Now, I have no heartburn with this practice. It happens.
But any honest observer of this message board should be willing to admit the following: if this had been a Bush event, or even a GOP event in general, there would have been threads of condemnation here, frothing indignation over the duplicitious practices of the Evil Republicans.
Did I miss the similar condemnations of Senator Clinton’s campaign? I may have, I admit.
Oh, you can’t quote Fox,** Bricker**! That gives people an out! 
Nope, I don’t think there would be. Really just because there’s already been such threads in the past… I don’t think this event would be a remarkable enough thing to lead to a thread on it, and more than one thread even more so.
You could argue that the amount of those threads before shows bias. Or that the lack of threads about this issue could be compared to the amount of threads on past times Bush has had planted questions. So it’s more of a nitpick rather than a defence of bias, in that I think it certainly exists.
I do have heartburn with this practice, though. And so I shall condemn it. Boo.
It is stupid when Bush does it, and it is stupid when Hillary does it. Satisfied?
Here’s a debate: If you start a thread wondering why there have been no threads regarding a topic, is there in fact at least one thread about that topic?
Logician’s, debate away!
Since this thread isn’t so much a debate, as it is liberal baiting, shouldn’t it be in the Pit?
That said, I’m pretty pissed about it myself. I hope there’s enough outrage over this to cost her the nomination, because it’s bush-league antics like this that are going to cost her the undecideds and left-wing Republicans in the general election. Dumb bitch should have kept her word and not run in '08. If she gets the nod in the primaries, the best possible outcome is going to be four years of President Giuliani.
She promised not to run in '08?
I am an honest observer. And my honest guess is that Bush would not have been pitted over this. It would be like pitting Bush for mispronouncing a word or overstepping executive power. Old news. Moreover, planting questions just sort of pales in comparison to, say, water boarding the innocent or advocating the teaching of creationism in schools, doesn’t it? It would be like pitting Hugo Chavez for bad fashion.
Giuliani? Maybe. But no one pitted him about the Kerik scandal. No one pitted Huckabee about his blatant lies in the last Republican debate. Shall I go on?
Let’s put it another way. Do you think there have been more negative threads about Hillary or Bush in the last two months? I haven’t checked, but I’d bet on Hillary.
You do realize, don’t you, that this happened at every single Bush campaign event in 2004. When you restrict attendance at campaign events to only loyal Bushies, all you get are planted questions.
I think it’s wrong when any politician stages events beyond basic showmanship (i.e. free t-shirts and buttons to anyone who wants to wear one), which to me includes giving audience members pre-written questions to ask. I definitely wouldn’t give Hillary (or any Democrat) a pass – if anything, I find it more irritating when a candidate I’m considering supporting does it, as they’re the ones I want to learn more about.
To me this is one of the more damaging facts:
“a Clinton intern spoke to her to say the campaign requested she not talk about the story to any more media outlets and that if she did she should inform a staffer.”
It’s one thing to make a dumb mistake. It’s much worse to compound it by trying to suppress free speech. Kind of reminds me what got her husband into trouble back in the 90s.
I dunno if “requesting her not to talk about it” counts as supressing free speech. It’s not like they said they were going to come break her knees or anything if she didn’t keep quite.
It is a putrid practice and only reinforces how much we are manipulated. *Wag the Dog. * I will forgive Hillary because I have become so desensitized to political dishonesty. It is business as usual. 
Senator McCain, is that you?
If this sort of dishonest political theatrics were the worst of GW’s sins, I wouldn’t feel a need to choose between staying sane and staying sober.
All of this just confirms what I already knew: the whole thing is a a puppet show put on by the proverbial powers-that-be. * Please*, somebody, show me it isn’t true.
If Hillary wins the nomination, I’m voting for the Green Party. I empathize with Al Gore, who says he’s fallen out of love with politics. So have I. I’ve fallen out of love with politics. It’s all a dog and pony show. Maybe things will have to get even worse before they get better and people will be fed up with it.
We live in interesting times, and can ill afford the politics of piety. My sympathies and convictions are much in tune with Green, but this is no time to be a Nadering nabob. The stakes are just too damned high.
Hillary ain’t doing it on our dime.
Yet.