When She's Like That

by Molly Ivors

As someone who spends a fair amount of time with young people, I am often the beneficiary of their perspectives on the changing nature of language. Sometimes, it's appalling, as when I get papers in netspeak; others, it's enlightening, as when they informed me that "cunt" is no longer really a taboo word: obscene, sure, but in regular parlance, jokingly, from one girl to another. I was shocked, and then shocked at my own shock, to realize that such a sea change had arrived without my noticing it.

And dismayed, I admit, because honestly, what is left to call MoDo after an outing like this morning's without the "C" word in reserve?

I cannot for the life of me figure out what Maureen Dowd has against Hillary Clinton. Commenters like our own SteveB, who frequently notes substantive differences with the Senator on matters of policy, certainly have a strong position, and one which I share, to a great extent. But this isn't that. It's something else, some kind of weird, bitchy, destructive impulse to take out the most viable female candidate for our highest public office in many years. But to what end? Seriously. Is it worth making shit up and parroting her idols on Fox to damage a person who may very well be the only thing standing between America and "Ten Thousand Years o' War" McCain?

A woman gazing at the screen was grimacing, saying it was bad. Three guys watched it over and over, drawn to the “humanized” Hillary. One reporter who covers security issues cringed. “We are at war,” he said. “Is this how she’ll talk to Kim Jong-il?”

Another reporter joked: “That crying really seemed genuine. I’ll bet she spent hours thinking about it beforehand.” He added dryly: “Crying doesn’t usually work in campaigns. Only in relationships.”

Bill Clinton was known for biting his lip, but here was Hillary doing the Muskie. Certainly it was impressive that she could choke up and stay on message.

I've been trying to stay away from the crying thing, partly because it does seem like such an obvious issue of double-standard to me. But the idea that a person strung out from exhaustion, told over and over again that no one likes her, should remain fixed in the same stoicism that earns her sneers... well, it seems a little unrealistic. And doesn't have one fucking thing to do with Kim Jong-Il.

The message from the wingnut-o-sphere (which the NYTimes seems daily more determined to join) has been clear: if she cried, it was calculated. Why? Because if it's Hillary, it has to be. No other reason. It's impossible to determine whether or not this transcends gender, because there has not been a woman in her position for many years, if ever. In and of itself, that fact should shame us as a nation. Even the craziest retrograde third-world backwaters do better at electing women than we do: it was a goddamn crime, but Benazir Bhutto was murdered because she was a political enemy, not because she was a woman.  One might argue that attacks on Clinton are similarly motivated, but (as SteveB will no doubt back up) that really only holds water coming from the Left, since the Right's version of Clinton is as imaginary as an HRC Nutcracker. Even from the Left, however, I cringe at things like the "this is a way around the 22nd Amendment!" arguments I hear from people I generally like and respect very much, because of the complete elision of independent identity it implies. Yes, people who are married often have the same world view. That does not mean that they are the same person.

The sheer volume of destructive hatred leveled at Senator Clinton, much of it gender-based, should make any self-respecting woman retch. But no, for MoDo it's apparently much more fun to jump on the hogpile with the boys and hope that David Brooks or Bill Kristol manage to give her a squeeze before everyone has to get up, shamefaced, when Krugman enters the room.

MoDo, who will do anything to smear the Senator, argues that "she won her Senate seat after being embarrassed by a man." Uh, who was that, exactly? Was it Rudi Guiliani, who withdrew from the race, reputedly because of his prostate cancer, in the face of his tanking numbers? (Not to think too much on this one, but isn't this about when he was trucking out to the Hamptons on NYC's taxpayer dime to screw the eventual third Mrs. G.? But prostate cancer treatment generally renders men impotent. Suggests to me that he wasn't seriously being treated for the disease if he was up for sausage-fests on the island, and that said sausage-fests had a lot more to do with his withdrawal.) Or was it Rick Lazio, the pimply frat-boy who was the best the NY Republicans could come up with? Lazio was so lame that he even lost much of the usually dependably wingnut upstate. Or maybe it's Bill himself, since this feeds into her bizarre psychosexual obsession with the Clintons and her theory that Bill gave Hillary a Senate seat to apologize for Monica. News to MoDo, I'm sure, but she won that Senate seat despite her connection to him, not because of it.

