MSNBC's Culhane on NH hostage situation: "Does [Clinton] pick up the phone ... or does she let the police and the FBI handle it?"
During the November 30 edition of MSNBC Live, correspondent Patty Culhane discussed a hostage situation at the Rochester, New Hampshire, campaign office of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) in which the hostage-taker reportedly demanded to talk to Clinton. Culhane speculated on the "interesting political dilemma for Senator Clinton":
CULHANE: And that's going to be an interesting political dilemma for Senator Clinton. Because, as you know, the policy of this country is that they do not negotiate with terrorists. And so the question is going to be, does she pick up the phone, does she engage in dialogue with this person, or does she let the police and the FBI handle it?
Obviously, just speaking with someone doesn't necessarily mean that they're negotiating, but if this person wants to speak directly to Senator Clinton, that puts her in a very tough political position that people will be judging her on. Does she pick up the phone, does she make that call to try and help her campaign staffers?
The Clinton campaign released a statement that said, "There is an ongoing situation in our Rochester, NH office. We are in close contact with state and local authorities and are acting at their direction. We will release additional details as appropriate." According to the November 30 edition of National Journal's Last Call!, the Clinton campaign statement was released at 2:50 p.m. ET, a few minutes after Culhane's comments.
From the 2 p.m. ET hour of MSNBC Live on November 30:
CONTESSA BREWER (anchor): Once again, we're following breaking news out of New Hampshire. A hostage situation there on Main Street in Rochester. An armed suspect, police say, barged into this very small campaign office on four people who worked there. He told everybody, "Get down on the ground. I have a bomb strapped to my chest." And they looked up, and they saw what looked like a bomb strapped to his chest with duct tape.
He did let one woman leave with her infant, and she ran out and told someone at a nearby business, "Hey, call 911. There's a hostage-taker inside my office."
Back to Patty Culhane now. What we're hearing, Patty, is that the hostage-taker wants to speak with Senator Clinton.
CULHANE: That's right, Contessa. And that's going to be an interesting political dilemma for Senator Clinton. Because, as you know, the policy of this country is that they do not negotiate with terrorists. And so the question is going to be, does she pick up the phone, does she engage in dialogue with this person, or does she let the police and the FBI handle it?
Obviously, just speaking with someone doesn't necessarily mean that they're negotiating, but if this person wants to speak directly to Senator Clinton, that puts her in a very tough political position that people will be judging her on. Does she pick up the phone, does she make that call to try and help her campaign staffers?
I can tell you, she was supposed to speak here at this DNC [Democratic National Committee] meeting in Washington. She has canceled her appearances. We are so far getting absolutely no comment from the campaign. We were there as they learned about it, and obviously their first response was concern for the people who are in that office.
They obviously know each other fairly well. It's been already a long campaign. And then, obviously, they all went in behind closed doors, shut the door, and stopped talking. They wouldn't answer basic questions about how many people normally work in that office, where Senator Clinton is right now. And as to whether or not she's going to pick up the phone and try to negotiate with this person, well, we haven't heard.
I can tell you that the news is being met with shock by most of these delegates. They announced that there was a hostage situation, and that Senator Clinton would not be speaking. We heard from Representative Dennis Kucinich [D-OH], who said that -- he said that his thoughts are with Senator Clinton. They stand in solidarity. Senator Joe Biden [D-DE] has taken the stage. So far I haven't heard him say anything, but we'll let you know what we find out from this end. Contessa.
BREWER: All right, Patty, thank you so much for the update, I appreciate it.
Hostage takers are "terrorists" ?
And what tough position ? What dilemma ??? They let the proper authorities handle the situation. What the h*ll was Culhane thinking ???
[Yeah, I'm late to the party on this and still catching up on the last two day's worth of MMFA items]
Atheist, keep in mind that at the time, we only knew that this crazy old man had a BOMB allegedly strapped on. So Culhane was right to mention the possibility of negotiating with "terrorists."
Another reporter (I think a male, also on MSNBC) reminded us viewers Friday that President Jimmy Carter DID pick up the phone and talk to a hostage taker from Ohio during his term.
So there is precedent, however remote, of a hostage taker getting his way with an elected official.
Therefore, I see no outrageous misinformation among the quoted material here. Culhane was doing her job, laying out the possible scenarios Senator Clinton could theoretically have to deal with.
The only thing I could think of that may be wrong with what Culhane said is that she called the hostage situation a possible "political dilemma" for Clinton.
It would more likely be a SECURITY dilemma if something went terribly wrong and people were killed/hurt. Even then it would be tough to draw political ramnifications for Hillary unless she makes the mistake (however unlikely) of interfering with or not taking proper advice from the authorities and talking with this individual.
But thankfully, the authorities did their job and that crazy old man caused no harm to anybody.
And thus, right-wingers (on the blogs) are sad they don't have another excuse to hate on Hillary (some of the RedState.org bloggers notwithstanding).
Pick up the phone?
I expect BatWomanHillary to grab Bill the Boy Wonder, dash to the Clinton cave, get into her Clintonmobile & get to NH and save the day.
Sounds perfectly reasonable to me.
Oh never mind...the crisis is over.
The end of the standoff is only the beginning of the crisis. ;-)
Any reporter that is so lame they would even suggest that "does she engage in dialogue with this person" much less ask the question on air, should be fired on the spot. Exceptionaly poor taste. Even if she was his brother or other relative, the hostage negotiators almost never allow any one but the trained negotiator to talk to the perp. This guy is confusing reality with TV and movies, and is not qualified to be employed by any news gathering organization.
The Right will figure this was a stunt to let HRC talk about healthcare.
"And so the question is going to be, does she pick up the phone, does she engage in dialogue with this person, or does she let the police and the FBI handle it?"
The other option for HRC is to read "My Pet Goat" until this whole thing blows over.
Damn "Either/or" fallacy!
Giuliani woulda made hay on this situation!
Notice how Culhane rigged her moronic take so that Hillary was screwed either way- if she calls, she's "not letting the police and FBI handle it." If she doesn't call, she's not trying to "help her campaign staffers."
Heads you win, Tales you lose. What else is new?
That's what conservatives deo with every situation and issue. Make into a no-win scenario (and if it isn't one already, pursue policies that make it one) and use that as an excuse to do nothing.
"Does Senator Clinton interfere with the work of hostage negotiators or does she abandon her campaign headquarters workers facing a bomb-carrying terrorist? We'll be back after these messages to tell you why she's wrong."