# Why is Hillary so Hated? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 11, 2016, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-hillary-so-hated/771433 "2016-11-11T00:41:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2016, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-hillary-so-hated/771433/41 "2016-11-11T15:34:39Z")
> [@joyfool](#): > > However, I’m not sure about **kopek** and if his dislike was strong enough to sway his vote. To go into a slightly longer response; I usually have voted Democrat for POTUS. I made the decision about 7 years ago that if Hillary got nominated I would take some longer-than-usual look at the Republican alternative but reserve judgement until the very end. Considering who the alternative was there just was no way in Hades I could vote for him; I disliked how Hillary played the “Bill Card” (having him stump heavily for her) right to the very end but IMHO is Trump is bat-shit crazy. So I did something I haven’t done since Anderson and voted for someone I knew had no chance of winning. In a manner of speaking I denied her my vote but didn’t give it to her main opponent. > [@ThelmaLou](#): > > IMHO at base, it’s because she’s a woman. I will admit you could be right but I think its more than just that. I was a big-time supporter of Ferraro and thought she should have had the number 1 slot on the ticket even back then. Find a woman like her today without all the baggage Clinton brought into the equation and I think she would win. Heck, you could argue that all the baggage was why the DNC stepped over her for Obama 8 years ago. I very strongly feel that it was the record as the primary reason and gender, in her case, was secondary. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2016, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-hillary-so-hated/771433/42 "2016-11-11T15:36:36Z")
The reason most of those on the Right dislike anything that isn’t Right. Because she exists. > [@Shodan](#): > > So it goes. It’s a valid question if you say you don’t like Hillary for her smug arrogance and superior countenance and then turn around and vote for a smug arrogant superior jerk like Trump. ---
**Author:** ![dunkleosteus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dunkleosteus/32/9331_2.png) [@dunkleosteus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dunkleosteus)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2016, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-hillary-so-hated/771433/43 "2016-11-11T15:38:02Z")
I heard that Hilary was overwhelmingly popular with voters aged 18-25. As a 22 year old, I also supported her. I have no recollection of the first Clinton presidency though, and was only vaguely aware of her until the 2008 election. Could be common in my demographic, maybe her past is the source of the hate. ---
**Author:** ![Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2016, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-hillary-so-hated/771433/44 "2016-11-11T15:47:41Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > I dislike her because I believe she is an egotistical megalomaniac **who thinks she knows how to spend my money better than I do** , and feels entitled to her position (for whatever reason) at the head of the government to see damn well to it that she can enforce that will and is willing to lie, cheat, dodge responsibility and do basically _whatever it takes_ to get there. > > But, hey, that’s just my opinion. Aside from your opinion of her sense of entitlement, I don’t see anything in your description that doesn’t equally apply to Donald Trump. ---
**Author:** ![steronz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steronz/32/11765_2.png) [@steronz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steronz)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2016, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-hillary-so-hated/771433/45 "2016-11-11T15:49:19Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > It’s a valid question if you say you don’t like Hillary for her smug arrogance and superior countenance and then turn around and vote for a smug arrogant superior jerk like Trump. Right. **Shodan** , I’ll admit that we’re all in our own bubble of sorts here, but you have to understand how your reasons come off. When people say they couldn’t vote for a liar, and then vote for someone for whom lying is like breathing, well, clearly that “don’t vote for a liar” thing wasn’t a strongly held principle. When people say they don’t like Obama because he’s “divisive,” and then they vote for someone who as said an ungodly number of divisive things, well, clearly that “I don’t like divisiveness” isn’t a strongly held principle. And yes, when people say they don’t like arrogance, and then vote for perhaps the most arrogant “I could shoot someone in the middle of 5th avenue” candidate in recent memory, well, perhaps arrogance isn’t really the issue. