Tom Hayden writing in The Nation: Why Hillary Makes My Wife Scream

[flpoljunkie]

Why Hillary Makes My Wife Scream

by TOM HAYDEN

posted online on April 22, 2008

My wife Barbara has begun yelling at the television set every time she hears Hillary Clinton. This is abnormal behavior, since Barbara is a meditative practitioner of everything peaceful and organic, and is inspired by Barack Obama's transformational appeal.

For Barbara, Hillary has become the screech on the blackboard. From First Lady to Lady Macbeth.

It's getting to me as well. Last year, I was somewhat reconciled to the prospect of supporting and pressuring Hillary as the nominee amidst the rising tide of my friends who already hated her, irrationally I thought. I was one of those people Barack accuses of being willing to settle. I even had framed a flattering autographed message from Hillary. But as the campaign has gone on and on, her signed portrait still leans against the wall in my study. I don't know where she belongs anymore.

At least Hillary was a known quantity in my life. I knew of the danger of her becoming more and more hawkish as she tried to break the ultimate glass ceiling. I also knew that she could be forced to change course if public opinion was fiercely opposed to the war. And I knew she was familiar with radical social causes from her own life experience in the sixties. So my progressive task seemed clear: help build an antiwar force powerful enough to make it politically necessary to end the war. Been there, done that. And in the process, finally put a woman in the White House. A soothing bonus.

But as the Obama campaign gained momentum, Hillary began morphing into the persona that has my pacifist wife screaming at the television set.

Going negative doesn't begin to describe what has happened. Hillary is going over the edge. Even worse are the flacks she sends before the cameras on her behalf, like that Kiki person, who smirks and shakes her head at the camera every time she fields a question. Or the real carnivores, like Howard Wolfson, Lanny Davis and James Carville, whose sneering smugness prevents countless women like my wife from considering Hillary at all.

To use the current terminology, Hillary people are bitter people, even more bitter than the white working-class voters Barack has talked about. Because they circle the wagons so tightly, they don't recognize how identical, self-reinforcing and out-of-touch they are.

more...

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080505/hayden

[GarbagemanLB]

1. I will refrain from any jokes.

[ej510]

3. I feel the same way!

"Hillary has become the screech on the blackboard."

[Yael]

9. I think you may have missed the obvious one in the title

[truedelphi]

88. Heh! Heh!

[featherman]

23. As with Bush and Pat Buchanan, I now press the MUTE button when

Hillary Clinton begins to speak on television. Sorry. I can hardly believe it myself but... this is what it has come to for someone who once loved, admired, and doggedly defended Bill and Hillary Clinton.

[TwilightGardener]

55. Yep. I can't hit the Mute fast enough.

[cyndensco]

72. I can only watch her on the Daily Show

or Colbert - same as it has been with bush for the last 7+ years.

[DrZeeLit]

60. OMG... she came on the radio Wed morning, NPR, and i SLAMMED at the button

She makes me .... arghhhhh!
Her voice.
Her chipmunk face.

Ewwwww.

Please, Mommy, make her stop!

[QC]

48. Good idea. n/t

[joeybee12]

2. He never shoujld have let Jane get away...he needed her money...

...he's really nothing without it.

[ej510]

7. Hillary went from a heroine to a hack!

[EFerrari]

14. Are you so clueless? Hayden is one awesome progressive

that works in many areas, most notably, against the death penalty -- in which America leads the world with Saudi Arabia, China, Congo, and Iran.

[Kurovski]

29. *whuuuump!*

Another one under there, checking the transmission.

[krkaufman]

32. chuckle. n/t

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

96. A lift kit would come in handy.

:patriot:

[Kurovski]

101. Hey, yeah. Then more could get crammed under there.

And there will be more.

[QC]

66. It was only a few months ago that Hayden was an irrelevant old fossil:

As Obama said just last November:

“The Democrats have been stuck in the arguments of Vietnam,” he said to me on the campaign plane, “which means that either you’re a Scoop Jackson Democrat or you’re a Tom Hayden Democrat and you’re suspicious of any military action. And that’s just not my framework.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/04/magazine/04obama-t.html?_r=2&ref=magazine&oref=login&oref=slogin

Amazing what a difference five months can make.

