It’s almost as if Hillary Clinton’s campaign team woke up one morning and said, “How can we live down to Jonah’s low expectations? How can we further confirm that we’re soulless ambitious ghouls, entirely focused upon poll numbers and public perceptions, and incapable of viewing issues through any other lens?”
Last week, Mrs. Clinton’s aides showed a video of that news conference to a New Hampshire focus group of independents and Democrats, according to a Democrat briefed on the focus group whose account was confirmed by a person in her campaign. Participants said they wanted to hear more from Mrs. Clinton about the issue.
The focus group also showed that the email issue was drowning out nearly everything else that Mrs. Clinton was hoping to communicate to voters — something Mrs. Clinton and her husband have complained about to friends.
So Hillary’s new quasi-apologetic tone was triggered . . . by a focus-group response.
The real power in American politics is in the hands of political consultants’ focus-group participants.
