'Iron My Shirt': Media Fooled By Radio Stunters at Hillary Stop

Photo of Warner Todd Huston.
By Warner Todd Huston | January 8, 2008 - 11:12 ET

Isn't the Internet wonderful? It wasn't long before folks in the conservative blogosphere uncovered the fact that the "Iron my Shirt" guys that disrupted yesterday's Hillary campaign stop in Salem, New Hampshire are radio geeks trying to create a radio stunt. Just about every major news outlet reported the stunt as a real political protest. Only one of them bothered to look into the thing to try and track down the real motivation of the disrupters.

The AP reported it straight and their report was typical of most other MSM outlets.

Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign stop was interrupted Monday when two men stood in the crowd and began screaming, "Iron my shirt!" during one of her final appearances before the New Hampshire primary.

Clinton, a former first lady running to become the nation's first female president, laughed at the seemingly sexist protest that suggested a woman's place is doing the laundry and not running the country.

"Ah, the remnants of sexism — alive and well," Clinton said to applause in a school auditorium.

More are like the Houston Chronicle who proclaims that "Clinton brushes off sexist taunts" as if she did something wonderful.

The New York Daily News actually did some old fashioned reporting and tracked down the two disrupter's names, though. On their news blog called Mouth of the Potomac, Michael McAuliff gives us the scoop.

We followed.to ask what the heck they were thinking.

Nick Gemelli, who is 21, and born at least a decade after “iron my shirts” was an anti-women’s rights slogan, didn’t have much of a rationale. “I just don’t think a woman should be President,” he said.

At least he got some attention. His friend -- a la Bart Simpson -- said his name was Hugh Jas, but The Mouth later learned that his real name is Adolfo Gonzalez Jr.

So far, the Daily News is the only one that I have seen go farther than just reporting the incident.

Then from the folks over at HotAir.com, we get some further sleuthing. After some speculating that it might have been a Hillary plant, the tipseters at HotAir tracked down the truth. It's a simple radio stunt.

It turns out the guys who the Daily News named work for Boston station WBCN 104.1 FM, and are members of the Toucher and Rich Show.

So much for real political protesting, eh? But it amuses me that few news outlets bothered to do the leg work to find all this out and went ahead to report this incident like it was legitimate. It did give the MSM a chance to show Hillary looking PC by claiming she was being confronted by examples of "sexism" run wild, though. So, maybe that is why they didn't want to look into it too hard. It would destroy the illusion of Hillary's "strength" and place the focus on a radio stunt.

And now we must chastise too many on the right who imagined right away that this was a Hillary plant. It appears it was not. But I suppose one can be excused for thinking so at first for all Hillary's own exposed past stunts! It has become so expected of her, she has lied so very often.

Comments Policy

All comments are owned by whoever posted them and are subject to our terms of use. They should not be assumed to represent the views of NewsBusters.

Viewing options

Select your preferred way to display the comments and click "Save settings" to activate your changes.

Way too Seriously

Some reporters and politicians take themselves way too seriously. 

Poor Billary

She is not feeling the love up in NH.

This kind of "blogging" flys

in the face of what our esteemed white house "reporter" Helen (of the ages) Thompson seems to think -

There are NO REPORTERS, only reactors.

There is no sense in being stupid, if you can't prove it! - my dad V

Sexism sells better

It's obvious. Hillary Matters is being swept aside, and she sees sexism under every bush.

WBCN 104.1 FM

Way to set the bar, guys!

If you're employed today, know that you work for a bigger pack of fools that you will ever be.

Not unusual for them

If I remember correctly, this is the same radio station that "punk'd" a rival station by putting up a billboard on Rt. 128 that was supposedly for an unemployed father. The guy worked the public sympathy into an on-air job at the rival where he finally spilled the beans.

They're not adverse to publicity stunts.

WBCN is for people who still live with their parents

How typical... There are two rival rock stations up here in Boston. They are WBCN and WAAF. The latter is for smart people. WBCN is for that guy that STILL lives with his parents, has 'WOW' and Opie and Anthony (RETARDS) bumper stickers all over there vehicle that mommy and daddy gave to them and keeps you up at night playing guitar hero, or some such instant gratification nonsense. Although, I completely agree that HilLIARy should NEVER be president, it has nothing to do with her being a woman. I couldn't care less.

The MSM just did what they usually do

Treat these mental adolescents as "useful fools" and go with the flow.

 

The day that "politician" became a career choice is the day we started losing the Republic. Let's get it back! Alan Keyes '08.

Having heard the Hillary

Having heard the Hillary Tear-Jerker a couple times since yesterday I have decided two things:

 

1) the woman who initially asked her the question prompting the "jag" was one of those Clinton plants

2) Hill's "answer" was scripted and rehearsed ... She actually spoke, as Glenn Beck pointed out in his last radio hour this a.m., in Bumper Sticker Speak.

Should she actually pull herself out of the crapper and get the dem nod to run for prez ... look for things like the "Some of us ..." statements to be reborn against the GOP candidate, and even printed on bumper stickers and T-shirts and lawn signs.

Hillary is finished ...

Stick a fork in her, she's done ...

lol this is awesome! The

lol this is awesome!

The Rocky Mountain Collegian: Illustrating Idiocy

Seriously people

Clinton's comeback was way too smooth for it to be spontaneous. I really think her people talked to those guys about setting it up.

Howard Dean Moment

Although it may or may not have been scripted I think it will go down as her "Howard Dean, Yeehaaaa" moment.

The Front Row

If it were solely a radio stunt, how did these guys get to be in the front row, next to the stage with Hillary and with the most stringent security detail of any candidate?

And if you watch the video she was not at all surprised by their presence and was fully prepared with a response.

If it looks like a duck, and walks like a duck - it's a duck

 

If it were solely a radio

If it were solely a radio stunt, how did these guys get to be in the front row...

Oh, you'd be surprised, I'm sure.

I think its too clever by half to think this one was a Hillary plant. The simpler explanation is that it was just two radio dorks who got lucky, in my opinion.

Past performance

The public is perfectly within its rights to judge this event based on the Clinton campaign's past performance

Its a fact the Clinton campaign uses plants and is heavily reliant upon scripts.

Since the MSM fails in its responsibility to report the news accurately the public should look at this event with a juandiced eye and come to their own conclusions how two radio station employees with large signs containing sexist messages got into the event, made it to the front row and Hillary responding like she was reading from a cue card.

Scary to think people actually are buying the Clinton story and even scarier watching the press yet again serviing as Hillary's propaganda arm.

 

Recently seen at an Obama

Recently seen at an Obama rally - two unknown women holding a sign that says:

"Put The Seat Down!"

Killing them with kindness isn't working.  Time to get scrappy with the Donkeys.

-

lol

At Ron Paul rally

Scene at Ron Paul rally - "Where is the mothership!  Where is the mothership!"

"Wash that dress! Wash that

"Wash that dress! Wash that dress! Wash that dress!"

}}---> Evoke

That comment should win a prize. 

I ♣ My Seal