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Hillary Shows Emotion
Tuesday, January 08, 2008
Listeners react to Hillary's emotional moment on the New Hampshire campaign trail yesterday.
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You should have played BEFORE she got emotional. This was very manipulative of you.
I am so pissed at these MCMers (members of the Mainstream Corporate Media) and their "Hillary faked it."
Women who were part of the early women's equal rights movement believed they had to be as strong and stronger than any man--that they had to be at least twice as good to be recognized, if not three, four times as good. And they were right in many work areas.
They vowed to never let the bastards see them cry.
It is not in Hillary's nature to try to cry in public.
God, if it had gone just a tad further, with an actual tear coming out of just one eye--she would have Dean screamed forever.
As it is, her "tearing up" a little or choking up a bit is not something she could count on being a good move. It seems for many non-MCMers it was--but for the MCMers? It will probably be used against her in coming days.
She did not do that deliberately--it's not in her nature and it's not what women of her generation do in public.
I think it's likely that this is a strategy to try to humanize her. But considering that it seems to have "I have a scream" potential to embarress her, it will have backfired. If she this was intentional, she missed the Goldie Locks spot of where she could look sensitive but not weepy to one extreme or insincere to the other.
This could not be more of a non-story.
who cares
this is the kind of coverage which turns people away from the political process.
The tail end of the clip you played is too strategically aimed at Obama to suggest the whole thing wasn't planned. I agree with Doris "Granny D" Haddock of New Hampshire (the 98 campaigner), "she's got strings all over her."
She had me right up until the moment that she transitions into an ATTACK ON OBAMA.
Unattractive -- in a woman or a man.
Well, for much of the MCM, this amounts to an "issue."
Sheesh.
I don't believe the outpouring of emotion was genuine because if you listen to her comments carefully -- immediately after her reflections, she doesn't skip a beat and almost in the same breath makes a not very subtle attack on Obama and his readiness to be president. The timing on the eve of a make or break primary is also suspect ...I just don't buy it.
BTW, Rachel Maddow was on MSNBC and reported that many of Hillary's rallies had crowds just as large as Obama's--but I didn't see one other mention in the MCM about that. Whassup with that? Oh, that's expected, so it's not news--but with Obama it wasn't, so it is? He's the new face, so gets the time?
BTW, Hillary is not my choice, but this kind of coverage is really beginning to tick me off.
Gee! Amazing that someone who thinks on her feet can try to put a talking point onto the tail end of what could have been a disaster for her, an "emotional meltdown."
Oh, my. Brian has labeled this segment "Hillary's Meltdown."
Again, women of Hillary's generation bit their tongues, dug fingernails into their palms rather than cry in front of their male coworkers.
Been there, done that.
Although it's a difficult subject, why has there been no mention of Elizabeth Edward's illness and the effect it will certainly have on a potential Edward's presidency. With inoperable breast cancer she would likely die while Edwards would be in the White House. Is this not as important as the candidate's own health given the potential consequences of dealing with her death and dying?
Hillary has my vote. Let alone the conspiracy theory that says that the republicans are secretly pushing for an Obama win because they are scared of facing Hillary... I believe the following is a real basis for why Hillary has won my vote.... aside from the simple fact that she is a woman, and it is about time... for that change to take place in this country...
Condemmed for...
She is too uptight, that is what alot of people have been saying about her. She should have had a big emotional outburst when the Clinton Lowenski situation happened, and they condem her for not having one.
Proven strenght of Character because...
This woman performed better under the pressure of the media spotlight through the hard times of the Clinton administration. She demonstrated alot of self controlled during the attacks by both the Republicans and their special prosecutor henchman. She has proven herself under the harshesh of pressures of the character attacks imposed on her.
What I don't get is what makes people think Clinton has more experience? She has experience being someone's spouse and a couple of more years in the Senate then Obama. The only Dems that have real experience is Gov. Bill Richards, no one looks at that guy's exeperience as the head of a government. The Clinton presidentency was a mess and they got little done, a lot of that mess was around Hilliary.
My understanding is that while Elizabeth Edwards' cancer is incurable, it is treatable and has as of this point in time regressed. The treatments have worked better than expected.
She wrote in a magazine article that while she may not live to see her youngest children have her grandchildre, she should live to see them graduate. She does not know how long she has, only that she will die sooner than if she had never had breast cancer. But it is not imminent.
Doesn't everyone remember how the media turned against Gore and celebrated Bush?
The media conditions the people's minds time and time again.
I thought it was very strange when the media started pushing Obama on us when he was running for Senator, and I still have an aversive reaction to him because of this. He just doesn't seem to have backed up all the hype with anything.
