The New Republic

Hillary could not exit stage left without some sturm und drang.

- liberal reformer

June 4, 2008 at 8:57pm

I think that happened before she made her decision. It was a strongly worded suggestion from above.

- WoodyBombay

June 4, 2008 at 9:11pm

It's been storming the hell out of Northern Virginia for about the last month. Which is actually perfect timing for it to be an act of god in vengeance for Hillary's defeat.

The question being, which god? My money is on Hephaestus. Or maybe Moloch.

- rhubarbs

June 4, 2008 at 9:44pm

In this dreamtime, the word Hillaryous, with a 'y' (some capitalize it, but why)

looks like an Old English word, but its meanings are the subject

of lurid controversy.

- yerubal

June 4, 2008 at 9:55pm

Brilliant, yerubal.

- ratnerstar

June 4, 2008 at 10:04pm

Hey LR, a sincere question, no snark intended: How come you're so quick on the draw with the posts these days? Seems like yours is almost always the first comment up.

- Nippers

June 4, 2008 at 10:55pm

Nothing misogynist in calling Hillary a witch -- nothing at all.  I'm sure if the roles were reversed you'd come up with some similar African-American analogy that wouldn't offend in the least.  (Going to censor this one too Michael?)

- Lymon1

June 5, 2008 at 6:37am

lymon, did you skip your remedial reading-comprehension class again?

Crowley didn't call Hillary a witch, not even implicitly. Implicitly, he called her a god. Gods have wrath; witches do not. (An alternate, equally valid interpretation would be that Crowley is ascribing no supernatural powers to Hillary at all but naming her as the object of god's thunderstormous wrath, but this is the boring way to read it. Point is, neither possible reading makes Hillary a witch.) I would think that a devout Hillarista would appreciate, even agree with, the implicit suggestion that Hillary has divine power.

- rhubarbs

June 5, 2008 at 7:29am

Lymon, just as you have asked us to accept that much of the campaign rhetoric was not racist, I would ask that you not asume mysogeny. Personally, I haven't made any of my decisions or comments on the basis of race or gender, but on my perceptions of character. Can we try to asume the best of each other and squash John McCain like the bug he is?  Figuratively, of course...

- dbhuff

June 5, 2008 at 8:03am

Speaking of Hillary, wrath, and godhood:

youtube.com/watch

- rhubarbs

June 5, 2008 at 9:08am

When are you going to stop this nonsense and start focusing on the Democratic nominee?

I wondered what the media and blogs would do once Obama was the officially nominee and they didn't have a reason to beat up Clinton anymore. Yesterday, I checked TNR, The Atlantic, TPM, and guess what? None were focused on Obama, his campaign, what a potential Obama admininstration might look like. No, they were still beating up on Clinton, or, in some cases, both Clintons. Today, you are still posting silly stuff like this.

Give it up.

If you can.

It appears Hillary hating may be an addiction the Hillary haters, especially in the political media, may have a hard time over-coming. Which is unfortunate because it makes it very difficult to see Obama clearly and get a handle on who he is, how he would govern and, most especially, how much actual enthusiasm there is out there for his possible presidency (and how committed it is), as opposed to mere hostility toward Hillary or hysteria at the idea of a woman leading a major party and/or the nation.

In my Washington state caucus, most of the new Obama supporters were middle aged men. Rather than speaking positively for their candidate, they all ranted against Hillary, "Billary" or "the Clintons." I wondered at the time, what happens to Obama's campaign when Hillary is out of the picture? Does it collapse? Do the Billary haters lose interest, wander off to McCain?

Clinton should take a long vacation after her endorsement on Saturday -- get out of the country and away from the media. And force the media to focus on Obama.

We need a chance to see if this is a candidacy that can stand up on its own two feet -- or, if the energy, heat and hysteria has always been more about defeating the first "serious" female candidate, or diminishing the power of "the Clintons" within the party, than about nominating the strongest, most experienced, competent and electable Democrat.

- esmense

June 5, 2008 at 10:03am

Rhubs -- to quote Dowd, "Oh bambi."  

DB -- Oh, I don't deny that there was pleanty of racism in the campaign -- Bill Clinton's racism (or use of race) made me vote for Obama though I thought Hillary would make a better president.  Many of HRC's votes were motivated by racism and goodness knows that 90%+ African-American support for Obama isn't completely color blind.   What Obama's supporters did during the campaign though was send a pretty consistent message that a vote for their guy was such a no-brainer that everyone who didn't was racist or too stupid to recognize it.

But the best point here is Esmense -- can the sane Obama supporters -- the non-latte liberals who actually want to win elections more than parlor games -- please muzzle "sore winners" like Crowley/Chait/etc. and move on to Obama/McCain?  How can this endless kicking of Hillary Clinton possibly acomplish anything other than their smug satisfaction?  

- Lymon1

June 5, 2008 at 10:40am

lymon, esmense, for God sakes it is just a little joke. Lymon, to be honest I had no idea what the witch comment meant, literally until Rhubarb enlightened me. I didn't even count is as her being a God, just that her mood was so dark and stormy it followed her around, kind of like that cartoon character schleprock from the Flintstones.

When Tep used to make jokes about Obama being the GQ candidate, I laughed, the same when the Daily show played Jesus Christ Superstar whenever they talked about him (this all way before he won the nomination).

I think what brought down the Hillary campaign was a fatal lack of humor.

- blackton

June 5, 2008 at 10:59am

blackton --

This was a joke. But what were the 10-20 other hillary bashing articles, blog posts, in this publication alone yesterday, and continuing today?

It is an obsession. And it is really creepy.

- esmense

June 5, 2008 at 11:11am

Geez, lymon, are you skipping your remedial film comprehension classes too?

I only ask because, see, after a short period in which he was literally born yesterday, Bambi quickly learned the ways of the world without corrupting his soul, got the girl, defeated his rival, and became King of the Forest.

Somehow, I don't think that's quite what you were trying to say of me there, or of Obama when you throw the "Bambi" thing around. You might want to, you know, watch movies before you make nonsensical reference to them.

(And apologies if we've passed the point of good-natured kidding around here; my tone is meant to carry a heavy dose of jocular self-depreciation.)

- rhubarbs

June 5, 2008 at 11:24am