Why do people hate Hillary?

She's a trigger-happy hawk like Georgie boy.

How much time you got?

Well, I saw that 'upskirt' photo of hers online once and in a desperate attempt to cleanse myself of that sight and spare by eyes from any further infractions of that kind I scalded my face with boiling hot water. Not only can I not see anymore, but I swallowed some of the water as well considering I was screaming at the time and can only speak in gurgles as my tongue melted down into my throat. My lungs were badly damaged as well so I need an iron long and the constant care of eleven well-trained Swedish man-servants.

Does that answer your question?

Plus she's a broad.

I prefer 'skirt'. It doesn't even refer to them as a person, but as an article of clothing one would wear.

Yeah I always like skirt better too, classier sounding...but still more offensive.

I think people don't like her for the reason they don't like a lot of politicians. She's arrogant beyond belief.

1)A lot of people don't like her husband because he rocks.
2)She is hawkish, and also flip flops.
and the biggest one:
3)She represents the snoody, arrogant left-wing liberal that so much of Middle American hates.

Personally, I think she's alright. But, as I've stated before, Obama's got my support. I'd vote for any Democrat over a Republican though.

They hate her for the same reasons that they mildly dislike other politicians, but somehow, the fact that she's female intensifies their feelings tenfold. I mean, really, how is she any worse than at least half of Washington?

It's sort of related to how a man who sleeps around is a playboy, while a woman who sleeps around is a whore. Same behavior meeting different expectations.

Why is Greg David, like, the best fucking person here?

Seriously.

A complete list of every single thing that people could dig up about Hillary can be found here.

I don't dislike her because she's a woman. I dislike her because I have no clue exactly what she stands for. Is she a liberal, moderate or semi-conservative?

It wouldn't matter if she were a giraffe, she (along with Lieberman and others) is still in bed with Bush on the Iraq mess.

So is McCain. I have yet to see anybody declare their undying hatred of him.

John McCain is a contemptible travesty of a politician. He represents the same detestable problems we've faced over the past several years, but makes it turn somewhat disturbing, given the moderate image so often projected around him. Hatred is too strong a word for me to apply to most any living person, but I do despise that man. It's as close as I can give you.

Well that's better then.

I agree with your reluctance to use the word "hatred", actually. I have trouble understanding how anyone can hate a person they've never met. Bush does sorely test my stance on that, however.

Don't hate her but I certainly dislike her. I think the only thing she really stands for is herself. I think she's a name first and a public servant second. And what really irks me about her is the way she tries to pander to the family-values crowd she'll never ever get.

She simply reeks of everything that is wrong with politics. And while I think some might dislike her more because she's a woman, I find the same faults with John McCain. I am so terrified that she'll get the Democratic nomination so I'm really hoping that Obama takes her votes. He may be young but at least he's willing to be unpopular. Also, it seems like the best stuff neo-cons can throw at him is that his middle name is Hussein and his last name is almost Osama.

I don't know her deal enough to hate her, but since she is an American I dislike her by default unless she entertains me.

Anyone who belonged to the Black Panthers AND the Richard Nixon campaign can't have very strong beliefs in anything.

I agree about the not hating strangers thing, but this grumpybumpas is starting to (make me reconsider).

She didn't belong to the Black Panthers. She also didn't work on the Nixon campaign, but as a junior member on a Nixon impeachment inquiry staff of the House Judiciary Committee.

I'm not a huge fan of her for some of the same reasons many of you cite (the backing of the war, a seeming lack of scruples when it comes to political maneuvering, considerably less charisma than, say, her husband), and she certainly won't get my vote in the primary, but Greg David is absolutely right - the dislike may be political, but the hate is irrational misogynism shrouded in political.

Someone should write a book on Hillary Clinton and Courtney Love, because it's the exact same thing - women who make some of the same bad choices as their male counterparts, but who are slammed twice as hard and, quite often, in unapologetically sexist terms. It's not enough to criticize her politics, but her entire person, political or not, is taken to task. You don't hear McCain criticized for being unattractive, but it's pretty much a 50-50 shot that when an anti-Hillary screed pops up, you'll hear her referred to as an ugly bitch or hear her sexuality questioned.

Ah, I was misinformed. Wouldn't be the first time.

Fucking die. Please.

Well that was a spectacularly classy response on your part.

I think I deserve some credit for saying "please."

I think she could stand to be slightly more "human" and less "political". Everytime I hear her speak, it's a plea for some sort of vote. She's as phony as hell. We all have our least favorite Hillary moment, and mine is when she was addressing a mostly black audience and compared Washington's current political climate with a plantation.

I'm more of a Hilary Scott man myself.

A lot of it is good old fashioned misogyny. Some of it the normal disdain for a politician who seems to have no convictions until she/he consults a pollster. Her various stances on the war and her cozying up with the Religious Right seem like cynical attempts to appeal to the electorate for '08. This doesn't make her all that different from any number of people throwing hats into the ring this year. But because she is a woman, she is unfairly criticized more than her peers. She also draws unfavorable comparisons to her husband. She seems to be Bill Clinton without the charm and the apparent desire to actually serve, not just rule.

I don't believe she would be a bad president. She is uniquely qualified in a way no other in the field is qualified, having spent 8 years by her husband's side. She is smart and tough. But I think Obama, Gore (who is probably not going to run), and even Edwards are more electable in the primaries.

I'm just mourning the inevitable loss of Dick Morris as a source of shrewd political analysis for '08. He hates Hillary so much that every article or tv appearance from him will be "And Another Reason Hillary Is the Devil..."

Perhaps another thread should be created for this, but why isn't Al Gore running? The consensus seems to be that he's the most electable Dem out there.

