Reply #23: No, I can say more than that; here goes.

[PurityOfEssence]

The laugh is not only false and rings untrue to many of us, it's also haughty. It's a dismissal of questions as not merely "quaint" or "funny", but as the ravings of inferiors. The more it's done, the more she tells us all that we're imbeciles. In fact, almost everything becomes a joke. She's so far above the rest of us that she can hardly contain her condescending chortles.

This is death in American politics; as a people, we HATE the appearance of a feeling of superiority in our leaders; it's not just "intellectualism" that Americans have in their craws, it's presuming oneself better.

Much as I can't stand her, dread her nomination due to virtual--if not literal--unelectability and deeply abhor her studied positioning, I want her soundly defeated on policy and evasiveness, not on what is basically facile performance clunkiness. I'm hardly a shrinking violet, but I don't engage in calling people names based on their looks or their height or things like that, and although this is behavior rather than physicality, it's straying near my off-limits zone; I want the issues to be the determining factor, because that's what's important.

Hilarity Clinton's calculated "mirth" is simply dreadful acting, and it's ruinous to her and to her opponents. I don't want pro or con arguments about her devolving into whether her guffaws are real or not, I want to hammer her and her opponents on her deep, deep dishonesty on issues. Her supporters will be somewhat justified in crying "foul" if people just "pick on" her grating yuks. This will keep us from substantive arguments on her actions. She does NOT fight against the right; she fights for herself. She's the most conservative of the current Dem candidates regardless of what she says. She's on every side of every subject and it's all calculated to avoid taking a hit. She's pro-corporate pretty much across the board. She's precisely the opposite of what she portrays herself as, and that's what should be the focus of the conversation. She doesn't even want to offer proposals and expects others to fill the table for her to make her decisions. As if that's not weaselly enough, she bristles with self-righteousness that she should even be required to answer questions. That's just bullshit, and it's CERTAINLY not leadership.