Nader homicide watch, HRC edition

I knew that Harry Evans had said "I want to kill Nader" in 2000 at a party to celebrate the beginning of Hillary Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign (it's the first thing you'll find if you go spelunking for Nader homicide quotes). But I hadn't seen HRC's reply:

Hillary, affirming her support for capital punishment, reportedly responded, "That's not a bad idea!" Nader said Evans had apologized to him but Clinton hadn't returned his call.

And of course now everyone knows about Hillary's fondness for assassination as a career booster*.  One has to wonder: if this is what she feels comfortable saying out loud, what dark, twisted imaginings is she keeping to herself?

* (Though I should really watch what I say, watch what I do, since even suggesting that that's what HRC meant is "borderline misogyny"—and if you read that article you'll learn that not only is it "demonization" to call her on this, but that the sole certified non-misogynistic topics of criticism are "her indefensible vote on Iraq and her weird statement about being under fire in Bosnia."  I only wish I were making this up.)

Comments

[Thomas Daulton]

If you're not already familiar with "The Cunning Realist" blog, it's certainly worth a look today. I buy into his historical analysis which argues that the Hillary "assassination" brouhaha is really just a symptom of a much more general coarsening of national discourse, with the goal -- intentional or unintentional -- of making other and further kinds of political violence more and more acceptable to the public. Should some genuine progressive leader come along... (and I'm certainly not suggesting Obama is one, I'm just talking theory)... that leader's assassination would be just as expedient for a hypothetical President Hillary Clinton as it would be for the corporate elitists. Ditto for the entrenched media talking heads who are making hay out of Hillary's remarks; by ostentatiously ruffling their feathers over these remarks, they help keep the assassination meme in the public mind longer and therefore acclimate us to it.

[ms_xeno]

Misogyny is real and all over the place, including the media. Clinton II is a horrible, horrible woman.

Both these things can be true at the same time, but it's hard to find people who can argue with the supposition of both being true at once. Or of both being important.

Much as it's true that racism is real and rampant. Yet at the same time, Obama is a horrible, horrible man.

No wonder I've largely given up blog discourse in favor of gardening and playing online mah-jongg.

[John Caruso]

I'd certainly agree that misogyny is real, and that Hillary has been the target of a fair amount of it over the past few months (though it's hard to disentangle "hatred of women", which is irrational, from "hatred of Hillary Clinton", which is just the opposite). But wouldn't you agree that the author I cited went just a tad overboard by declaring those two topics to be the sole non-misogynistic topics for which she can be criticized?

[ms_xeno]

But wouldn't you agree that the author I cited went just a tad overboard by declaring those two topics to be the sole non-misogynistic topics for which she can be criticized?

Yeah, I guess so. But it's all about going overboard, lest we have to face the fact that Clinton II and Obama have remarkably similar voting records. Then where would we be ?

Elsewhere, incidentally, at least one poster whom I had once considered fairly rational is now screeching from the rooftops that the only way to save America from fascism is to vote Obama. And, of course, the corollary, by implication, that if you refuse to vote for Obama you yourself are obviously a fascist or at least a fascist-coddler.

And Summer hasn't even officially started yet. Anyone got a gallon drum of tranks they're not using ? I'm prepared to pay handsomely, or what passes for it in my income bracket...