She tried to take away our videogames.

I'm really curious about that myself. With Gore, it's probably lack of desire to go through the trauma of another national election. I think that 2000 took too much out of him. Winning the popular vote and losing the general election the way it happened? Kind of like how the 1972 US Olympic Basketball Team still refuses to accept their silver medals. Some hurts don't heal. But, he found his passion with global warming and can devote himself to that full-time. He also found his personality and a little fire in his belly. Oddly enough, he's never been more electable. It's rare to see a life-long politician at Gore's level with such a great chance of winning who's not interested in running.

Gore's a fine politician, but he's a) got no interest in running, and b) can we please get someone who doesn't have the stigma of the last fifteen years of political clusterfucking smeared all over them?

It's roughly the same rationale that Russ Feingold is using in not running - like Gore, he can do the greatest amount of good in his current position. I've heard Bill Clinton remark that the best thing about being out of the White House is being able to focus on the big issues that interest him personally instead of stretching himself thin by having to cover everything. There's a lot of merit in this type of thinking.

Maybe, but if the result is that we end up with a McCain/Hilary White House Race, I can't help but feel like the greater good screwed us.

Much of what has been said here, I agree with. She doesn't lead, she follows. At least from what I can tell. But I think its important to state that the left and the right dislike Hillary for very different reasons.

Personally, the idea of having Bush, Clinton, Bush, Clinton for president fills me with a quiet dread. Her close association with the "centrist" DLC is not a good thing. I mean Clinton was a good enough president and all that but I think we need something a far more transformational than a rehash of '90s politics after 8 years of the worst president ever.

I recall that during Clinton's presidency, Hiliary Clinton came under attack for attempting to work through an agenda (universal health care) on her husband's dime. In other words, people felt she was lording some unearned political sway over them.

The lingering hatred of her isn't fair and it's definitely sexist, but it's a fact and I agree that she is unelectable. But I am really glad she's throwing her hat in the race. I like that a woman is putting herself out there to be taken seriously for this post such that even if she doesn't win the nomination (she won't), her presence in the race may embolden some future woman candidate who may have a chance at winning the office.

What would be interesting to me would be an Obama/Hilary Clinton ticket. It could be similar to Bush/Cheney in that no one would want to unseat Obama if it meant being stuck with Clinton.

I agree also that Gore is the '08 president I most want -- but maybe it's the very fact that he doesn't want it that gives him the confidence to speak freely and honestly about those issues he's passionate about. Kind of sucks for us that he lost to a group of sleazy election-riggers.

I think that its probably a good thing that she's running as she is going to be a tough opponent for my preferred candidates to go up against. The down side, of course, is that she might win. I don't think she is completely unelectable though. Her biggest electoral problem is that everyone has already made up their mind about her.

He's a slimy sellout himself. 6 of one, half dozen of the other.

I actually love the fact that Hillary is feared as a shrewd, powerful woman, it's actually kind of endearing that so many people shrink at the idea that tucked neatly in her vagina is a huge pair of brass balls. As Camille Paglia said, she's kind of a bitch and I like her for that.

Yet as much as I would love to see a woman as Commander-In-Chief, as others have commented, I'm just not very enthusiastic about her politics.

Also, on Fox News, they made the poignant observation that Obama also sometimes opts not to wear a tie, just like.......Iranian pres Mahmoud Ahmadinejad!!!!

Actually, it was CNN:

...And that's the word. Seriously. Can anyone read that drivel and not hear Stephen Colbert's voice?

Jeff Greenfield needs to choke to death on semen.

I dunno...that was pretty hilarious.

Stephen should sue.

Damn liberal media.

That's interesting...I just read that Hillary is bypassing the public financing option and going completely private, which means she can collect and spend more than the $150 million cap on campaigns, ads, etc. Good thing she made all that money in cattle futures and real estate.

It's interesting that so many folks here think Hillary is unelectable. She has wooed and won many of the Senate's hard-line Republicans, proving that she can play with the big kids and get things done regardless of which party controls the legislature.

Her unwavering and knowledgeable support of the First Mountain Division has paid big dividends in the military community, going far to erase the gut-level aversion caused by the famed Clintonian slights of the first few months of the first Presidential term.

While she's lost some support among the left wing of her party, her tack to center has worked, overall. I think Hillary is very electable in '08, and I think that, at this early stage, a Clinton/Obama ticket sounds nearly unbeatable.

I hate to be cynical, but Clinton/Obama would be far from unbeatable, and it has nothing to do with their strength as candidates. It wouldn't matter if it was Mother Theresa/MLK, if you've got the first "real" woman and black guy on the ticket, you've got an uphill battle ahead of you.

As you mention, she lost a lot of support on the left due to her move to the center. I think her unelectability stems from this and from the ongoing irrational hatred from the right (and even somewhat on the left).

Now, I think you may be correct in that her... adaptable... political perspectives may have gained her some fans among the military and Republican political communities - the problem is that Joe Average Republican A. still hates her husband and B. is more likely to be one of those people I mentioned above who can't get past a gender-dependent double standard. Especially when you consider the religious fundamentalist element among the neo-cons who tend to frame political arguments in terms of good and evil, it's practically unthinkable that a few political concessions to the conservatives would gain Hillary a foothold on the right (or even the right-leaning middle) to make up for those she's lost on the left.

Why is that, exactly? I mean, black people and women are able to vote, after all. And Americans in general may find this ticket more appealing than whatever the Republican one turns out to be.

Considering how "red" upstate New York is, Hillary's popularity there is notable. Granted, there's a HUGE difference between a section of the country and the entire country itself, but I don't discount her ability to win over some voters in normally hostile territory. The question is, at what expense does she accomplish this and will it be enough?