Posted on 12/31/2007 9:29:51 AM PST by Cagey
VINTON, Iowa -- It's one thing for Hillary Clinton's campaign to turn down interview requests for the candidate's daughter, Chelsea. But can't a 9-year old reporter catch a break?
Sydney Rieckoff, a Cedar Rapids fourth grader and "kid reporter" for Scholastic News, has posed questions to seven Republican and Democratic presidential hopefuls as they've campaigned across Iowa this year. But when she approached the 27-year-old Chelsea after a campaign event Sunday, she got a different response.
"Do you think your dad would be a good 'first man' in the White House?" Rieckoff asked, but Chelsea brushed her question aside.
"I'm sorry, I don't talk to the press and that applies to you, unfortunately. Even though I think you're cute," Chelsea told the pint-sized journalist.
Such is the paradox of Chelsea as she campaigns across Iowa in the closing days before the state's caucuses Jan. 3.
Tall and attractive, Chelsea cuts an impressive figure on the campaign trail; she plunges enthusiastically into the crowd after her mother's speeches, shaking hands and posing for pictures while asking, "Are you going to caucus for my mom?"
But onstage, Chelsea never speaks; she stands next to her mother and applauds but utters not a single sentence and doesn't even say hello. And reporters covering the campaign have been put on notice that Chelsea is not available to speak to them. An aide follows the former first daughter as she works the crowd, shushing reporters who approach her and try to ask any questions.
Famously protective of their daughter's privacy, Bill and Hillary Clinton have taken pains to shield Chelsea from the harsh glare and rough edges of presidential politics. She stayed largely absent from her mother's campaign until December, when she made her first visit to Iowa.
For her part, Sydney looked a bit crestfallen after Chelsea turned her away. But luckily for Hillary Clinton, Sydney's mother has made up her mind to caucus for the former first lady.
"I like her position on family values and health care. And I think it's time we have a female president," Robyn Rieckoff said.
So then what is the point of her standing on the stage, right at the podium with Clinton if she's not going to be available for comments? I've heard of trophy wives, but trophy daughters??
I agree 100%. I think she's quite attractive, reserved, and polite. She wasn't mean to the child at all.
I considered that before posting this story and the reason I did post it is because she is out there campaigning for her mother now. Plus, she is not a "kid" anymore.
However, I agree that it is tasteless and classless to comment on her looks. It should be required that if one is to make fun of someone's looks they should be required to post their own photo here along with their derogatory comment.
She does have a problem with dopes.
Not her fault though, you can't pick your parents, can you?
If Chelsea is grown up enough to stand there as a prop, she’s fair game for the press. She’s a twenty-seven year old adult. The ploy that the Clinton’s are protecting their child is dead on arrival here.
Chelsea is just another brain dead liberal idiot, that can’t even handle a question from a nine year old. End of story.
The Clinton’s have used Chelsea for a decade or more when it suited them. The press gave them a wide girth. And I actually supported that when she was in college. She’s no longer a defenseless child.
Give up on that one Hill. It’s a looser ploy.
And she did that while campaigning for the Hildabeast.
Sad to be a campaign photo prop your entire life.
There are four dogs in the picture, one is hidden by a zipper, the others are visible...
True. So tell us what happened in her case.
Nothing wrong with posting an article and putting it up for debate. The candidates kids are just there for photo ops, I doubt the Bush kids give interview, either. Can’t blame them - the press are hyenas, and this story is a good example.
For eight years this kid got a pass from the MSM but not the Bush kids.
Happy New Year
At 5’9”, she is tall for a woman. As to the other assertion, the eye of the beholder sometimes needs glasses.
If someone is going to address her looks as dishonestly as this reporter did, then don’t be too shocked when people set the record straight.
You can’t infer tone from print. Now, Chelsea’s treatment of uniformed military personnel in the White House, that’s another manner.
Me thinks a large pork chop will do...
I think she should have gotten a pass as should have Bush’s daughters’.
If you slosh enough paint on an outhouse, you can make look like a mansion, but it’s still full of sh!t...
GOOD GRIEF! At what point do you people stop calling someone who has passed her majority a *kid*? Chelsea Clinton has allowed press coverage, stories about her when it's convenient for her, including her sex life -- which if I recall, Bill said was supposed to be something private. If she is going to put herself into the public eye, and that includes standing next to her mother, allowing herself to be used by her mother, then she makes herself fair game.
Haven’t read other people’s opinions, but if she doesn’t talk to the press (probably wise in her case) then I think she was gracious enough to the little girl.
“Tall and attractive...”
Huh? What kind of mushrooms has THIS guy been eating?
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