Even his wife said last year something to the effect of I wonder if he is ever going to do anything to back up all the great things being said about him.
Voting for Obama seems like an emotional vote.
Voting for Clinton seems like saving this country from the disasters Bush has created.
At this point, I wish Bloomberg would win and then ask Edwards, Obama, Clinton, Kucinich and Biden onto the payroll.
Notice that, after the initial breach of trembling voice and watery eyes, Clinton regained her composure but then was trembly again nearly 2 minutes later.
I'm not sure that's entirely credible. Clinton is a pro, and she knows how to steel herself against her emotions in public.
My read of the video is that the first breach was real but that she sensed an opportunity and was working it a little by the second.
I thought it showed that she was human. Many people questioned that when she accepted Bill after the Monica Lewinsky events. I am a huge Hillary supporter so I am hoping that those skeptical because of her cold manner will reconsider.
Instead of talking about her tearing up, you should be discussing her MLK Jr. comments, which were truly outrageous. There's a little insight into what she really thinks.
hillary's a fake- that was totally contrived!!
Brian man u are milking this Hillary thing...what is this Fox?
Hillary got weepy b/c she cares about her career, not "the country falling backswards!" She sounded more exhausted than sad ... Let's talk about the issue, candidates!
Again as a non-Hillary supporter, I must say that Hillary said it takes both activists and dreamers--such as MLK--in tangent with strong politicians--such as LBJ--who know how to get legislation passed to accomplish things.
What attracted my attention in this segment was Clinton's (typical) arrogance in more or less saying that she is the only one who has thought about what to do after inauguration. (It is obvious from their debate responses and speeches that Edwards, Obama, and Richardson have ALL given a great deal of thought to how to lead after the election.)
She's tired and wants to win this bad. She cried from frustration and fatigue. It happens. I wasn't going to vote for her before and I'm not voting for her now, but you gotta see her as human.
If she can't emotionally handle competing against a democrat, what can we expect when facing even fiercer republican bloc?
All of us who want candidates to talk about the issues--which reports stated Hillary had spoken about at length, cogently, and with deep understanding of the details--should demand that the MCM (Mainstream Corporate Media) COVER the issues and policies that the candidates talk about.
Hillary says, "Some of us are right, some of us are wrong..." What does she mean exactly? The fact remains that when it came to the biggest decision she's had to make, whether to support the Iraq War, she was wrong, and Obama was right.
Is it fair to ask about this emotional response? There's a constant debate regarding how much emotion will dictate a president's judgment vs logic and reason. This doesn't just make her human, but also more vulnerable. Up until now, she hasn't been allowed to express any real emotional response to anything except maybe the "Lewinsky" incident - and even then it was controlled.
I think Hillary will make a great President! I am tired of hearing all of this inspirational political speak! Hard work is the only way to accomplish things! Men are just afraid of strong women!
I would love someone to contrast Hillary's "meltdown" with her comments to NPR earlier in the day, where she came off totally different. This meltdown seems very contrived and deliberate, right out of the Clinton political machine a la Carver.
Honestly, I don't think it was contrived... It sounded real to me.
Regardless it was the kind of heartfelt thing she should have been saying all along! Whether it's fair or not, people need to know that she is human, because there is the perception she's some sort of Washington robot...
I want to emphasize that it's not the tears that I thought were important. It was the vocal tone (totally different from her usual voice! When I heard it, I didn't know it was Hillary) and the word choice that made a difference.
To call it a "meltdown" is really unfair, actually-- she didn't dissolve into a puddle of weeping.
This is an interesting "post-feminist" moment... I actually think she's proven how tough she is, how she could do the job, how smart and confident she is. Now people need to know if they can trust her as a person.
That said, Gloria Steinem's concerns are valid. It'll be really interested to see how this turns out!
I want to cry right now
It's about time that SOMEONE gets upset about the direction of the country, and makes it clear that it IS personal. Every one of us has a stake in what happens in the next election and frankly, I loved it that she really spoke from her heart. We've heard angry, impassioned, logical and judgemental; it's wonderful that we were able to see her speak from her heart.
I don't know that it will win her the election, but I have a lot more respect and sympathy for her.
Why does an emotional action on Hillary's part, contrived or not, matter? She came across more presidential before the blubbering.
We're so used to listening to a president who can't put the simplest sentences into a coherent thought that we can no longer accept that some people can express themselves in complex sentences even under stress.
Honestly -- when she's controlled and on message she's cold and unwomanly and people don't like her. But when she finlly shows who she is and why she's putting herself through public humiliation day after day -- she's still seen as being manipulative and inauthentic. Give me a break.
And interestingly this is turning into a bash the boomers festival.
