Democrat control freak candidates
Ruth Marcus:
It's not as if this president has been Mr. Openness. But by some important measures, George W. Bush is more accessible to the reporters who cover him than are some of the leading candidates to succeed him -- most notably Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.
The candidates' reluctance to engage in regular give-and-take with reporters on the campaign trail does not bode well for how they would behave if ensconced in the White House, swaddled in protective layers of presidential prerogative.
Through the end of September, the president had given 25 news conferences this year and answered questions from reporters in 19 less-extensive sessions, according to statistics compiled by Towson University political scientist Martha Joynt Kumar.
By contrast, Clinton and Obama have only occasionally held the kind of "press avail" that for other candidates, and in previous years, has been a common, often daily, occurrence.
"Senator Clinton has had one real press availability out on the campaign trail since she announced," my Post colleague Dan Balz, who is not given to cheap shots, pointedly noted on "Meet the Press" in September. "Obama is very much the same way."
Clinton stepped up the pace somewhat after Balz's remarks, to perhaps once a week. But when a New Hampshire reporter noted at a "press avail" last week that this was only her second in the state and asked if she'd pledge to do more, Clinton's answer was chilling.
"We will continue to run our campaign as we run our campaign, and we'll see how that unfolds over the next two months," she said.
Translation: I'll be talking to you only when my advisers decide I absolutely must.
...
These guys don't want to be asked where they stand on licenses for illegal immigrants and other hot button issues. They are so intent on controlling the dialog with the voters, that they are choking off any outside questions. They restrict their comments to poll tested evasions. Republicans need to hit on the control freak mentality and focus on how the control freaks want to not only control the dialog, but your lives.
POSTED BY MERV
prairiepundit.blogspot.com |
