Ignoring his past smears, NY Times reported that McCain "has studiously avoided personally attacking Mrs. Clinton"
A November 14 New York Times article by Marc Santora about Sen. John McCain's (R-AZ) response, during a campaign event in Hilton Head, South Carolina, to an audience member, who asked, "How do we beat the bitch?" reported that "McCain has studiously avoided personally attacking Mrs. [Hillary Rodham] Clinton, whom he has said he likes." Santora then quoted from a McCain campaign statement: "Mr. McCain has on many occasions expressed his respect for Senator Clinton [D-NY], just as he did when confronted with the question in South Carolina." However, in reporting that "McCain has studiously avoided personally attacking Mrs. Clinton," Santora ignored McCain's previous smears of Clinton, including naming a dummy "Hillary" during another recent campaign appearance in South Carolina and telling a "disgusting" joke in 1998 for which McCain reportedly apologized to President Bill Clinton.
An October 18 Associated Press article reported that while campaigning in South Carolina, McCain "couldn't resist a swipe at Democratic front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton." The article noted that during an appearance at the University of South Carolina Upstate nursing school, "McCain took one look at a nursing school's training mannequin and asked if the dummy's name was Hillary." The article quoted McCain as saying, "I was very glad to meet the dummy, named 'Hillary.' " The story, which the AP labeled the "Play of the Day," was picked up by numerous media outlets, including the New York Daily News, The Washington Post, The Kansas City Star, MSNBC.com, the Houston Chronicle, AOL News, ABCNews.com's The Note, Time.com, and The Boston Globe.
And in 1998, while appearing at a Republican fundraiser, McCain reportedly made what New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd called "his disgusting jape": "Why is Chelsea Clinton so ugly? Because her father is Janet Reno."
The November 14 New York Times article in its entirety:
When presidential candidates appear at public forums, passions about the field are often on vivid display. Monday, Senator John McCain received a question from a woman in Hilton Head Island, S.C., that was blunt and harsh.
"How do we beat the bitch?" the woman asked.
Mr. McCain was obviously uncomfortable, trying to deflect the vitriol with humor and offering to give a translation. But he did not condemn the questioner, instead calling it an "excellent question."
He then addressed the question without any apparent doubt as to whom it referred.
"There was a poll yesterday," he said, "that shows me three points ahead of Senator Clinton in a head-to-head matchup. I respect Mrs. Clinton."
The clip began showing on Web sites like Salon.com, the liberal site TPM.com and others, with bloggers asking why Mr. McCain had not taken the questioner to task.
A spokesman for Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton declined to comment on Mr. McCain's response. But some of her advisers said they were surprised that he had not defused the moment more artfully, given the possibility that it might stir sympathy or outrage on Mrs. Clinton's behalf in some quarters.
Some of her allies have accused her male Democratic opponents of ganging up on her in their last televised debate.
Mr. McCain has studiously avoided personally attacking Mrs. Clinton, whom he has said he likes. His campaign said yesterday, "Mr. McCain has on many occasions expressed his respect for Senator Clinton, just as he did when confronted with the question in South Carolina."
I'm feeling let down. I latched onto this headline genuinely hoping to see a laundry list of smears that McCain had directed at Clinton, but I'm feeling a bit blue-balled.
Cheer up - Im sure by tomorrow MMFA will find a way to post that this was a planted question.
"How do we beat the bitch?" the woman asked.
The joke was a smear against Chelsea Clinton.
The naming of the Dummy "Hillary" was crude & not especially funny.
Not correcting the woman who referred to Hillary as a "Bitch" was not McCain smearing anyone.
And who the heck else would she be referring to? Hills is the only female in the race.
Just because McCain didn't admonish the woman doesn't mean he smeared Hillary.
Hills can smear with the best of them...didn't she call Cheney "Darth Vader"?
Please stop acting like this lady needs protection...she's as hard & tough as they come!
I have to agree the smears are weak. The rude joke about Chelsea was disgusting and he should be ashamed but if this is the best they have then the claim about McCain is solid as far as I am concerned.
The joke was not only about Chelsea, it was about her parentage, and who are her parents?
Hills can smear with the best of them...didn't she call Cheney "Darth Vader"?
perhaps you'd better grasp at another straw:
"Bush jokes Cheney is "Darth Vader"
[link to news.yahoo.com]
"Cheney himself has repeatedly joked publicly about his portrayal as the black-armored Dark Lord of the Sith, most recently in an October 21 speech to the Washington Institute for Near East policy."
I doubt we'll be seeing HRC joke about some of the recent characterizations of her by the far right nut jobs.
Yeah right Johnnie, Bush referring to Cheney as Darth Vader is exactly the same as Hillary doing it.
Dude are you off your meds or something?
One is meant as a joke, the other a smear.
It would be like me kidding around with my wife by calling her the Wicked Witch of the East...and you calling her that.
That would earn you a punch in the chops.
I can't believe how disingenuous some folks are here...
BTW funny how that alleged Conservative media didn't cover Hill's remarks. Maybe they were asleep that day?
It's nice homey touch bringing your wife into it but she has nothing to do with this.
HRC made her remark and the audience laughed, just like they laughed for Bush and just like they laugh when Cheney himself uses the nickname Darth Vader.
Again, I doubt HRC is laughing about being referred to as a bitch and I doubt you'll see ANY politician refer to her that way in public.
See the difference now?
Hillary called Cheney Darth Vader in front of a partisan audience & they actually laughed?
Wow go figure.
What color is the sky in your world Johnny?
Everybody laughs because it's Cheney's well known nickname. He even appears to like it.
Get the difference yet?
Depends on who says it Johnny.
One person says it as a joke.
The other as a smear.
Get the difference yet?
I beg to differ, Jeter. If this is correct, McCain is now trying to make money off of the b!tch flap. Read it for yourself. It's one thing to not admonish in person, but using the situation as a money making opportunity says worlds about McCain's character.
I'm not surprised, though. Anyone who can respond to the way he was treated in South Carolina in 2000 by becoming a lap dog for the reich wing probably doesn't have much in the way of self respect left.
I think your overacting Jeter.;-)
I just saw the title of the next thread and have to catch my breath. Will the GOP make the "B" word politically correct?
Guess I'll find out.
Look, I don't care much for McCain, and nearly all the Republican Presidential candidates are certifiably sadistic - but this is simply weak.
I hear someone call Hillary a bitch at least five times a week.
As a matter of fact, I think she just might be proud of it.
"Mr. McCain has studiously avoided personally attacking Mrs. Clinton..." What??? Do they mean during the last eight seconds?