Monday, February 4, 2008

When a Cough Makes News...

This "news" story is truly pathetic...

Penn Rhodeen, a New Haven public interest lawyer who worked with Clinton as a student, recalled her showing up on his doorstep wearing purple bellbottoms.

"It was so 1972," he recalled, praising Clinton for her longtime interest in helping children.
"Here is the abiding truth we know — you have always been a champion for children. Welcome home, dear friend. We are so proud of you," he said.

Clinton responded emotionally to Rhodeen's praise, at one point wiping her eyes with her hand. But unlike her teary-eyed moment in Portsmouth, N.H., her voice never broke and she tried make light of her emotion.

"I said I would not tear up. Already we're not on that path," Clinton replied to laughs.

Some credited her New Hampshire display of emotion — during a discussion of how she is affected by campaigning for president — with aiding her comeback in that state from an earlier defeat by rival Barack Obama in Iowa.

Generally a stalwart campaigner, Clinton was showing signs of strain Monday — at one point starting to cough uncontrollably in the middle of an economic round-table with a dozen women voters.


Is this the kind of "news" we want from the campaign trail? I mean, what's next? Tomorrow, will we be reading about McCain having a particularly strenuous bowel movement where reporters could hear the grunts resounding down the hallway?

Or maybe we'll hear all about Ron Paul shouting because he stubbed the thumb that has a paper cut he got when he was making his aluminum foil hat to ward off aliens? Probably not that last one because the media is not taking Paul very seriously - - and they never did, even back when they probably should have.

10 comments:

BAWDYSCOT said...

All part of that electronic narcotic to keep the voters out of the deep waters of our real problems. Oh, she coughs, maybe she really is a human. Actually, csm, I wonder if any of them have had a bowel movement lately; they all seem backed up.

Anonymous said...

Aren’t the emotions the bigger issue? Would we allow Obama or McCain to do the same? Tearing up every time she feels under pressure? Not the sign of a great leader. Emotions are OK, but we can't have our Commander-in-Chief tearing up when she is sitting across the table from Putin.

I like one point Romney made. Clinton has never run anything, not even a corner market and experience is her big selling point. B/T Obama and McCain we have serviceable candidates and are the likely foes come November.

coreydbarbarian said...

don't know about y'all, but i like the idea of a president who CAN be human. besides that, why didn't anybody complain when bush, bill clinton, etc. welled up at funerals, etc.? hilary is subject 2 a double standard because of her gender.

because dubya teared up after 9/11, do you assume he teared up talking 2 putin? maybe that's why he thought he could see putin's "pure" soul all those years ago... ;)

Anonymous said...

Correction, Clinton is the beneficiary of a double standard. Clinton won NH last time she got emotional. Let’s see what happens with this one. Its all calculated and no other candidate runs against a spouse as well.

You are not attempting to compare the emotions of watching 3000 dead Americans with the pressures of a political campaign r u? There is a time for everything.

csm said...

Correction to your correction!

I think the point coreyd was making is that you, Al, were applying a double standard to Hillary.

Forgive me if I'm putting words in your mouth coreyd.

coreydbarbarian said...

csm, you're right.

i believe al was, and still is, holding hilary 2 impossible standards.

al, you are not going 2 like anything hilary clinton says or does. if she tears up, you infer weakness. if she acts stoic, you will say she's false & manipulative. she can't win with you.

now, this idea you have about tears and emotion being weak (unless 3k die) is false. tears and emotion are human. be human, al.

like you said, there is a time 4 everything. our leaders, aside from legislative function, set the example. me personally, i prefer a candidate who is strong enough 2 show not only tears of pain, but tears of joy!

Anonymous said...

What is it with the die hard Hillary supporters? Anytime she is criticized automatically the one criticizing must somehow hate her or like nothing she does. Utter nonsense and ridiculous assertions befitting the strawman argument. I have great admiration for Hill and never claimed she was stoic, but CB your argument opens the door to cry over spilled milk. I criticize McCain for his failed immigration policies and I still consider voting for him. So there ya go. I also consider Obama a possibility before you begin the partisan attack.

No csm, I am the consistent one here. I don't expect any of the candidates to shed tears on the political campaign trail. I can't see you patting McCain on the back if he were to shed a few claiming the conservatives were out to get him? Double standard there?

If you can't handle a campaign, you will not do much better as the president.

Shedding tears over the death of 3000 Americans or other things of real value is quite understandable.

csm said...

Well, Al, I challenge you to show me proof (a video perhaps?) of Hillary actually crying! She never did. I know this because I got caught up in believing the stupidity of the talking heads claiming she did. She choked up, but she never cried. So before you go thinking you are all clear-headed and not a Hillary basher, why not get the facts right first?

Right wing apologists care nothing for facts - just strident puffery and bloviating bullshit.

Anonymous said...

Probably right csm. I buy Maher's version just a little more.

"These are challenging times for the politically correct, I mean, don’t blame me for being sexist, because I read this in the New York Times that Hillary Clinton was going to lose New Hampshire, and then she cried and people voted for her especially the women. They wanted to see the robot cry. That’s what it was. It was like P.T. Barnum, “See the robot cry.” She broke the fourth wall. She cried, and then there was blood on the Son.

But I’ve heard of electing a president you want to have a beer with. But, electing a president you want to have a good cry with? I mean, it’s not a serious country. And I noticed that it was the exact right amount of crying. Did you see that? I mean, it wasn’t like a full tear, people would have been like, “Oh, come on, that’s glycerin! That’s bullshit!” It was just, it was like, if it was any more crying, it would have been like Howard Dean’s scream.

csm said...

Well Al, we can definitely agree that it is not a serious country.

Can't say I agree with Bill, though. I take a different tact on the whole New Hampshire thing. First of all, Hillary was consistently leading in every NH poll over the course of a year. And by significant margins. Then, Obama wins Iowa right before the NH primary. So momentum shifts and Obama gets coverage and polls shift. But only for a very brief period between IA and HH. IMHO it would have been an upset if Obama had won NH... not that Hillary won.