Salon: Hillary Clinton's Smooth-Talk Express

[flpoljunkie]

Hillary Clinton's smooth-talk express

Her campaign-trail game is in top form and her lead in the polls is widening. But will voters think she's on cruise control?

By Michael Scherer

Oct. 13, 2007 | President-in-waiting Hillary Clinton says she has come for a "conversation," a candid give-and-take, a sharing moment to connect the politician with the people while the television cameras roll.

She sits with two New Hampshire voters, Kim Beauregard and 16-year-old daughter Ashley, on a stage under bright lights. Beauregard explains how hard it will be to pay for her daughter's college education.

"You would think about taking out a home equity loan?" the presidential candidate asks, as if in disbelief.

"Yes," says Beauregard.

"You'd sell your house?"

"Yes."

The New York senator seems stunned, crestfallen. "Well, Kim, as a mom myself, that really touched me," she says, turning now to the cameras and the crowd. "Like most mothers, Kim wants to do whatever it takes to help Ashley live out her dream. I just don't think that a hardworking family like yours should be in that position."

<>In this context, the blatant artifice of her campaign shtick hardly registers for many voters, who brag afterward about having just shaken the hand of the next president of the United States. Who cares if Clinton's shock and emotion at the Beauregard story was planned and forced? Does it matter that Kim Beauregard volunteers at the Clinton campaign in Laconia, where Ashley works as an intern? So what if Clinton held a card laying out the details of the Beauregard story even as she expressed astonishment at the details? For the Clinton campaign, what matters is that the day's message came through: Hillary Clinton cares. And Hillary Clinton has a plan.

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2007/10/13/hillary/?source=whitelist

[MethuenProgressive]

1. "the blatant artifice of her campaign shtick" Karl Rove writes for Salon now?

The Rovian et al attacks on her are rampoing up.
Some people are terrified of her, evidently.

[Armstead]

2. Yes that bastion of conservatism Salon

eye-roll

[NC_Nurse]

3. No Karl works for Hillary now.

Obviously. Doesn't this sound right out of the Bush campaign playbook?

[geek tragedy]

4. No, just recognizing how fake she is. eom

[jmp]

5. Thou shall not ...

Point out Hillary's phoniness.

[Evergreen Emerald]

6. she is ridiculed for her smooth talk --while they lay-in-wait for one miss-step

or one thing they could twist-into-a-miss-step and air repeatedly ad-nausem until it becomes "the truth" and she falls.

She is damned either way.

[BootinUp]

8. Exactly. n/t

[TwilightGardener]

7. Fakey Fakerson. Nauseating--she's 100% stagecraft.

[Indenturedebtor]

9. Well said

Business loves Hillary. She's being crammed down our throats by the corporations because they think they can beat her with Ghouli... but even if they don't she won't do anything to rock the boat. Except to advance free trade, and let them keep their Fascist gains against our rights. She's a fake tool of the establishment.

[jefferson_dem]

14. People want candor, honesty, and authenticity.

On those, she is most challenged...in the eyes of voters.

[hisownpetard]

26. "...candor, honesty, and authenticity." = Obama. How refreshing! nt

[Colobo]

10. Good find.

[jenmito]

11. Notice that her "natural laugh" is gone?

I guess her people saw it didn't test well so suddenly she lost what her supporters called her "natural laugh" and "sense of humor"?

[TwilightGardener]

12. It didn't "focus group" well, so the laugh had to go!

[jenmito]

16. Exactly. I wonder how those who defended her laugh explain the

abrupt disappearance of it.

[emilyg]

17. Who cares?

Go Hillary.

[jenmito]

19. I care. It points to her lack of authenticity.

No Hillary.

[emilyg]

21. It's a smart person who changes something perceived as annoying.

[cuke]

24. * is "authentic"

.

[jenmito]

25. And it's a phony person who "tries out" a laugh for political reasons...

We're not talking about a policy. We're talking about character or lack thereof.

[emilyg]

27. We don't agree. That's OK. Enjoy your week-end.

[jefferson_dem]

15. Hillary's becoming a caricature.

I watched the KO with some friends who are not necessarily committed to a candidate. A few jokingly wondered about "what happened to the cackle..."

