Don’t rely on extracting meaning or data from what the Clintons drip out in the alleged interests of transparency. They’ve had ages to redact, and you should constantly remind the media how concerned you are about what we’re not seeing. Even the most liberal reporters I know have a sense of drive and curiosity about what the Clinton’s are hiding, because they know it’s always something. If you’re a Member, candidate, organization or activist group, resist the urge to have your organization dump out a dozen Hillary fundraising emails a week, each increasingly lurid and dramatic, all chasing that $25 click from the little old lady on your Patriotic Patriots for Patriotism list.
This isn’t the kind of message battle the Republicans are accustomed to. There’s a reason we lost so many skirmishes with Bill and Hillary; we’d fight louder and they’d fight smarter. For almost 40 years, the Clintons have used a media handling pattern that relies on their opponents to fight the way they expect. They want you to jack the volume to 11, and go from zero-to-blue dress in your messaging and presentation. If Republicans are playing the Washington he-said, she-said talking head game, they’re losing. Far too often, we cooperate and play to the stereotypes they’re hoping for, and that the know the media will gleefully repeat, reinforce, and use as an excuse to turn the focus to “Republican overreach” and other favorite tropes. The Clintons are past masters of that game, and it’s a form that always devolves into the media narrative of “Good, Smart Democrat” versus “Evil, Dumb Republican.” Why would you fight a battle on their terms, their timing, and their conditions?
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