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By Erik Wemple
The Washington Post
We've been here before: Hillary Rodham Clinton lands in a major U.S. city for a speech. Her team bars reporters from the speech. Local media document the stiff-arm from Clinton Inc.
It happened in Miami. It happened in Atlanta. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution had to scramble to piece together her recent address in that city after a similar media blackout. The paper conceded that reports from the session were "hearsay," a characterization that doubtless pleased Team Clinton.
Clinton is known to adore challenges: She took on the country's health-care crisis. She took on the Senate. She took on Barack Obama. She took on the frayed foreign relations of the United States.
Now she is taking on the laws of informational gravity.
Exactly what is behind these blackouts is a bit tough to pin down. After the media clampdown in Miami, a conference official told the Erik Wemple Blog that the rules came at the behest of the agency representing Clinton as a speaker. That makes sense, since agencies don't want audiences to know if a client is recycling the same speech in city after city.
Of course, it's hard to tell if that is what's going on, given that the media aren't getting any information.
This scorn for openness is just fine for a Beltway "former" — someone with no plans to serve in elective office. Before she left the State Department this year, Clinton expressed longing for a break from the rigors of public office, but this is ridiculous.