Edmund Muskie cried -- really wept -- and look what happened to him...

[Radio_Lady]

Can you recall why Muskie cried?

By the way, I erroneously applied that act to Mo Udall last night but I was TOTALLY wrong. Nobody picked it up except my husband, this morning, at breakfast.

Have the standards changed so much in all of these years? Women can cry and they get votes; men cry and they get dumped.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmund_Muskie

[jasmine621]

1. Let's try... because he's human? nt

[jasmine621]

8. Getting serious: here is some info.

CHARLAYNE HUNTER-GAULT: After that, Muskie became the favorite to win the 1972 Democratic Presidential nomination. But being the front-runner for over a year proved difficult. During the New Hampshire primary, Muskie choked with anger and seemed to cry because of a couple of nasty articles in the "Manchester Union Leader." One article proved to be a hoax. The other attacked Muskie's wife. Muskie then attacked publisher William Loeb.

EDMUND S. MUSKIE: (February 1972) By attacking me, by attacking my wife, he has proved himself to be a gutless coward. And maybe I said all I should on it. It's fortunate for him he's not on this platform beside me. A good woman--

CHARLAYNE HUNTER-GAULT: The episode came to symbolize the collapse of Muskie's Presidential campaign because of the perception that he was weak. Muskie then went back to the Senate and headed the powerful Budget Committee until President Carter tapped him to be Secretary of State in 1980.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/remember/muskie_3-26.html

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

2. I thought his family was defamed in some news coverage or something, and it upset him.

I was a little tot at the time but that's what I remember reading.

[AlCzervik]

4. i think someone shit talked about his wife.

[Hamlette]

3. it was snow, not tears

or so one story goes

[11 Bravo]

5. The Manchester Union-Leader trashed his wife.

[Hamlette]

6. Actually, it was Nixon and the Canuck letter

saying Muskie had trashed Canadians and his wife was a drunk who swore. Later turned out Nixon's Ratfuckers were behind both attacks.

[defendandprotect]

12. Wasn't there also the suspicion that there was "something" on the letter itself

which triggered crying?

I thought that had also been discovered --- ?????

[Radio_Lady]

7. Here's a point of view from CBS News blog from yesterday:

http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2008/01/07/politics/horserace/entry3684076.shtml

January 7, 2008, 5:35 PM

Choking Up In New Hampshire?

Posted by Vaughn Ververs

Video of Hillary Clinton's emotional response to an audience question in New Hampshire this morning is making its rounds on the Web and on TV. It was a rare moment for a candidate perceived as tough and robotic. During Saturday night's debate, Clinton looked hurt when asked by the moderator why Barack Obama is so well liked – and she isn't. "That hurts my feelings," she replied.

But that was a debate, what happened in her morning event was much more spontaneous. (You can read about the question and watch her response here). And it's the kind of event which will drive a lot of discussion going into the tomorrow's primary voting.

In 1972, Democratic presidential candidate Edmund Muskie stood in front of the offices of the Manchester Union Leader to mount a counter-offensive against the paper which had harshly attacked he and his wife, at times in personal ways. An emotional Muskie appeared to cry as he attacked the paper in defense of his and the episode has been credited for his campaign's collapse after New Hampshire – a state he won but badly underperformed his own expectations.

There is less chance that Clinton's "moment" will have such an impact on her campaign and could even work in her favor. Hillary Clinton, unlike her husband, has had trouble connecting to voters on a positive, emotional level. But Muskie's tears (he later said it was melting snowflakes on his cheeks) ran nearly ten days before the primary, giving it time to sink in. Today's response by Clinton won't go unnoticed by a long shot but also may not have a chance to marinate among voters.

More at link above ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

[deminks]

9. One of the most famous rat f*cking incidents of all time.

The Canuck Letter was a forged letter to the editor of the Manchester Union Leader, published 24 February 1972, two weeks before the New Hampshire primary of the 1972 United States presidential election. It implied that Sen. Edmund S. Muskie, a candidate for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination, held prejudice against Americans of French-Canadian descent. The letter's immediate effect was to compel the candidate to give a humiliating speech in front of the newspaper's offices, known simply as "the crying speech." The letter's indirect effect was the implosion of Muskie's candidacy.

In childish scrawl, and with poor spelling, the author claimed to have met Muskie and his staff in Florida. The author alleges to have asked Muskie how he could understand the problems of African Americans, given Maine's small black population. According to the letter, a member of Muskie's staff then responded, "Not blacks, but we have Canucks" — which the letter spells "Cannocks" — and Muskie laughed at the remark.

Washington Post staff writer Marilyn Berger reported that Nixon White House staffer Ken Clawson had bragged to her about authoring the letter. Clawson denied Berger's account. In October 1972, FBI investigators revealed that the Canuck Letter was part of the dirty tricks campaign against Democrats orchestrated by the Committee to Re-elect the President (CREEP). Loeb, the publisher of the Manchester Union Leader, maintained that the letter was not a fabrication. Loeb later admitted of some doubt, however, after receiving another letter claiming that someone had been paid $1,000 to write the Canuck Letter. The purported author, Paul Morrison of Deerfield Beach, Florida, was never found.

The discovery of the authorship of the letter is covered at length in the book and the film, All the President's Men.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canuck_Letter

see also Donald Segretti

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Segretti

Now, here is a fact I did not know

In 2000, Segretti served as co-chair of John McCain's presidential campaign in Orange County, California

[cynatnite]

11. Very informative...thank you...

I was a kid at the time, but what I've read about it struck me as completely underhanded and nasty. The repukes true colors are difficult to hide.

[defendandprotect]

13. Donald Segretti is often let off the hook at having engaged in petty little tricks ---

let me just say that was all more than 35 years ago and we're all still trying to figure out
how we have been so deeply hurt by simple petty tricks ---

They weren't --- they were harmful, criminal acts which distorted our elections and stole them !!!

And, they're almost 40 years ahead of us in "ratfucking" --- !!!

While Dems seem to just still sit and watch it happening!!!

[defendandprotect]

10. Because the Nixon White House set him up --- !!!

and that truth did finally come out ---

there is no place the right-wing disease has gotten to that they have won honestly --- !!!

[sandnsea]

14. Kerry wiped his eye in 2003

And they went on for days. I posted a picture of it the other day. I hope this is a one time incident.

[HughMoran]

15. He still to this day claims it was snow landing on his face

:shrug:

[Champion Jack]

16. I thought it was the Ibogaine

[OHdem10]

17. GWB has had tears and his eyes "well up" . He admits

I cry. There is nothing wrong with this. Men have been conditioned
to be more sensitive since then (Muskie's timee)

Guilliani admits he cries and there is nothing wrong with Hilary crying.

Grow up.