The Made-for-TV Hostage Crisis

The big hostage crisis was covered live on the news networks all afternoon and ended peacefully just in time for Hillary Clinton to deliver a live statement for the evening news. What an extraordinary coincidence.

Today, we get to read news stories describing her as "the picture of calm in the face of crisis" and how her handling of this affair showed that she "can face disorder in a most orderly manner." Clearly, this incident served to promote her as presidential material. How lucky for her.

I don't know if this event was staged for political advantage, but it does bring to mind the Franklin D. Roosevelt quote: "In politics, nothing happens by accident. If it happened, you can bet it was planned that way."