well with Putin, didn't it? Face it. Compared to the current occupant of the White House, just about all of the candidates on either side will be a huge step up.

Every Bush townhall meeting & press conference is staged. They are so afraid of being asked real questions, they'll go so far as to have reporters that are planted (James Gukert anyone).
Then you have FOX news, nothing more then republican state-run media similiar to what you'd find in third world dictatorships.

Hey don't knock me for it...

Nov. 2 2007 NYT

Obama : "I’ve already said, I would meet directly with Iranian leaders. I would meet directly with Syrian leaders. We would engage in a level of aggressive personal diplomacy in which a whole host of issues are on the table."

Hence eyeball to eyeball..don't knock for Bush going eyeball to eyeball with Putin either (or shoulder to shoulder with Sarko or hands to shoulders with Merkel...)

Hillary Clinton 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. How else could the Clinton staged media report Hillary’s remarkable comeback, after the Illegal Alien Driver’s License (Gotcha) debacle.

But 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. And Hillary will come back swinging. Then there’s the incidence of Al Qaeda flight students, trained at the University of Bill Clinton. Why does this remain a non-issue? Albert 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: Positively Pandering, Definitely Duplicitous, and Ultimately Unelectable (Thanks to Jeff, in Arlington).

Tom O:

Are you still stressing, grieving and/or fixating on Duh'bya? Well, relax, he's not on the ballot in the November '08 election.

As such, he is irrelevant to any discussion or presidential politics. So, why do you keep bringing him up? The whole world of politics is not a comparison between Duh'bya and the rest of the political milieu. I know Democrats think that way, but they should take their own good advise and Move On.

The question we are facing is whether the next President is going to have the stuff it takes to do the job. Some of us are a little concerned that the next President might develop JCS (e.g. “Jimmy Carter Syndrome”). You know, that’s where the person living in the White House grows a yellow streak down his back and, thus, insists on negotiating with our sworn enemies past the point where it is obvious to everyone else that further negotiations are pointless. We’re worried because many of the candidates exhibit few clear convictions about their own ideas and policies, and a number of them have developed these petty, seemingly spineless attitudes toward the treatment they get from each other.

I guess you are happy with anyone who is better than Duh’bya. I’m not, and you shouldn’t be. We need someone who’s a lot better than Duh’bya. Just because we don’t like scare tactics, doesn’t mean we don’t live in a dangerous world. We still need a real leader with convictions as well as the guts to see them through. I don’t see anyone on the dais in Des Moines who fits that bill.

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!