AlonzoMourning23
08-20-2006, 09:26 PM
WASHINGTON — She may be the country's most popular Democrat. But no other public figure may be as controversial and reviled as New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Nearly half the country dislikes her for one reason or another. And while other potential 2008 presidential candidates barely raise anyone's blood pressure, people who despise the former first lady are passionate, almost obsessive, in their hatred.
Scores of conservative talk shows, books and anti-Hillary Web sites portray the New York Democrat as an ambitious, calculating woman riding on her husband's coattails to push an extreme liberal agenda, undermine traditional values and position herself to run for president.
Right-wing Web sites such as BlogsAgainstHillary.com are filled with negative commentary on the first lady's liberal views. One site even sells anti-Hillary apparel, mugs, tote bags and teddy bears emblazoned by an "Anyone But Hillary 2008" slogan.
"She is just very ruthless; she's not to be trusted," said John McAvoy, 50, a retired foreign service officer and conservative Republican in Fairfax, Va.
"She just rubs me the wrong way from marital (relationship) to (liberal) policies to how she behaves," McAvoy said. "She would be a terror as president."
To her supporters, Clinton has the right qualities for a presidential candidate: smart lawmaker, skilled politician and sharp lawyer. But that same resume inspires fear and even loathing among some of her detractors, particularly social conservatives. They see her as a threat to family values and as a liberal in a moderate's clothing. Some are uncomfortable with the notion that a woman could be elected president.
For most, it is simply that she is the wife of Bill Clinton, whom they despised and attacked throughout his administration. Many continue to question her motives for staying with him after the Monica Lewinsky scandal. Most believe she is moving toward the political center solely for a presidential bid, but would emerge as the "dragon lady of the left" if elected.
"There's not a Democrat they'd like to defeat more than Hillary," New York pollster John Zogby said. "These are people who simply hate her guts because she is married to Bill Clinton and stuck with him. She also broke the mold of what an American woman and American wife should be in their view."
Indeed, the average conservative has not forgotten Bill Clinton's infidelities and believes Hillary Clinton protected him to advance her own political ambitions.
"How many women would have hung around," said Terrell Spence, 59, a conservative Republican from Centreville, Va. "I guess I don't like that idea of swinging off her husband's shirttails and hanging on during all the adversity because her sole purpose in life is to be the first lady president."
Normally, ambition is considered a positive quality, particularly for a potential presidential candidate. But when you mix it with gender, "it suddenly becomes like something unholy," especially in Clinton's case, said Thomas Schaller, political scientist at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. "A lot of people have a certain issue with a strong, accomplished women."
The right's dislike of Hillary Clinton goes back to her husband's first presidential campaign, when she defended him against charges of infidelity and herself as a professional woman, conservative commentator John Podhoretz writes in a new Hillary Clinton book, "Can She Be Stopped?"
Clinton's remark during a "60 Minutes" interview that she wasn't "sitting here — some little woman standing by my man, like Tammy Wynette" was viewed by conservatives as mocking traditional marriage as expressed in a song by the popular country music singer.
"Hillary hatred sprang to life at that moment," Podhoretz wrote. "Whatever her marriage was, and is, it certainly did not look like the kind of union traditionalists liked or appreciated."
Conservatives were aroused again when Clinton, facing questions about a legal issue, said, "I suppose I could have stayed home, baked cookies and had teas, but what I decided was to fulfill my profession."
"I thought she shot herself in the foot right then and there because she insulted all the stay-at-home mothers," said LouAnn Gutzman, 50, a conservative Republican from Wrightstown, Wis., and a stay-at-home mom at the time.
But it's not just the right that is unhappy with Clinton. Democrats disappointed by her vote for the Iraq war and efforts to move to the political center have broadened the dislike of Clinton. Liberals fear she is calculating in a way that might lead her to sell out their position, said Democratic pollster Thomas Riehle.
Polls have consistently shown Clinton as a polarizing and divisive figure but have sometimes swung in her favor. The number of favorable opinions of her increased during the Lewinsky scandal when she was generally seen as the victim. But in June, 51 percent said they liked her and 44 percent said they didn't — a rather high unfavorable score for someone who might run for president.
Clinton's advisers acknowledge that she is unlikely to win over conservatives and Republicans who intensely dislike her. But they believe she can reverse some negative opinions, as she's done in New York in the last six years by letting people get to know her better.
"If you go back to those early polls in New York, you might see that people . . . only knew of her from a national political debate in which she was more symbol than real," said Ann Lewis, Clinton's chief campaign spokeswoman. "But when she goes out and campaigns, meets with people and talks with them about their concerns and her values and what she hopes to do about it, those numbers change."
http://www.thnt.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060820/NEWS/608200509/1001
And there is plenty of encouraging news for her in the latest Time poll. More than half of those surveyed -- 53% -- said they had a favorable impression of her; she registered higher than the other most familiar names in the potential Democratic field, Al Gore (49%), John Edwards (46%) and John Kerry (45%).
http://edition.cnn.com/2006/US/08/20/coverstory.tm/
Nearly half the country dislikes her for one reason or another. And while other potential 2008 presidential candidates barely raise anyone's blood pressure, people who despise the former first lady are passionate, almost obsessive, in their hatred.