[RaleighNCDUer]

85. That comment did not infer irrelevancy.

Merely the epitome of the pacifist against the epitome of the Democratic war hawk.

[flpoljunkie]

45. You sound bitter.

[joeybee12]

57. No, I just recall all three votes he got when he ran for Mayor of LA...

...he didn't have Jane's money anymore, and got nowhere.

[cyndensco]

73. Maybe he only received three votes when he ran for mayor

but it seems a lot of us agree with his wife.....

[joeybee12]

77. And a lot of us don't...I just wonder why the wife of a miserable failure

gets so much attention?

[truedelphi]

89. I doubt Hayden is miserable

He lives in a beautiful part of the world, he seems happy with his wife (when she is not screaming abt Hillary) and he got an awful lot of mileage out of the Sixties.

He could have done far worse.

[madaboutharry]

67. He was cheating on her.

Fonda wrote about it in her autobiography and went on to lament that she didn't marry the actor James Franciscus because he wasn't exciting enough. Oh, the choices we make.....

[Barrymores Ghost]

76. Brilliant riposte.

Seriously. That was an ad hominem for the ages.

[mntleo2]

92. He cheated on Jane, he'll cheat on her, no wonder she screams ...

[ossman]

4. Mine screams at her too.

[flpoljunkie]

46. Nice to know somehow feels the same way about "that Kiki person..."

Going negative doesn't begin to describe what has happened. Hillary is going over the edge. Even worse are the flacks she sends before the cameras on her behalf, like that Kiki person, who smirks and shakes her head at the camera every time she fields a question. Or the real carnivores, like Howard Wolfson, Lanny Davis and James Carville, whose sneering smugness prevents countless women like my wife from considering Hillary at all.

[Blue Gardener]

90. James Carville is the worst

I really admired him years ago, now I can't stand the sight of him.

[LakeSamish706]

5. I tell ya that post reflects my exact feelings... Could never have put it into words like this. n/t

[ChimpersMcSmirkers]

6. There should be an FDA warning about the Cackle...

[krkaufman]

33. Or FCC, perhaps? n/t

[Oleladylib]

8. Who the Hell really cares?

[Yael]

10. I am going to miss you.

Truly.

[jazzjunkysue]

22. AAAAHHHHH!!!!!

:rofl:

[FrenchieCat]

11. You are right, because when it comes down to it, the truth is ........

[Cha]

18. Wow..amazing

"hilary Cannot Win" graphic.

[dailykoff]

12. She is an inspiration

to bitter haters everywhere.

[Skittles]

79. Mrs. Hayden?

she certainly is

[merh]

13. ...

To use the current terminology, Hillary people are bitter people, even more bitter than the white working-class voters Barack has talked about. Because they circle the wagons so tightly, they don't recognize how identical, self-reinforcing and out-of-touch they are.

[Upton]

15. Hayden is right

Clinton has become a warmongering Repub lite.

[debunkthelies]

97. Hillzilla Is...

starting to morph into Lieberman, she doesn't care how, or who she has to stomp on she WILL WIN or else!:nuke:

[undeterred]

16. "Hillary people are bitter people,

even more bitter than the white working-class voters Barack has talked about. Because they circle the wagons so tightly, they don't recognize how identical, self-reinforcing and out-of-touch they are."

Well, I can't say it any better than that.

[Cha]

17. I'm not in these demographics but

they can count me in because hilary did create this reality.

"And follow it up with another message: if Clinton doesn't immediately cease her path of destruction, millions of young voters and black voters may not send checks, may not knock on doors, and may not even vote for her if she becomes the nominee. That's not a threat, that's the reality she is creating."

[Strelnikov_]

19. Hayden nailed it n/t

[Strelnikov_]

20. Oh, also, remember the 2 min. manufactured outrage a few months ago when Obama was accused

of dissing 60's activists.

Now he is the target of a 2 min. manufactured outrage for having contacts with a 60's radical.


Strange days.