She goes on: "She pulled out New Hampshire and saved her presidential campaign after being embarrassed by another man." Again, who? Barack Obama? One of the most gifted young politicians to enter the political scene in the last decade? They're called "caucuses," Mo. They're part of the "primary" system, and the way this particular "democracy" chooses its presidential "candidates." We can argue about how effective it is as a method, but Obama didn't win Iowa to put Hillary Clinton in her place. He did it because he has strong youth support, and that's objectively good (and the topic for another post). Would it have pleased MoDo more to be able to dust off the "dominatrix cracking the whip" canard again? Possibly.

But, true to form, it's all personal for MoDo, and so it has to be all personal for everyone else, too. She tries to explain to us, twice, why Hillary cried: "What was moving her so deeply was her recognition that the country was failing to grasp how much it needs her. In a weirdly narcissistic way, she was crying for us." Don't like that rationale? How about this one? "She became emotional because she feared that she had reached her political midnight, when she would suddenly revert to the school girl with geeky glasses and frizzy hair, smart but not the favorite. All those years in the shadow of one Natural, only to face the prospect of being eclipsed by another Natural?" So how many reasons is that now? Three? She's (1) calculating, (2) petulant, and (3) afraid of being returned to geekdom? Forgive me, but these reason seem to at least exist uncomfortably together, if not render each other pointless. Irma's fucking kettle, people.

There's more to this piece, but it's pretty depressing altogether. I don't know what's worse, MoDo's freakish insistence, on the day after a solid victory in NH, that Hillary is "humiliated" and "demeaned," or that she's "playing the victim," and "arguing against hope." It's bizarre and twisted. (And what wouldn't I give to see the other piece MoDo absolutely must have had in the can last night, gloating over Clinton's failure?) On the bright side, a few more columns like this and maybe Maureen can get a regular gig on Hardball, where she and Tweety can rip on President HR Clinton to their heart's contents.

Damn, I wish I had the "C" word back.

UPDATE: Melissa, as always, kicks more ass. (If I haven't noted this before, that is the best goddman nickname for Dowd ever.)

Comments

[Roxanne]

I'd call it "a hate hard-on" brought on by Lewinsky derangement syndrome.

[Virginia]

She became emotional because she feared that she had reached her political midnight, when she would suddenly revert to the school girl with geeky glasses and frizzy hair, smart but not the favorite.

Holy fucking shit. This disdain is utterly incomprehensible to me. Did she not invite MoDo to her pajama party or something?

OTOH I think there's an argument to be made for the idea that this kind of senseless, sexist, Heatherish attack actually helping Sen. Clinton. Women, in particular (those who are not auxiliary members of the He-man Woman Haters Club) have GOT to see this for the baseless, stupid, slam-book behavior that it is.

(Oh, and not to sound like a broken record, but you. are. a. great. writer.)

[julia]

Attaturk has the interesting theory that this _is_ the other piece MoDo absolutely must have had in the can last night, gloating over Clinton's failure.

Reading it over, I can't see any reason why it wouldn't be, assuming Dowd is a woman with severe psychological problems, which I do.

Kind of funny, though, the reverting to the schlub with bad hair you were back in high school slam on a page topped with a picture of MoDo's irish setter dye job sprayed into a helmet.

[Molly Ivors]

julia,
I saw that. Just hastily reframed, I guess.

[Molly Ivors]

V,
I think you're right. A lot of women have been belittled in the workplace, or called awful names, and what she's taking seems pretty familiar.

[Molly Ivors Is A Racist]

There is a solid feminist argument that crying is not the right way for women to win elections. But that might escape you if all you care about is people with vaginas having power.

[Molly Ivors]

But that might escape you if all you care about is people with vaginas having power.

Find me a place where I have said such a thing. But you can't, because making shit up is all you have.

[Molly Ivors Is A Racist]

I said "if". Just like your "if" comment about people showing up at Obama rallies with "Eat Watermelon" signs, you racist.

[dave™©]

I cannot for the life of me figure out what Maureen Dowd has against Hillary Clinton.

Bill wouldn't fuck her.

This has been another edition of...

[dave™©]

Comment by Molly Ivors Is A Racist blocked.

Now, how easy was that?

[Virginia]

Molly Ivors Is A Racist

Sorry about your penis.

