Hillary Clinton debate gaffe thrills conservative ad-makers
Hillary Clinton unintentionally made the jobs of conservative ad-makers a little bit easier during the second Democratic debate on Saturday evening when she stumbled over a question about campus protests to wax nostalgic about her own college days. "I come from the '60s, a long time ago. There was a lot of activism on campus," Clinton said in reply to the moderator's question.
By indirectly playing up her age, Clinton, 68, played right into the hands of her critics. "I can guarantee that this will appear in some ad at some point," pollster Frank Luntz told The Washington Post. "Nobody, Republican or Democrat, wants to vote for a candidate from the 1960s when we're well into the 21st century."
It turns out the clip is already making the rounds. Marco Rubio, a relative pipsqueak at 44 years old, was one of the first to seize on the gaffe:
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And this Field of Dreams joke is just too easy:
If you own a TV and plan to be turning it on anytime between now and next November, you can probably bet this won't be your last time hearing Clinton's ill-fated joke.
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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.
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