At the same time the media criticized Bush’s answer Clinton was praised for his emotive response. Commentators noted that Clinton had convinced the audience that he could feel the pain. Yet although Arkansas is a small state, it defies credibility to believe that Clinton knew the names of all the individuals who lost their jobs or who had lost their jobs or who had lost their businesses to bankruptcy. Clinton’s response was a flagrant appeal to emotion, but he was rewarded by a medium that privileges such warm pleas over cold facts.