[julia]

Geez, MIIAR, we get it. Sexism isn't a human rights issue, and it's racist to compare it to racism.

I'm sure that's a load off their minds to most of the women in the world, who thought their lives were harder and more dangerous because they had to deal with both.

[blue blue grass]

thank you Molly

Maureen Dowd is depressing

How did america get so many mentally unstable people with a bullhorn so quickly?

I saw Maureen on a variety talk show host program and it was very unnerving to watch her because she's so paranoid. I'm assuming for the things she says and writes.

She reminded me of someone who expects at any moment to be bludgeoned by a piece of Skylab

I'm starting to think that's more likely to happen than before, and frighteningly I can't see myself thinking beyond ... she deserves it.

[Ramona Quimby]

I used to think Dowd was just snarky. Then her columns became nasty. This latest piece of vitriol is proof of MoDo's descent into mental illness. Seriously.

[Molly Ivors]

I used to think Dowd was just snarky. Then her columns became nasty.

A lot of people--possibly including Ariel herself--haven't copped onto the fact that this tipping point has been reached.

An old friend of mine, who I ran into at a Christmas party, asked me if I thought she was a conservative. I don't think she sees herself that way, but in practice, that's what her crap accomplishes.

[coozledad]

Virginia's right, Molly. You and Thers should have gotten that job at the Times instead of that twee fascist Kristol.
Dowd lacks the perception to be a professional writer. Her stuff is like Spy without the humor.

[rea]

One reporter who covers security issues cringed. “We are at war,” he said. “Is this how she’ll talk to Kim Jong-il?”

Anybody notice us going to war with N. Korea?

[Molly Ivors]

Dowd lacks the perception to be a professional writer. Her stuff is like Spy without the humor.

Donald Trump will always be the short-fingered vulgarian to me.

[Spokane Moderate]

One reporter who covers security issues cringed. “We are at war,” he said. “Is this how she’ll talk to Kim Jong-il?”

Anybody notice us going to war with N. Korea?

I thought the same thing.

Also, in the exchange MoDo recounts, did any of these journalistic titans notice what HRC was *saying*?

And, finally, just so's it's clear where I stand on the important issues of the day: Molly Ivors RAWKS!

[Captain Goto]

I have a feeling that MIIAR is the same piece of shit that soiled the Shake's comment thread, under the name "bandit".

Either way, troll, see my comment on your idiocy in that thread.

Putz.

[Molly Ivors Is A Racist]

I have no idea who Shake is, but I am not "bandit".

I actually think the "Eat Watermelon" comment by Molly was racist. How that makes me a sexist (sans a nice penis) is beyond me. I don't think the proper way to eradicate sexism is to make racist statements. Why that is controversial, I don't know.

[julia]

Well then, MIIAR, I have no idea if you're a sexist, but your reading comprehension is piss poor.

For the sake of anyone who didn't get it (that would, I believe, be you) she was drawing an analogy. She was saying that something sexist she found deeply offensive was _so damn offensive_ that it was as offensive as an equivalent racist remark, which was on its face offensive.

That in no way suggests in any way shape or form that she did not find the racist remark offensive. As a matter of fact, if she did not find the racist remark offensive, she would not have used it as an example of a profoundly offensive remark.

As I'm reasonably certain you're a winger troll there was probably no point in explaining that to you, but, you know, just in case - people who are offended by racism tend to take accusations of racism seriously. If you're going to play one in comments, you might want to do the same.

[Interrobanger]

No, it doesn't need to start with the letter C. It can also start with the letter P.

[Mr.Murder]

MoDo got in the White House to report when GHWB was there.

He joked with her, ate with her, sometimes got a bit touchy-feely.

It's a case of projedcted buyer's remorse. Sugar Daddy got sent out by the b!tch.

Dowd 'got hers' so why oh why should she write from the perspective of a woman who has values or self esteem now?

[tim quick]

Given that I agree with most of what you say here and think MoDo is an embarassment to herself and anyone associated with her - to the point that I don't really give a shit what her motives are - I hate to quibble but. . .

"[S]he won that Senate seat despite her connection to him [Bill], not because of it"?

