Clinton Campaign Takes a Turn For The Weird

[Isaac]

Andrew flags a Hillary Clinton interview where she says the following about the state of her campaign:

"You can't tell how far a frog will jump until you punch him."

Okay then. But her other comments were even stranger:

"I am tired," said Clinton with exasperation. "I am tired of politicians and people in the press saying we cant do things. We are the can do nation."

Clinton was asked Wednesday night if she really wanted reporters to be more vigorous and aggressive – she said that she does, but on the "right things."

"I really do," insisted Clinton. "I really do. On the right things. On things that are important to the future of our country. On things that really matter. I would love that."

For more Clinton weirdness on the trail, check out Mark Liebovich's piece in today's Times.

As for E.J. Dionne's column today on Hillary's angry female supporters, I agree with Te-Nehisi's point that--in essence--the plural of anecdote is not data, and thus that we should be wary of extrapolating a larger meaning out of quotes from individual women. But I do take issue with his juxtaposition of these two sentences:

I don't think there's much of question as to whether gender/sexism affected the election. The need for pundits to comment on Hillary's appearance has always seemed bizarre to me.

One can agree with the assertion in the second sentence without thinking it has anything to do with the first sentence. Sure, sexism affected the election, and sexism affects how people treat Clinton's physical appearance, but listening to HRC supporters (like the ones quoted by Dionne) can almost lead one to believe that Clinton lost to Obama because of some Drudge photographs and a Washington Post article that mentioned cleavage. Please.