Clinton’s “don’t ask” policy
Has Hillary lost Iowa?
LATIMES-As she races through Iowa in the days before next week’s caucuses, Hillary Clinton is taking few chances. She tells crowds that it’s their turn to “pick a president,’’ but over the last two days she has not invited them to ask her any questions.
Before the brief Christmas break, the New York senator had been setting aside time after campaign speeches to hear from the audience. Now when she’s done speaking, her theme songs blare from loudspeakers, preventing any kind of public Q&A.
She was no more inviting when a television reporter approached her after a rally on Thursday and asked if she was “moved’’ by Benazir Bhutto’s assassination. Clinton turned away without answering.
Her daughter, Chelsea, had the same reaction when a reporter approached her with a question.
Hillary Clinton’s no-question policy didn’t sit well with some of the Iowans who came to see her speak.
“I was a little bit underwhelmed,’’ said Doug Rohde, 46, as he left her a rally in a fire station in Denison. “The message was very generic — and no questions.’’
Clinton campaign officials said that she may take questions in the coming days. But her focus is on seeing as many voters as possible before the caucuses next Thursday — and spotlighting the messages she wants to deliver.
Spokespeople for her two main rivals in the Hawkeye State -– John Edwards and Barack Obama -– said the candidates would continue fielding questions as they troll for support.
This is a good chance to see which candidates actually have any opinion or expertise on this type of thing, which ones are consistent with their views, who has a real PHILOSOPHY behind their views, and which are simply sticking their finger in the air to see which way the political winds are blowing. And some may be “ducking for cover” until some type of consensus has materialized on the campaign trail. Most candidates are going to espouse some type of “top down” Colonial philosophy which will include a heaping helping of “radical Islamists” and “nuclear arsenal” without realizing that this “de-humanizing” mentality plays into the hands of the extremists.