Scores of conservative talk shows, books and anti-Hillary Web sites portray the New York Democrat as an ambitious, calculating woman riding on her husband's coattails to push an extreme liberal agenda, undermine traditional values and position herself to run for president.
Right-wing Web sites such as BlogsAgainstHillary.com are filled with negative commentary on the first lady's liberal views. One site even sells anti-Hillary apparel, mugs, tote bags and teddy bears emblazoned by an "Anyone But Hillary 2008" slogan.
"She is just very ruthless; she's not to be trusted," said John McAvoy, 50, a retired foreign service officer and conservative Republican in Fairfax, Va.
"She just rubs me the wrong way from marital (relationship) to (liberal) policies to how she behaves," McAvoy said. "She would be a terror as president."
To her supporters, Clinton has the right qualities for a presidential candidate: smart lawmaker, skilled politician and sharp lawyer. But that same resume inspires fear and even loathing among some of her detractors, particularly social conservatives. They see her as a threat to family values and as a liberal in a moderate's clothing. Some are uncomfortable with the notion that a woman could be elected president.
For most, it is simply that she is the wife of Bill Clinton, whom they despised and attacked throughout his administration. Many continue to question her motives for staying with him after the Monica Lewinsky scandal. Most believe she is moving toward the political center solely for a presidential bid, but would emerge as the "dragon lady of the left" if elected.
"There's not a Democrat they'd like to defeat more than Hillary," New York pollster John Zogby said. "These are people who simply hate her guts because she is married to Bill Clinton and stuck with him. She also broke the mold of what an American woman and American wife should be in their view."
Indeed, the average conservative has not forgotten Bill Clinton's infidelities and believes Hillary Clinton protected him to advance her own political ambitions.
"How many women would have hung around," said Terrell Spence, 59, a conservative Republican from Centreville, Va. "I guess I don't like that idea of swinging off her husband's shirttails and hanging on during all the adversity because her sole purpose in life is to be the first lady president."
Normally, ambition is considered a positive quality, particularly for a potential presidential candidate. But when you mix it with gender, "it suddenly becomes like something unholy," especially in Clinton's case, said Thomas Schaller, political scientist at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. "A lot of people have a certain issue with a strong, accomplished women."
The right's dislike of Hillary Clinton goes back to her husband's first presidential campaign, when she defended him against charges of infidelity and herself as a professional woman, conservative commentator John Podhoretz writes in a new Hillary Clinton book, "Can She Be Stopped?"
Clinton's remark during a "60 Minutes" interview that she wasn't "sitting here — some little woman standing by my man, like Tammy Wynette" was viewed by conservatives as mocking traditional marriage as expressed in a song by the popular country music singer.
"Hillary hatred sprang to life at that moment," Podhoretz wrote. "Whatever her marriage was, and is, it certainly did not look like the kind of union traditionalists liked or appreciated."
Conservatives were aroused again when Clinton, facing questions about a legal issue, said, "I suppose I could have stayed home, baked cookies and had teas, but what I decided was to fulfill my profession."
"I thought she shot herself in the foot right then and there because she insulted all the stay-at-home mothers," said LouAnn Gutzman, 50, a conservative Republican from Wrightstown, Wis., and a stay-at-home mom at the time.
But it's not just the right that is unhappy with Clinton. Democrats disappointed by her vote for the Iraq war and efforts to move to the political center have broadened the dislike of Clinton. Liberals fear she is calculating in a way that might lead her to sell out their position, said Democratic pollster Thomas Riehle.
Polls have consistently shown Clinton as a polarizing and divisive figure but have sometimes swung in her favor. The number of favorable opinions of her increased during the Lewinsky scandal when she was generally seen as the victim. But in June, 51 percent said they liked her and 44 percent said they didn't — a rather high unfavorable score for someone who might run for president.
Clinton's advisers acknowledge that she is unlikely to win over conservatives and Republicans who intensely dislike her. But they believe she can reverse some negative opinions, as she's done in New York in the last six years by letting people get to know her better.
"If you go back to those early polls in New York, you might see that people . . . only knew of her from a national political debate in which she was more symbol than real," said Ann Lewis, Clinton's chief campaign spokeswoman. "But when she goes out and campaigns, meets with people and talks with them about their concerns and her values and what she hopes to do about it, those numbers change."
http://www.thnt.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060820/NEWS/608200509/1001
And there is plenty of encouraging news for her in the latest Time poll. More than half of those surveyed -- 53% -- said they had a favorable impression of her; she registered higher than the other most familiar names in the potential Democratic field, Al Gore (49%), John Edwards (46%) and John Kerry (45%).
http://edition.cnn.com/2006/US/08/20/coverstory.tm/