The close of 2018 may also signal a final curtain call for the Clintons.
Former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton launched a cross-country tour together to close out the year, but plummeting ticket prices and empty seats at events are raising questions about the draw of the former first couple.
The live events, billed as “An Evening with The Clintons,” were described by tour promoter Live Nation as an “intimate conversation” with the Democrat couple. And it seems the intimate setting may be more than a promotional gimmick as the New York Times’ Maureen Dowd noted in an op-ed titled, “Curtains for the Clintons.”
“I’m feeling sorry for the Clintons. In the 27 years I’ve covered Bill and Hillary, I’ve experienced a range of emotions. They’ve dazzled me and they’ve disgusted me,” Dowd wrote. “But now they’re mystifying me.”
At the Clintons’ appearance at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto last week, Dowd noted there were “large swaths of empty seats” for an event that she paid $177 for weeks in advance.
“It’s two-for-the-price-of-one in half the arena. The hockey rink is half curtained off, but even with that, organizers are scrambling at the last minute to cordon off more sections behind thick black curtains, they say due to a lack of sales,” Dowd wrote. “On the day of the event, some unsold tickets are slashed to single digits.”
As former first lady Michelle Obama basks in the glory of her sold-out book tour, the Clintons are struggling to even sell tickets, it seems.
The first stop in the Bill and Hillary Clinton speaking tour had more open seats than a Marlins game in August. One ticket was going for $6.55 in the final minutes before the event and did not sell… pic.twitter.com/8U40rYsQhe
— Paul Sacca (@Paul_Sacca) November 28, 2018
Top tickets for events in Texas were initially going from about $70 up to nearly $700 each on the 13-city tour.
But the couple’s scheduled stop at Smart Financial Centre at Sugar Land on Tuesday has seen a substantial drop in ticket prices. In fact, some tickets can be had for the price of a fast food drive-through meal, selling for an amazing $6 each.
A Houston Chronicle report back in October announced the event and noted ticket prices ranged from $69.50-$699. Some criticized the “classless” decision to go ahead with Tuesday’s Texas event despite the death of former President George H.W. Bush.
Bill and Hillary Clinton to speak Tuesday night in Sugar Land, TX.
A Houston suburb. George Bush’s hometown. During his funeral.
These two are so greedy and classless they didn’t cancel the event. https://t.co/AGu21y9nAf
— John Cardillo (@johncardillo) December 3, 2018
“I can’t fathom why the Clintons would make like aging rock stars and go on a tour of Canada and the U.S. at a moment when Democrats are hoping to break the stranglehold of their cloistered, superannuated leadership and exult in a mosaic of exciting new faces,” Dowd wrote in her New York Times op-ed.
“What is the point? It’s not inspirational. It’s not for charity. They’re not raising awareness about a cause, like Al Gore with global warming. They’re only raising awareness about the Clintons,” she added.
Dowd noted how there still seems a possibility of a Hillary Clinton presidential run in 2020, remarking on the twice failed Democratic candidate’s “lame joke” as she dodged a question about her plans.
“She carries herself with the air of a president in exile,” Dowd commented, adding how the couple are not seen favorably by many within their own party.
“Bill was radioactive in the midterms and Hillary was the Ghost of Christmas Past. Her approval rating is at a record low of 36 percent,” Dowd wrote.
The couple, she opined, are “traveling North America in a bubble, shockingly un-self-aware,” as they “refuse to be discarded” amid their “joint project for half a century to be at the center of the public scene and debate.”
The Clinton road show will continue in 2019 amid a real possibility that ticket sales and interest in the couple will continue to decline.
“Their pathological need to be relevant in America is belied by a Canadian arena, where stretches of empty seats bear witness to the passing of their relevance,” Dowd concluded in her reflection on the Toronto event.
Clinton fans slammed Dowd for her attack on the couple, but many others agreed the handwriting is on the wall.
What a mean girl column. Move on Maureen, give your attention to matters of current importance. You and Trump are fixated on Hillary.
— Linda Iovine (@LindaWinette) December 2, 2018
Unkind and unnecessary. This is a piece about YOU, not them.
— Julie Silver (@JulieAnnSilver) December 2, 2018
YOU are a total witch!!!!! You have always hated the Clintons. So go to hell. You can never be loved like Bill and Hillary.
— Kathy Luthy (@luthy_kathy) December 2, 2018
So Funny!!! Not even liberals want to hear them repeating the same lies over, and over. Both should be in jail! Bill is a serial rapist and HRC is behind Spygate and says she will run for 2020. Laughing ? https://t.co/DZoqBgtWkB
— Kristopher White (@RetiredDev) December 3, 2018
No thanks. No yesterday, today or tomorrow for that matter. Greedy little grifters. With no book sales, no foundation donations & no influence to sell one could only hope they’d go away quietly…but nope. Money & power are addictive. https://t.co/gDYaHREvxe
— Pub Master (@sadforjournos) December 3, 2018
Decades of corruption finally catches up with the couple.
Ticket sales for “An Evening with the Clintons” are not what they once might have been, according to all reports. With stops… https://t.co/PHwquvDul0— Rebecca Simon (@LOVINGUSA) December 2, 2018
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Originally from New York, Powers graduated from New York University and eventually made her way to sunny South Florida where she has been writing for the BizPacReview team since 2015.
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