Monday, February 11, 2008

Hillary Hatred

I don't think it's too big a leap to see the pointed swipes at Hillary's gender as anti-woman. Here's an opinion piece in the Boston Herald that contrasts the media love-fest for Obama with the Hillary hating comments. Here's a snippet:

No word on what they think about MSNBC’s Tucker Carlson saying that whenever Hillary comes on television, “I involuntarily cross my legs.” He first said this last summer when his producer talked about a Clinton doll advertised on the Web site HillaryNutcracker.com. It features “serrated stainless steel thighs that, well, crack nuts,” said producer Willie Geist, who introduced the story this way: “I think the metaphor in this next story, Tucker, is pretty clear.” Then came Carlson’s “cross my legs” response.

Implying an MSNBC pattern, Clinton spokesman Howard Wolfson noted that another MSNBC star, Chris Matthews, apologized just last month after saying Hillary Clinton was elected senator because voters felt sorry for her nonstop humiliations by philandering husband Bill. “She didn’t win there on her merits,” Matthews said.




The New York Times this weekend even suggested that Obama's claims of drug use were not much more than that. When was the last time you read an article in the paper debunking a candidate's drug use?


Paul Krugman also weighs in today, asserting that Obama's people are getting too heated and partisan around their candidate, in a way that Nixon did around theirs.
He says:

For now, Clinton rules are working in Mr. Obama’s favor. But his supporters should not take comfort in that fact.

For one thing, Mrs. Clinton may yet be the nominee — and if Obama supporters care about anything beyond hero worship, they should want to see her win in November.

For another, if history is any guide, if Mr. Obama wins the nomination, he will quickly find himself being subjected to Clinton rules. Democrats always do.

But most of all, progressives should realize that Nixonland is not the country we want to be. Racism, misogyny and character assassination are all ways of distracting voters from the issues, and people who care about the issues have a shared interest in making the politics of hatred unacceptable.

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