Does the media pump-up of Hillary's laugh remind anyone else of the big Gore sighing story?

[DeepModem Mom]

Here we go again. I'm an Obama supporter, but I see this as an indication of what's in store for any of our Dem candidates -- molehills made into election-determining mountains.

[MethuenProgressive]

1. It's a big DU issue, not a big MSM one.

They've moved on. We haven't.

[wyldwolf]

4. I was about to post something similar. Thanks.

[DeepModem Mom]

7. Actually, I posted because I just saw two pieces about it on the NYT...

most-blogged list -- and DeepModem Dad heard it this morning, which means it was on either NPR radio or ABC TV.

[redqueen]

23. You sure? They had a panel of Hillary supporters on one of the morning shows

discussing the laugh as a response tactic... that was THE topic.

:crazy:

[Forkboy]

43. Actually, I've seen it talked about on three different shows, and I don't even have cable.

But I agree with the OP.

[oberliner]

57. Slate: Bwah-Ha-Ha! What's with Hillary's laugh?

http://www.slate.com/id/2174397/nav/tap3/

[DeepModem Mom]

59. Oh, boy. There's another one. nt

[movonne]

2. How about the Dean scream...

[flvegan]

3. Yep, that's what I was thinking.

[DeepModem Mom]

8. That, too -- exactly! Thanks for the reminder. nt

[gorekerrydreamticket]

12. Yep....

[Pirate Smile]

5. I was thinking that exact thing this morning.

[durrrty libby]

6. The small, petty and desperate enjoy biting themselves in the ass.

[librechik]

9. They like Hillary. They want her to run so they can gang rape her in the general

they're keeping their powder dry.

We're the only ones objecting to the bizarre laughing maneuver. A good laugh if sincere is devastating. Most of Hill's just sound forced.

[Lerkfish]

16. ewww to that analogy

[riona]

10. MSM presidential qualifications

No sweaters, moles, laughing, sighs, expensive haircuts, cleavage, short stature, weight problems, French heritage, .........

[DeepModem Mom]

11. Good one -- and true! And I'll bet we could add to your list. nt

[Cha]

17. Especially the SHORT..man you're really

gonna be in trouble if you're Short.

Now, if you're a lying, hypocritical, fascist sleazebum then you're the US's mediadarling.

[Lerkfish]

13. actually, I was thinking it was more akin to the "dean scream" thingy

There are a lot of very valid reasons to criticize Clinton's stand on war and her health plan. I don't understand why the laugh thing has any legs.

[DeepModem Mom]

15. Yep, the "Dean scream" is definitely akin. nt

[asjr]

14. The media have become a collective

George Will or Rush Limbaugh--pompous and ego-driven.

[Lerkfish]

18. yeah, sort of like THIS collective

[Adelante]

19. I don't actually get the laugh thing

Her laugh hasn't ever bothered me. But, yes, it's exactly like the Gore Sigh and the Dean Scream.

[Danieljay]

20. Two words: Howard Dean. n/t

[applegrove]

21. I think the laugh is great when she gets a loaded question. Why not

laugh - she knows where she is: in the middle of a campaign - so why not laugh. Her other choices would be to frown, yawn, earnestly reply as if she really wants to please whoever is interviewing her, etc. The laugh is great. And it gives her a little time to respond.

[DeepModem Mom]

24. I know! When she laughed at Chris Wallace during the Fox interview...

it became a great YouTube video.

[JDPriestly]

26. Do you laugh with her?

If her laugh does not draw you in and cause you to laugh with her, it harms her campaign and is bound to cause people to dislike her. It is great for a candidate to laugh if the laugh makes the candidate sound humble and human and causes the listener to smile and feel close to the candidate. But Hillary's laugh is brittle, harsh and puts distance between herself and the listener. It is a defensive laugh. It reflects Hillary's inner state which is not at peace with what she is doing. Her laugh is giving her away.

Dean's scream was an expression of frustration. It was easy to use it to alienate people from Dean. Hillary's laugh is much, much worse.

We want a fighter, but we want the fighter to be fighting FOR us, FOR the American people. Hillary's laugh alienates her from us. It does not cause us to feel she is fighting on our side. We do not feel in sync with her. Hillary should not laugh AT her interviewer no matter how stupid the question. If she is angry she should express it in a way that brings us to her side.

Watch Edwards. He has been talking to juries for years. He knows how to bring people to his side. It is probably a very natural talent. The master of all masters at bringing people to his side is Gerry Spence also a famous trial lawyer. Bill Clinton was good at it too. It is a matter of uniting in spirit with the listener. That is where respect for others comes from. If you listen carefully, you will realize that Hillary's laugh is a laugh of disdain. It is not just a trivial thing. It shows Hillary's inner, spiritual state, which will prevent her from winning the trust and love of the American people. She lacks humility. You can tell the extent of a person's humility from their laughter. It may change from moment to moment. Hillary has displayed her laugh on quite a few occasions. Too often, it is this cackle that puts a disdainful distance between herself and the listener.

