On Thursday’s broadcast of CNN’s “AC 360,” CNN Senior Political Commentator and former Obama adviser David Axelrod argued that Democratic presidential nominee former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was “irritated,” and “thrown off her game” by questions about her email during NBC’s Commander-in-Chief Forum on Wednesday, while Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump was “bizarre” on substance.
Axelrod said Clinton “got hit with a number of questions right at the top about email, and then they went to the first questioner, who also asked about email, and I think in a half-hour show, she felt that too much was being placed on that one question, and she was irritated, and her irritation showed throughout as she was asked — answering the other questions. And I think it hurt her, and I think there’s a lesson in that for her as she prepares for these debates. You have to be able to shake those things off.”
He added, “I think it’s really, really important, because she was there to address this room of veterans, and when you start answering questions in an irritated tone, it’s as if you’re speaking to them in irritation, and that’s very counterproductive. I thought she got thrown off her game by the way that whole forum opened.”
Axelrod stated of Trump, “I thought tonally he was actually a little bit better. He was a little measured in the way he spoke, but, you know, on substance, he was bizarre…he didn’t get challenged in the way that he will in a debate. He benefited from the fact that it was kind of a truncated format, and he’s going to be more rigorous in his choice of words and his presentation, and he’s not going to get away with the top-line answer, because you’re going to have 15-minute segments in which issues are going to be discussed in greater depth than he’s had to discuss them before. So, he’s got a big challenge ahead of him.”
(h/t Washington Free Beacon)
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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