From The Road
April 14, 2008 7:36 PM

Chatty Crowd Forces Clinton to Cut Speech Short

By
Fernando Suarez
Topics
Hillary Clinton
(CBS)
From CBS News' Fernando Suarez:

PHILADELPHIA -- Hillary Clinton was forced to cut her normal stump speech short when a chatty and meddlesome crowd kept her from grasping their attention. Clinton, who was addressing the Philadelphia County Democratic Party's Jefferson-Jackson Dinner, spoke for just over five minutes, despite having the press arrive almost two hours beforehand.

The crowd never settled down during her remarks. A spokesman for Clinton denied that she cut the speech short, and told reporters that Clinton was advised by her Pennsylvania team to deliver "a short speech" given the set up of the event.

In previous party dinners, most recently in Butte, Mt., Clinton spoke for almost an hour to a crowd that seemed to be paying attention. The aide said this was a "different type" of J-J Dinner, primarily because people were not seated at tables, and were "milling around" the banquet hall.

Whether or not Clinton's reception at the dinner had anything to do with her recent attacks on Barack Obama remains unclear. Clinton has never delivered a formal speech in such a short amount of time. The most recent abbreviated speech was back on February 15 when Clinton spoke to a crowd at a Lockheed Martin plant in Akron, Ohio. The speech lasted for just 12 minutes, with the first applause line coming 11 minutes into the speech.

Add a Comment See all 187 Comments
by klampert11 April 17, 2008 9:54 PM EDT
SUPPORT HILLARY?! Madam, it has long been time to take off the foggy brainwashed BS specticals if you want a United States to hand down to your children. Support Hillary? Why not BinLaden?
Reply to this comment
by jbrodie1111 April 16, 2008 8:09 PM EDT
Obama an embarrassment. Compared to Chris Rock. OK, so a white guy saying the things he said is hailed as a patriot. But a Black saying anything that takes America to task for its treatment of the certain folks, not all of whom are Black, is a problem. Got problems with Rev. Wright? Go read martin Luther King, who was set to deliver a sermon entitled %u201CAmerica is going to Hell%u201D when he was murdered. Michelle being %u201Cproud?%u201D Ditto for me. I watched my father called the N-word while in military uniform. Elitist? Is that another way to say %u201Cuppity?%u201D I have been trying to avoid this, but this election may carry more weight than the anti-apartheid election in South Africa. As a Black voter I am watching how this candidate is treated. I want to see if my country, which has not always made me proud despite all the sacrifices I and my family have made on its behalf, will judge this man on the issues and not some other notion of how he should act. The world is wondering about us. And those angry at us for coming out in numbers for Obama, consider: last fall Clinton held a 2-to-1 LEAD among Blacks. Were we blind followers then? Were we blind followers when we supported Bill Clinton? This campaign has opened my eyes to how deep-seated racial hatred runs in my country. I didn%u2019t want to believe. I wanted to sing out about how I had overcome. I%u2019m still waiting for the Civil War to end.
Reply to this comment
by ladyhawkke-2009 April 16, 2008 6:14 PM EDT
Obama is an embarassment to the U.S. He stands for nothing and comes off as talking down to you. He has now become a stand-up comedian like Chris Rock with his toak about Annie Oakley and six shooters. This is a man who is running for President and sounds like he''s back in the hood. I could never vote for this unqualified empty suit. If Hillary is not the nominee, I will vote for McCain as I don''t want Obama picking up the phone at 3am.
Reply to this comment
by robinc55 April 16, 2008 6:03 PM EDT
People does it make you wonder why they are tearing Obama down like they are? People are afraid that he will make change. The people who have been in Washington for so long. The media is afraid of him. We should not be afraid of him. They say it was bad he didn''t disown his pastor Rev.Wright. Doesn''t it tell us in the bible that people will look down on and frown on people who do his works? I think he did the right thing not disowning him. I would have looked down on him if he did. Clinton II and McSame are afraid of him because they just can''t seem to figure out why people like him. You have to admit if you watch this daily like I do, they are so foolish to think anyone is naive to belive them. Hillary must have to have a neck and arm massage every night. Ever notice her head is always bobbing and she is always pointing the finger at people more like a jab, if she was standing close enough would be a jab to the chest. Don''t you people see this as a little demeaning????? She could only speak for 5 minutes because she is wearing her welcome out and her rotten lying stories she is telling all over the USA. Let''s start asking names of people when she says she talked to them. How could you believe her. Sniper fire?? Does anyone really believe that the USA would land the first lady and her daughter in the middle of sniper fire??? Hello people wake up!!!!
Reply to this comment
by nanging3 April 16, 2008 5:12 PM EDT
YOU DON''''T WANT YOUR GUNS DO YOU ?

OBAMA is standing in front of the camera himself for 52 seconds explaining how he will disarm the USA.