I think you are wrong. (1) Look at the Poll numbers: Bill is, despite the MSM hatred of him, still much beloved and popular, particularly in NYC. (2) I lived in NY at the time and voted for her twice for the Senate, in part at least, because of her connection to. . .well, not Bill exactly, but to the relative sanity of the "Clinton years". And I knew plenty of people who mentioned Bill in voting for her.

You could argue against (1) by citing upstate hatred of Bill, upstate where she did suprisingly well and against (2) that it is anecdotal at best. But, still, I don't think you can go all the way from "because of" to "in spite of". If you know what I mean. . .

Keep up the good fight.

P.S. Please forgive my craze/creative? puncuation; I'm too busy to fix it this morning.

[Molly Ivors Is A Racist]

For the sake of anyone who didn't get it (that would, I believe, be you) she was drawing an analogy

Your defense might work if Molly had simply repeated a racist statement someone else had made in order to refute it. But she did no such thing. You appear to dense and focused on attacking my penis size (quite nice, thank you very much) to understand my point.

My point is that drawing the analogy on a blog read by many -- in public discourse -- serves to both repeat the sexist statement and introduce a new racist statement into the conversation. While I understand repeating the sexist statement to condemn it, there is no reason to conjure up a completely original racist statement to make an analogy. As condemnation itself would have sufficed, the analogy serves no purpose other than to inject a racist statement into the conversation.

Molly's brain generated that all-new racist statement and Molly's fingers typed in into her blog post. I call people who make up racist statements and put them on their blogs for many others to read racists.

And I am right.

[Molly Ivors Is A Racist]

The first line of my last post was a quote of Julia. It should have been bolded thusly:

For the sake of anyone who didn't get it (that would, I believe, be you) she was drawing an analogy

[Stuart Eugene Thiel]

The first time Al Gore ran for President, '88 or '92, I forget, he got stomped in the primaries. A common explanation was that his fellow Baby Boomers were not ready to validate the gap between their youthful ambitions and reality by giving the tippy-top spot to one of their own.

I suspect that there are a lot of mid-career women who harbor a similar feeling toward Hillary Clinton. You'd think that MoDo wouldn't succumb; she's been at the top of her profession for years. But she's not going any higher, and a female president puts another rung between her and the top.

[Molly Ivors]

tim,
I understand your point, but the level of Clinton hatred upstate is pretty unbelievable. In the form of public statement preferred in these parts (painting messages on the side of your barn), the Clintons were smeared for a solid decade. One barn bore the legend "Impeach the Pot-Smoking Draft Dodger" from 1991 to 2001, inclusive. A gun store up here does a brisk business in "Huck Fillary" bumper stickers. But she won, because she busted her ass in small towns, on farms and in factories. She's very good up close, and has brought a lot of jobs to this area. Bill was not terribly popular up here--we missed the 90's bubble. But you may be right that my language was too strong.

Nevertheless, Dowd seems to pointing to some unstated assumption that we all already know that her Senate run was a payoff fromm Bill. My point was that such an assumption is deeply insulting to Senator Clinton (Dowd's intent), not just demeaning but utterly dismissing her as a public servant, and equally dismissive of the voters of NY, who, last time I checked, elect our senators.

[julia]

Um.

Ew.

I've never actually run into anyone one-handed trolling about racism, but I guess if it's the only way you can get living people to engage with you while you talk about your genitals you must have run through all your other options.

Yech.

[Molly Ivors]

At the risk of feeding the machine I will reiterate: I *intentionally* chose the *most horrible, offensive racist thing I could think of* to compare the "Iron My Shirt" poster to make a point about where we are in sexism and racism in this country. The core comparison was Gloria Steinem's, but I guess she's no fun to bully.

As it happened, the hubbub, which was just getting warmed up as I wrote, *was* pretty significant, and I'm glad for that, because it was appalling on every level (and maybe worse, if the point was just to get attention, like a toddler flinging poop). Taylor Marsh's post this morning on Clinton's win was called, brilliantly, "Iron This."

[K. Ron Silkwood]

Nope, the c word is still pretty deadly and it perfectly applies to MoDo. Those kids with their redefining and reframing can stay the fuck off my lawn, too.

[The Peachfish]

Honestly, the first thing I thought when I heard about the Hillary's crying moment was, "Wow, we're gonna get an extra-shitty MoDo column out of this. She doesn't disappoint......

