Conspiratorial Wink of the Hillary Plant

Conspiratorial Wink of the Hillary Plant

By Mark Finkelstein (Bio | Archive)
November 12, 2007 - 09:05 ET

UPDATE, see below: Shuster says "watch the wink."

Sometimes, the smallest gestures are the most significant . . .

Have a look at the freeze-frame. It shows the moment at which the young woman in Iowa this weekend is retaking her seat after posing that planted question to Hillary about climate change. As you'll see, she's flashing someone a conspiratorial wink and smile. "Morning Joe" rolled the video of the moment at 6:43 and 7:01 AM ET today and MSNBC has been replaying throughout the day.

But for a driver's license and a wink, was a nomination was lost?

Video: Real (648 KB) or Windows (716 KB), plus MP3 (112 KB)

The video is a bit grainy but the wink is very visible when seen in TV quality. Hopefully MSNBC will post the clip.

Discussing the controversy on today's "Morning Joe," Mika Brzezinski tried floating the know-nothing defense on Hillary's behalf.

MIKA BRZEZINSKI: OK, does she know about -- you guys, Pat [Buchanan] and Joe, help me out here. She's in on this?

JOE SCARBOROUGH: I hope so.

BRZEZINSKI: I mean, come on. No, no, no!

UPDATE | 11-12 4:05 PM ET: Here's a brief, higher-quality video clip of the moment, making the wink and smile easier to see.

UPDATE | 11-12 5:40 PM ET: I don't imagine that David Shuster is a huge fan of this blog, but perhaps he does read it. At 5:38 PM ET, during his report on this afternoon's Hardball, Shuster played a specially-edited clip of the moment, zeroing in on the young woman's face, and invited viewers to "watch the wink."

—Mark Finkelstein is a NewsBusters contributing editor and host of Right Angle. Contact him at mark@gunhill.net.

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}}---> Planted questions

November 12, 2007 - 09:12 ET by Cool Arrow

Heads would roll if this was a FEMA event. But since it's a Democrat candidate doing Democrat things, it's Biz as Youzh.

Phony Hillary

November 12, 2007 - 09:20 ET by planetrepublican

Has there ever been a bigger phony than Hillary Clinton? I mean, she is the worst scoundrel that ever hit the pike, bigger than her dopey husband. Geez…get out of Dodge, lady. 1990’s all over again. Makes my hair hurt!

Yawn, Gannon, FEMA, blah

November 12, 2007 - 09:14 ET by Leon

Yawn,

Gannon, FEMA, blah blah blah.

It would be more shocking...

November 12, 2007 - 09:21 ET by tater

...if stuff like this in Hil's camp doesn't happen.

Do you realize how much it costs to run for office? More than any honest man could afford. -Montgomery Burns

Im sure that we will know

November 12, 2007 - 09:28 ET by Dan The Man 2

Im sure that we will know all there is to know..sooner rather than later and more rather than less. And the Law records just appeared and everyone knows exactly what she knows. And the beat goes on ... da da dada and the beat goes on.

Nuke em til they glow then shoot em in the dark.

}}---> And the FBI files

November 12, 2007 - 09:34 ET by Cool Arrow

Under the Freedom of Information act, we should be privy to which 2,000 Americans' files Hillary got hold of.

Why aren't we reguloarly and often questioning this privacy issue as juxtaposed to spying on terrorists overseas?

-

November 12, 2007 - 11:02 ET by dahliatravers

That ... is a great question.

And we'll take our answer as an affidavit, please - under pains and penalties of perjury.

planted Questions Denials

November 12, 2007 - 09:47 ET by jaywl

Hillary's team demonstrated the Clinton's classic way of treating the press with disdain, and the acquiescence of the press when they do.

Concerning a previous attempt to plant a question in Iowa Fox news reported Sunday that "Mo Elliethee, spokesman for Clinton's campaign in
Iowa, told FOX News that Hayler and Mitchell" (planter and plantee) "had a previous
relationship" and that a discussion about Clinton arose out of a normal
conversation between two people who knew each other well."

Plantee Mitchell responded "I had no previous relationship with him," said
Mitchell. "I knew his name and by name only as someone who worked for
Senator Evan Bayh. But we didn't know each other and I had never met
him before this event."

Spokesman Elliethee put the twin whammy on the press of "Not Newsworthy and Old News" when she responded ""I'm not going to comment on what he said," said
Elleithee said, referring to Mitchell. "I'm going to discuss what our
interpretation is. They had a previous relationship, the subject came
up and there's nothing more to it than that. It's not newsworthy. It's
innocent. It's not yesterday."

So shut up, the news is what they say it is, the truth is what they say it is.

It's not that they think

November 12, 2007 - 10:14 ET by Right2thePoint

It's not that they think this is an issue worth discussing since it already should have died on it's own.

Now it is simply being used as a hey let the sheep talk about this all they want and obsess with it, it will only make it easier for me to do something else in the background or at least keep them from looking deeper into stuff they already know about.

Yeah, Hillary and the MSM

November 12, 2007 - 10:44 ET by drillanwr

Yeah, the MSM will help Hillary just kick the dust of this from her Hsu's ... Heh!

Say, isn't that the girl that plays the wife in "King Of Queens" winking in the picture?

-

November 12, 2007 - 11:05 ET by dahliatravers

she's flashing someone a conspiratorial wink and smile

No, no. She just had an eye twitch. Jeez, everyone is so paranoid ...

All in the family

November 12, 2007 - 11:43 ET by acumen

A wink and a nod?

Sounds more like a female rooter of husband Bill.

VRWC!

November 12, 2007 - 11:43 ET by RedGuyBlueState

It's all part of the Vast Left, er, Right Wing Conspiracy!

"This business will get out of control. It will get out of control and we'll be lucky to live through it."

-- Fred Thompson as Admiral Josh Painter (The Hunt for Red October)

Do you believe in "Signs"?

November 12, 2007 - 11:53 ET by drillanwr

Can't make this stuff up:

Falling Flags

After a very Presidential-esque news conference - Clinton turned around to leave the reporters and their peppering questions. A staffer swooped open a curtain, and chaos ensued. Four large American flags came crashing in front of Senator Clinton as she headed for the door. In a controlled panic, the staffers and the Senator attempted to catch the flags before they fell to the ground.

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2007/11/falling-flags.html

Apparently ABC has yanked the video ... But Drudge has a still shot of it on the top of the page.