On imbalanced "Hardball Hotshots" panel, Scarborough called Sen. Clinton "very shrill"
SUMMARY: On a Hardball panel that included MSNBC hosts Rita Cosby, Tucker Carlson, and Joe Scarborough -- but no progressives -- Scarborough called Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton "very shrill" and said that "there is a shrillness in Hillary that comes out on TV whenever she gets excited about something."
On the February 10 edition of MSNBC's Hardball, former Rep. Joe Scarborough (R-FL) -- host of MSNBC's Scarborough Country -- asserted that "there is a shrillness in [Sen.] Hillary [Rodham Clinton (D-NY)] that comes out on TV whenever she gets excited about something." Referring to a speech given by Clinton "a year ago," Scarborough added: "[E]very time her voice goes up, she gets very shrill, very un-Clinton-like, if you're talking about Bill Clinton."
Scarborough's remarks echo those of Republican National Committee chairman Ken Mehlman, who repeatedly described Clinton as "angry" on the February 5 broadcast of ABC's This Week:
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS (host): We're just about out of time, but before we go, I have to ask you a question about 2008 and the candidate that all the Democrats are talking about, Hillary Clinton. For the Republicans, is she the dream candidate or the Democrat you most dread?
MEHLMAN: George, one of the things I believe strongly in politics is when you run a derivative campaign, when you run a campaign saying it's not that person, you never win. We're going to focus on who our candidate's going to be, who's going to win. I'll say this, though. I don't think the American people if you look historically elect angry candidates. And whether it's the comments about the plantation or the worst administration in history, Hillary Clinton seems to have a lot of anger. And then when you look at the voting record, there's all this talk of a new Hillary Clinton. The fact is, 96 percent of the time she votes with the Democrats, voting on behalf of the Davos filibuster of [Supreme Court Justice] Sam Alito. I'm not sure that most Americans thought that made sense. Voting against [Chief Justice] John Roberts. I'm not sure most Americans thought that made sense. So there is a lot of talk about a new Hillary Clinton, but if you look at the record, it's a very left-wing record, it's a record where most Americans I don't think think reflects their values. And when you think of the level of anger, I'm not sure it's what Americans want.
STEPHANOPOULOS: You've got your talking points ready.
Scarborough appeared as part of a "Hardball Hotshots" panel that also featured Rita Cosby, who hosts MSNBC's Rita Cosby Live & Direct, and Tucker Carlson, the conservative host of MSNBC's The Situation with Tucker Carlson. The panel featured no progressives, and none of the participants disputed Scarborough's claims about Clinton's supposed "shrillness."
Hardball host Chris Matthews, who moderated the panel, also has a history of personal attacks on Clinton. For example, on the July 11, 2005, edition of Hardball, Matthews suggested that Clinton looked "more witchy" because she criticized the Bush administration's homeland security spending priorities the day after the July 7, 2005, London bombings.
From the February 10 edition of MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews:
SCARBOROUGH: You know, the thing is about Hillary Clinton, she is -- and just to follow up on what Rita said, she's a very interesting person. You know, conservatives love to hate her from a distance. I can tell you when I met her, she was a very charming person. Her husband, of course, extraordinarily charming, but there is a shrillness in Hillary that comes out on TV whenever she gets excited about something. We saw it this week when she was talking about the war on terror. We saw it, of course, when she was talking at the MLK rally at the church on Martin Luther King Day, and I remember that speech in Iowa she gave about a year ago at the Jackson-Jefferson dinner, where she was marching around, and every time her voice goes up, she gets very shrill, very un-Clinton-like, if you're talking about Bill Clinton, and she just doesn't translate the way her husband does. She doesn't compare favorably when she's standing next to him, and I think that will hurt her in the long run.
Scarborough, expectedly, is not really being fair in his assessment of Mrs. Clinton. What some would describe as shrill in a woman, the same may describe as just being loud in a man......it is tougher for a woman when she is being passionate to not come across the way Scarborough is describing, I guess that's reality.
