The Clinton Playbook – “Change the story, polish, minimize, and spin”

Hillary Clinton is sick. Let’s not beat around the bush about it. There have been rumors of her illness for some time, especially since she hit her head and had a concussion in 2012. What happened to her on 9/11/2016 was not a case of simple dehydration or pneumonia as her and her campaign have stated.

Watch the video of her. She is fine, hugging, kissing, and schmoozing people. Then there are photos of her with her doctor or nurse, squeezing fingers and the next thing we see is Clinton standing at the street, waiting for her ride, which is against all Secret Service protocol as it leaves Clinton as a ‘sitting duck’ on the side of the street. All the while, nobody is panicking. This is obviously something that Hillary’s entourage is accustomed to. Even Bill Clinton let it slip to Charlie Rose that this has happened many times. He then back-tracked and CBS edited the interview to take that part out. It is apparent that whatever is wrong with Hillary Clinton is not what we are being told.

Surprise Surprise! This is the Clintons that we’re talking about!

Hillary appeared a couple of hours later, coming out of Chelsea’s apartment, and looked so much better. Pneumonia, really? Pneumonia isn’t something that leaves you fine one moment, on death’s door the next, and then an hour or two later you’re fine.

No, pneumonia is a killer. Those afflicted with cancer and AIDS often die from pneumonia. The elderly take pneumonia shots because pneumonia kills so often.

Pneumonia caused by bacteria or virus is contagious. Here Clinton was out hugging and kissing folks. Was she told that her pneumonia was non-contagious or did she not care about spreading it about? The types of non-contagious pneumonia are from inhalants, fungus, and aspiration issues. Is this the type of pneumonia that she had? To be honest, I doubt she has pneumonia. She would have been in terrible shape to begin with if she had. I’m more apt to believe dehydration, but even then, it would be a stretch. It wasn’t that hot. Water is plentiful, and she wasn’t doing anything physically strenuous.

Why the lies? It’s because that’s what the Clintons do. I don’t know why that is. Some people rob banks. Others murder people. Some people just lie because that’s who they are; liars. That’s the Clintons for you.

Bill Clinton was the master at this. Hillary isn’t quite as good, but it isn’t for lack of trying. Below, I have posted a video from 1992. Here, Bill Clinton is facing criticism for his, “I didn’t inhale” comment. The two situations are slightly different, but in both cases, Bill and Hillary use the same tactics. First, they try and restructure the truth into a version that creates a new narrative. They polish this narrative up. It’s a narrative that allows them to minimize what they said. After that, they spin like a crocodile in a death roll.

First, Hillary;

Hillary comes out of Chelsea’s apartment two hours later looking refreshed and claims to the media that she feels fine. She even finds a kid to hug. This changes the narrative from, “Hillary is ill” to “Hillary is not ill”. But, at this point, it may not have been apparent to Hillary that video of the event was captured and then released to the public. At this point, the official story was, “She was dehydrated.” Her appearance on the street reflects this narrative.

Then, as it became apparent that video of the situation was leaked, it then became, “She was diagnosed with pneumonia on Friday.” She sure didn’t act like a woman who had pneumonia, but, this allowed Hillary to again change the narrative and make herself look like a warrior, someone who just works and works and works, even when sick with potentially fatal pneumonia! That’s the polish folks. Even Christiane Amanpour used apologetics to explain how great Hillary was when compared to other past American leaders, and then Amanpour retorted, “Can’t a girl have a sick day?” How effective. It makes Clinton look like a victim and in today’s society, we’re all supposed to feel sorry for the victims. Everyone wants to be a victim these days it seems…..

Then, later in the evening, knowing that damage control must be done, she goes on Anderson Cooper and furthers her story stating that as soon as the van doors shut and she got some water, she was perfectly fine. Really? Then why not come back out and greet people some more? Why cancel your trip to California? But, this is part of the minimization tactic on this Clinton play. She even used her husband’s famous phrase, “I didn’t think it was a big deal.” Really? Boy, a female John Wayne we have on our hands here!

Finally, she spins it. She goes into stating that Trump needs to release his health information and that he hasn’t done this or he hasn’t done that. Guess what? It wasn’t Trump who collapsed and then told lies about it! Not once has Trump shown any ill health. But, this is the spin to redirect attention. It’s almost a psychological tactic if you ask me. Don’t look in this hand, look in this other one….

Compare this to her husband’s appearance on Arsenio Hall in 1992. First, Bill tells the story differently than it actually happened. This allows him to put some personal Clinton shine on it and it makes the story capable of handling the bullshit that he’s about to make the story carry.

He then minimized it by using very similar words that Hillary just used the other night, “I didn’t think it was a big deal,” from her to his, “..it is not a big deal.” Then they both spun. First, Hillary spun it into re-directing attention to Trump and claiming that he needed to be scrutinized too. Bill spun and started talking about sending kids to college.

In short, they change the story. They polish it. Then they minimize their part in it, and then they spin. On the video, you'll have to fast forward to the 23:55 mark. Here’s the video below and below that, is the transcript from the pertinent section:

 

Here is a link to the actual time where the transcript below comes from: https://youtu.be/ckHfgqK_hcU?t=23m55s

“Here’s the deal, when a politician says something, if you’re a politician, the cynicism about politicians is so great that people thought, “Well, this guy calculated this whole answer, and he calculated it so that he thought, ‘Well, maybe he won’t burn me quite as bad if I say I didn’t inhale?’.” That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard of.

