The Making Of A Hillary Clinton Echo Chamber - WaPo

[WillyT]

The making of a Hillary Clinton echo chamber
By Philip Rucker - WaPo
July 7 at 11:51 AM


Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton speaks to supporters at an organizing event last weekend in Glen, N.H. (Robert F. Bukaty/AP)

<snip>

One day in May, operatives from a Washington-based super PAC gathered New Hampshire mayors, state representatives and local politicos at St. Anselm College for a day of training.

They rehearsed their personal tales of how they met Hillary Rodham Clinton and why they support her for president. They sharpened their defenses of her record as secretary of state. They scripted their arguments for why the Democratic front-runner has been “a lifetime champion of income opportunity.” And they polished their on-camera presentations in a series of mock interviews.

The objective of the sessions: to nurture a seemingly grass roots echo chamber of Clinton supporters reading from the same script across the communities that dot New Hampshire, a critical state that hosts the nation’s first presidential primary.

The super PAC, called Correct the Record, convened similar talking-point tutorials and media-training classes in May and June in three other early voting states — Iowa, South Carolina and Nevada — as well as sessions earlier this spring in California.

Presidential campaigns have for decades fed talking points to surrogates who appear on national television or introduce candidates on the stump. But the effort to script and train local supporters is unusually ambitious and illustrates the extent to which the Clinton campaign and its web of sanctioned, allied super PACs are leaving nothing to chance.

When, say, a Londonderry Times reporter calls a Rockingham County Democratic Committee member for comment on Clinton, he or she will parrot Correct the Record’s talking points about Clinton having been a fighter for the middle class — from improving rural health care as first lady of Arkansas to raising the minimum wage as a senator from New York.

“We are holding sessions with top communicators across the country where we talk about the best ways to discuss Secretary Clinton’s strong record of accomplishments, how to articulate Secretary Clinton’s positions most effectively and how to correct Republican operatives’ distortions of the facts,” said Adrienne Watson, communications director at Correct the Record.

<snip>

More: http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/the-making-of-a-hillary-clinton-echo-chamber/2015/07/07/01625c5e-24ae-11e5-b72c-2b7d516e1e0e_story.html

[virtualobserver]

1. I wonder if they have an app to pull up the proper responses when they are asked something n/t

[frylock]

15. bleep blorp

[2banon]

39. absolutely no doubt.

I know you're just being "sarcastic".. but it actually isn't all that far fetched.

[JaneyVee]

2. This is necessary when you are the target of constant rightwing misinformation campaign.

I don't see the downside. They will try to sink her by any means necessary.

[emulatorloo]

3. Fail to see anything 'nefarious' about this. Republican operatives do LIE and distort facts

And unfortunately a lot of the press today just report Republican lies as fact.

I have no doubt Bernie has a similar rapid response team in place.

[WillyT]

9. NOT... 'nefarious'... But Inauthentic.

If Bernie has a rapid repsonse team, I have yet to see it, And...

It's Bernie's authenticity that is driving people to him.

People are tired of the standard political fare.

[emulatorloo]

12. Sorry WillyT, fighting the Republican Lie Machine needs to be done

You want to complain about "inauthenticity" go after the Kochs and American Crossroads.

They fucking smear and lie about Democrats with impunity. They dump raw sewage on our candidates.

That's "the standard political fare" people are sick of; the lies peddled by Republcan operatives.

When those shitheads go full bore after Bernie with lies (and they will), I guarantee you Bernie is not going to lie down and play dead.

[Comrade Grumpy]

22. This seems aimed at fending off her Democratic challengers.

I don't think the Republicans are going to question her "lifetime commitment to fighting income inequality."

[Metric System]

18. And how will Bernie deal with the Right Wing Machine when he becomes the target?

[Comrade Grumpy]

20. Straight on. n/t

[Metric System]

21. Easier said than done.

[Ed Suspicious]

24. Nope, straight talk is his sword, and the truth his shield.

[Metric System]

25. Yes, because truth always wins. Like the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. Ahem.

[Ed Suspicious]

26. You guys fight to not lose. Get strong, man. Fight to win.

Kerry vacillates. Bernie will not be so easily swift-boated.

[arcane1]

28. Kerry was also a shit candidate who said he would've invaded Iraq if president.

So there's that.

[emulatorloo]

49. Link?

[arcane1]

54. Link to what?

[emulatorloo]

56. Rather simple really.

A link to a quote where Kerry said he would have invaded Iraq.