What we are talking about here IS NOT about politics and the differing
views concerning issues.....this is about the potential literal destruction of
this country by our enemies and our inability to defend ourselves against those
attacks.

This is a very short (52 seconds) video by Barak Obama in his own words
about how he plans to destroy our defense capabilities if elected.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dl32Y7wDV
Ds
Reply to this comment
by alicerea1 April 16, 2008 4:32 PM EDT
Wake up America!
Obama is spending four times more than Hillary to try and win this race. It''s rediculous.
He has too many negatives attached to him:
Pastor Wright
No heath care for 15 million Americans
No international or senate experience
His ties with criminal Rezko
His making of Pennsylvania to appear stupid and clinging on guns and religion

Please support Hillary.
She is the only one that will be able to save Democrats.

Stop listening to the media, use common sense. Senator Clinton is not a Republican. She is being gentle with Obama.

He''ll never be able to withstand the attacks from the Republicans.

Support Hillary. Stop voting like this is American Idol.

It''s sad. McCain will win.
Reply to this comment
by alicerea1 April 16, 2008 4:27 PM EDT
Senator Obam is a true embarrassment to many older Americans. He has not distanced himself from a pastor that has had hateful remarks for our former first lady, the white community and America. This man is still on our minds regardless of the media stopping their coverage.

Secondly, many older Americans see his true colors about the rest of America. He really shouldn''t be acting like an elitist. But it is not an elitist attitude, it''s a cocky attitude.
He is embarrassing.
Thanks
Reply to this comment
by pepperwood2 April 16, 2008 11:12 AM EDT
Philadelphia County Democratic Party''''s Jefferson-Jackson Dinner, spoke for just over five minutes, despite having the press arrive almost TWO HOURS beforehand.

You mean with 35 years of experience she couldn''t get it together. Speaking in front of the Common Folk here in Penna by herself no less. Where was Nutter & Rendell? I bet I know fleesing the Local Unions out of more contributions & scheduling more Fund Raisers for her.

It appears from other posts that the Clintons are getting their Moneys Worth from Bill''s Perts. Call it the CLINTON AMERICAN SCHEME! While the rest of us are busy working the AMERICAN DREAM..

Its little wonder that the Clintons go around saying that WE''RE HERE to SERVE THEM. How out of touch can you get.

It was probably a real ordeal for the staff to get Hillary up from her stupor & around. Maybe she didn''''t remember to take her medicine. With the debate coming up Maybe her staff has to give her shots & other additional stimulants to snap out of it. As usual we''ll get the REST of the Story after its too late. The signs & signals are there.

I''m in it to win it. Wheeeee this is fun - I''m just warming up. Show me the money! It''s all about ME!
SO SAD!
Reply to this comment
by elioliver April 16, 2008 8:33 AM EDT
Refering to the previous coment about obama:

Obama has been accused of been racist, muslim, terrorist, elitist, out of touch, is called osama many times, and any comment he makes becomes dispproportionally scrutinized compared with others making extremely similar comments as President Clinton did about white people and small america when he was running for president! No one said anything about it!!! Why should I believ if there is something really dirty about Obama, this would not have been totally explored??? It doesn''t make any sense to believe he is this conspirator the previous caller tried to make. People do that to Obama because we have been so well trained to be fearful of anyone who doesn''t look like us, that we have to find something wrong with Obama. Are we being fair, where simply struggling with our own fears!!!
Reply to this comment
by typodi April 16, 2008 7:12 AM EDT
Here''s an FYI. From Politico.com

The Clintons have made a $100-million fortune since leaving the White House, but a Politico analysis found that hasn%u2019t kept Bill Clinton from taking full advantage of the publicly funded perks offered to ex-presidents.

In fact, his presidential retirement benefits cost taxpayers almost as much as those of the other two living ex-presidents combined.

The price tag for Clinton%u2019s federal retirement allowance from 2001 through the end of this year will run $8 million, compared to $5.5 million for George H. W. Bush%u2019s and $4 million for Jimmy Carter%u2019s during the same period.

Since 2001, Clinton has received more of almost every benefit available to former presidents - from his pension to his staff%u2019s salaries and benefits to supplies. His $420,000 phone bill and $3.2 million office rent tab both nearly surpassed the totals rung up for those purposes by Bush, Carter and the late former presidents Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan combined. As a group, they spent $484,000 on telephone service and $3.8 million on rent in the same span.

The figures come from congressional reports studying the presidential retirement program and from summaries of annual budget requests by the U.S. General Services Administration, which administers the program, created to allow former presidents to enjoy dignified retirements without having to take jobs that demean or commercialize the presidency.

Reply to this comment
See all 187 Comments
.

Follow From The Road

Scroll Left
Scroll Right More »
CBS News on Facebook
  • Building You a Better Morning

  • CBS This Morning

    "CBS This Morning," anchored by Charlie Rose, Gayle King and Erica Hill, airs weekdays from 7 to 9 a.m. ET and at the same time in other time zones.
    Learn more...