They asked me a question that I didn’t know they were going to ask and I gave an honest answer. And that, “I didn’t inhale.” was a nervous after-thought. I was sort of laughing about it after 22 years. I mean, that’s all that was going on and I was sort of laughing in my mind about it, but I got beat-up about it, ‘cause everybody thought that I calculated this answer.

You know, maybe I should…maybe I should be more calculating than I am? But, you know, if, you folks are never going to get good politicians, uh, really good public officials, if all you want is somebody that calculates every word they say, every deed they do; and their whole life becomes like a robot, or an automaton, you know. I did something when I was younger. I told the truth about it and I made a mess of telling about it because, I guess, I’m still kind of embarrassed about it after all these years.

But it is not a big deal, and it sure…and it was made into a federal case. I got more publicity on that … than my idea about how to send every kid in America to college, who wants to go, which I think is more important to the election and to the future of this country.”

(Applause)

(Smug smirk) (Drink of water)

The system has failed.

This piece is about the recent police shootings in Dallas. This piece will infuriate those who are used to reacting emotionally to things like this instead of using their brain and thinking. I ask that you read this entire piece, then think about what you’ve read. I do not condone what happened in Dallas. You have been warned.

I am a huge proponent of the second amendment. When you ask most ardent gun owners about the purpose of the second amendment, almost every one of them will tell you that our forefathers wanted guns in the hands of the people as a hedge against a tyrannical government. When we look at what happened in Dallas, isn’t that what the shooters are saying was their motivation? To them, the government has gone tyrannical and they are using their guns to fight back.

Black people see a system that has failed them. When police are brought up on charges, many times they are exonerated. In the case of Freddie Gray, the police officers have chosen a bench trial over trial by jury. You know why that is, don’t you? They don’t want their fate to be in the hands of everyday people. They want their fate to be in the hands of someone that they see as being sympathetic to them, the judge. Judges work with these policemen daily and there is a certain chumminess that exists between the two. Police are supposed to represent the administrative branch of our government while the courts represent the judicial branch, but it’s hard to tell that they are two separate branches by the way they work so harmoniously. When black people see police repeatedly “get away” with murder, they no longer have faith in the government.

A white governor in Minnesota has even said that the man shot dead recently in Minnesota probably died because he was black. He said that if that couple had been white, the outcome would have been much different. The black community hears this, but instead of justice, they see a policeman who was comforted by his fellow officers while the victim’s welfare seemed an after-thought. These policemen generally get put on paid administrative leave, only to be returned to work after they get what appears to the black community to be a pass.

We are told that the reason we give such latitude to police officers is because if we held them to the same standards that we hold normal citizens, our police force would not be as effective. We are told that we cannot have police officers constantly second guessing themselves. Tell that to those who have been murdered by police. Who is there to advocate for these victims? We see big fancy funerals for slain officers. Not so much for the citizens who lose their lives to the hands of police officers, no matter how innocent they may have been.

It’s not just black people being killed by errant police. Police routinely raid homes and kill innocent people inside. Police use no knock warrants, sometimes on the wrong homes, and the inhabitants of these homes, not knowing that it’s the police, try defending themselves. They get murdered by the police and the families have to fight in court for any monetary award for their loss, and many times, the police refuse to admit any wrong-doing, so they continue to kill people in this manner. Google the name Jose Guerena as just one example of this happening. In his case, the police officers claimed they were being shot at when the evidence clearly pointed to the contrary. The outcome is maddening because the family had to fight for any monetary award, but in the end, no amount of money can replace this family’s husband and father.

I would be remiss if I didn’t bring up the recent situation with Hillary Clinton. She did things that would put most people in jail. The FBI director admitted as much, but he also said that no prosecutor would pursue the charges against her. What he doesn’t tell you is why that is. There is a double standard in this country and he knows it. Most Americans know it, and the black community knows it.

This brings me to the tragedy that happened in Dallas. The shooter who was blown up told negotiators that he was mad at Black Lives Matter, he was mad at police, and he was mad at white people. He obviously felt that he had no recourse through a failed justice system which historically has let those in power off while trivializing the losses that the American people have suffered at the hands of police.

This isn’t to say that the police who died deserved to die. They didn’t. However, they are the face of the broken system to many who feel like they are being hunted by a police force that is rarely, if ever, held accountable. Those who have been harmed have seen the system fail to bring justice to those in power on so many occasions, so they have turned to their guns and have taken justice into their own hands.

If we want to defuse the situation, we need to admit that the system has failed. We need to start holding all those in public trust accountable for mistakes. Police are human beings. They freely choose their profession, knowing full well the dangers that come with it. They need to be held to a higher standard than the people they protect. The average citizen rarely has the training that a police officer has, or at least, should have. When the untrained citizen is held to a higher standard than the well trained police officer, we have a problem. Police should think about their actions. We see what happens when they aren’t held accountable. Public trust breaks down and we have incidents like we find ourselves in now. It’s not just the police, but every level of public service.

In summary, the system has failed and people are starting to take matters into their own hands. People are angry, and rightfully so. Killing police officers is unacceptable, but so is killing innocent people because of police mistakes. Until public confidence is restored in the justice system, we will continue to see this lashing out against those in power.

God bless those who have lost their lives on both sides of the aisle.