March 14, 2016

Since when do town hall moderators kiss the candidate?

Watch Hillary Clinton walk in and accept kisses on the cheek from Jake Tapper and Roland Martin. This was last night's CNN town hall:



What do you think of that kissing?
 
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ADDED: How is Sanders greeted? Tapper leans forward with an extended hand and, after the handshake, pats him on the back a few times. Martin extends his hand and, during the handshake, uses his left hand to grip Sanders's upper arm.

67 comments:

Jason said...

Backstage they were probably kissing her ring. #Godfather

Meade said...

Did they greet Bernie with a peck on the cheek! Weird.

Phil 314 said...

Jason, beat me to it.

fivewheels said...

The cheeks on her face?

Larry J said...

Jason said...
Backstage they were probably kissing her ring. #Godfather


No, they were acting like ordinary reporters and kissing her other cheeks.

David Begley said...

The MSM and establishment pols are all friends.

There will be no kissing of Ted Cruz.

Meade said...

" because she's a lady"

The Lady Who Wears Pants

tds said...

Sad!

Tank said...

It's a good reminder to us that they are all on the same, other team.

It's the truth. That's good.

We wouldn't want to forget which team they are on.

Mad Boston Arab said...

This is what elected Bush over Gore. Bush went on Oprah's show. He gave her a very gentlemanly kiss. Next day Gore goes on, and shakes her hand. "No Kiss!" she exclaimed. How many middle aged, middle class women voted for Bush.

David said...

Because it's national TV, he had to kiss the facial cheek not the other one.

Skipper said...

"Love! You are love!
Better far than a metaphor
Can ever, ever be.
Love! You are love!
My mystery of love!"

Irene said...

I was like "WTF" when I saw that, too.

Brando said...

How did they miss her butt?

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

The DNC hack press lick and kiss their fellow dems.


You don't need objectivity or curiosity in journalism. Hillary should be indicted and the only thing keeping her afloat is her fawning press who never mention the Clinton's criminal behavior.

The Clinton corrupt list

Irene said...

Clinton's answer last night to a follow-up question from Tapper about last week's debate also was interesting. She detailed her assertion that she is not a professional politician like Bill Clinton or Obama. In particular, she implied both husband Bill and Obama were best at being in permanent campaign mode. She glowed when she talked about Bill's skill at that.

Bob Boyd said...

When The Lady Who Wears Pants is stomping on America's face forever we'll all just be grateful she never wears a skirt.

Brando said...

"Hillary should be indicted and the only thing keeping her afloat is her fawning press who never mention the Clinton's criminal behavior."

The GOP freakshow has given them a nice distraction. We haven't heard squat in the papers since Hillary's server-guy took an immunity deal.

mccullough said...

Makes Hillary look weak. Nice job, guys

MikeR said...

Nope - if they do that they have to kiss Bernie Sanders as well.

MAJMike said...

Further proof that the minions of the CriminalLiberalMedia are Dem-Cong operatives with a byline.

Charlie Currie said...

I would say, Totally Normal, in the sense that she, and they, are part of the same club, good and dear friends. I greeted a lady from my old neighborhood the same way yesterday upon seeing her at the grocery store, and then again outside with a young lady - 30 something - who was from the same neighborhood and a classmate of my daughter's.

Question - do the moderators meet and greet the candidates backstage before the debates? If so, was Carly Fiorina treated the same way? Or is this just totally lefty msn bias?

Rick said...

Watch Hillary Clinton walk in and accept kisses on the cheek from Jake Tapper

What are the odds CNN journalists would give a Republican woman such a show of support?

The left criticizes Tapper with the implication he's a closet conservative, but what they're noticing is that he still does his job even when facing people he ultimately supports. Isn't it interesting this sets him so apart from other (non-Fox) journalists the left recognizes his otherness?

This reminds me on economics departments on campus. Most humanities faculty are so far left there are literally no conservatives and only a relative handful of liberals. Economics leans left, about 2/3 to 1/3, with the 1/3 including centrists and libertarians. But even a measurable minority of non-leftists is so atypical people often claim economics departments are conservative.

Wince said...

Beats having to kiss her orange peel ass.

Wince said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Rumpletweezer said...

That's no lady. That's Bill Clinton's wife.

Curious George said...

Jesus Christ, they looked like talk show hosts greeting a guest.

mccullough said...

Curious,

Don't you think that makes her look weak? That's what they do to the old lady guests.

Sammy Finkelman said...

Hillary Clinton attended Nancy Reagan's funeral.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/12/us/politics/nancy-reagan-funeral.html?_r=0

George W. Bush sat next to Michelle Obama, and Mr. Bush’s wife, Laura, sat next to Hillary Clinton.

At the funeral, Nancy Reagan's daughter, Patti Davis, gave an eulogy:

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/patti-davis-moving-eulogy-mom-nancy-reagan-funeral-article-1.2561715

In the eulogy, she said:

A few days before she died, I reminded her of something that happened decades ago when we lived in Pacific Palisades. My father used to get massages from a large Eastern European man who would come to the house and set up his massage table in my parents' dressing room. On one of these days, as my father lay face down on the table, my mother tiptoed in, kissed him lightly on the back of his neck and tiptoed out. He didn't know it was her, but he went through the rest of the massage, he never said a word.

