Where does CNN find these guests? On Tuesday's CNN Newsroom with Carol Costello, during a segment premised on surveys showing most Americans find Hillary Clinton untrustworthy, Emory University Professor Drew Westen appeared to give advice for how Clinton might combat such negative views toward her.
But, just when it seemed like Professor Westen -- author of The Political Brain -- was about to advise Clinton to turn over a new leaf and start being honest, the segment devolved into unintentional parody as his idea of "telling the truth" turned out to be flimsy excuse-making and blaming others for her "bogus" scandals.
After host Carol Costello recalled that Clinton is going on "what you might call a trust-building tour," Westen began his analysis:
If I were advising Hillary, which I'm not, but if I were, I would give her some, what sounds like very simple kind of stupid advice. Which is, whenever you're asked any question at all, even a question about trust, just tell the truth right from the start, straight from your heart.
Things then took a bizarre turn as he portrayed Clinton as "hurt" from being criticized when she was First Lady in the 1990s:
If she's asked, "What do you think about this trust issue?" you know, "Why don't Americans trust you?" I'd tell the truth. I'd say, you know, "As the First Lady in the 1990s, no First Lady had ever been treated that way before. Frankly, it hurt, and I've put up defenses and I've put up callouses, and it makes me, you know, when I get one of these attacks like this, you know, this bogus scandal about, you know, which email did I use?"
At this point, even the liberal Costello was having doubts as she injected with a tone of skepticism: "You think that's going to work?"
Then, in spite of findings that Clinton deliberately ignored warnings from her colleagues in the State Department and broke the rules by doing all her work on a private server, Westen portrayed the issue as an innocent mistake and prescribed more evasive excuse-making:
Well, you know, I think if voters were to see her answering directly to questions, like, you know, the email thing is a good example. Can I give you an example of that? If I'd been Hillary Clinton and I'd been answering that email issue for the first time, I would have said, look, can you see this credit card on television? (holds up two credit cards)
I would have said, all right, "This is my business card, this is my personal card. You know, it's kind of hard to tell the difference. And I don't think there's a small business owner in the United States who doesn't get it that you have to keep one email for your personal stuff, you have to keep one email for your business stuff, and occasionally you're going to screw up, but you're not going to screw up on the big things. And, you know, I screwed up, but I would never have screwed up on something big."
Below is a transcript of the relevant portion of the Tuesday, July 5, CNN Newsroom with Carol Costello:
10:30 a.m. ET
CAROL COSTELLO: On the subject of Hillary Clinton, she is due to speak to the National Education Association -- the NEA -- at any time now. After the speech, Secretary Clinton will embark on what you might call a trust-building tour. She'll start her journey with a powerful Democratic ally -- President Barack Obama. And the optics surrounding this will be powerful. Clinton will fly to North Carolina on Air Force One. She'll disembark with the President at her side, but it may not be enough. Some voters simply do not trust her. The latest Fox News poll shows more than half of registered voters do not believe Mrs. Clinton is honest and trustworthy.So, how to overcome those numbers? Let's bring in Drew Westen. He's the author of The Political Brain. He's a professor at Emory University. You're also a political psychologist. So, you know, voters have been aware of Hillary Clinton for 30 years. I think that probably most of them have already made up their mind about her. So how can she change perception at this point?
PROFESSOR DREW WESTEN, EMORY UNIVERSITY: Well, that's part of the problem, is that she's had this perception for a very long time. You know, if I were advising Hillary, which I'm not, but if I were, I would give her some, what sounds like very simple kind of stupid advice. Which is, whenever you're asked any question at all, even a question about trust, just tell the truth right from the start, straight from your heart.
I mean, so, you know, the example, if she's asked, "What do you think about this trust issue?" you know, "Why don't Americans trust you?" I'd tell the truth. I'd say, you know, "As the First Lady in the 1990s, no First Lady had ever been treated that way before. Frankly, it hurt, and I've put up defenses and I've put up callouses, and it makes me, you know, when I get one of these attacks like this, you know, this bogus scandal about, you know, which email did I use?"
COSTELLO: You think that's going to work?
WESTEN: Well, you know, I think if voters were to see her answering directly to questions, like, you know, the email thing is a good example. Can I give you an example of that? If I'd been Hillary Clinton and I'd been answering that email issue for the first time, I would have said, look, can you see this credit card on television? (holds up two credit cards)
I would have said, all right, "This is my business card, this is my personal card. You know, it's kind of hard to tell the difference. And I don't think there's a small business owner in the United States who doesn't get it that you have to keep one email for your personal stuff, you have to keep one email for your business stuff, and occasionally you're going to screw up, but you're not going to screw up on the big things. And, you know, I screwed up, but I would never have screwed up on something big."
COSTELLO: Okay, well, we'll see what she says today in North Carolina alongside President Obama. Drew Westen, thanks for joining us this morning.
