On watching Hillary's "moment" vs. hearing the audio only, the "moment" is no big deal

The precise "moment" where the audio made it seem much more than it actually was in the video was merely the reaction of someone who is very exhausted and perhaps should have ended the three hour event an hour earlier. I'd blame her handlers more for having her go for the Q/A for so long and it seems like it was probably time to end the event earlier.

Video: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/video/2008/01/07/VI2008010700846.html

You want to leave them wanting more...not being there too long. I've seen political rallies over the years and the best ones are designed to not last too long and to leave the crowd abuzz with enthusiasm, not exhaustion.

What I disagree with her is what she was saying after the "moment". Granted, that's her talking points at this time.

I'm convinced she is going to lose badly in New Hampshire and hope she has time to reflect and get some rest before the campaign begins again full swing.

I'm trying to be civil on this issue and you have to poke by and pee on the tree. Give it a rest.

The media pounces on this BS. They LOVE it.

As if when, for example, Dean cried out, it somehow gave us an indication of how he would lead our country? Did that yell tell us anything about his health care plan? His education plan? His foreign policy?

No, of course not. His yell told us absolutely nothing about anything relevant.

A true "gaffe" to me is when a candidate screws up some facts and figures. Like mixing up Sunni and Shia for example.

But the mainstream media definition seems to be anything that can make the political blooper real, the more irrelevant the better. They want the political equivalent of slipping on a banana peel.

That's why I largely avoid the mainstream media for election coverage and opt for something better: http://bravenewfilms.org/election

At the time, the Dean scream seemed like the worst thing Howard could have done at the time. But, if you look at the full speech now of that event and see the context as well as Trippi's suggestion to fire up the crowd, it was just Howard, exhausted and somewhat baffled, doing what he always did at rallies.

If you watch the video, it doesn't look like a big deal. If you just hear the audio, your mind makes it much more than it really is.

This is the same with the Hillary "moment". When I first heard it, I thought "wow, that sounds so calculated and she is playing the Crying Female Card". The audio tricked me. When I watched the video of the "moment", she is clearly very tired and should have ended the rally much earlier.

Speaking of how exhausting candidates get, I followed Kerry at nearly EVERY rally and event for the last few days before that Iowa caucus. The events started at dawn with a breakfast with dozens of people in one town, an event at 9AM in one town, another at 11:30AM in one town, another at 1:30PM in one town, another at 4:00PM in one town, another at 7PM in one town and another at 10PM in one town. Then you have meetings before going to bed.

You had to be the energized star of the show and make a rousing speech without gaffes and perhaps some Q/A and then do the rally line and sign autographs and pose for photos.

Multiply that for months at a time. You have a very exhausted person that can't stray off message, can't get "emotional", can't basically stop to take a breath and perhaps have handlers telling you different ways to go forward.

It's nuts.