Close to Hilary in age and proud of it.
The "meltdown" (which by the way, wasn't a meltdown, please don't create drama where none exists) does not change my vote but I do believe that she is deeply and inherently passionate about her beliefs, about her campaign, about her desire to be president and make a change. I do believe that she, like so many others, is disgusted and upset by what has become of America and she believes she can turn things around if only given the chance.
But as the present caller is saying, she can't win either way - if she shows no emotion then she's a cold, calculating machine. If she shows emotion, she's an overwrought dame who won't be able to play with the big boys.
Personally, I like a little emotion every now and then.
She didn't put it on because her campaign is on the ropes. She was overcome because her campaign is on the ropes. I would be, too.
Also, I think she reverted to the scripted stuff about being ready, etc, to collect herself.
Brian Lehrer is so obviously predjudiced towards Clinton.
Hillary's emotional response was in response to someone expressing concern for her as a person, not a candidate. Not something she could control and probably not something that occurs often. I know from experience that when someone sees your personal vulnerability outside your public persona it rips your protective shield away and touches your heart.
You shouldn't have cut off that last caller for calling out Hillary for crying. In business one of the biggest points of advise given to women is to NOT cry in the office and seemligly lose control of your emotions in front of everyone. It's similar to Howard Dean's hyper-macho celebratory outburst, he looked like he was having a Clemens-esque incident or roid rage. Was it PMS? Would we have to deal with a crying president every month?
It's obvious the comment was scripted. She blatantly uses John Edward's effective line from the debates: 'this is very personal for me'. I was a Clinton fan before but over the last week I will have a difficult time voting for her. I am female and I think Gloria Steinem's article in the Times today is ludicrous and divisive. When I vote against Clinton it will be because I don't want another term of a Clinton in the White House, I don't want the same old divisive politics that play on our fears and because I think that Barack is appealing to what is best in us and people are responding and this is an opportunity that I would be sad to see lost.
The who discussion about Hillary Clinton crying is infuriating. If one of the male candidates had "gotten emotional..." what would the discussion be? We have not come far at all. I am incredibly disappointed in the Brian Lehrer Show for not seeing the discrimination inherent in the call-in topic, "Does Hillary's emotional moment change your vote?" You should have discussed the blatant female/male biases in the race and how her "emotional moment" brought those out in spades.
"Kathleen Hall Jamison said on Bill Moyers' Journal that no other female leader in the world has had the treatment that been given to Hillary."
But no one is trying to blow her up either. There are some female leaders who haven't had that luxury. She'll survive her campaign. Some women, as we all know, haven't, and they still managed to maintain their composure even under greater strains.
It's not that I don't believe she is without emotion or that even the emotions she expressed were genuine. It's the release of those emotions that I think was calculated... or rather miscalculated. It was strategy and it backfired. Does it mean it was planned for yesterday? Not necessarily, but you can be sure that her advisors have been hammering her to "appear more sincere".
Total manipulation by Hillary's camp to try to wrangle the women's vote back, which she had lost in Iowa.
And judging from the comments on this board the strategy may have worked. There is something deeply empathetic when women see another woman get emotional, they tend to not judge or be critical and just feel.
Smart move, she wasn't going to get much of the male vote anyway in New Hampshire.
I'm sorry, in this focus on Hillary's emotion aren't we forgetting the issues? Whether she faked it or not the subject of he "upset" was that she didn't want us to "fall back". "Fall back"? We have been falling back for over 30 years in terms of corporate domination of our society and politics, growing economic equality, and more recently an illegal unnecessary war and curtailment of our civil liberties and the rule of law under our Constitution. And Hillary Clinton (and other Democrats also) has been part of that misguided course. I certainly hope we "fall back" from where she has helped take us.
I don't think her emotion was contrived, but neither do I think it was wholly honest. Politics is as much about ego as issues, and here I think a bad mix of both was displayed. The emotion was more about her than the country.
It doesn't convince me she's the agent of change. A change candidate with a mandate will get change.
Look, why can't we discuss that this is the lamest campaign in eons! No one is discussing all the details of the problems this country faces, and neither is Hillary! I don't care if she's tired, and upset! I'm upset, too, and I don't want to waist my vote on meaningless tripe!
http://firedoglake.com/2008/01/08/teary-eyed-politicans-are-emotionally-unfit-to-lead-a-nation-at-war/
Here's a link with press reports of male Republicans who have wept, teared up, gotten misty, etc. None of these reports suggest they are having a meltdown. Indeed, they see somewhat laudatory or simply objective.
IOKIYAR (It's OK if you are Republican) seems to apply, no? Or, maybe IDIYAR (It's different if you are Republican).
