A Calumny a Day To Keep Hillary Away

[meow2u3]

The responses to my column on Hillary Clinton-hating have been both voluminous (the largest number in the brief history of “Think Again”) and fascinating. The majority of posters agreed with the characterization of the attacks on Senator Clinton as vicious and irrational, but in not a few posts the repudiation of Hillary-hatred is followed by more of the same. Lisa (No. 17) nicely exemplifies the pattern. She begins by saying “I agree that there is a rabid nature in the manner in which numerous conservative groups attack Hillary Clinton,”, but in the very next sentence she declares that “most of Hillary’s reputation is well earned” and then she spends nine paragraphs being rabid. A significant minority of posters skipped the ritual disavowal of hatred and went straight to the task of adding to it.

(snip)

Comments like these would seem to lend support to the view (voiced by many respondents) that sexism is what ultimately motivates the Clinton bashers. “A woman who doesn’t apologize for who she is. What’s not to hate?” (79). “Any woman who is anything more than a wallflower will always be attacked” (105). “People just can’t tolerate a woman in power” (111). “Why not get right to heart of the matter? It’s sexism. Most women on this planet face it every day” (168). If so, they face it from women as well as from men, at least on the evidence provided here. Carol Maloney (158) reports that many of her intelligent women friends are unable “to discuss Hillary in a logical manner.” Kat (23) wonders why “women seem to be on the Hillary hatred bandwagon.” Carol (359) says “What I find most disturbing is the amount of hatred spewed at Hillary by those who are so much like her … It is very odd. Is it really self-hate?”
One might ask, can it really be sexism if it is women who are practicing it? Sure it can. If sexism is defined as the conviction that women are unsuited by gender to perform certain tasks or hold certain positions, that conviction is as available to women as it is to men. Still, sexism doesn’t seem an adequate explanation of the Hillary-hating phenomenon if only because so much of the venom in the comments is directed at the Clintons as a team. The idea is that nothing but evil can emanate from them; they are a moral blot on the nation’s escutcheon, a canker-sore on the body politic, and they must be removed (perhaps by any means necessary). No doubt sexism is a component of such sentiments–a number of women respondents accused her of riding on her husband’s coat-tails and lambasted her for not leaving him–but sexism doesn’t really account for an anger that sometimes borders on the homicidal.

(more)

http://fish.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/02/10/a-calumny-a-day-will-keep-hillary-away/index.html?ref=opinion

I think most of these female Clinton bashers are quintessential, envious self-haters who are projecting their own inadequacies onto Hillary Clinton. They are "hating on Hillary", according to the lingo of inner city youth.

[rustbeltcent]

1. Ever hear of Lady MacBeth????

Hillary reminds me of the character and the Shakespeare play.

Someone who is pathologically ambitious....

BTW two things I recommend for HIllary - crying more often in public settings to gain sympathy; loaning more money to her campaign...

[emilyg]

2. I like ambitious women.

[Demeter]

3. It's The War, People. Always and in Every Way

The war is the pimple on the face of the nation. But underneath is the suspicion that helping people is not the first, basic primary motivation behind this campaign, instead, it's just more Bushit in a different package and under a different label.

[bemildred]

4. Duh. The whole "she's a girl so you have to like her" argument is not going to fly.

It is deeply sexist itself, as anyone can see. Next they will be telling us "she's as good as a man" or something equally deformed in relation to "defense" and "security" and stuff like that. The whole "war and foreign meddling is a bad thing" idea is completely outside their mental box. Which is why they are screwed.