How does Mrs. Clinton get away with announcing her candidacy on her website? Is she so very sure that the MSM will do such a good job for her that she no longer feels the need to even show up?
Yes. And she is probably right.
Mrs. C. or Mrs. R-C won't do anything that isn't scripted, tested against a focus group, and memorized.
Otherwise, we would get this: "Well, uh, you know, that uh hmmm I you know hmmm uh have uh decided uhmmm you know uh to announce uh you know hummm my uh candidacy uh ummm for you know uh the presidency uh you know hmmmm of uh the uh United States."
TomGuy probably already knows this but I'll repeat it for this morning. Newsbusters nailed Hillary and her announcement. The tape was either set in a staged backdrop or there are flowers blooming in NY right now. The window behind her clearly shows flowers so there is a question as to when she did the spot. And then, secondly, there was no mention of her Iraqi trip, which surely would have been mentioned had this tape been current.
http://newsbusters.org/node/10266 is the link but there is a FR link too.
It's MS Rodham. And don't let her forget it.
During the week before, Dick Morris made a comment on a talk show that Hillary would have a problem running an old campaign - just like the Bill Clinton campaign from 1992. That had led to problems in the past, like Ted Kennedy's campaign from 1980 having John Kennedy advisers trying to run a 1960 campaign in 1980.
So posting the announcement on her website could have been in response to that comment by Dick Morris. The announcement itself may have been the best rehearsal so far, which would explain the out of season foliage.