[jazzjunkysue]

21. Here's the money line:

"It is abundantly clear that the Clintons, working with FOX News and manipulating old Clinton staffers like George Stephanopoulos, are trying, at least unconsciously, to so damage Barack Obama that he will be perceived as "unelectable" to Democratic superdelegates. It is also clear that the campaign of defamation against Obama has resulted in higher negative ratings for Hillary Clinton. She therefore is threatening the Democratic Party's chances for the White House, whether or not she is the nominee."

[H2O Man]

41. Yep.

You are right.

[Unbowed]

24. Hillary is starting a syndrome.

There will probably be a name for the screaming at the television she inspires.

Name that syndrome...

[Kurovski]

30. Rodham Abreaction Tourettes.

[Unbowed]

44. Tourettes, ain't it the truth!

My language certainly takes on a new level of profanity when she appears on my TV screen.

[alphafemale]

35. Hadditt Upwitgh Aldatt syndrome nt

[Unbowed]

43. Hehe.

Yup, think I've got that one.

[QC]

52. It's Clinton Derangement Syndrome.

It was once limited mostly to freepers but has become increasingly common among their counterparts on the left.

[BREMPRO]

25. She's the screeching chalkboard to me now everytime i hear her voice.

I used to respect her, but I can't stand her anymore. Her pursuit of the nomination at this point is futile and exasperating- degenerating into negative scorched-earth, pandering, self-contradictary, desperate, divisive, dishonest, fear-mongering, corporate, self-centered politics. And what about those CRAXZXY unblinking eyes while threatening to Nuke Iran into Total Obliteration?! This is not a Democrat. Please Step aside.

[Raine]

26. Interesting...

THANKS for posting this.

[JMDEM]

27. Damn -- I posted a thread 2 days ago about fingernails on a chalkboard...

"For Barbara, Hillary has become the screech on the blackboard."

Damn -- I posted a thread 2 days ago about fingernails on a chalkboard...

As predictable, I got called sexist.

In all honesty I also said I couldn't stand Hillary's cackle and smirks. Maybe there was something sexist about "cackle" or "smirk".

[Kurovski]

28. K&R (nt)

[hfojvt]

31. We scream because we hate her

We hate her because (from the article)

"It is also clear that the campaign of defamation against Obama has resulted in higher negative ratings for Hillary Clinton. She therefore is threatening the Democratic Party's chances for the White House, whether or not she is the nominee."

[FrenchieCat]

34. I don't know why this is clear to all looking.

[alphafemale]

36. If she's NOT the nominee the she WANTS to damage the party's nominee.

It's beyond obvious.

[cyndensco]

74. And just sitting back and waiting for 2012

Like she did in 2004

[Barrymores Ghost]

78. I don't hate her...

...I just want her to stop, listen, and consider putting her party and her country before herself and her ego.

Of course, I'm operating under the assumption that she's actually a Democrat who actually still cares about her country.

[ClayZ]

37. K and R

[Why Syzygy]

38. kick! Simpatico.

Now I feel a bit better for losing it over Hillary in my meditative group :blush:

[oasis]

39. Tom who? (eom)

[nichomachus]

49. Those who don't know history are condemned to repeat it n/t

[QC]

50. Jane Fonda's ex. Obama once used him as an example

of the kind of old thinking our party should stop paying any attention to.

“The Democrats have been stuck in the arguments of Vietnam,” he said to me on the campaign plane, “which means that either you’re a Scoop Jackson Democrat or you’re a Tom Hayden Democrat and you’re suspicious of any military action. And that’s just not my framework.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/04/magazine/04obama-t.html?_r=1&ref=magazine&oref=login

[oasis]

62. Oh, that Tom Hayden, thanks. At least Hayden concedes that his present wife is

just as relevant as he.

[H2O Man]

40. Outstanding.

This is one of the most important articles that I've read on the democratic primary.

Nominated.

[Scurrilous]

42. K & R

:thumbsup:

[PA Democrat]

47. "She is running against what she might have become."

"It is as if Hillary Clinton is engaged in a toxic transmission onto Barack Obama of every outrageous insult and accusation ever inflicted on her by the American right over the decades. She is running against what she might have become. Too much politics dries the soul of the idealist."

Recommended.

[yardwork]

51. It's easy to make fun of Tom Hayden

but he's right about this.

[bbgrunt]

53. funny how she induces the same reaction in me that b* does.

