At the beginning of the month we celebrated a rather odd anniversary. On June 1st it had been precisely 180 days since presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton had held a press conference and taken open questions from the media. If we were talking about anyone less secretive than the Clinton Empire this would be an unheard of event. Most of the unsuccessful candidates from each party were begging for some earned media and the chance to make a headline or two, while others (*cough*) sometimes made us wish they would just shut up rather than taking more questions. How much longer could Clinton maintain the fortress of silence?

This week we finally learned the answer to that question when Hillary Clinton held her first press conference of the year. The questions were something to behold, as you’ve doubtless heard by now. None of the reporters literally asked her if it was difficult to be so wonderful and awesome, but the tone wasn’t far off. That was the subject on CNN the next day when Jake Tapper hosted a panel, including Hot Air alumnus Mary Katharine Ham. The obsequious nature of the questions was brought up by Trump supporter Kayleigh McEnany and Tapper was forced ask the group if the media wouldn’t have a bit more credibility if they stopped kissing the ring quite so much. (NewsBusters)

Tapper then asked fellow CNN correspondent Mary Katharine Ham a question in Kayleigh’s defense: “Would the argument of reporters … not be stronger if those ridiculously sycophantic questions that were asked of Hillary Clinton yesterday about ‘I get so teary when I think about a woman nominee,’ and ‘Congratulations.’”

“Would our case not be stronger,” he continued, “if Trump was asked the same kind of questions?”

Earlier this week, Feldman reported that Clinton spokesman Brian Fallon denied that the Democratic candidate “has avoided engaging with the press and holding press conferences for a while now.”

Here’s the video, published by Mediaite, which is worth more than a thousand words.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DpsnWmwrKg

Here are some of the tough questions which Hillary took:

“I get tearful when I see you becoming the first female president.”

“How do you feel about winning Puerto Rico?”

“Secretary Clinton, is it setting in that you might be making some serious history here tomorrow?”

“People just come up to you and they get tears in their eyes. Do you feel the weight of what this means for people?”

These are your media watchdogs at work, folks. So here’s a tip of the hat to Jake Tapper for at least pointing out that the emperor forgot to wear this clothes before going to work.