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2016, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-hillary-so-hated/771433/46 "2016-11-11T15:59:40Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > It’s a valid question if you say you don’t like Hillary for her smug arrogance and superior countenance and then turn around and vote for a smug arrogant superior jerk like Trump. It would be if her smug arrogance were the only reason you vote against her. If you point out all her scandals and all her policy disagreements as reasons, and emphasize her smug arrogance, some of those who live inside the liberal bubble will simply repeat that misogyny is the only reason. > [@](#): > > The reason most of those on the Right dislike anything that isn’t Right. Because she exists. No doubt that is a lot of it. In exactly the same way that most of those on the Left dislike anything that isn’t Left. I don’t mean necessarily Trump, I mean pretty much any Republican who runs for public office. As I said, so it goes. One of the interesting things about the run up to the recent elections is to observe what the Left said about a Republican that I didn’t support. Racist/sexist/homophobic/stupid/corrupt/dangerous/evil/yadda yadda. It wasn’t all that different from was said in every other Presidential election since Reagan. The fact that I agree with much of it now doesn’t prevent me from retroactively confirming what I thought then - hate of all things Left is no different from hate of all things Right. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2016, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-hillary-so-hated/771433/47 "2016-11-11T16:00:15Z")
> [@Flyer](#): > > Quite simply, Clinton is the most thoroughly corrupt, immoral, untrustworthy person (by a very large margin) ever to run for president. 52 million people would disagree. ---
**Author:** ![Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a183cd/32.png) [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barkis_is_Willin)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2016, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-hillary-so-hated/771433/48 "2016-11-11T16:07:46Z")
Is the question, “why don’t you like Hillary?” Or is it, “who’s worse, Hillary or Donald?” Because if it’s the former, I can list a lot of stuff that’s already been said here. And then when you retort with, “But TRUMP!!!” Yeah, he sucks, too. So? ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2016, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-hillary-so-hated/771433/49 "2016-11-11T16:48:10Z")
According to exit poll results, white women with a college degree went for Clinton over Trump 51-45%. > **[2016 Election exit polls: How the vote has shifted](https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/politics/2016-election/exit-polls/)** > > As polls closed nationwide Tuesday night, see how voters from different backgrounds across the nation cast their ballots. Think about that. With everything Trump did to disgust and turn off women (and a hell of a lot of men), 45% of supposedly educated white women still supported him! Even considering various other factors, that still indicates a lot of dislike for Hillary that crosses gender lines. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2016, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-hillary-so-hated/771433/50 "2016-11-11T18:32:30Z")
> [@steronz](#): > > Right. **Shodan** , I’ll admit that we’re all in our own bubble of sorts here, but you have to understand how your reasons come off. When people say they couldn’t vote for a liar, and then vote for someone for whom lying is like breathing, well, clearly that “don’t vote for a liar” thing wasn’t a strongly held principle. When people say they don’t like Obama because he’s “divisive,” and then they vote for someone who as said an ungodly number of divisive things, well, clearly that “I don’t like divisiveness” isn’t a strongly held principle. And yes, when people say they don’t like arrogance, and then vote for perhaps the most arrogant “I could shoot someone in the middle of 5th avenue” candidate in recent memory, well, perhaps arrogance isn’t really the issue. And if both candidates are smug and arrogant, divisive, corrupt liars, then standing on principle becomes a lot more difficult. In which case, you vote Libertarian and hope for the best. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2016, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-hillary-so-hated/771433/51 "2016-11-11T19:09:51Z")
> [@Barbarian](#): > > Aside from your opinion of her sense of entitlement, I don’t see anything in your description that doesn’t equally apply to Donald Trump. I didn’t/wouldn’t vote for him, either. I’m just tickled to see her go down in flames. President Trump doesn’t scare me. He’ll be kept on a short leash by the people who _really_ run the country. ---
**Author:** ![puddleglum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puddleglum/32/137_2.png) [@puddleglum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puddleglum)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2016, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-hillary-so-hated/771433/52 "2016-11-11T19:14:22Z")
Hillary is everything that is wrong with the political class in a pantsuit. 1. There are different rules for the powerful. Everyone who goes to work for the government is told when they start that it is their duty to protect classified information at all times. They are also told that everything on their computer belongs to the government. If anyone who works for the government is cavalier about classified information or is found to have used their personal email to conduct government business then they are fired, they lose their clearance, and if it is bad enough they may go to jail. Hillary’s hatred of transparency was so great that she let anyone who wanted to find out everything that the Secretary of State was emailed. Then her husband meets with the Attorney General in a private meeting and no consequences at all occur. 