[arcane1]

57. That's simple:

KERRY: Well, let me tell you straight up: I've never changed my mind about Iraq. I do believe Saddam Hussein was a threat. I always believed he was a threat. Believed it in 1998 when Clinton was president. I wanted to give Clinton the power to use force if necessary.

But I would have used that force wisely, I would have used that authority wisely, not rushed to war without a plan to win the peace.

I would have brought our allies to our side. I would have fought to make certain our troops had everybody possible to help them win the mission.
This president rushed to war, pushed our allies aside. And Iran now is more dangerous, and so is North Korea, with nuclear weapons. He took his eye off the ball, off of Osama bin Laden.



From the 2nd Bush/Kerry debate:

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/text-of-bush-kerry-debate-ii/

[emulatorloo]

69. Thanks! N/T

[kenfrequed]

50. Indeed

Had Kerry stood a bit more firm and swatted that swift boat bullshit early he would have done better.

[corkhead]

51. Kerry didn't address it straight on which is what did him in.

[frylock]

61. The Swift Boat Veterans for Truth told documented lies..

Unless I'm misinterpreting, it appears that you're accusing Sanders of lying. Could you clarify your response kplzthx?

[Sheepshank]

68. Hallelujah

.....and amen

where is his white stallion and the golden sunbeams resting on his shoulders?

[Mnpaul]

34. Not really

Bernie has taken on this crap numerous times. He called out Greenspan, he called out Bernenke, he grilled Guithner, he goes on Fox and talks what he wants to talk about. He makes Bachmann look like the blooming idiot she is.

[2banon]

43. so far, Bernie is too polite and has acquiesced to this nut job.

I'm a Bernie supporter, I don't when in the vid Bernie makes the punch line, but I can't sit through to the bitter end. The question he posed to her on CPI should have capped it on the head right off the bat but after about the third or fourth time, I had to turn if off.

[George II]

29. As they say, "the proof is in the pudding". Actually, I hope he never has to face that.....

.....NO candidate should have to face that.

[Unknown Beatle]

35. But Bernie's defenders don't need to parrot talking points.

Bernie's record stands on it's own without the need for rehearsal. If there's a question about Bernie, anybody can answer it straightforward because it's open and honest.

If Hillary has an honest record, there's no need for rehearsals, it should stand on it's own merits. Anybody should be able to answer any question about Hillary without the need for rehearsal and parroting talking points.

[Man of Distinction]

48. If Bernie can beat Clinton, how do you think he would do to the Republicans

where polls say Clinton beats all the Republicans?

He will ANNIHILATE them in a landslide victory.

[99Forever]

60. The exact same way he has successfully done for decades.

Good grief, that some high strength ignorance you have there.

[Sheepshank]

41. The way the media and republicans twist and take words outs of context

The heightened need for the Republicans to demolish Hillary, I'd say a little homework will go a long way. If they were calluding to tell lies...I'd be super upset and disappointed. Maybe they also
Meant to make sure that they have a timeline right, or make a point not to repeat each other. I fail to see the problem.

[restorefreedom]

70. bernie IS the rapid response team

his facts are ready in his head, and he speaks them from his heart.

you don't need an app for that.

[Deny and Shred]

4. Reminds me of the Town Hall softballs W

used to get. Toughies from little old ladies like, "How are able to be such a great president?" and "Soccer mom's like me are just so glad you are keeping us safe." Its one thing to learn from your opponents, its another to emulate them. Controlling the message to this extent is heading into Rove territory.

She needs to motivate the 50% of the electorate that doesn't go to the polls to get off the couch. This says to me that she thinks she'll win if she simply hangs onto her current majority with active voters - the echo chamber as you say. It is also a dodge of tougher questions. This will make for an uncomfortably close general election.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

5. Sounds like standard political fare./nt

[RiverLover]

6. Its one enormous, well-coordinated scam.

We are being punked.

Thanks for posting this, WillyT!

[WillyT]

11. You Are Quite Welcome !!!

[Mnpaul]

37. Nothing new from Hillary

GRINNELL, Iowa (CNN) -- The college student who was told what question to ask at one of New York Sen. Hillary Clinton's campaign events said "voters have the right to know what happened" and she wasn't the only one who was planted.