But it does sound like right wing "laying the groundwork" to beat up on Hillary already........can't we just leave this stuff out of it?
What do you MEAN by, "can't we just leave this stuff out of it?"
By "this stuff", are you referring to Rightwing characterizations of Democrat Candidates? Just DON'T REPORT it here?
Gore, as "stiff" and "a liar"? Kerry as a "flip-flopper" and a coward/fraud for his "unearned medals"? Clinton as a "draft dodger" and "serial liar"?
Would you suggest MMFA simply IGNORE the number one tool of the Rightwing, which is to constantly SMEAR their opponents with unflattering and outright WRONG characterizations?
At the LEAST, a characterization as "shrill" is a subjective judgment, contained entirely within the ear of the listener, and informed by that ear's agenda and partisanship. It's not a FACT, it's a calculated characterization with the ultimate goal to cost the candidate votes.
As MMFA points out, there is great uniformity on the Rightwing, a great discipline, to constantly cite the characterizations which the RNC wishes to define their opponents by. "SWIFT-BOATING" is the tactic that the Rightwing uses to conduct politics. In truth, "SWIFT-BOATING" takes the place of meaningful POLICY discussion.
On the Iraq War, there is no discussion on the Right about whether it was a good idea, whether it was justified, whether it's being conducted well, or whether there is any hope of "winning". The discussion focusses entirely on being WITH Bush (and the troops), or supporting the terrorists (and opposing the troops). Any dissenters to the Iraq War are tarred as UnAmerican and in truth traitors.
It's ALL about the characterizations with the Rightwing; That is their MAIN TACTIC, and it's coordinated and repeated ad infinitum throughout the mainstream Rightwing media.
And you want to just "leave this stuff OUT of it"????
Of course, I understand. You wish for the Republicans to continue to be victorious, so you wish for their tactics to go unexamined and never rebutted. You wish for "SWIFT-BOATING" to WORK, and yet not be analyzed for its connection, if any, to REALITY and TRUTH.
I will give you credit: At least you RECOGNIZE that the tactics of the Rightwing look foolish and mean and untrue when they are examined, and so you realize that this should be another case of "move along, nothing to see here."
Sorry. It's not only RELEVANT to politics, it's the only game the Rightwing KNOWS.
What do you MEAN by, "can't we just leave this stuff out of it?"
***********************
I meant leave out silly personal observations about the way someone might speak or other irrelevant quircks in someone's personality. It's a waste of time and distracts from real issues - but the media is not to blame totally, the people eat this sort of stuff up anyway.
"At the LEAST, a characterization as "shrill" is a subjective judgment, contained entirely within the ear of the listener, and informed by that ear's agenda and partisanship."
The accusation of being "shrill" rings to those of us who grew up watching the Women's Rights movement. It is a subtle form of male chauvenism, and it refers not just to the tone of her voice. It is a way of saying "unstable" and "too little girlish" to take seriously.
It rings as a bigger insult to women than it does to men, no doubt.
It is a code word. You never hear it being used to describe men no matter what. It is part of the GOP strategy they are trying out with Clinton. It is to be expected like the sun rising in the east and setting in the west. It is what the GOP does.
"Shrill" is a code word for hysterical. Hysterical comes from the greek word for womb, based on the Greek notion that women have emotional fits caused by disturbances of the uterus.
1: Deficits: Sure you have to run a deficit to get out of a recession. Last time I checked the Conservatives all say the economy is great. So why are we still running large deficits? In fact factcheck.org had this to say about the attack on the president for the deficit.
“when it chides Bush on the deficit, which the President said four years ago would be "small and short-term." In fact, the deficit projected for this year is close to a record in dollar terms and higher than average even as measured as a percentage of US economic output.”
2. You want to use the FISA courts to spy on Americans. Why would we use the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to gather information domestically? One of the reasons the law was created was to protect Americans in the situation you describes. Can you please give proof of the “inherent constitutional powers” I think you’ve just heard that too many times on TV.
