Howard Dean: The 'Right Wing Press' is Lying that Hillary Campaign Event Was Staged

Cortney O'Brien | April 21, 2015 12:30 PM

In her campaign announcement video, Hillary Clinton said she was looking forward to being a "champion for everyday Americans," suggesting she was going to be an authentic candidate. The only problem is, her first attempt at authenticity was reportedly staged. Austin Bird, one of the “lucky” few who got to sit and chat with Clinton in an Iowa coffee shop last week, told The Daily Mail that he had been specifically chauffeured to the event.

'What happened is, we were just asked to be there by Troy,' Bird said Wednesday in a phone interview.

'It was supposed to be a strategy meeting,' Bird recalled, 'to get our thoughts about issues. But then all of a sudden he says, "Hey, we have Secretary Clinton coming in, would you like to go meet her?"'

'And then we got in a car – Troy's car – and we went up to the coffee house, and we sat at a table and then Hillary just came up and talked with us.'

It’s not hard to guess why Clinton’s campaign wanted Bird at the table. He took part in several Iowa Democratic Party events, interned with President Obama's 2012 presidential re-election campaign, and was tapped to chauffeur Vice President Joe Biden in October 2014 when he visited Davenport.

Despite all this context, former Gov. Howard Dean (D-VT) still thinks the “right wing media” is to blame for the report. He said as much on Morning Joe Friday. Newsbusters has the video:

“It’s the Daily Mail, why would you believe this? It’s entertaining, but it’s like the New York Post…Do I think it’s possible the right wing press makes stuff up? I absolutely do. They do it every day.”

Even Mika Brzezinski, who is a huge Hillary fan, criticized the Clinton campaign for feigning what should be sincere town hall events.

“Here’s the deal: the past couple days — and I really wish you wouldn’t make me say this, because I’d love to see her break out and do well. It would be so exciting to me. But what I’ve seen of her the past few days are very set up conversations with very flat-voiced messaging made up because they can’t have her in a crowd with people coming at her and really asking her questions.”

Brzezinski makes a significant point. How can Hillary expect to gain support if her campaign recruits people who would vote for her anyway and won't challenge her with tough questions?

Hillary’s Scooby van is off to a bumpy start.