In an exclusive on-camera interview with CNN, Muriel Gallo-Chasanoff, a 19-year-old sophomore at Grinnell College in Grinnell, Iowa, said giving anyone specific questions to ask is "dishonest," and the whole incident has given her a negative outlook on politics.

Gallo-Chasanoff, whose story was first reported in the campus newspaper, said what happened was simple: She said a senior Clinton staffer asked if she'd like to ask the senator a question after an energy speech the Democratic presidential hopeful gave in Newton, Iowa, on November 6.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/11/13/clinton.planted/

and another reason I can't stand her.

Someone needs to get plantsforHillary.com back up.

[sadoldgirl]

7. Lovely, sounds like a HRC kind of Luntz

training for Fox. I don't think that the public will
fall for it. It would be so repetitious that people
will get bored by it.

[FlatBaroque]

8. Plastic and polyester n/t

[azmom]

10. I notice they are co-opting language

"What kind of a movement would we be if we rejected converts?” said Paul Begala, a veteran of the Clinton White House who now collaborates with Brock

[LWolf]

13. All so carefully scripted.

But asking local supporters to use talking points could undermine the organic nature of grass-roots political interactions. No longer can a journalist call up a state representative in Iowa and expect to hear his or her personal, unvarnished take on Clinton — nor can a Rotary Club member watch a fellow small-business owner talk about Clinton at their monthly luncheon — without suspecting he or she is reading from a script.

The super PAC’s effort also comes as Clinton struggles on the campaign trail to appear accessible and genuine. Some Democrats have long believed Clinton sounds too scripted on the stump, especially compared to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), her insurgent primary rival whose authenticity and liberal message are drawing thousands of Democrats to his rallies.

[WillyT]

14. Exactly !!!

[LWolf]

17. One of the nasty

parasites hanging on to the neoliberal education deform movement is the "scripted curriculum."

It assumes that teachers don't know what they are doing, and that following a script will get higher test scores. All part of the "teachers bad" bleating, and part of the effort to degrade the profession to clerks reading from a script.

In many schools, those scripts are mandated, and teachers held strictly accountable for them. When my district handed out the latest round last fall, the mandate was to "try it" for the first term and give feedback.

I spent hours and hours sorting through the scripts trying to find what was valuable for students and deciding how to help them with it...sans script.

When they complained about the rote material, I spent one day...just one, using the script. They begged me to NEVER do that again.

None of us like scripted communication; it's disrespectful to those giving their time to listen.

[winter is coming]

16. +1. You've gotta wonder about a candidate who feels such a need to pre-empt spontaneous

reactions. Afraid someone's going to point out that the emperor has no clothes?

[jalan48]

19. She doesn't have Obama's charima or oratory skills.

[appalachiablue]

53. +1. Righto. Being genuine, honest and natural is effective and motivating. People crave it

and need it, like oxygen, fresh air and sun. Plastic materials and people are synthetic, inorganic and artificial. All very basic I find. The contrived, rehearsed points are obvious as h*ll, easily detected, especially when you hear and see the same ones over and over with no attempt at any variation, even slight.

Rep. Claire McCaskill (Mo-D) was so bad, stiff and scripted it was painful to watch especially when pundit Mark Halpern and another one on 'Morning Joke' easily tore into her points by asking McCaskill to name what programs of Sanders are socialist. Watching her struggle to finally come up with affordable health care while they laughed was unpleasant. Rep. Luis 'What's his name? the socialist?' Guttierez (IL-D) who has worked with Sen. Sanders more than 20 years in the Congress delivered another smear attempt that bombed.

[Thespian2]

23. K & R

Isn't this method of gaining supporters exactly what was expected? Everything, except the outcome of the primaries, will be scripted...

[zeemike]

27. That's what 2 billion dollars will buy you.

A machine that will script the narrative and fool people.

It will be interesting to see if it works this time.

[arcane1]

31. It could seriously backfire if people get a fakeness vibe from it.

Whether voters or journalists.

[zeemike]

33. Well I seriously do.

And when someone tries to manipulate people it shows their dark side.
I do not subscribe to winning at any cost...integrity is important to me.

[LWolf]

42. That's a definite turn off.

I don't much like sales pitches anyway, but when someone's pitch is scripted, and they are uncomfortable talking to me about whatever they are selling off script, without the talking points, I'm not going to buy.

[glinda]

32. All I know is I am uncomfortable listening to Howard Dean lately.

He has been quieter and quieter also it seems.