3. Secretive Government: I’ll give you this one. Governments are secretive by nature. However, I really don’t like the way the Bush administration operates. I believe people worry about when the administration throws secrets in our faces. My example is the energy commission. People wanted to know information and Cheney wouldn’t give it.
4. You like socialized medicine less? At what point will you understand that “all” Americans deserve healthcare. Companies are losing their competitive advantage because healthcare is so expensive. We have two options. We can have a government program for healthcare or we can have people pay for it themselves. I’m sure you like the latter but how many Americans need to suffer.
5. President Bush’s energy reform was drilling. We need real energy reform. Increased gas mileage. More money in renewable forms of energy. One place I agree with the President is Nuclear Power Plants. However, we need the newest technology available. Bush helped created instability in the Middle East which is only increasing prices.
6. The employment rate isn’t wonderful. Unemployment is low. Of course they don’t tell you the whole story. If you aren’t receiving unemployment benefits you don’t count as unemployed. After 6 months if you don’t have a job you don’t count anymore. There are plenty of people without work in the US. Jobs that pay less aren’t part of a process called productivity. Productivity is when someone can do more with what they have or less. Someone losing a job and finding different one that pays less does not count. Real income continues to drop, while the top brackets are make more. The recession wasn’t Clinton’s . Show one fact to support your argument. The recession did not occur until Bush took office. To be fair the economy was increasing at a slower rate when Clinton left, but there was no recession. That is just a Right wing lie.
7. No one is saying things shouldn’t be cut. But why do the cuts in this administration always seem to affect the poor and middle class. The bridge to nowhere is fine. Tax cuts for the top 1% are fine. Subsidies for mega-corporations are fine. But education isn’t. Medicare isn’t. The VA isn’t. The priority for the government should be to protect the citizens that can’t protect themselves. Not lining the pockets of the rich.
8. Clinton undermining morale in the military? Yeah saying that gay soldiers should be able to server was terrible. Come on. And it was that non-morale having military that had amazing results when Bush used them.
9. Iraq isn’t the greatest peace keeping mission ever. We had the greatest national disaster ever because the government (local, state and federal) dropped the ball. But you never hear the president say the buck stops here. There are still problems in NO. The feds just don’t care. Why would the president threaten to veto a bill with torture if he did not want to use it? Wussie courts? Grow up. The majority of judges were placed there by Republicans so if there is a problem you caused them.
Your views aren’t optimistic. They are sheltered. You repeat the Right Wing talking points with true conviction and claim to be “independent”. The Bush administration has gone wrong time and time again because people are blinded by fear. Be afraid of the terrorists if you want. I’d rather die free than give up my rights or the rights of my fellow Americans.
[link to results.gpponline.org]
Reading straight from their Rovian talking points, expect to hear these words when someone from Duhhbya's zombie army refers to Senator Clinton:
"shrill", "angry", "rant", "furious", "attacking", "tirade", "rhymes with ditch", "rhymes with itchy "...
When discussing issues like "foreign relations", "military crisis", "Commander-In-Chief" and "finger on the button", you can also expect euphemistic and/or thinly veiled references to hormones, menopause, PMS and menstruation.
Hillary should respond with thinly-veiled allusions to the fact that at least she'd be sober.
Stoking the flames.
Karl Rove gave you your Hillary talking point...so dance monkeys, dance!
is a section of 'stupid country'
i sure get tired of these dopes on tv. if they represent the more intelligent and thoughtful of us, we're in big friggin' trouble!
sen. clinton is less 'shrill' than he is bloviated.
if scarborough had half as much intelligence as he does ego, i wouldn't be as inclined to call him doofus every time i see his face on the tv.
...but I'm just wondering if anyone else has noticed that Scarborough looks like the love child of Beaker and Dr. Honeydew from The Muppet Show. The long Beaker-like face structure with the beady eyes and features scrunched in the center of the face like Dr. Honeydew.