Guy wrote about the new ad released by the National Rifle Association, which frames gun ownership as a women’s right issue. Some of us who tuned into the vice presidential debate certainly saw Hillary’s running mate, Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA), pushing back on Gov. Mike Pence’s pro-life stance, saying that he (and the Democratic Party) trust women on the issue of abortion…just not on gun rights. Will she explain that glaring hypocrisy? No, because it seems as if the Clinton campaign is too busy trying to help their gal cruise through easy interviews. The Washington Free Beacon obtained memos about Clinton’s February appearance on Steve Harvey’s show:
The memo, sent to Clinton on Feb. 17, 2016, by campaign spokeswoman Karen Finney and communications aide Betsaida Alcantara, was attached to an email posted on the website DCLeaks.com by hackers suspected of acting in concert with the Russian government.One of the individuals behind the website provided the Free Beacon with a password to access that email and others sent to and from Clinton volunteer Beanca Nicholson, who was doing advance work for a campaign swing through Chicago that included the Harvey interview.
The campaign memo reveals that Clinton’s staff worked with Harvey to craft the structure of the interview, and briefed the Democratic presidential nominee ahead of time on the precise wording of Harvey’s questions.
The questions touched on Clinton’s granddaughter, her preference for deep dish or thin crust pizza, her campaign’s “great start,” efforts to bridge America’s racial divide, and her support for gun control policies.
According to the memo, Clinton’s staff saw Harvey’s show as an effective and low-risk way to reach out to female and African American voters. They also noted recent episodes of the show that focused on issues that Clinton had stressed during her campaign.
Clinton’s staff pitched the show on some of those issues, including gun control, and noted that Harvey would not likely force Clinton to go into detail defending her positions.
Now, producers for Harvey emailed the Beacon to say “As happens with many shows like ours, producers conduct pre-interviews highlighting areas of interest and possible questions. This allows the guests to prepare for their appearance and provides the most informative experience for the viewers.”
Over at Mediaite, they jokingly wrote, “Clinton evidently needed to be informed in advance that Harvey would ask whether she prefers deep dish pizza or thin crust (“Steve may even follow-up with ‘Hot sauce or no hot sauce?'” the staffers warned).”
This isn’t the first time the Clinton camp has received help during interviews. In March, MSNBC’s Kristen Welker was caught on a hot mic telling Clinton communications director Jennifer Palmieri exactly what she was going to ask her for her live interview.
At the time, Clinton’s appearance on his show was during the Democratic primaries, but what is all this nonsense about low-risk outreach of black voters. Clinton was expected to—and did—dominate with that demographic heading into the SEC portion of the 2016 primary season. She was struggling with young voters, as they were all flocking to Sen. Bernie Sanders. Either way, it’s bad optics. It was unnecessary to have a scripted interview, where she knew all of Harvey’s questions beforehand because Clinton was going to do well with black voters anyway. Also, no millennial watches daytime television, especially Steve Harvey, in a way that would yield the dividends needed to even consider a softball interview like this to begin with. It once again shows that Clinton is cautious, formulaic, and inauthentic, which is exactly why she’s struggling on character issues in this election. The lies over her unauthorized and unsecure emails server and the alleged conflict of interests at the Clinton Foundation haven’t helped either.
It’s Steve Harvey, lady. It’s not the PBS NewsHour. It’s not Bill O’Reilly. What was the cause for concern other than you’re a control freak who needs to have a well-rehearsed answer for everything, even on shows like this that aren’t rocket science; you just need to show that you’re human and can answer in complete sentences. Was Clinton worried about her emails popping up on Harvey’s show? If people on her team did, they’re paranoid.
It's daytime television, Hillary. It's not debate prep.
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