Newsweek’s Alter Blasts Clintons Campaign; Pinpoints the Downfall of CBS News

February 21st, 2008 10:51 AM

Hillary Clinton's campaign hasn't failed to disappoint some in the media.

Just a week and a half after MSNBC's David Shuster made the remark, "it seem like Chelsea's [Clinton] sort of being pimped out in some weird sort of way," MSNBC contributor and Newsweek Senior Editor Jonathan Alter had some harsh criticism of her campaign. On the heels of Clinton's losses in Wisconsin, Washington State and Hawaii on February 19 to Barack Obama, Alter said her campaign had been terribly managed when asked.

Video courtesy of "The Q&A Cafe with Carol Joynt"

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"Terribly," Alter said. "I'd say it's one of the worst run campaigns in modern political history, and she is one of the better candidates. That's the irony - that she turned out to be a pretty darn good candidate."

Alter told the audience gathered at Nathan's in the heart of the Georgetown neighborhood in Washington, D.C. on February 20 for "The Q&A Café," hosted by Carol Joynt. The show appears locally in Washington on Saturday at 6 p.m. and Sunday at 11 p.m. on NewsChannel 8.

Alter thought many of the people running Clinton's campaign took her nomination for granted. Obama's campaign, he said, had more people on the ground.

He predicted Obama to win, but said not to count Clinton out completely. He did admit to saying earlier in the day on the Ed Shultz radio show that Hillary Clinton "could go out classy or could go out ugly."

Alter also noted how media options have changed and said there's no real excuse for not uninformed.

"[S]o now if you're not getting what you feel like you need to be an informed citizen - I don't mean to be harsh about it, but it's your own fault, because the information is there. You can read the Guardian if you feel the American press is no good. You can read, you know, a take from the British press. Or you can sample from the local press. You can time shift if you happen to miss it."