Sorry to lapse into my native Okie vernacular in the title, but it needed to be said. Too many people are giving Hillary Clinton entirely too much credit in one area of her personality.
She is not "tough."
She does not have "a pair," literally or figuratively.
Testicular fortitude is not something she has.
Nor is she an "iron lady," or a "battle axe" or "Rocky Balboa" or a "survivor" or any of the other macho phrases that have been applied to her either by herself, or her campaign, or by the pundit class.
And yet, do you know how many results you get when you Google "Hillary Clinton, tough"? More than half a million.
How she was able to accomplish this, I will never know. Even a lot of people here, who can't stand the Senator or her policies, will talk about how tough she is.
How is she tough?
It it because she blusters and saber-rattles when she talks about national security? Is it because she likes to talk about "obliterating" Iranians? Is it because she refers to "nuclear umbrellas"?
Can we stop using the Chris Matthews standards of toughness here? Real toughness is not using loaded, militaristic phrasing. If someone is really tough, they don't have to talk this way.
In reality, Clinton is anything but tough. She's terrified.
She's terrified that someone will call her "weak on terror." So she votes to authorize the use of military force. So she votes for Kyl-Lieberman. Then she never apologizes for these mistakes, because it would be perceived as -- say it with me now -- "soft."
Maybe it's not about the decisions she's made. Maybe her perceived "toughness" is due to her political prowess? She's certainly hanging in there. But I ask you -- if you were Hillary Clinton, would it be harder for you to step aside, or to keep going?
I would argue that her staying in the race is her taking the easy way. To her, the path of least resistance is to continue campaigning. After all, it's all she's known for the past decade of her life at least.
She's been working toward the goal of the presidency for many years, and to keep aiming for that ever-hazy, just out of reach goal of hers is probably all she can think about anymore.
Reaching the White House has become her entire life. To concede that it will not happen and gracefully step aside? Now that would be a show of real toughness.
What about her victories and her losses? Someone with real toughness would at least have the bravery to admit their shortcomings. But Clinton's campaign blames everyone else but themselves for their losses, and makes every attempt to downplay them.
Those states don't matter. Those contests don't matter. Those voters don't matter. What's really important is Florida and Michigan. Etc.
Does a strong, tough woman shout "sexism"? Does a strong, tough anybody every shout any kind of "-ism"? Whether the sexism in this campaign is real or perceived, a tough person would simply soldier on and fight through it rather than playing the victim.
I don't hate Hillary Clinton. When I have taken issue with her, it has been on policy grounds. I have kept it civil. If it came to it, I would still vote for her. But to hear someone like her called "tough" almost universally when I see no real toughness in her, I felt like I should say something.
PS: This will be my first and last diary focusing entirely on Hillary Clinton.