2. Greed and hypocrisy. She and her husband makes tens of millions of dollars giving speeches to rich bankers. Not because anyone has ever enjoyed a speech of hers but because of access to power. She tells those bankers, that a politician has to have a public and a private position. Only the rich and powerful get to hear her private position. The rest of us get to be lied to. At the same time she is raking in these tens of millions for speeches she is decrying as greedy anyone who doesn’t want to pay higher taxes. She used the elective office to make herself rich while lecturing others about greed. 3. Her treatment of regular people. She flies from the home of one billionaire to another raising money for her campaign, while treating her security like crap. As soon as her husband was elected she fired the travel office staff and had one person prosecuted because she wanted to give their jobs to cronies. She was known for treating subordinates poorly at the state department. She knew the people who were claiming affairs with her husband were telling the truth but she lead the charge in calling them liars and bimbos. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2016, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-hillary-so-hated/771433/53 "2016-11-11T19:15:24Z")
> [@dunkleosteus](#): > > I heard that Hilary was overwhelmingly popular with voters aged 18-25. As a 22 year old, I also supported her. I have no recollection of the first Clinton presidency though, and was only vaguely aware of her until the 2008 election. > > Could be common in my demographic, maybe her past is the source of the hate. The Right hated the Clintons because Bubba denied Bush The Smarter a second term. (At least Bush was able to pardon his Iran-Contra co-conspirators; he would have been mentioned in the scheduled trials.) The Republicans expended much energy throughout both Clinton administrations to making us hate both of them. She was definitely considered “uppity”. When he suggested more attention be paid to Osama Bin Ladin, he was accused of “wagging the dog” to distract from _detailed_ investigation of an unwise but consensual affair. I remember it well, since I’m old. But I wasn’t a credulous idiot them and I’m not one now. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2016, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-hillary-so-hated/771433/54 "2016-11-11T20:11:52Z")
I voted for Hillary Clinton, and not just as a lesser of two evils. I think she would have made a decent president and as a moderate liberal I agree with most of her positions. She would have had a rough time with congress, but so would most any Dem. I do agree that some of the hate is based on a misogynistic dislike of women in power, and also that some was based on absurd conspiracy and utter nonsense, like Benghazi and Vince Foster. But. Even if you ignore the nonsense, there is still a lot of stuff associated with the Clintons that reeks of corruption and bad judgement. The Clinton foundation was a huge conflict of interest, and smelled of pay to play, even if nothing could be proven. Lack of transparency was a real issue, and talking money from Saudi Arabia looks odd for a champion of Women’s rights. The email server showed appalling judgement and an arrogant “rules for thee but not for me” attitude. A lesser government employee would have been frog marched to the door for handling classified materials in that matter, even if it wasn’t criminal. It’s not just right wingers that don’t like Clinton. My progressive friends really dislike her chumminess with wall street, including secret speeches and cushy jobs for Chelsea. It made them skeptical that there would be any real reform of the financial sector under her administration. They also don’t like her hawkishness and eagerness to get entangled in Middle East conflicts. She is seen as the insider’s insider, thoroughly enmeshed in DC power structures. More and more people feel that the establishment is serving itself, not the people it is supposed to serve. The DNC basically anointed her Queen, and helped her fight off a rebellion from Bernie Sanders. When Bill ran for office, he was the governor of a small state, and had to fight his way through a primary where he was not favored at first. Now he and Hillary mingle with the rich and powerful, including Donald Trump back in the day. And there is the Charisma thing. It’s partly misogyny, but it’s not just misogyny. There was a very charismatic woman on the trail with her: Michelle Obama. When Michelle speaks she is genuine and emotional and seems to be really speaking to you. Hillary is harsh and phony. She reminds people of the teacher who would assign extra homework on a long weekend. Her attempts at empathy seem rehearsed rather than natural. You can argue that that’s unfair, but it’s real. I’ll bet most of you, men and women alike, have encountered people you just didn’t warm to, simply because talking to them was so awkward. You can argue against all these points, but they are real critiques, and can’t just be dismissed as the ravings of right wing crazies. