Clinton Campaign Plants Questions
It’d be funny, if it weren’t so sleazy. But then, “sleazy” is just what you come to expect with the Clintons.
DES MOINES, Iowa (CNN) — Sen. Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign admitted late Friday that a staffer spoke to potential questioners at a recent event, but denied that the New York Democrat had any knowledge about what she would be asked by the audience.
Grinnell College’s “Scarlet and Black” newspaper reported a student’s account of being pulled aside before a campaign stop in Newton, Iowa and asked to pose a specific question.
“They were canned,” Muriel Gallo-Chasanoff claimed in an interview with the newspaper. “One of the senior staffers told me what [to ask].”
Here’s the account from the “Scarlet and Black” student newspaper:
On Tuesday Nov. 6, the Clinton campaign stopped at a biodiesel plant in Newton as part of a weeklong series of events to introduce her new energy plan. The event was clearly intended to be as much about the press as the Iowa voters in attendance, as a large press core helped fill the small venue. Reporters from many major national news outlets came to the small Iowa town, from such media giants as The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, the Associated Press, and CNN.
After her speech, Clinton accepted questions. But according to Grinnell College student Muriel Gallo-Chasanoff ’10, some of the questions from the audience were planned in advance. “They were canned,” she said. Before the event began, a Clinton staff member approached Gallo-Chasanoff to ask a specific question after Clinton’s speech. “One of the senior staffers told me what [to ask],” she said.
Clinton called on Gallo-Chasanoff after her speech to ask a question: what Clinton would do to stop the effects of global warming. Clinton began her response by noting that young people often pose this question to her before delving into the benefits of her plan.
Why yes, Senator, I’m sure a lot of college students do ask you that question after they’ve been told to do so by your staffers.
By the way, the idea that Hillary didn’t know this was going on is a blatant lie. Hillary herself was picking people from stage to ask questions, so she had to know to call on the people with canned questions. And even if she was just “prompted” to pick on certain people by her staffers, as the article claims, I can’t imagine that Hillary is so stupid as to not know why she was getting those prompts.
Or maybe she is. Either way, it doesn’t look good for Hillary.
