Maureen Dowd throws a fit! lashes against Hillary "Can she cry her way to the WH"?

[antiimperialist]

She's angry!

Can Hillary Cry Her Way Back to the White House?

By MAUREEN DOWD
Published: January 9, 2008

A woman gazing at the screen was grimacing, saying it was bad. Three guys watched it over and over, drawn to the “humanized” Hillary. One reporter who covers security issues cringed. “We are at war,” he said. “Is this how she’ll talk to Kim Jong-il?”

Another reporter joked: “That crying really seemed genuine. I’ll bet she spent hours thinking about it beforehand.” He added dryly: “Crying doesn’t usually work in campaigns. Only in relationships.”

There was a poignancy about the moment, seeing Hillary crack with exhaustion from decades of yearning to be the principal rather than the plus-one. But there was a whiff of Nixonian self-pity about her choking up. What was moving her so deeply was her recognition that the country was failing to grasp how much it needs her. In a weirdly narcissistic way, she was crying for us. But it was grimly typical of her that what finally made her break down was the prospect of losing.

Yet, in the end, she had to fend off calamity by playing the female victim, both of Obama and of the press. Hillary has barely talked to the press throughout her race even though the Clintons this week whined mightily that the press prefers Obama.

Bill Clinton, campaigning in Henniker on Monday, also played the poor-little-woman card in a less-than-flattering way. “I can’t make her younger, taller or change her gender,” he said. He was so low-energy at events that it sometimes seemed he was distancing himself from her. Now that she is done with New Hampshire, she may distance herself from him, realizing that seeing Bill so often reminds voters that they don’t want to go back to that whole megillah again.

Her argument against Obama now boils down to an argument against idealism, which is probably the lowest and most unlikely point to which any Clinton could sink. The people from Hope are arguing against hope.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/09/opinion/08dowd.html?pagewanted=2&ref=opinion

[grasswire]

1. this is kinda funny now

I'll bet Dowd wishes she could backtrack a bit.

[Anouka]

4. why? n/t

[Birthmark]

2. Gotta say, Mo...

...you are using one slick strategy to get Hillary elected. You already gave her NH. ;)

[terisan]

3. Dowd is at it again. Tried to sink Gore by bitching about his color choices in clothing.

[Beacool]

5. Maureen, from one woman to another, you are a witch with a capital B!!!

I would like to read just once a column of hers where she mentions Hillary and doesn't bash her.

[annie1]

6. What is that bitch's damage. gesus.

[Texas_Kat]

7. Isn't Dowd cheap-shotted out by now?

What a waste of newsprint.

[VarnettaTuckpocket]

8. I suppose I hate Ann Coulter and Camille Paglia more

But not by much.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

9. I Hope The Elite Media Keeps On Bashing Hill

They are going to bash her all the way to the White House...

She's playing them like a fiddle...

[Barack_America]

10. LOVE IT!

Will have to recommend it to my friends!

This is why I said that the crying could only be a one-shot deal. It got her NH, but at what cost?

[flpoljunkie]

11. Olberman got it right the other night on the "Al Qaeda" card, but first she played the "victim" card

Olbermann was on the few to point this out-playing the "Al Qaeda" card. I think that is because media outlets played only the "victim" part--over and over again.