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2016, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-hillary-so-hated/771433/55 "2016-11-11T20:19:22Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > In the beginning it was because she was a strong woman with an educated mind of her own. When asked about her career choice (as an attorney), she made the mistake of answering to the effect that she never had any intention of staying home and “baking cookies”. This set off a shit storm from the right. You would have thought she had said that all men should be castrated. > > From that moment on, the right yapped at her heels, criticizing everything from her hair style (and the hair bands she habitually wore) to her clothing, and particularly her zeal for universal healthcare, which was prompted by her work with the underprivileged. When she made that a priority as First Lady and was assigned to work on it by her husband, she was again vilified by all and sundry on the baying right. > > Since then, she’s been the target of choice for the right, going from one non-scandal to the next in an attempt to smear her. Yep, two decades of the Karl Rove lie & hate machine. And, of course, she did screw up a few times. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2016, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-hillary-so-hated/771433/56 "2016-11-11T20:26:44Z")
I do not hate Hillary. I voted for her in the 2008 primary, the 2016 primary, and the 2016 general. In this [post](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=810416) I perform a detailed (and I think fair) walkthrough of the mind of a Hillary hater, if anybody cares. The upshot of my take is that the Clintons have for some time been emanating some very sketchy signals as to their personal and political ethics. The right-wing propaganda machine has been amplifying and rebroadcasting that signal to a segment of the population that the Clintons wrote off a long time ago. I believe most of the allegations are meritless, but dismissing them as just opposition chatter was a fatal mistake that allowed these ideas to get deeply entrenched. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2016, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-hillary-so-hated/771433/57 "2016-11-11T21:34:38Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > There’s also a bubble called the SDMB who hates its own bogeymen. Those bogeymen being Those People. Those People hate Hillary because she’s a women, they hate Obama because he’s black, they hate illegal immigrants because they’re racist, etc. > > This is how it works - > So it goes. > > Regards, > Shodan Indeed it does, and not just on the SDMB. This believe-as-we-do-or-you’re-an-‘ist’-engaging-in-‘ism’ meme seems a common thread amongst liberals in general. Or at least it is among the more vocal of them. ---
**Author:** ![What\_the](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f4b2a3/32.png) [@What\_the](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_the)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2016, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-hillary-so-hated/771433/58 "2016-11-12T14:43:40Z")
> [@joyfool](#): > > Whoops! Forgot this. > > Yeah, I don’t get it either. She would’ve been damned if she left and she was damned for staying. To me, the very essence of feminism is supporting a woman’s right to choose whatever path she decides. Maybe she stayed for Chelsea. Or however many years they’d been together were more important than any indiscretion. Maybe they secretly had an open marriage and it was better to keep that way. Perhaps she planned on leaving, and he begged her to stay on the condition he’d change, and she loved him enough to believe him. Whatever the reason, why is what she chose on that front anyone’s business? Certainly to the extent that someone could hate her over it. Or use it as a reason to vote against her over Trump. Perhaps she could have done something short of attacking all of the women who accused Bill over the years. It started in AR with Betsy Wright who was responsible for cleaning up the bimbo eruptions. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2016, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-hillary-so-hated/771433/59 "2016-11-12T15:20:28Z")
She’s just an extremely unlikable person to millions of people. She comes across as: - corrupt - mean - insincere - power hungry - cold - dishonest - disingenuous - cynical - out-of-touch - fake Every time I saw her on TV, she looked _really_ pissed off. Like something was _wrong_, or she wasn’t getting her way. It also appeared she was always putting on a “nice” act. We can debate on and on if these are legitimate adjectives to describe her. But it wouldn’t matter; in politics only perception matters. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2016, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-hillary-so-hated/771433/60 "2016-11-12T21:53:47Z")
> [@racer72](#): > > 52 million people would disagree. Closer to 61 million [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-hillary-so-hated/771433.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-hillary-so-hated/771433.md?page=4)