[redqueen]

54. Wow... thanks for posting this.

[BlooInBloo]

56. Don't forget Fox-promoter McAuliffe!

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

58. So does my wife. With rather colorful profanities included.

And, good ex-catholic that she is, they can be extremely colorful when it comes to Hilly or Billy.

[AtomicKitten]

59. Me too.

:hi:

[sofa king]

61. Hey Freeper lurkers! Guess who Tom Hayden's EX-wife is!

Jane Fonda


Ha ha ha. I just made some freeper poop his right wing authoritarian pants.

[RaleighNCDUer]

86. LOL

[1trackmindGOP]

63. Comes to mind everytime!

I use to love the Clinton's...now every time I hear them on TV foul thoughts come to mind and many times slips out from my lips.

You can see the evil in her eyes and certainly you can hear it pour out from her mouth and body language...just as in the debate, you could see her rotten smirk as she stuck her finger in Obama's wounds after he was hammered by ABC and National Constitution Center that she and hubby are board members of, by the way...do you think maybe they had a little sway on the debate format and sniper agenda...I do.

The Clinton's are dead to me...I will never cast another vote for a Clinton as long as I live. By the way...didn't Clinton say special interest and lobbyist are useful and deserve to have a say...yeah and they certainly have had a large say in the last 8 years and you see where we are today...No thanks Hill...go away and join your buddy Lieberman...the Democrat who is not.

[Baby Snooks]

64. The reality

A growing number of people in this country who are Democrats simply will not support her and certainly no Republican will. They will always be polite and politically correct about George W Bush but reality is that if Madame Speaker had put impeachment on the table, the switchboard at the Capitol would have been swamped with calls to the Republicans by angry constituents demanding they vote for impeachment and conviction of both Bush and Cheney. They are fed up with the war and what it has cost all of us in terms of the human lives lost on both sides in a war that cannot be justified and never could be justified and with the enormous national debt they realize their children and grandchildren will be stuck with. They have panic attacks every time they pull up to the pump at the gas station or look at the prices at the grocery store. They are setting the thermostat higher in the summer and lower in the winter and still going into shock every time the light and gas bill arrives. They are doing without as well. And they, too, are bitter.

The Republicans look at Hillary Clinton and listen to Hillary Clinton and see and hear what they've heard for the past eight years.

If we are going to have another Bush in the White House we might as well have a Republican instead of a Democrat as someone put it the other day in a very heated discussion with someone who thinks Hillary Clinton is the Messiah. She is not the Messiah. She is Messalina. Given time, she will devour Bill as well as herself.

[Cleita]

65. Thank you Tom.

I miss you as my Congressman. I wish you'd move up the coast here and run here in my district so we can finally get the freeper out of office that we have right now.

[AdamSC]

68. My PhD wife...

...and I tried to like Hillary. We have been following her Health Care reform efforts very closely for a couple of years now. We were prepared for her to be the nominee and we were willing to support her.

Not any longer.

My wife cringes everytime she hears Hillary speak. Sometimes Hillary's political role-playing becomes so frustratingly farcical it makes me want to spit blood at my TV. Now that Hillary seems determined to play the gender card, my wife has lost all respect for her...me too.

[GoneOffShore]

69. Thanks for the post

:kick: & Rec'd.

[nolabels]

70. Moral of the story, never get involved with a "meditative practitioner"

Sooner or later there bound to snap :-)

[Beacool]

71. More platitudes from the left wing of the party

that has always hated the Clintons anyway. Well, guess what? Most Americans are centrists and THAT's the reason why Bill was the only Dem. to win a reelection since FDR. The left hates the Clintons with as much passion as the right. Suffice it to enter this board to see the myriad of nasty posts against Hillary and her supporters.

So, more bla, bla, bla, from the left doesn't really mean much to the rest of us who consider ourselves moderates.

[cyndensco]

75. I think many of us who find hillary repulsive now

actually did support the clintons at one time. I know I did. Her recent actions, however, are so over-the-top she has lost all credibility. It is terrible when you feel you are ENTITLED to something, become aware it is not a sure thing, become desperate, and throw the kitchen sink at anyone who dare get in your way.