I am posting a lot about this laugh because I do not want Democrats to overlook its significance. It is as if Hillary is showing that, under her pink suit, she is wearing stiletto shoes, leather and carried a whip. We want a fighter. We want a strong candidate, but we want someone who fights in the right way, who wins people over to her fight, hopefully even some who have disagreed with her. Hillary is not the best candidate out there, not by any means. We can do better.

[riqster]

27. Dean was not frustrated

He was exhilarated. Go and watch the clip, without the crowd noise being edited out.

[polichick]

36. Yes, exhilarated and simply trying to be heard...

I was in a couple of those crowds listening to Dean ~ it was almost impossible to hear him above the screaming of hopeful, happy people.

[riqster]

37. Which proves my point about over-emphasizing trivial mannerisms

We can, and do, interpret such things according to our own prejudices. Therefore, they are worthless in assessing a candidate. We must not fall into the trap of acting like the Reeps and their MSM.

[JDPriestly]

49. Here is why I dislike Hillary

Watch this whole video. And now that we know there were no WMDs, Hillary has never really apologized for her vote and the lives and treasure it has cost.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8185038237608117009&q=code+pink+hillary&total=1174&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=1

She was so certain she was right -- and she was wrong. We do not need another president who is so certain and stubborn even when so wrong.

[DeepModem Mom]

51. Sorry, I'm just dropping in, and haven't followed this line of discussion --

but how has it come to liking or not liking Hillary? My OP is about destroying any of our candidates with hit jobs about nonsense. Who is your candidate? Do you think he is any more immune from this than a candidate you don't support?

[riqster]

53. Well said, DMM

As I said elsewhere, any Dem will get hit like this, and any Reep will get a pass.

[JDPriestly]

55. My candidate is not more immune from hit jobs.

However, not all criticism is just a "hit job." Some of it is quite legitimate. The criticism of Hillary's laugh is not only legitimate but points to a very important fact about why she is not electable.

[riqster]

56. Sighs, laughs, skin color, are all in the eye of the beholder

...and thus purely subjective. Thus not on a par with issues, voting records, etc.

[applegrove]

42. I disagree that it alienates her. Most people don't enjoy a loopy question

like Wallace's and her laughter there was appropriate. I mean how much have Bill and Hillary gone through at the hands of the GOP slime machine over the last two decades. That was a great laugh. I hope she keeps it up when it is right. Plus it ligtens the whole discourse which can be downright depressing. So as long as she isn't laughing at serious questions..I think she is doing a great service to the tone of the debate.

[Bitwit1234]

22. Meanwhile rudi looks like an ass taking phone calls in the middle of a speech.

[polichick]

35. This fact cannot be disputed! nt

[JDPriestly]

25. It is not a molehill.

That laugh could mean a loss for Democrats. It is horrid. Hillary has a problem with her voice. I have discussed her laugh quite a bit. That laugh is the equivalent of wearing leather and carrying a whip. It is dry and masks anger mixed with contempt. Hillary's laugh betrays the fact that she is very impatient with "stupid" people who don't agree with her on things. And it isn't just her laugh. Watch her in the debates. She insists that if she is president she will seek the opinions of people who disagree with her, but she gets really huffy when other people present other ideas.

Then watch Edwards and even Obama and Kucinich. They present their ideas. Edwards in particular listens carefully and often even looks to the person who is speaking and responds. Edwards in particular, but all the candidates except Hillary with a very few exceptions answer the question they are asked or at least acknowledge the question and make a transition if they want to add something or respond to a different issue. Hillary has developed techniques to avoid answering certain questions she is asked. Her dry, harsh laugh betrays the heavy coat of armour she is carrying with her in this campaign. It is as if her campaign is a fierce battle with the Republican foes rather than a labor of love for America and the people of America. Obama, Edwards, Kucinich, they are campaigning from their dream for the country they love. Hillary is campaigning out of some need to prove herself. There is very little love in her campaign. This was not true of Bill Clinton's campaigns or his presidency.

[Adelante]

28. "Then watch Edwards"

The Edwards Rapid Blink, if he were ahead in the polls as Clinton is, would receive the same treatment as the Clinton Laugh. The media would shift focus, but they would take the same cheap shots.

[DeepModem Mom]

29. You are right! I've read already about his rapid blink. And WES CLARK DIDN'T BLINK --

remember?

