It wasn't like A-list celebrities or pro ballers were being hounded by the paparazzi at Saturday's Independence Day parade in Gorham, N.H. It was just Hillary Clinton and the workaday press corps that regularly follows her around.
So many people trying to get close to Hillary her aides are using a rope to keep press at distance pic.twitter.com/PkIl0Pez98
— Philip Rucker (@PhilipRucker) July 4, 2015
Our colleague Philip Rucker reports that initially the press had been able to get close to Clinton and observe and listen as she chatted up voters. Then he said campaign aides unfurled a rope that stretched across the street, blocking access to the candidate. Rucker said they were kept 10 to 15 feet away from Clinton and could no longer hear what she was saying to people.
But the press could clearly hear what some people were saying to her. A group of protesters followed her along the route shouting such sentiments as "What about Benghazi?" and "Show us your e-mails!"
Spectacle of Clinton as candidate - press being pulled along with a rope, Benghazi protester screams "carpetbagger" pic.twitter.com/1aeopWiLjv
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) July 4, 2015
The conservative news site Twitchy was clearly enjoying the spectacle.
Press lapdogs herded like sheep: Hillary Clinton aides corral journalists with rope lines [photos] http://t.co/8dhFBYhIY8
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) July 4, 2015
The New Hampshire Republican Party denounced "the use of a rope line to protect the arrogant Democrat frontrunner on a public street."
“Hillary Clinton continues to demonstrate her obvious contempt and disdain for the Granite State’s style of grassroots campaigning," Jennifer Horn, chairman of the state GOP, said in a statement. "The use of a rope line at a New Hampshire parade is a sad joke and insults the traditions of our First-in-the-Nation primary."
Clinton herself was quite pleased with the event:
Hillary Clinton to @PhilipRucker on how she enjoyed the parade: "It was fabulous!" pic.twitter.com/Zjq0nwKDXk
— Liz Kreutz (@ABCLiz) July 4, 2015