[HockeyMom]

80. I voted for her as my Senator

I decided to look elsewhere for a Presidential candidate. I decided on Obama. Until very recently, I went along with the idea that if my preferred candidate lost, I would go with Hillary as our nominee in the GE.

Hillary's primary camagian has changed all that. I have never seen her act this way during her Senate run or her term in the Senate. I have gotten to the point where I simply cannot stand to see or hear her. I shut her off; just the same as I have been shutting off our Soon to be Departed Great Leader of this Country for years.

Actually, now that I think about it, I now feel about the same her as I feel about him.

Not my fault. SHE DID THIS ALL ON HER OWN. I cannot vote for someone like this.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

84. The activist left wing were some...

of the strongest Clinton supporters when the shit went down, even though Clinton had not given them much during his term. That wacky left-wing group MoveOn was freakin' formed to stop the impeachment of Bill Clinton -- I should know, I was one of the first signers of original MoveOn impeachment petition. Even most women's group held their tongues and refused to chatise/condemn Bill Clinton for an innapropriate workplace sexual relationship.

Hillary has brought this on all herself with her IWR & Kyl votes, dirty polticing, and dangerous statements about obliterating Iran.

[RaleighNCDUer]

87. I voted for Bill twice, and supported both Bill and Hillary

long after the so-called centrists threw them under the bus for the Monica nonsense.

It wasn't until Bill failed to go to bat for Gore that I started to waver. Then, when the DLC agenda became clear to me, and the Clintons refused to acknowledge the electoral theft in Georgia, then undercut our candidates in 04, I was done with them.

The "far left" has been swallowing its pride and voting for less than ideal candidates for decades - but when the 'wrong' candidate gets the nomination WE don't become Reagan Democrats. IOW, throw away the Democratic progressive left and you have no fucking party. Just a bunch of dilletants who may or may not vote Democratic depending on how the wind blows.

I would say "try winning an election without us", but then, you wouldn't care because you'd be just as content with a republican.

Armadillo.

[jonestonesusa]

91. It might mean something to moderates and the Clintons alike

if not enough progressives volunteer and turn out for the GE if Clinton is the nominee. Since the least inspiring election season in political memory, Clinton/Dole in '96, I started calling myself a Democratic-leaning progressive rather than a Democrat. At least now we have a DNC that has respect for its left-leaning voters that, in fact, have contributed lots of dollars, time, and energy to the party's national resurgence since Saint Bill Clinton left office in 2000.

But if HRC loses the nomination and democratic "moderates" are missing her so much, they can still have the Iraq War if they vote for McCain.

[David Zephyr]

81. K&R.

:kick:

[Political Heretic]

82. Not normally a TV yeller, but last night when I saw Hillary talk about leading the popular vote

...in the most stupefying display of total bullshit I've ever seen, I was yelling pretty loud.

I know everyone will just think I'm an Obama supporter, so that's predictable blah blah blah. But honesty, she offends me on a much deeper level. I am insulted by politicians who lie with such audacity and outrageousness because they THINK SO LITTLE OF THE PUBLIC and believe we're so fucking stupid that it will actually work.

That offends me.

[SammyWinstonJack]

83. Funny thing is Obama does the same for me. I find myself screaming at the tv when he comes on.

Absolutely can not stand the man.

[jeff30997]

93. "her portrait still leans against the wall in my study. I don't know where she belongs anymore"

How about the bathroom? She would be very inspiring there.

[Darth_Kitten]

94. No wonder why Jane divorced him..........

:eyes:

Wow, the reactions when a woman is well, relentless and tough. Like ANY male politician.

[Faygo Kid]

95. "Ya know. . .(cackle)" . . . Yep, drives my daughter nuts, too.

Drop the BS sing-song voice, Hillary.

Gawd, she is transparent. Drives the women in my life nuts, too. They are sensitized, and won't listen to Bush, either. They hear the same kind of inauthenticity with Hillary.

[Hardrada]

100. I thought that was some kind of WW1 gas mask at first.

That would be somehow appropriate!

[barack the house]

98. I feel her pain the whole race is a kind of horror movienow.

[barack the house]

99. Wisestwe avoid taggin and labelling Hillary supporters.It will be time to sweet talk before long to

get them back.