I was a fairly fierce Clinton administration critic in the ’90s. Although I regret some of that, chalking it up to my own youth and the fact that the ’90s seemed like a less serious time in many ways, I have to say: I have never, ever understood the visceral hatred Mrs. Clinton invokes in some people. Until George W. Bush came along on the national scene, I’ve never seen anything quite like it. Yes, she can be somewhat snippy, and a little schoolmarmish, but for the nearly two decades I’ve been observing her she’s always seemed funny and personable. She does better in more intimate settings, and seems a bit more automaton-ish (Al Gore-ish?) on the stump, but where the dragon-lady/preying mantis/terminator descriptions come from, I honestly can’t conceive.
Yes, there’s a certain fluidity and opportunism in some ways she thinks, but I have rarely seen a politician for whom that is not true.
Is it a sort of Richard Nixon thing, where some people just look at her and say “there’s something about her I just don’t like,” and the rest of us are left to be mystified? Or what?
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I don’t hate her. I just have basic disagreements with her reflexive 1950’s nostalgia-laden solutions to every problem.
Times have changed and the effectiveness of the tools that Big Government can bring to bear just aren’t what they were years ago.
Well, I’m not sure what I think of that, since I do think government has a vital role *and responsibility* on such issues. However, that’s beside the point, as this is about the visceral and intense dislike seen in some corners.
Maybe there’s just always a certain percentage that way about just about any politician? As in, for politician X, there will always be a minimum of Y voters who intensely dislike them no matter what?
Big government – like it or not – has role to play in our society. For me that role is in protecting the republic from external threats and… and… I can’t think of anything else.
It’s job is NOT to protect me from my own stupidity or from Big Evil Corporations.
I still can’t understand the fundamental difference between the Left and the Right. The Left wants the Government everywhere EXCEPT in the bedroom. The Right doesn’t want the Government anywhere else EXCEPT the bedroom. But I digress as usual.
Being that I”m not a Clinton-hater and won’t freak if Hillary wins in November, the question is not for me and I too would like to see the answer.
Scott: I thought you were anti-outsourcing. That’s something the Big Evil Corporations (TM) are famous for, isn’t it?
I have been a Hillary defender, using the argument that it is hypocritical to complain about how deranged Lefties attack GW Bush as the next incarnation of Hitler, and then turn around and claim Hillary is the spawn of Satan.
But I don’t like her and for too many reasons to go into here. In the main I don’t like Hillary because of her ideology and the condescending way she pursues it. She is not unique in this regard, in fact I think you pretty much have to be condescending to be a Leftist since a Leftist fundamental assertion is that a ruling elite somehow “knows what is best” for the poor schlubs that are just trying to live their lives.
My personal opinion is that a lot of the anti-Hillary sentiment can be traced to her being put in charge of a major government initiative as an unappointed and unelected figure who had no accountability except to her bed-partner. Her first public statements on the Health Care debacle were typical “We know best” condescending Leftist lecturing, and as the public began demanding visibility of what she was doing, she racheted up the secrecy of the endeavor in a manner if not equal to Cheney’s energy commission, then it was worse. And then when it all fell apart, her response was not to take responsibility but to viciously blame everyone for the failure but herself. As time went on it became clear to many of us that this was Hillary’s standard methodology.
I won’t even go into the Travel Office firings, the Rose Law firm stonewalling and dissembling, the windfall cattle futures deal, etc…
Frankly it is quite astonishing to me how people don’t understand how all of this paints a picture of an astonishingly self-absorbed, arrogant, vindictive and potentially corrupt human being. What amazes me is how people can ignore all this and suggest that she’s just misunderstood.
I think I understand her quite well.
CosmicConservative’s last blog post..Took the Hi-Def plunge last night?
You have never EVER understood it?
Amazing.
Disagreeing with it, or acknowledging that it is excessive is one thing, but being totally incapable of understanding the way this woman rubs some people the wrong way reveals a rather large blindspot.
I understand PERFECTLY how George Bush rubs some people the wrong way, while not sharing that contempt.
I guess I’m just a LEEEEETLE bit superior. I’ll try not to gloat.
Dean
Yes – and I still am. But you don’t need Big Government to stop it. What you do need is for it to set a reasonable immigration policy – since the Achilles Heel of outsourcing is the h-1b/l-1 visa programs. Controlling immigration is a role of the government; that in turn determines the size of the labor market. Traditionally the government has used immigration to set wages by flooding labor markets with cheap labor from abroad. It should stop that and allow the Free Market to work, where rare skillsets command more money, leading to more people becoming educated in those skillsets which in turn dampens wages.
As for the corps, they aren’t special – and shouldn’t be protected by Big Government. If anything we need the “death penalty” for corporations (forced dissolution) – not the bailouts that they get from BG.
I plead guilty as charged. No, I don’t hate her. I only reserve hate for Nazis, Communists and the KKK.
But, truth be told, I just don’t like her. She has a lower approval rating than my ex-wife:)
HankB
A recent Gallup poll asked who people least wanted to see in the White House, and then asked (open ended) why they felt that way. It may shed some light on how people feel about Clinton. Here’s the top three for each of the candidates:
Obama
Inexperienced/not qualified 39%
Do not trust him 15%
He’s muslim 12%
The first two I can easily accept. The third one is rather discouraging.
McCain
Disagree with iraq war position 27%
Too much like Bush/need a change 25%
He is a republican 23%
Again, the first two seem reasonable, but the third seems to show a shallowness. If someone is a republican, that person is automatically a non choice for any elected office? None of the respondents for Clinton or Obama said that them being democrats was a reason not to vote for them.
Clinton
Do not trust her 24%
Do not want Bill back in White House 18%
Do not like her 16%
Couple those attitudes with the success she and her husband have experienced in politics, and Hillary starts to shape up as a classic heel like you might find in big time wrestling. Just as wrestling is manipulated to draw out emotional responses, somehow, perhaps even unconsciously, Hillary has created a persona that draws out the visceral dislike.
I think the difference between her and Bush in this regard is that these reactions are drawn out in response to Hillary as a person, while I see the Bush hatred as an extremely emotional reaction to his policies, not to him as a person.
Correct. I have never understood the picture of her as some sort of Uber-bitch. Never seen it–ever. I’ve never understood the hatred for George W. Bush either, except as a sort of moral/intellectual superiority thing. But the idea of him as an evil scheming monster? Ridiculous.
Dean:
A good deal of the “uber-bitch” image Hillary has developed comes from those who used to work for her or work closely with her who have described her that way not only on occasion, but in their memoirs. Most notably is probably Dick Morris. I don’t challenge the accuracy of Dick Morris’s memory or truthfulness, I simply take them as his personal experience with the woman.
And if HALF of these stories are true, the picture painted is a pretty grim one.
Not to mention how far it would go to explain Bill’s roving eye…
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