February 04, 2008
Don't Cry For Me ...
Here we go again ... The eve of another major primary, with her chief rival surging, HRC offers up a fresh batch of tears. This photo was taken today in New Haven, CT, at the Yale Child Study Center.
What's a girl to think? Real, contrived? Does it help or hurt? You decide ...
Our campaign embed's report of the day's events and what prompted Ms. Misty ... after the jump.
(JENNIFER SKALKA)
NEW HAVEN, Feb. 4 -- The day before 22 states hold the closest thing to a national primary anyone has seen, Hillary Clinton's first public event was a small roundtable with 11 women.
It was at the Yale Child Study Center where the senator worked during law school. (As the event began, the audience was reminded that the university does not endorse candidates.) The crowd gave a standing ovation when the senator walked in.
"Oh this is so nostalgic," Clinton said.
Penn Rhodeen, Clinton's supervisor during her time at the center, introduced the senator, hailing her work on behalf of children. He seemed to get a little choked up as he spoke, saying she had always been and would always be a champion for children. After he spoke, Clinton joked that she had said she wouldn't tear up, but that already it wasn't looking good. Her eyes had misted up a bit, but there were no actual tears.
She spent several minutes reminiscing about her arrival at Yale in 1969, her work for the Children's Defense Fund and on education and healthcare reform in Arkansas, before opening up the floor to a discussion with the women whose concerns focused on healthcare, daycare, mental health, housing issues and jobs.
Clinton talked about her plan for universal health care and asked the participants to share their concerns.
"People talk about small businesses being the engine of the economy, but we're stuck," said Lynne Kudzy, a small business owner from Stamford. "I can't grow this company the way I want to and the real force that's keeping me from growing is the cost of healthcare."
Clinton called universal health coverage the morally and economically right thing to do.
About an hour into the event, the senator had a cough attack and briefly lost her voice, which has been weak in recent days. She told an audience in Minnesota Sunday that she had been talking a lot and sleeping very little.
The senator was able to regain her voice later on and spent some time toward the end taking questions from the audience. She talked about child care issues and the sense of guilt she sometimes felt as she tried to balance work and family, while plugging her plan for universal pre-kindergarten programs.
The timing of the event seemed odd, considering it was the day before contests in so many states. Her campaign said the forum had focused on issues that were a major theme of her campaign and that this was part of the conversation with voters she said she wanted to have at the beginning of her campaign.
Her campaign said she'd spent the early part of the morning doing radio interviews and was headed to Worcester, MA and Boston later in the day and then to New York for a Letterman taping and a virtual, multi-state town hall.
(NBC/NJ's ATHENA JONES)
Posted at 02:19 PM
Comments
Why does this woman only cry when she is ebbing in the polls? A few tears for the fine New York men and wqomen killed in Iraq would be appreciated.
ahs | 02.04.08 02:43 PM
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This is so typical of the Clintons. Their "do anything to get elected" is really getting old. Anyone who believes this was a genuine "emotional moment" for Hillary, obviously has not paid attention to her actions over the years. I'll never forget her reaction when President Bush addressed the Congress and nation after 9/11. She looked bored and kept making comments to those around her during the President's address. Where were the tears then? Most of the people that died on that day were her constituents for God's sake! Get real people! Hillary Clinton is a cold and calculating political animal who will do anything to obtain the power she feels she rightly deserves. Why else would she have routinely defended Bill’s predatory behavior towards women if it were not a means to an end?
Chris | 02.04.08 03:08 PM
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She knows she's going to win tomorrow. It's the rest of the country that ought to be crying!
just me | 02.04.08 03:12 PM
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What fresh hell is this? Please explain exactly what is the point of this story.
Penn Rhodeen gave her a nice tribute and they both choked up. What is wrong with you people?
You need to read Stanley Fish in today's NY Times:
Compared to this, the Swift Boat campaign against John Kerry was a model of objectivity. When the heading of a section of the “Hillary File” reads “Have the Clintons ever murdered anyone?” — and it turns out to be a rhetorical question like “Is the Pope Catholic?” — you know that you’ve entered cuckooland....Everyone blames her for what her husband does or for what he doesn’t do. (This is what the compound “Billary” is all about.) If she answers questions aggressively, she is shrill. If she moderates her tone, she’s just play-acting. If she cries, she’s faking. If she doesn’t, she’s too masculine. If she dresses conservatively, she’s dowdy. If she doesn’t, she’s inappropriately provocative.
Give it a rest.
corinne | 02.04.08 03:27 PM
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"Why does this woman only cry when she is ebbing in the polls? A few tears for the fine New York men and wqomen killed in Iraq would be appreciated."
QFT. how contrived.
jtk | 02.04.08 03:28 PM
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I'm getting sick and tired of all the haters accusing her of faking it. Get off her back.
MB | 02.04.08 03:54 PM
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We just want her off of our back, that's it. It is ridiculous to think that she cannot control her emotions in public on the days when her presidential ambitions are fading. Other women and men have been in the same situations before, being complimented by their supporters, winning or losing elections and in other emotionally charged moments, and haven't acted like this. How is she going to run the country when an international crisis comes up? Cry and run to Bill to fix it?
Nick | 02.04.08 04:44 PM
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I think it is sad when all people have to do is criticize EVERY thing another person does. It's a shame that all the perfect people in America didn't choose to run for president.
