What Happens When Press Secretaries Are Away

(Via MSNBC First Read.)

By the way, just asking: If Bill had a traveling press person with him yesterday — he didn’t, in case you’re wondering — would the former president have made the mistake TWICE? Seriously, why was Bill Clinton traveling without a campaign press chaperone yesterday? In the words of Ted Knight in “Caddyshack”: “Bil-ly, Billy, BillyBillyBilly, Billy, BillyBillyBilly, Billy.” Seriously, what was the former president thinking when he decided to bring up the Bosnia story and then do so with the incorrect facts? Watching Bill on the trail makes folks wonder whether he could have held up to scrutiny in 1992 had YouTube and instant fact-checking existed back then. No one has seemed less prepared for the intense scrutiny of this campaign than Bill. He seems to forget that even when he’s in rural Indiana, he’s on the national stage. In ‘96, the Clinton campaign thought their local market strategy was innovative (it was), since it allowed him to talk to key media markets outside of the interference of the national press. Now, the national press is everywhere since local can become national in an instant. Today’s Bill Clinton gaffe is going to revive this question: Has Bill Clinton helped HRC’s bid more than he’s hurt it? She may not have gotten this far without him, but is he preventing her from getting to the finish line?

Tags: billclinton, bosnia