Over the weekend, Hillary Clinton took some flak for using a rope to separate herself from the press during a parade in New Hampshire and on Monday, the folks on Morning Joe mocked the campaign’s defense of the rope line.
Co-host Joe Scarborough and his panelists laughed as Jennifer Palmieri, Communications Director for Clinton’s 2016 campaign, attempted to explain “our theory on press access and the campaign” which tries “to allow as much access as possible.”
The segment began with Scarborough joking that Nicolle Wallace “wishes she had thought of this when working at the Bush White House” before he wondered if using a rope to block reporters while Mrs. Clinton was walking in a parade was the “future of presidential press reporting?”
Palmieri immediately spun the bad optics and insisted that the campaign tries “to allow as much access as possible” which lead the fits of laughter from Scarborough and his guests:
But my view is it can’t get in the way of her being able to campaign, right? So we have -- we're doing smaller events. That's really important to her. That’s like the foundation that she wants to get at the beginning of the campaign and talking with voters.
The Clinton official went one step further and argued that roping off the press was actually to benefit everyone at the event:
What we tried here was, you know, you could do a thing where you preset press along the way. And we said, let’s let them, let’s just have it be open. That's how we did in other parades and see what happens. And I think, I wasn't there but I saw some press reports that described it as chaotic. And so they put the rope up to so that the parade could continue and she could be able to talk to voters.
After Wallace asked if the campaign considered using a truck for reporters to ride in, Palmieri once again maintained that the rope line was the least restrictive means of giving the press access to Mrs. Clinton:
We don't have all of the vehicles that you might have in the campaign later. There was -- we could have had them preset along the way. That was another option, right? But that would be more restrictive.
Despite the bad optics surrounding Mrs. Clinton’s latest interaction with the press, much of the media have been quick to justify the use of the rope line. NBC’s Kelly O’Donnell argued that “Secretary Clinton’s been walking at a more aerobic pace in this parade and this rope has been used to try keep people moving to keep that pace. Part for security and part to keep her going.”
ABC’s Cecilia Vega even touted the Clinton campaign’s response to the blow back when she explained that they had a “really funny response out there, saying that, “While the GOP may want to spin a good yarn on this, let's not get tied up in knots.” They say the move actually allowed reporters to have a little bit more flexibility on that parade route rather than being locked down in one location.”
See relevant transcript below.
MSNBC’s Morning Joe
July 6, 2015
JOE SCARBOROUGH: Nicole is a great admirer of yours by the way. Can we show the rope line again? Nicolle wishes that she had thought of this when working at the Bush White House. Any comment on that?
JENNIFER PALMIERI: I thought we were going to see some video.
SCARBOROUGH: There is the video. What do you think? Is that the future of presidential press reporting?
WILLIE GEIST: What happened here?
PALMIERI: So I think that, you know, here's – it’s a good time to talk about our theory on press access and the campaign. So we try to allow as much access as possible. But my view is it can’t get in the way of her being able to campaign, right? So we have -- we're doing smaller events. That's really important to her.
That’s like the foundation that she wants to get at the beginning of the campaign and talking with voters.
So we have -- what we tried here was, you know, you could do a thing where you preset press along the way. And we said, let’s let them, let’s just have it be open. That's how we did in other parades and see what happens. And I think, I wasn't there but I saw some press reports that described it as chaotic. And so they put the rope up to so that the parade could continue and she could be able to talk to voters.
NICOLLE WALLACE: Did she think about putting them in the back of an open pickup truck? We used to do that sometimes and then they roll.
PALMIERI: Yeah, we don't have. We don't have all of the vehicles that you might have in the campaign later. There was -- we could have had them preset along the way. That was another option, right? But that would be more restrictive.
