Perhaps the only truly compelling takeaway for me of the last few days in US politics is the vivid demonstration of how many people truly, madly and deeply hate Senator Clinton (I’ve always known there was dislike, but this was something of an entirely different nature). Maureen Dowd provides a startling illustration of this in what has to be the single stupidest and meanest article I’ve even seen in the NYT’s pages. It’s ably eviscerated here by Glenn Greenwald and here by Melissa McEwan (see also Antonia), but the point remains: it’s going to be very difficult for this particular person to marshall the support needed to take down the Republican candidate, no matter how weakened that party is by the incompetence of the current Administration. It’s an extraordinarily cruel fact, but it’s a fact.
I’ve never thought Clinton was the right candidate. (If I could vote, it would be for Richardson.) But the point is that the party needs to put its best foot forward. And the sad fact is that the mainstream media and many voters – often for particularly bilious reasons – hate Senator Clinton and are never going to lend her their full support.
