It has been 267 days since the Democrat Party presidential nominee, Hillary Clinton, held a news conference. This type of press stonewalling is unprecedented for a presidential candidate in modern American political history.

The American people have a right to know where presidential candidates stand on important issues and how they respond to various controversies. While her GOP opponent, Donald Trump, has held numerous and extensive news conferences in recent months, Hillary Clinton has employed a hide and go seek strategy with the press. Sadly, she has refused to engage the national news media in an open and honest manner and, in the process; shown tremendous disrespect for the American people.

The press should be outraged over such poor treatment, but they follow a different set of rules for Hillary Clinton. She is an exception as the first woman to be a major political party’s presidential nominee. She also merits special treatment because she is a liberal and a politician with the last name of Clinton, a hallowed name among so-called American journalists.

The old image of tough investigative reporters is a vestige of the past. The vast majority of today’s journalists are merely liberal cheerleaders trying to cause problems for conservative candidates and help the Democrat Party in every possible way. Over the years, numerous surveys of journalists have confirmed the unmistakable liberal bias; however, this year it is more blatant. In fact, Jorge Ramos of Univision, whose daughter worked in the Obama administration, claims that “neutrality is not an option” since Donald Trump is so “polarizing and disrupting.”

With the press as her staunchest advocates, Clinton has been free to ignore them. In a few instances, Mrs. Clinton has agreed to be interviewed. For example, she appeared on some friendly programs with non-threatening hosts such as Jimmy Kimmel or Chris Wallace of Fox News, but such encounters have been few and far between. She will not appear on a program with an aggressive reporter peppering her with tough questions. In contrast, Donald Trump is on television almost nightly answering questions from a wide variety of reporters and anchors.

Clinton’s condescending attitude toward the press was on full display Thursday. After delivering a blistering 30-minute speech attacking Trump before a relatively small crowd in Reno, Nevada, Clinton refused to answer questions from the press. Instead of offering some real answers, Hillary offered chocolates to the lapdog journalists who supposedly cover her activities.

The fact that she thought she could buy off reporters with chocolate candies is more than comical. It shows her utter lack of respect for today’s political journalists. Her obvious stalling tactics have worked for almost nine months, during which time her campaign has been rocked by multiple scandals.

From Benghazi revelations to email disclosures to the latest corruption uncovered at the Clinton Foundation, Hillary has many raging controversies and brewing scandals that she needs to address. Instead of providing the American people some real answers and the truth, Hillary Clinton has given the media total silence until yesterday when she supplied not answers, but chocolates.

Clinton is not only avoiding questions about potential corruption and illegal activity; she is also avoiding nagging questions about her health and her stamina. While Trump does multiple rallies per week, Hillary has a very limited schedule with plenty of rest between events. As evidence, she will not be doing another public event until next Wednesday.

With only 73 days until the election, Hillary Clinton had not provided satisfactory information about her health, her emails or her promises made to Clinton Foundation donors. Unfortunately, there are no Sam Donaldson type reporters today demanding she answer these questions. The media watchdogs are gone, replaced by liberal lapdogs who spend all of their time attacking Donald Trump.

It is clear that Hillary Clinton does not believe the public has a right to know the truth. Her attitude seems to be that the American people are her subjects who should be thankful and not question her authority. If elected, she’ll provide bread and chocolates and no more.

Unless the American people wake up and prevent this nightmare, the era of Queen Hillary could be upon us.

Jeff Crouere is a native of New Orleans, LA and he is the host of a Louisiana based program, “Ringside Politics,” which airs at 7:30 p.m. Fri. and 10:00 p.m. Sun. on WLAE-TV 32, a PBS station, and 7 till 11 a.m. weekdays on WGSO 990 AM in New Orleans and the Northshore. For more information, visit his web site at www.ringsidepolitics.com. E-mail him at jeff@ringsidepolitics.com.