May 12, 2014

Glenn Thrush makes the reporters assigned to the 2008 Hillary Clinton campaign sound like a bunch of mental patients and drug addicts.

In Politico:
The veterans removed themselves from the road to preserve their sanity (I skipped her last campaign trip after she stubbornly refused to concede the election at a Manhattan “farewell” rally on June 3, 2008). At least one reporter was involuntarily pulled out of action by his editors for fear he was about to collapse. One of the country’s most respected political scribes took to travelling with a shoebox crammed with various over-the-counter meds because the stress and sleep deprivation was running down her immune system. By mid-campaign she was in such a daze she nearly boarded a commercial flight barefoot before realizing she’d left her shoes at the security checkpoint, one of her friends told me.

The yelling and screaming, the best-known feature of the Clinton press operation, didn’t bother me much—perversely, it endeared them to me. Most of Clinton’s press operatives were fellow New Yorkers. I had dealt with them for years, and thought it was funny to hear them lose their cool. But I was an outlier.

22 comments:

mccullough said...

Who the hell flies from Milwaukee to Madison?

Michael K said...

He loves her in spite of the fact that she is mostly a bitch.

Ann Althouse said...

I have. Many times.

It's the last hop of a trip when you've come in from elsewhere.

tim maguire said...

Message: Hillary's not too old. Of course, that will have been 8 years ago.

SteveR said...

Politico doing battle ground prep for Hillary, see she's really a nice person after all.

David said...

"All About Me," by Glenn Thrush.

ZZZZZzzzzzzzzz.

Larry J said...

The job of running for president is quite different from actually being president. Running a campaign is quite different from running the executive branch of government, as we're seeing on a daily basis.

YoungHegelian said...

This is a reporter being honest about what it was like to follow the 2008 HRC campaign.

I'm still waiting for the honest, detailed write-up on just badly the 2008 Obama campaign treated the press. Judging from what peeked out around the edges in 2008, it was really awful.

But, the press, being true to their ideology, took not just one, but many, many, for the team. The press just never learned one of the cardinal rules of being in business: never, ever, do a favor for an asshole. They never appreciate them & they never reciprocate. Obama administration, exhibit A, your Honor.

RecChief said...



Sticktoitiveness can be a trait to admire. Being so stubborn that you can't face reality is not. Vote accordingly.

grackle said...

From the article: My four-year-old son had spiked a fever and suffered a seizure, flopping unconscious onto the floor … “The senator says you can fly back east with us on the plane if you need to,” [a Clinton staffer offered a ride] … my son quickly recovered—and I didn’t think it would have been appropriate anyway. But the moment has stuck in my mind, and done as much to shape my perception of Clinton as all the cold shoulders, hard feelings and hard landings on ice. It was spontaneous and generous, a glimpse at the “Real Hillary” her staff so adores – and reporters so seldom see.

The Left is struggling now with political schizophrenia. They really don't like her on a personal level and want to write about it but on the other hand they need to get that HRC-redeeming paragraph in at the end. For the good of the country.

He also conveniently injected the would-not-have-been-appropriate language for journalistic self-praise and credibility. See, I'm a real journalist! I would hesitate to get too close to a politician!

I don't believe he would have cared then or later about appropriateness.

Nonapod said...

I really dislike reading about the trials and turmoils of embedded political reporters. With all the revolting sycophancy, catty squabbles, and bitterness you'd think it's a tale about the yearbook commmity for the words most shallow highschool class. These people are ostensibly supposed to be objective reporters, but of course they're anything but. I have very little respect for the profession of journalism anymore. I'm continuously surprised that anyone takes these idiots seriously, especially after these past few years. They really are a disgrace.


exhelodrvr1 said...

I'll bet that 100% of them voted for Obama.

I'm Full of Soup said...

Say it Althouse "They sound like a bunch of pussies"!

Lance said...

So Thrush says the journalists covering the '08 Clinton campaign were overstressed and heavily self-medicated. How do we know this is unusual for political journalists? Has anyone described the journalists who covered any of the other campaigns? Maybe all political journalists are hyped and hopped.

Sam L. said...

What do you mean? That they aren't?

damikesc said...

Mcculloch, going with recent history, somebody who believes global warming is a huge problem.

MadisonMan said...

I haven't flown MKE->MSN in years, not since Midwest Express left the business. Well, technically I fly MKE->MSN, but only because the flight from Detroit goes right over Milwaukee most of the time.

Wilbur said...

I hate to play the "What If A Republican Had Said That" card, buuuuuuuut ... if a Republican had made up that doozy about coming under fire while on some helicopter, he or she would have been hounded from the campaign trail. Forever.

Ann Althouse said...

"I haven't flown MKE->MSN in years, not since Midwest Express left the business. Well, technically I fly MKE->MSN, but only because the flight from Detroit goes right over Milwaukee most of the time."

Yeah, I miss Midwest.

I'm sick of flying anywhere, really.

Anonymous said...

It says a lot about Hillary's sense of entitlement that she considered the challenge to her "bedrock narrative" an unpredictable incident. For a Democrat to claim to be "at the vanguard of her party’s commitment to racial equality" and "the standard-bearer for hope and change" is like a Republican claiming to wear the mantle of Reagan. It's a position you should know, going in, that your primary opponents are going to want to stake out for themselves as well-- and therefore one you shouldn't expect them to cede to you unfought.

NotWhoIUsedtoBe said...

I hate it when reporters report on themselves. It's like writers writing about writing. Because of the nature of their work the process is confused with the purpose.

And I don't really care about the problems of the entourage. The life of hangers-on is always precarious. No one would care about the reporters in this story except for who they are sharing the bus with.

Anonymous said...

The political scribes would be on the first bus to the 'camps' if Billy Ayers was in charge - they need to reflect on that.