And after the masseur left, he said to my mother, ‘I don't think we can have him back anymore.’ ‘Why,’ she asked him, ‘what happened.’

‘Well, he kissed me.’

When she told him it was her, he was flooded with relief and said, ‘Thank God, I didn't know what to do.’


Now, you know the rest of the story.

Sammy Finkelman said...

Hillary Clinton has got to fake kindness. She is a very inauthentic person.

Sammy Finkelman said...

She probably requested the kisses.

Sammy Finkelman said...

Deniability.

kjbe said...

"The Lady Who Wears Pants"

What does that even mean?

Bob Boyd said...

You'd think Tapper would be concerned about catching Hillary's nasty cough.

tim in vermont said...

And Tapper is the best of them. I there any tape of him greeting Sarah Palin, I wonder.

Hammond X. Gritzkofe said...

Thomas Dimassimo: "I spat on my hand before I shook [Trump's]."

Jake Tapper: "I spat on my lips before I kissed you."

Michael K said...

I have to say that Hillary showed more class than Obama but that doesn't mean a very high bar. Maybe it was a first lady thing.

moron said...

Wouldn't that amount to rape if a college student??

grimson said...

Since Mrs. Clinton gets a kiss, maybe Kasich should get a hug, and Trump a chest bump.

Curious George said...

"mccullough said...
Curious,

Don't you think that makes her look weak? That's what they do to the old lady guests."

Maybe, but if true an unintended consequence.

Chuck said...


Since when do moderators wear brown shoes with a blue suit?

YoungHegelian said...

@grimson,

...and Trump a chest bump.

Or, maybe with Trump, they should go full bore Klingon, smacking their large, bony foreheads together & yelling "Qaplah"!

MadisonMan said...

Since when do moderators wear brown shoes with a blue suit?

I saw someone the other day in my neighborhood leaving for work in a black suit with brown shoes. (smh)

I thought of Elton John when I read of them kissing Hillary:

I want to kiss the bride yeah
Please let me kiss the bride yeah
Long before she met him
She was mine, mine, mine
Don't say I do
Say bye, bye, bye
And let me kiss the bride yeah

I assume the moderators are bragging on their friends now I Kissed Hillary! as if it's something laudable.

Rick said...

Stephen Webb said...
Wouldn't that amount to rape if a college student??


Only if he's ugly.

Curious George said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Curious George said...

"Chuck said...

Since when do moderators wear brown shoes with a blue suit?"

Moderators? Dunno. But brown shoes with blue suits is all the range with the hipsters.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

Tapper later revealed that he had on Trojan prophylactic lips when he kissed Hillary.

Fidel said...

Whatever respect I may have had for Tapper as a journalist is a dim memory.....and fading fast.

Dan Hossley said...

So it is official then? It really is the Clinton News Network?

FullMoon said...

This is making mountains out of molehills. Similar to current "correct bra sizing" trend.

tim in vermont said...

Tapper later revealed that he had on Trojan prophylactic lips when he kissed Hillary

Made famous in an episode of Get Smart.

pst314 said...

"at least a veneer of professionalism"
I want more than a veneer.

Quaestor said...

I notice that as of 3:00 EDT the "Totally normal" and "Special..." responses have garnered (love that word!) 38 votes, a bit over 2%, which ought to hearten Althouse. Knowing your audience is less than 3% retarded and/or insane must be an unalloyed good.

Bilwick said...

He's only playing proper obeisance to Queen Cacklepants,* the Dowager Emoress of Chappaqua.** Show some respect for your betters, in case the Alinskyite Witch gets elected; else there'll a bunk in the Re-Education Camp with your name on it.



*Jim Treacher, as far as I know.

**Camille Paglie; ditto.

Derfel Cadarn said...

The whole "lady" line is pushing the bounds of reality. That's no lady,that's Billy Jeff Meatwhjistle's wife.

n.n said...

Not even a pretense of integrity.

jg said...

I voted 'lady'. Who cares what the etiquette is in this situation? We're making it up as we go. Cheek-kiss is very classy, very European, you know. People kiss the Queen on the cheek, I'm sure.

Fabi said...

Did Hillary try to slip him the tongue?

Beldar said...

I think they should be required to kiss Bernie too.

And while we're at it, what's with the air kisses next to the cheek? Let's be real, and have the CNN people just lay a big wet one right on Bernie's and Hillary's posteriors.

Beldar said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
SweatBee said...

I'd be okay with it in the old-school Family Feud kind of way if they also kissed Fiorina and gave the male candidates side-hugs.

Were you actually expecting them to kiss Bernie, too? Is this one of those women-in-combat kinds of questions?

The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...

Isn't it a good thing that their biases are so clearly on display? I think even the most oblivious MSM outlets are beginning to realize that no one buys the unbiased schtick anymore. So why bother?

McCackie said...

No Caesar's wife here; avoid even the appearance of impropriety is outside of her skill set. Probably the avoidance of impropriety is also outside of her skill set.

RonF said...

I'll bet Tapper was confused when she presented her *facial* cheek for him to kiss ....

Drago said...

Brando: "The GOP freakshow has given them a nice distraction. We haven't heard squat in the papers since Hillary's server-guy took an immunity deal"

Oh, right. "The republicans" is why the media doesn't report on Hillarys activities.

Uh huh.

chillblaine said...

Since the moderators want access more than credibility. The kiss signals that the encounter will not be adversarial in any way.