Hillary Clinton Refutes ‘Vicious Rumor’ About Her Bedroom Habits

On Friday morning, Hillary For America launched “With Her,” the official podcast of Democratic Presidential nominee and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton‘s campaign, and co-hosts Max Linsky and Jenna Weiss-Berman scored a big get for the first episode: an exclusive with the candidate herself. Linsky, who introduces himself as “not a journalist” but a small businessman who is a huge Hillary Clinton supporter, wasted no time in getting right down to the nitty-gritty, quizzing Secretary Clinton on a “vicious rumor” he’s heard:

The point of this particular episode, entitled “Hi, Hillary,” appears to have been to humanize the candidate, and while I understand that Linsky is not a journalist, and the questions are not supposed to be hard-hitting, that was literally the most interesting thing in the entire 16-minute podcast. Journalists will complain about the podcast as a softball exercise that contrasts with Hillary’s avoidance of open press conferences, but even as softball exercises go, this thing badly misses the mark.

For someone with a keen rooting interest in this presidential race, there could be tremendous value in a weekly podcast dedicated to the campaign and campaign insiders, and especially one with Hillary Clinton as the guest. Such an effort, if executed well, could stoke the enthusiasm of supporters, and even give them fodder to share with friends who might not be on board yet. There are a million interesting things that a Hillary super-fan could ask her in sixteen minutes.

Instead, Linsky spends his time honing his skills as a human Whispering Ambien Pill, sucking away whatever energy Hilary managed to bring to the proceedings, and if you can stay awake until about the fifteen minute mark, you can hear Linsky actually circle back to the subject of sleep again:

Honestly, I’m surprised Hillary didn’t need an alarm clock to wake her out of that interview.

No one is expecting an official campaign podcast to set the world on fire, but it shouldn’t drain everyone who hears it of their will to live.

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.