I rather doubt Hillary, at her age, is having monthly hormonal swings of the type mentioned here.
A little misogyny here?
Well, that's what elections are.. meaningless tripe. They're a game show and always have been. Sure, we can idealize the past and make it seem like elections used to have substance... but they didn't. The simple fact is that the "the people" are not qualified to choose a leader. We might as well use Russian Roulette or a swimsuit competition to choose a President. It would be just as meaningful as elections.
I couldn't believe my ears: dispassionate, objective Brian Lehrer devotes an entire segment to this non-event (her voice buckling for a second is a meltdown??) and actually floats the idea that she faked this non-event. This is the sort of thing I would expect on Fox News. As an Obama supporter, I'm appalled by how the press has aligned itself against Clinton and have started to wonder how the breathless coverage has affected my own leanings. Less attention to the horse-race and more attention to the candidates' records would be welcome, and more along the lines of what I usually expect from WNYC.
I have two seemingly divergent thoughts. 1. I was appalled by the 'emotionality' of a high-profile candidate (I also dislike it when President Bush does it too), because it has just never be acceptable by women working in the business world. I find it distasteful. 2. I was moved by the whole clip from the moment that someone asked the question. Playing only sections of the whole clip - as you did this morning - distorts the meaning and the message.
I know that often we all resort to learned and oft-repeated messages after such an emotional outburst; so am not surprised that Hilary did repeat the sentences that she did as she was trying to get back on-track.
It also drives me crazy, that in spite of the 'change' message of Obama, he is voicing a visios at a 100,000 foot level. There is not indication of the programs or policies that would implement these' changes'. Change for changes sake without context and meaning is worthless. I want to know more that the platitudes being mouthed right now.
HILLARY
Tears, campaign tears,
Mark her election bid,
Nourishing the rebound
Of the wife of the Comeback Kid.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/politics/2004041541_hillaryslurs29.html
Here's a link to an article about Kathleen Hall Jamison's findings of extremely high amount of misogynistic language aimed at and about Hillary Clinton. She had initially been researching whether racist comments and language were being used about Obama and found far more sexist attacks made on Clinton than racist on Obama. Interesting. However, if Obama gets the nomination, I'm sure we get lots of attacks on Obama, overt and dog whistle, from the RNC and plain weirdos.
Dear WNYC--Perhaps a post of the complete transcript of Hillary's "meltdown" would be more fair. It's hard to recall details from the spoken word.
I've looked for a transcript and so far can't find a complete one, but there's this from CNN:
SEN. HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON (D-NY), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You know, I have so many opportunities from this country. I just don't want to see us fall backwards. You know? So...
(APPLAUSE)
CLINTON: You know, this is very personal for me. It's not just political. It's not just public.
I see what's happening. And we have to reverse it. And some people think elections are a game. They think it's like who is up or who is down. It's about our country. It's our kids' futures. It's really about all of us together. Some of us put ourselves out there and do this against some pretty difficult odds, and we do it, each one of us, because we care about our country.
But some of us are right and some of us are wrong. Some of us are ready, and some of us are not. Some of us know what we will do on day one, and some of us haven't thought that through enough.
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0801/07/sitroom.01.html
If you listen closely to how she speaks, it's clear that her words were rehearsed. Whether her tears were is another question, but I think she cried intentionally.
The headline the day before was that Hillary was scrambling to "restrategize" her campaign in NH - 48 hours before the primary? what can you do differently in 48 hours? Send out more emails? No - you weep in public.
ABC News has the videoclip of Hillary's (entire) response to that particular question if anyone wants to check it out:
http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=4097366
Joe, you are a pathetic excuse for a man.
I believe her emotion was genuine. After all, she was crying about something she really cares about—HERSELF.
Katherine Hall Jamison also said (on Bill Moyers) that unfortunately, no matter what Hillary does, it won't be right. (I'm paraphrasing).
I say: for crying out loud, let's make history and vote a woman in for president.
Hilary - take us all the way!!! I knew - YOU ARE the ONE!!!
People who say it was a planned reaction didn't really see the whole thing. since when are you not allowed to cry? Men or women alike.
Here's a good article from DailyCents.com for discussion:
http://blogs.dailycents.com/?p=790
The media obsession with HC's demeanour is a joke, whatever this woman does she gets it from both sides!!!...but "hilary your'e likeable enough" is ignored, that smarmy obnoxious holier then thou' comment is passed over [ other then by a few conservative pundits] In fact this guy is getting a totally free ride...Two years of absolutley nothing in the senate and he is being hailed as the great saviour of America....be very very careful Democrats because you are going to blow it once again!
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