[aggiesal]

36. I thought SuperPAC's were not allowed to coordinate with any campaign?

"... Correct the Record — one of several super PACs run by Clinton ally David Brock — coordinates some of its activities with Clinton’s campaign ..."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2015/05/12/how-a-super-pac-plans-to-coordinate-directly-with-hillary-clintons-campaign/

Is this legal?

[jeff47]

40. The FEC can't do anything thanks to the Republicans, so it doesn't matter if it's legal. (nt)

[Sheepshank]

44. I think you are trying to read between the lines.

The super PAC is corrdianting its activities with the campaign, not the other way around. Maybe they are hosting dinners the night of a speech. Maybe they are organizing advertising on the areas where Clinton will be visiting. Doesn't sound scary illegal to me.

If you have continued concerns, Let's talk about the PAC that is affiliated with Bernie that recently got fined for forgetting to file financial papers. The head finance guy for the PAC is in a leadership role in Bernie's campaign. Do you think there's any chance there may be some coordinating going on there?

[hedda_foil]

47. Do you have a link for that statement?

[Sheepshank]

58. which statement?

I have one for the Bernie affiliation and fines for the PAC?

"The Burlington-based committee’s treasurer, Phil Fiermonte, a longtime Sanders aide and currently the field director for Sanders’ presidential campaign, received a letter from the FEC in December warning that the committee may have failed to file required...."

http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20150704/THISJUSTIN/707049929


What is interesting many of the other media outlets have scrubbed their pages clean of that little tid bit.

[aggiesal]

62. 2 things ...

1) Leadership PAC's and SuperPac's are 2 completely different animals.
2) You'll notice that the Progressive Voters of America Leadership PAC, which is Sander's PAC,
admitted to filing late, and paid all the fines associated with filing late.

“We acknowledge that we neglected to file the 12 day Pre-General Report of Receipts and Disbursements and the 30 day Post-General Report of Receipts and Disbursements before the filing deadlines and have enclosed checks to pay for each of the administrative fines for these infractions,” the PAC's treasurer, Phil Fiermonte wrote.

“This was an inadvertent mistake. As you know, we have since filed both reports with the FEC,” he added. “We will make certain to be diligent to comply with all filing deadlines in the future.”

The letter included two separate checks, one for $1,090 and another for $6,600.

He's completely open and transparent about this.

[Sheepshank]

64. *sigh* tax and campaign laws are complex...you are not telling me anything new

They admitted the mistake. Again, you are not telling me anything new. What everyone is glossing over is that the Bernie campaign guy ALSO the cfo for the PAC.

[aggiesal]

66. It's Bernie's PAC! ...

Everyone in congress has one!

[jtuck004]

38. Anyone who says they are not training is either a liar or a loser. Repubs did

this for 10 years to put themselves in a position to win - which in their eyes simply means stopping anything.

They don't have to do anything, just stop everything. They are supported by people who would rather see the country burn than agree with anything you say.

Ever. Really - they would rather everyone die. Which they will if they stop enough, but they don't see that.

so they train, and train, and train. And win enough. Everyone talks about the money being spent to buy elections - this is what a fair amount is spent on, because it works. Not always, but enough.


To compete against them, to even make it close to a fair fight, one needs more than remarks pulled from their nether regions. That goes for Bernie, our only hope, or Ms. Clinton.

Anyone who thinks Bernie didn't train himself all these years is simply fooling themselves. That doesn't change his basic philosophy, just makes him more effective.

[marmar]

45. That's always been one of my reservations about Hillary.....

.....that air of rehearsed disingenuosness.

[MisterP]

46. how charmingly cultish: of course it'll end badly for these people who've turned themselves

into literal mouthpieces: her DoS tenure will be especially hard to explain away to party wonks

[RufusTFirefly]

52. Speaking candidly, I, [insert your name here], think Hillary's terrific!

Hillary Clinton is the kindest, bravest, warmest, most wonderful human being I've ever known in my life.

[Buns_of_Fire]

55. EXCLUSIVE Training Camp footage!

[99Forever]

59. Great post, WillyT.

No surprises, it's what neoliberals do.

[WillyT]

63. Thanks 99 !!!

[HooptieWagon]

65. 2 billion buys a lot of AstroTurf.

But not enough to cover all the bullshit.

[NCTraveler]

67. Kick. nt.