[Adelante]

32. That's right

Candidates are human, so there's always something to pick on, and they will pick on anything to put down our candidates. Anything.

[Cameron27]

31. Exactly

[polichick]

33. Well, to be fair...

Both the Edwards and Clark blinking thing seem involuntary ~ Hillary's laugh seems tactical. It buys her time or lessens the impact of a pointed question.

[Adelante]

38. The line would be when you're blinking, you're lying

I don't think the media would scruple over voluntary or involuntary.

[polichick]

39. Lol...

I figured their contacts were bugging them under the lights ~ I know mine would be!

[Adelante]

40. It could be

I don't know if either of them wear contacts, but the media wouldn't care anyway.

[polichick]

41. The media has its own agenda...

Which has nothing to do with what's best for the country ~ but only with what's best for business.

For the record, though I think Hillary's laugh is calculated and tactical, I'm not saying she shouldn't use it. They all have their tactics ~ I find them interesting to figure out. (It sure would be refreshing if they all dropped their tactics and answered questions simply and completely though.)

[JDPriestly]

44. I think he wears contact lenses. I used to blink a lot when I wore them.

It may also be bright lights which dry the eyes. If your eyes are dry, you blink a lot.

[JDPriestly]

48. You are not getting my point. It isn't some superficial physical

defect or weakness or even unpleasantness I am concerned about. It is that the cackle reflects something about Hillary's personality. Blinking a lot does not reflect anything about the personality of the candidate even if it is distracting at times. Hillary's cackle tells a lot about what she thinks of other people. It is impatient, angry, intolerant, unwilling to show respect for others. It says a lot about Hillary's true personality. It will get her and our whole nation in trouble.

Watch this to the end! It is Hillary talking to Code Pink about the Iraq War

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8185038237608117009&q=code+pink+hillary&total=1174&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=1

So no WMDs were found. What's Hillary's excuse for not apologizing about her error. These Code Pink women saw the choice about Iraq clearly and told Hillary the truth. She rejected their plea that she be against the war. And she has never really admitted how wrong she was. She is as stubborn and arrogant as Bush. We don't need another president like Bush or like her. Please watch this video.

[polichick]

30. "the equivalent of wearing leather and carrying a whip"

:rofl:

Not sure it's true ~ but I love the colorful rhetoric!

[zulchzulu]

34. It gets down to sincerity vs. calculation

When Gore sighed, he meant it. He was sick of Bush lying.

When Dean screamed, he meant it. He was under a lot of pressure and it was a way to end the speech for him.

When Clinton "laughed" in the debate and recent interviews, it appeared to be fake and calculating to many. I remember Carville saying that to laugh at times when you should be serious during questioning "disarms" the questioner. If you saw Meet the Press yesterday with her husband, he used the same antic with Russert when reacting to his wife reacting to the discrepancy regarding torture in the last debate in new Hampshire. It's like using a laugh track for a really bad joke. Fake...overwrought...calculating...

[ecstatic]

45. And blind DUers fall for it... time and time again nt

[L0oniX]

46. The media only push for those that are playing the corporate game.

It's the media that is pushing for Hillary and since the media only has its corporate sponsors best interests it will only push those that the corporate sponsors accept. She's owned!

[DeepModem Mom]

47. "Hardball" on now, and a HUGE discussion of...Hillary's LAUGH. Out of control media!

:mad:

And folks, don't kid yourselves. This is not my candidate. But it could, and probably will be my candidate -- and yours, too.

[illinoisprogressive]

50. no. it's just that her cackle suddenly turned up and it's obvious ducking tactic

[hatrack]

52. Same old shit - $400 haircuts, "black enough", and the The Laugh

Shamelessly shitty herd "reporting".

[cadmium]

54. Agree on both points. I'm an Obama support too and you are right

Hillary's laugh is getting exploited like Gore's sigh. That is an astute observation. She is not my favorite but she is getting the Gore treatment on this one. As we are saying this Fox is featuring a story about the Hillary cackle. I'm sensitive to this seeing Kerry's remarks so frequently taken out of context and use by the righties. BTW the magazine Vanity Fair this month has nice article about how Gore was damaged by relentless media slime.

[DeepModem Mom]

58. I read that article, and it is a MAJOR piece. Some of the journos...

as you know, were looking back at their coverage with a critical eye. I hope they'll recognize that the press may be starting down that road again.

[Imagevision]

60. Hillary will use the FOXnews laugh quip anytime she's face with answers she

rather avoid or simply can't answer...

[AtomicKitten]

61. Same bullshit, different election. (nt)

[Auntie Bush]

62. Or the Dean scream!

[killbotfactory]

63. I first heard about it by watching the daily show

It's not just one laugh, she keeps laughing off questions.

It's kind of wierd.