[lynette]

She became emotional because she feared that she had reached her political midnight, when she would suddenly revert to the school girl with geeky glasses and frizzy hair, smart but not the favorite.

these people are truly lapsing into lunacy. i keep asking folks, why do you hate hillary clinton? no one has any real answer beyond the idea that she's cold, unfeeling, that she stood by bill. wtf??

it does not make any sense to me and it's seriously pissing me off.

[lynette]

and i'm in such a lather, i neglected to say this: there isn't a woman alive who can't relate to the feeling of being completely unable to win, that you're fucked, no matter what. i suspect that may be the thing that HRC taps into, creating a surge of support among women, because it persists in this society and it is pervasive and it is infuriating to see it played out in the media.

[spencer]

At the risk of feeding the machine I will reiterate: I *intentionally* chose the *most horrible, offensive racist thing I could think of* to compare the "Iron My Shirt" poster to make a point about where we are in sexism and racism in this country.

Don't waste your breath. The guy's clearly an idiot.

[Hogan]

Sounds like someone needs a refresher on the use/mention distinction. If only there were an English teacher around . . .

[Molly Ivors]

Those kids with their redefining and reframing can stay the fuck off my lawn, too.

Yay, codgers!

[Mo MoDo]

By Dowd standards, this column wasn't particularly deranged. It made one major point, crying works. Hillary was trailing in the polls, she showed some emotion, whether genuine or not, and her supporters sympathized with her. The impartial polling data tends to support this thesis. Hate Dowd or Love Hillary, she is just pointing out the empress's new clothes.

[Dr Zen]

You know, in the UK we don't take these people seriously but treat them as objects of scorn and derision. Mind you, they write for our yellow press and only rarely for the "quality" papers.

[JenJen]

Molly, I just gotta say, this is seriously one kick-ass f'n post.

Gawd, nobody gives Dowd the business the way you do. Thank you. :-)

[Daphne Chyprious]

Does (did) Lazio have acne? Even if he does (did), I find the term "pimply-faced teenager" and its various permutations gratuitously offensive. And yes, you may assume I disdain him as much as anyone here.

[Molly Ivors]

Even if he does (did), I find the term "pimply-faced teenager" and its various permutations gratuitously offensive.

Welcome to WhiskeyFire!

I dunno--all the pics I find of him seem airbrushed, but I remember thinking at the time that he seemed very very young and wondering what the hell was up with NY Republicans that *this* was the best they could come up with.

That lady they ran last time, who couldn't even do a stump speech attacking Clinton without her notes, gave me the same sense.

[ES]

I've never been a great fan of Ms. Dowd, and some of the above points concerning her may be valid, but one thing that I've never heard said about her is that she is Not a hard-core feminist. Calling her anything but such is ludicrous.
I do not for the life of me understand why such an article coming from her has not caused more serious contemplation from the left.
I can understand coming to the defense of a candidate deeply cared for, but if Clinton causes so much strife and polarization within the left itself, how could it be hoped that she would correct the horribly divided nation that the Worst President in the history of the Nation has created? The sense that seems to be coming from the HRC camp smacks of "If you're not with us, you're against us" - even if it's at the expense of people on the Democrat's side.

[Molly Ivors]

one thing that I've never heard said about her is that she is Not a hard-core feminist. Calling her anything but such is ludicrous.

You have got to be joking.

[actor212]

Molly,

Jeanine Pirro.

She was hot, but an airhead. I don't know how she ran the Westchester DA's office.

But she wasn't the final candidate, as you know.

[/b]

MoDo can't stand that HRC has a man and a life, while all MoDo can do is kvetch.

[actor212]

Don't waste your breath. The guy's clearly an idiot.

Posted by: spencer

Agreed. Sh/he/it is trying to provoke a reaction that justifies his original complaint, Molly.

Let him visit my blog. "Sheit" will be tied up in knots for weeks!

[Daphne Chyprious]

Actually, Molly,I've been reading WF for over a year because I admire and enjoy your cunning eviscerations of the right. Occasionally I even leave a comment. I know what your point was:Lazio is young, juvenile, childish. My point is you could have made it without using a nasty, ad hominem cliche about a disease which plagues some perfectly lovely adolescents (and adults) as well as the less savory ones. Maybe in my personal sensitivity to the matter I'm taking you too literally. Michael Moore also happens to be fat, so much for his credibility.