Hillary Needs To Get Tougher Skin
Posted: Saturday, February 09, 2008
by Abigail Richards
Hillary's latest pity party is once again appalling. This is a controversial topic by any means and I am sure I will get lots of response from this article.
This past week, Clinton threatened to no longer participate in debates on NBC after a MSNBC Journalists referred to the Clintons as using their daughter or having her "pimped out."
Thank you for your call yesterday. I wanted to send you this note to convey the depth of my feeling about David Shuster's comments.Seriously? She sent this seriously? I don't know about you, but I am kind of tired of hearing her whine. As a presidential nominee, this is not the reaction I would expect. What happens when she is in office and some government refers to her family with an actual name-is she going to nuke the entire country.
I know that I am a public figure and that my daughter is playing a public role in my campaign. I am accustomed to criticism, certainly from MSNBC. I know that it goes with the territory.
However, I became Chelsea's mother long before I ran for any office and I will always be a mom first and a public official second.
Nothing justifies the kind of debasing language that David Shuster used and no temporary suspension or half-hearted apology is sufficient.
I would urge you to look at the pattern of behavior on your network that seems to repeatedly lead to this sort of degrading language.
There's a lot at stake for our country in this election. Surely, you can do your jobs as journalists and commentators and still keep the discourse civil and appropriate.
Sincerely,
Hillary Rodham Clinton
The phrase "pimped out" is used a lot in this era. You would think someone who was actually in touch with the American people would know that. However, we know the Clintons live so far from reality that they would find this comment offensive.
As for being a mother first. . . Come on Hillary, you think the embarrassment by the Monica Lewinsky incident in the White House wasn't enough to affect your daughter. You think a little comment about you guys pimping her out would be more detrimental? Get real. She is a grown up and by placing those calls she is placing herself in the public limelight. Believe me, if Bush reacted the way you are reacting every time someone said something bad about the twins, he would have not been able to accomplish anything at all.
I grew up in Arkansas. For the majority of my life Clinton was in office. Yes, I was duped when I was younger. My dad, a huge Democrat, carried me from rally to rally. My brother looked up to Clinton and met him on several occasions.
We were all out at the Block Party when he celebrated his victory. We grew up Clinton supporters-it was all we knew. We were willing to look the other way on his moral deficiencies. We looked the other way on his family's lack of respect for others.
I remember waiting for hours for Clinton to show up at different events. He was always late. Never bothered him. Always felt that those in the audience would be honored with his presence. Never once apologized for keeping people waiting.
I remember being young and going to a movie with my parents. It was a rare occasion in that my parents didn't have a lot of money so it was a huge deal for us. In fact, I don't remember ever going to another movie as a family.
Anyhow, we waited and waited for the movie to start. Finally, my dad got up and asked if something was wrong. He was told that they were waiting for Bill to get there. See, Chelsea was having some girls sleep over and they were running late. We sat and waited. It was a show watching them come in. I don't know what was more entertaining. The fact that they had the power to hold up a whole movie theater of patrons which they didn't even seem to notice when they entered the theater or the fact that their daughter and friends were climbing over rows of seats to find their perfect spot.
My professor in college covered Clinton. The stories he told would make any one cringe. However, my professor still loved him. He thought he was the best leader of the free world despite the lengths that he went to in order to get things done his way. There was one story he told about a time when Clinton signed a bill into law. It was placed in the House and locked by the deadline. Apparently, after talking to some advisors, he felt it would be detrimental to his image for him to have made that law. He talked the security guard into taking a walk. Broke in and erased his name, stamped it with whatever and was out. My professor said no one ever knew except him since the guard talked to him. That is the type of people we are dealing with. People who will do whatever it takes to mislead and manipulate people to get what they want.
So Hillary is offended? I am offended. I am offended that they continue to live with no morals, show no respect for others and pretend to be the perfect family. If you do not want comments made about your daughter, then don't ask her to campaign for you. I, for one, am tired of hearing you whine. Grow up-get a backbone. The sympathy vote will only get you so far and I doubt it will get you to the White House.
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Top-level comments on this article: (2 total)Abigail I love you, relax...I don't mean in a weird way, I mean I love the fact that you wrote this piece, that you are telling a side that few people understand. I'm not convinced there are enough of us to stop the madness, the truly insane positions of the liberals who are hell bent on the complete destruction of America. Oh..and if anyone thinks the previous statement was a bit harsh ,,,,sit down and listen to anyone that supports her. I have yet to find ONE that has facts, logic, or any resemblance of sense, but their gonna vote for her. Good article AbigailThanks Michael for the comment! and the motivation/encouragement! I whole heartedly agree with you!
Wow! Poor Hillary. She's only protecting her kid, and that's a noble thing. Good for her. Sad that there are so many NOT in the public eye who have no understanding of what it's like out there. Sure, you have to be tough, but under the circumstances, why can't she protect her child? Actually, I never saw her as NOT being tough. I was telling a friend the other day that I think she's got more testosterone than Bill. ;=) Getting up in front of hundreds, thousands, millions of people is pretty courageous. I've done it on a small scale as a standup comic, teacher, lecturer, and speaker, and it's not easy. So I applaud Hillary for not only trying to protect her daughter but for getting out into the public to do something. It's easy being an armchair quarterback, so I applaud and give kudos and quite a few breaks to anyone who goes public and tries to do what they feel is right for the greater good--to any degree. And I also think that this partisan, Ann Coulter type bashing of liberals has got to stop (I’m am, however, aware that controversy sells books). And I say that as a Republican and son of Democrats. I'd like to see a lot less bashing and a lot more hashing out of difference. It wasn't always like this, and I think it's high time we got back to a more productive bi-partisan approach to politics, as challenging as that may be. After all, there are two parties in Congress, yes? What should we do, ignore one if we are the other? Strange way for a democracy to function. John Adams said that democracy is about consideration (defined here as not just to “think about carefully” but “to be kind”) and compromise, yet few do so. And this was almost 200 years ago! Guess it’s difficult for people to change, yes? As far as manipulation and deception is concerned, Republican politicians . . . hell, any politician isn’t above doing so. And heaven help us if McCain gets in. I think he may be just as scary if not more so than Hillary. The way things are going, I’ll probably vote for Eli Manning, quarterback of the Super Bowl champ New York Giants. At least he knows how to take verbal and physical hits without giving in. Amen.
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