In this thread someone asked what really scares us.
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=194594
Three or four people have mentioned Hillary Clinton. I’m hoping they will share what it is about her that scares them. Or if you also really find her frightening, why?
I’ve put this in the Pit just in case.
It’s those bowling-pin ankles.
I don’t think there’s anything scarier about Hillary Clinton than any other politician. People who claim that Hillary terrifies them are most likely expressing displeasure the legacy of the Clinton administration, which they think is a bad thing.
Hillary scares me. I am genuinely terrified of her becoming president.
I am so opposed to her desire to have socialized medicine and her position as having me become a slave to the tribe on a number of things.
Maybe my fears are irrational to YOU, but there are certain things that I feel must absolutely never happen so that I can have my independence preserved… yet I get the feeling (we’re talking about fear) that Hillary has the power base to get health care socialized/governmentized, that she would make corporate America look even more like the evil of the world (when it is not), that she would propogate the myth that the poor are noble and the rich are not, and that she would let the enviromentalists have too much irrational control or say.
I’m afraid of Democrats in general, but my fear is kept in check by the fact that they can’t do everything they want because they usuallt aren’t dynamic enough. Hillary MIGHT be dynamic enough to change the face of what the United States is all about, and how we got here.
That is frightening.
FTR: Donald Rumsfeld scares me, too. Really! (Just to add some balance to what I said)
The thing that scares me about Hillary is that she has no sense of humor whatsoever. Zero. Zip. Nada.
Politicians without a sense of humor are without the slightest trace of self-doubt. They are constitutionally unable to laugh at themselves, because they are utterly convinced of their own rectitude and virtue. The oposition therefore must be either evil or corrupt, and must be destroyed by any means, legal or not. Such people are dangerous.
This is a failing of certain politicians from all sides of the political spectrum (consider Richard Nixon, a singlularly humorless person). While I was no fan of Bill Clinton, the guy’s sense of humor kept him from taking himself totally seriously, and was, in fact, a major part of his charm, such as it was.
Hillary is totally without humor. While I doubt very strongly that she would throw her political enemies into jail a la Indira Ghandi (unless she thought that she could get away with it), I could certainly see her, for example, using the FBI and IRS to destroy them.
Saved me the typing, thanks. Self doubt is one of the most important virtues a powerful person can have. Humility as a result, number two. Throw in her triangulation on all the major issues, recently gay marriage, and you have a scary combination: someone who is convinced she is right, but not on what she stands for. OTOH, the civil unions comprimise is reasonable and more doable politically. I would love to see a Clinton take a principled–but unpopular–postion once. Just once. IMO, that’s leadership. Reach an accomodation later.
“A slave to the tribe,” Phil? What is she, Dr. Moreau?
Yeah, what Philster said.
I have a lot of respect for Hillary Clinton. She’s very smart. She’s disciplined and tough. She’s a good politician.
Suposedly her values are quite leftist. E.g, she thinks the government would do a good job of controlling al medical care. I disagree, but her views don’t inspire fear. There are lots of politicians whose views differ from mine.
What I do fear is the media treatment of her dishonesty. She isn’t the most dishonest elected official, but she’s far from the epitome of honesty. She was one of only four partners in the corrupt Whitewater deal. She worked for the corrupt Rose Law Firm. She knew the firm was getting state business while her husband was Governor. A totally ethical person would have left the firm, because of the apparent conflict of interest. There seems little doubt that she has lied again and again. Of course, politicians are noted for lying. (“How can you tell when a politician is lying?” “His lips are moving.”)
What I fear is an attitude that makes it unacceptible to acknowledge her lies. In a way, this was a privilege of being First Lady. It’s just not polite to call the First Lady a liar.
I was pleased to see that her new book was jokingly called fiction. It’s fair game to attack a Senator, and the media seems to now have made the adjustment.
Obviously, we conservatives hate her because she is a strong woman. Duh!
Don’t insult Dr. Moruea like that.
Having met the woman, I wouldn’t say I hate her. She’s a hard worker. She works very hard, for instance to keep smiling while trying to appear simultaneously intelligent in general and yet oblivious to the fact that her husband is playing Mr. Octo with all the ladies in the room.
But I like a lot of people. Or don’t hate them. Without believing those people are fit for certain jobs. Hillary, for the reasons mentioned above, a her disturbing lack of seriousness, and her political views (such as they are – I have never been convinced that she cares about anything beyond her coattails career) is not fit to hold public office.
She “scares” me because of her celebrity status, and her willingness to take advantage of that status, and especially because she seems must more interested in working that angle than being accountable. So, she works hard – but not to achieve any goals I respect.
Not to mention the possibility of a 2/4 split.
Uh, before you start harping on coattails and taking advantage of family connections, please consider the coattails and family connections (and lack of seriousness, I might add) that our current President rode in on. I’d say it all worked pretty well for him.
Mack, would you mind explaining what our current president has to do with a discussion of Hillary Clinton?
mack, we’re here to discuss why people are frightened by HC.
Maybe one reason to be frightened is because she has a following that distracts her opposition by throwing out nonsense at the wrong time.
She just feels “wrong”, you know that creepy feeling running down your spine like cold slime. Its like she sold her her soul to a Great Old One for political power. That and any woman who married Slick Willie has got to have a screw loose somewhere. 
Seriously, she scares me because of the previously mentioned lack of humor and humility, the fact that I disagree with every single political position that I know she espouses, and the fact that she could get into the position to have her political views made into laws.
That’s not the impression I got when I heard her on “Fresh Air”. Of course, it doesn’t take much sense of humor to rise above the crowd on NPR.