I just got this email from Hillary Clinton campaign mananger Patti Solis Doyle:
From: Patti Solis Doyle, Hillary for President
Subject: The smartest and best prepared - and funniest
Dear Glenn,
You know, after 16 years, Hillary still never ceases to amaze me. And last night at the presidential debate, she did it again.
She laid out clear and concise ideas for bringing our troops home from Iraq and showed that she's the one who can get us out of the war...She also had the best line of the night - a jab at Dick Cheney's "diplomacy." I'm so glad everyone got to see the Hillary I know: not just the best candidate for president, but also a genuinely funny woman!
Reading this I felt like I was watching Mean Girls or Election. Which might be what Hillaryland is like.
It makes it sound like Hillary is surrounded by gushing sycophants comforting her with the campaign equivalent of "No way - your butt's not too big - you look totally hot!"
Hillary is smart, and she is funny, and she is darn well prepared too (whether she's deserves Solis Doyle's superlatives is another question). But puh-lease: let her show it, not tell me like some preening high school class president candidate. And are voters really looking primarily for the nerdiest candidate (are class president voters)? Personally, I'd choose most courageous progressive over the candidate with the shiniest apple for the teacher.
- Glenn Hurowitz