[jenmito]

18. I agree. That's when I noticed it was gone.

:hi:

[incapsulated]

13. And I am "astonished"

At the slack jawed naivete of a supposed journalist who seems to have just been introduced to the world of political campaigns.

Artifice in a national candidate??? Heavens to Betsy!

Forced emotion?? Shut your mouth!!

Arranging little talks with audience members before hand???

MY GOD THE HUMANTIY, THIS SORT OF THING HAS NEVER BEEN SEEN IN AMERICAN POLITICS UNTIL HILLARY CLINTON.

[Sparkly]

20. Oh my God -- she's acting like a.... a....

a POLITICIAN!!!! :scared:

[Auntie Bush]

40. And a good one!

[cuke]

22. Do you expect me to believe a politician scripted a political event?

Yeah, right

[Yael]

23. Yup. Just more BS for the uninformed to wallow in

ABC

[Donna Zen]

28. What surprises me

...is that Team Hillary came up with a scenario where the candidate was shocked...shocked I tell ya' that parents use their home equity to put their kids through school. It would seem to paint the candidate as out of touch with reality in America. Weird choice. I wonder how much that milk costs?

Confession: one year of my daughter's tuition cost more than I paid for my house.

[flpoljunkie]

29. You make a very valid point that the author failed to grasp.

[cuke]

30. Was Hillary "shocked" or "disgusted"?

And how would you know? Where you there? Did you see it?

[Donna Zen]

31. heh?

I read the article...did you? Oh, and if the Senator Clinton hadn't used an element of "dismay" then the entire set-up makes no sense at all. I do think that the author got that right. You don't? Okay. Nevertheless, I think that this "sit down" conversation, is rather odd. Parents do what parents do. Surely Senator knows that without talking to Kim Beauregard...or maybe she doesn't. Maybe until that bright shining moment, Senator Clinton thought that all students just tap into their trust fund. Now I don't think that is true because the senator was already armed with a program aimed at student tuition costs. You can't have it both ways. But heh, if you were just searching for an ankle to bite, I hope you enjoyed your trip down south.

[cuke]

34. Ahh, a reporter said she was "shocked" and "dismayed"?

Then it must be true. We all know how objective they are.

Basically, you're just "shocked" (much like Hillary was "shocked") to learn that candidates script events.

"Mommy hold me. I'm scared"

[Donna Zen]

35. What is it about reading

that's alluding you? I offered my logic and granted the author the benefit of that part of his report because (if you would read) it fit into the script. I did not offer my approval for any opinion that the author drew from the event.

If I wanted to support Senator Clinton would I have to take lessons in rudeness? Or would I just to be intellectually disingenuous and make up words to put into others peoples mouths?

[cuke]

36. Right, you granted the author the benefit of the doubt

I say that's a dumb move.

Disgust fits into the script too.

[Donna Zen]

37. Okay, I bow to your superior logic

The author made the whole thing up. It never happened. Senator Clinton never talked to that woman and never offered any sort of dismay at what the woman had to say. The author from Salon is a Rovian plant who managed to get a job at a liberal publication. I should have never thought for a moment that part of the presentation was the senator's dismay. If it was, then I posed the idea that as a campaign tactic, it made the senator seem out of touch (which I'm not saying she is) because lots of people use equity to help pay the kid's tuition. And no, I didn't, but I know people who have gotten through those years with all sorts of financial gimmicks.

But your last line's a puzzler? Are you disgusted?

Are you a Clinton supporter? Could have fooled me.

[cuke]

38. Reductio ad absurdum is a Logical Fallacy

I didnt say it was completely made up. IMO it's unwise to accept a "journalists" characterization without question. Journalists have proven that they do not deserve the benefit of the doubt.

wrt the last line, it is equally possible that Hillary is disgusted by the situation, and not shocked.

[sandnsea]

39. Nobody thinks anymore

I'm thoroughly disgusted with the entire country.

[calteacherguy]

32. They all do this. Every one of them. It's called politics! nt

[illinoisprogressive]

33. It's like her fake appearance in Iowa this week. And then, I read that in Oakland

that was staged as well. Problem with clinton is she is obvious.
and the voters are so gullible like good sheep