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RSS icon Comments on Re: She Brought it On Herself

1
You have to admit Annie, that the “inevitable” bit was about polls that showed Hillary Clinton with 20 point leads. What, on the other hand, is the Obama in ascendance storyline based on? Obama lost NH when he was supposed to win. And he lost Nevada (and the casinos that he was supposed to win).

WTF are you talking about? If there was an "Obama in ascendance" storyline ever being pushed by the media, it was primarily before the NH primaries, when he had won IA and was ahead in NH polling. It wasn't nearly so arbitrary as you imply. After NH, the press was full of "Clinton strikes back" stories.

Besides, there's a better explanation than the media hates Hillary: It's that the media is just fishing for drama. Obama coming out of nowhere is dramatic. Hillary being chosen by the Democratic establishment and gradually rubberstamped by an indifferent electorate is not. (Hillary coming back from behind to win, OTOH, is plenty dramatic, and the media would lap that up just as easily.)

Posted by tsm | January 21, 2008 3:07 PM
2

Josh, the Clinton campaign chose to push the inevitable line--even though national polls very early in the race are soft and always reward the best-known figure. I'm not denying there's a pro-Obama bias, remember? I even admired that Howard Kurtz piece about it. But nothing is sweeter than to see arrogance and presumption taken down a peg, and so the fact that the media have been hard on HRC is not surprising. The same thing is going on in the Republican race with Giuliani and McCain.

And god! Resorting to rape analogies is almost as bad as crying Hitler. I'm not saying she asked to be raped! Ugh. I'm saying her campaign positioned itself as the heir apparent, which was galling to many people.

Posted by annie | January 21, 2008 3:07 PM
3

Wrong, Annie. Rape analogies are awesome. And crying Hitler is something you would do if it were the only way you could hold your point.

Oh, wait. You don't do that. You simply just abandon the argument all together.

Posted by more feit less annie | January 21, 2008 3:17 PM
4

Spot on assessment Annie!

Some here just refuse to accept that HRC is not everyone's queen to be coronated, and the media is tired of her camp's air of snobbery.

Posted by Reality Check thinking more annie NO feit | January 21, 2008 3:23 PM
5

Hillary's actions--well mostly Bill's it seems the idea that this would NOT be a co-presidency has gone out the window since Iowa--have made me realize the Clintons are out for the Clintons. Not progressivism. Not liberal ideas. But making sure Team Clinton is in the White House. Even if long term it sets the Democratic Party back 20 years.

I am so saddened. In fact, I've lost so much respect for those two if it becomes a Clinton/McCain race in the general election I may consider McCain.

Posted by Jason | January 21, 2008 3:23 PM
6

Why does crying Hitler have to be a bad thing? I think it can be a funny thing if done right:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=K2triiYXSY8

Posted by Clint | January 21, 2008 3:44 PM
7

And the circular firing squad continues! Hillary's a snob (better than a bitch, I guess), and she's "out for herself" (unlike every other politician in human history, Obama included), and she's "not liberal" (despite scorecards that indicate that she is liberal in American terms, going by her voting record), and people are going to vote for Republicans instead (yeah, that'll help).

Meanwhile, Josh's post that sparked this bullshit is itself the same bullshit ECB was pushing earlier today, and it smells just as bad warmed over. No, there is no anti-Clinton bias in coverage (nor is there an anti-Obama slant).

Anyone who's talking about voting for a Republican because they don't like Hillary Clinton should just shoot themselves in the head, because that's what they're asking the country to do to itself. Get over your fucking crush on a politician, get over your barely-suppressed misogyny (or racism, for some of the anti-Obama crowd), and think for a few seconds about the actual reality of politics in this country, and how to get what we want. Politics is no place for temper tantrums.

Posted by Cascadian | January 21, 2008 3:50 PM
8

Politics is also no place for voter fraud. And based on what my contacts in Nevada have told me, the Clintons did just that.

I am old-fashioned and I do vote based on character and personality. Hence my leanings (and 3 out of 4 independants) for McCain or Obama over Hillary or Romney.

I think the Clintons have damaged the Democratic Party just as GWB has damaged the GOP. I'm not misogynistic because I don't think a former first lady with an attack dog husband is uplifting for women. I'd like to think the USA could produce a Gold Meier, that we didn't go all Third World and do dynastic families who get in via lying and fraud.

Posted by Jason | January 21, 2008 4:06 PM
9

Politics is also no place for voter fraud. And based on what my contacts in Nevada have told me, the Clintons did just that.

I am old-fashioned and I do vote based on character and personality. Hence my leanings (and 3 out of 4 independants) for McCain or Obama over Hillary or Romney.

I think the Clintons have damaged the Democratic Party just as GWB has damaged the GOP. I'm not misogynistic because I don't think a former first lady with an attack dog husband is uplifting for women. I'd like to think the USA could produce a Gold Meier, that we didn't go all Third World and do dynastic families who get in via lying and fraud.

Posted by Jason | January 21, 2008 4:07 PM
10

Will people stop crying bias! Just as in football, it's always the refs bias toward one team or another.

The fact is the media says good and bad things about all candidates because there are good and bad things about all these candidates. The only bias is the media's penchant for making up headlines to justify their existence even if there is no real story. They are only biased in the sense of selling as much advertising space as possible. If they need a story on bat-boy to sell, well, they'll find bat boy.

Posted by Medina | January 21, 2008 4:11 PM
11

Jason @ 5:

"...have made me realize the Clintons are out for the Clintons. Not progressivism. Not liberal ideas."

No offense, but it took you 'til 2008 to figure that one out?

Posted by J. Whorfin | January 21, 2008 4:15 PM
12

@5 me too. but i'd consider the three supreme court positions possibly coming open during the next administration. that's the only thing that would keep me from voting mccain in a billary/mccain election.

Posted by Judith | January 21, 2008 4:16 PM
13

I cannot possibly conceive of how anyone could EVER labor under the notion that Hillary Clinton is better poised to defeat John McCain in a presidential election. Ever.

Nor can I conceive of where in the world I'm going to go when McCain winds up trouncing her.

But fear not, Clinton supporters. You can bask in the post-Super Tuesday afterglow for a whole two or three days after your victory, before the bloodbath begins and the nation we know is finally irreversibly ruined.

Posted by fuck fuckity fuck | January 21, 2008 4:30 PM
14

Judith @ 12: Good point! Thanks for reminding me of that. In light of that I'd probably begrudgingly vote for Clinton even though I think the Clintons are hurting the party overall. John Paul Stevens is one of the most liberal (and appointed by a Republican--Ford) justices and he is quite elderly.

Posted by Jason | January 21, 2008 4:33 PM
15

Why can't one cry Hitler! in the middle of a rape analogy?

Posted by NapoleonXIV | January 21, 2008 4:39 PM
16

@9:
fraud.

serious talk.

why didn't Obama claim it?

Posted by unPC | January 21, 2008 5:24 PM
17

It's amusing reading ECB and Josh, writers who don't hesitate to advocate, discussing bias in the media.

Posted by Luigi Giovanni | January 21, 2008 7:32 PM

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