Bill Clinton Takes the Bait
Bill Clinton took the bait and argued with a heckler at a rally again this week. This time, he was speaking in Fayetteville, West Virginia attempting to energize voters before next week’s primary. His talk was interrupted by an angry woman who said that Hilary Clinton had promised to fix health care but did nothing. Take a look at this clip of Bill defending his wife’s work. (It has aired on just about every television network and has been watched at least 80,000 times on YouTube.)
The exchange was also picked up by the West Virginia papers and also the New York Times and I’m sure we haven’t seen the end of it.
Politicians have always been caught in moments they’d rather forget, but in the world of bloggers, 24 hour cable news and embedded reporters, moments like these have become media staples and are memorialized the web.
“If a candidate says something or a surrogate says something that they shouldn’t be saying then it’s going to be everywhere,” says Shushannah Walshe, a FOX News producer and embedded reporter.
Of all the politicians, Bill Clinton falls victim to never the ending news coverage the most.
Who can forget the fairy tale flap over Barack Obama and his position on the war…
or when he shamed a CNN reporter….
Chastised an NBC reporter for asking a question
and became frustrated about the NV caucuses with a local ABC reporter
He is making headlines at a time when Hillary should be in the spotlight.
“He turns red-faced, he starts wagging his finger and then it’s all over and there’s nothing he can do to stop it,” says Charles Hurt, Washington bureau chief for the New York Post. (Owned by our parent company)
Why is he making news? One theory is that he’s not hip today’s media environment. When he ran for president in 1992 and 1996 the internet wasn’t in wide use, TV networks had two deadlines (the morning shows and the nightly news) cable news was in its infancy (except CNN) and few newspapers were on-line. There wasn’t the drive for 24 hour news and politicians weren’t held accountable for every thing they said-today things are different.
New to political coverage are embedded reporters. The concept started in 2003 with the war in Iraq and has since spread to the campaign trail. They are young, energetic and carry just a small camera, laptop and blackberry.
“The whole concept behind the embed reporter was to travel with the candidates 24/ 7 report their every word, their every action and then be able to transmit the file to the newsroom,” said Cristina Corbin, a former Clinton and Edwards embed.
Embeds keep daily blogs and alert the bosses to news made on the campaign trail. Meet ours here:
http://embeds.blogs.foxnews.com/
Each network and major newspaper have ‘em and they’re driving Bill Clinton nuts.
“Some of the people that are embedded with me — that’s what you call the press that have to follow you around,” Clinton recently said. “The embeds,” he said and laughed. “Sounds kinda like a spy, doesn’t it?”
Shushannah Walshe puts it this way, “Even though the Clinton campaign might have seen us as trying to catch them we’re really covering this to the best of our ability.”
Cristina Corbin, FNC Embed Reporter
Shushannah Walshe, FNC Embed Reporter
Hi–have a question rather than a comment. Why are Heather and John no longer on the newscast prior to Bret Hume and his program?? If there was an explanation, I missed it. Thanks for taking the time to give me an answer.
Bill should be glad that the media both liberal and conservative have not brought up Monica and the other ladies, the fact he was impeached and the fact that he remains the only US President who was a pardoned felon. Who pardoned Bill?? The other pride of the Democratic party, peanuts Carter.
Do you wish you were his intern? Why not report Hillary’s specific plans?
There is an old saying - “We live by the choices we make”. No one can doubt that! Bill Clinton’s desire for the spotlight overpowers all other decisions that could be in Hillary’s best interest. She needs to dump him off the campaign trail. Of course, she too will live by the choices she makes.
Speaking of forgetting, who could ever forget Jeremiah Wright’s and Michelle’s comments about America & whites?
re: comment by Virginia.
I believe the recent comments made directly by Hillary are more telling on her prejudice towards the blue-collar white population. The quote ‘whites in both states who had not completed college were supporting me’ was stated by Hillary over the weekend. This statement is very telling in that she is blatantly saying only un-educated white people vote for me and they wont vote for the ‘likes’ of Obama. Next thing she will do is put the Rebel Flag on the back of her Mercedes and wear a Denim Pant-Suit.
Hillary is in this only for herself and no one else. I am surprised by the people supporting her. She is not one of the common people, she had never had to do physical labor to earn a paycheck, she has never had to worry about living paycheck to paycheck, and recently she admitted she doesn’t even pump her own gas.
If anyone is an ‘elitist’ it is Hillary. For the good of the American people, quit the race, quit politics, and fade away.
My uncle worked on the state school board in Arkansas when Bill Clinton was govener of Arkansas. When he anounced his candidicy for President I called my uncle and asked if he had any words of wisdom about Mr. Clinton. What he told me will live with me as long as we have a Clinton in politics…he said; “If he gets elected President there is good news and bad news, which one do you want first?” I said the good news and he said “He will no longer be govener of Arkansas”, I didn’t have the heart to ask for the bad news.