SP | 02.04.08 04:46 PM
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I am in no way a Hillary supporter, but Last time I was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt that her emotions were genuine. She believed at the time that she would lose New Hampshire, and years of planning would all be for naught. However, this repeat performance is too cute by half. I don't know whether the first time was, in fact, a calculated ploy, which she is using again now, or if, after seeing the effects of her genuine tears in New Hampshire and she is trying to replicate them. Either way, I don't believe for one moment that she is being genuine this time.
Ben | 02.04.08 04:58 PM
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Is there something wrong with crying?
SP | 02.04.08 05:01 PM
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I don't get this. I want to begin by saying I am voting for Obama tomorrow but why do people think that everything she does is manipulative? This woman has spent her life trying to help this country, particularly the poor and underprivileged. Does she want to win the election? Of course! Does she have real feelings? Of course!
chuck | 02.04.08 05:25 PM
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she choked up for a second. what is wrong with you hillary haters? whatever happened to the 'politics of hope?' Guess it's just meaningless platitudes...
Eli | 02.04.08 05:36 PM
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No, there's nothing wrong with crying. But apparently there's something wrong with being a woman. As for your fears that she'll fall apart in a crisis, there isn't anyone else you'd want at your side in a crisis. She's tough, she's smart, and she cares. And she's an achiever. And there isn't anyone else running for president who has the experience and the training to do this job. Apparently there's something wrong with being a woman. How hard these many people are working to discredit her, shred her at every turn, and yes, even stone her if they can.
Mandelay | 02.04.08 05:41 PM
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I certainly don't care if she genuinely cries. My concern is whether she is being genuine.
Ben | 02.04.08 05:42 PM
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I am a Hillary supporter, but I have a feeling that because of the way this episode is being portrayed in the national media ("Hillary Crying Again Before Big Vote"), this could have the opposite effect as in New Hampshire. The group of women who were moved to vote for Hillary because of tears before are probably already in her column. This will only motivate the anti-Hillary vote to get out and prevent what happened in New Hampshire from happening again. Not good.
Annie | 02.04.08 06:04 PM
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I was supporting Thompson. He lost, didn't make it, came to the podium and said so; end of the story. What is this crying business all about? Why didn't she get emotional and cry when she won NH and NV? Why didn't she get emotional and cry when her husband was getting bj's in the oval office? She is tough, but she can't handle losing a primary? And I highly doubt she will, it looks like she is again in the business of lowering expectations for tomorrow.
I am worried she will have to overcompensate for her emotions, by bombing other countries and starting wars, if she becomes the prez.
Nick | 02.04.08 08:43 PM
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JEEZ, ARE YOU ALL THAT STUPID? HILLARY DIDN'T WIN N.H. BECAUSE OF A FEW TEARS. GIVE N.H. VOTERS MORE CREDIT THAN THAT. SHE WON BECAUSE THEY LIKED HER APPROACH TO THE ISSUES THAT ARE IMPORTANT TO THEM. SHE WAS EMOTIONAL TODAY BECAUSE SHE WAS AT YALE, HER ALMA MATER, AND RECEIVED ACCOLADES FROM FORMER PROFESSORS AND FRIENDS. GET A GRIP MORONS! GO HILLARY!!!
NURSERATCHET | 02.04.08 11:30 PM
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Are you people ignorant?? She still holds a hefty lead in the majority of the Super Tues states, by an average of 8.5 points!! She doesn't need to cry for votes! You people are just trying to come up w/ any excuse to flame her! You ever stop to think that this hard-nosed woman, playing politics in a predominantly man's world might have some emotion? Face it, the lotta-hot-aired, rhetorical poems of Obama are just not quite enough to sway enough voters to his camp. Go Hillary!
treborjant | 02.05.08 04:07 AM
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Are you people ignorant?? She still holds a hefty lead in the majority of the Super Tues states, by an average of 8.5 points!! She doesn't need to cry for votes! You people are just trying to come up w/ any excuse to flame her! You ever stop to think that this hard-nosed woman, playing politics in a predominantly man's world might have some emotion? Face it, the lotta-hot-aired, rhetorical poems of Obama are just not quite enough to sway enough voters to his camp. Go Hillary!
treborjant | 02.05.08 04:08 AM
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How sad that you feel a need to report this. America's political msm is what most of us are crying over.
First, I don't see a single tear, nor did I see a single tear in New Hampshire.
Next, it's not the emotions that drive voters to the polls after this kind of reporting -- it's the friggin' bias of the reporting!
If you think this emotion is fake and you don't want it to "work" DON'T REPORT IT!!!
I personally don't think it's fake so this kind of column drives me to Hillary's defense. This is petty, shallow, mindless journalism at its very worst.
Does the media want this meme to turn out something like, "Al Gore said he invented the internet"?
Because, of course, (1) Al Gore never said that, and (2) Al Gore actually did pretty much invent the internet as we know it today.
And... then we got the Miserable Failure for President... the one who the media all wanted to go have a beer with.
And, p.s., FACT is, Hillary Clinton hasn't cried yet. But, for whatever reason, the friggin' media sure keeps telling us she did!
Gag.
Jan | 02.05.08 06:10 AM
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why don't you ask her about why everyone tied into white water keeps coming up dead. How can she explain her involvement in white water.
buddy | 04.24.08 04:21 PM
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why don't you ask her about why everyone tied into white water keeps coming up dead. How can she explain her involvement in white water.
buddy | 04.24.08 04:22 PM
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