Tuesday, January 08, 2008

Wash. Post's Achenbach: Hillary Clinton "needs a radio-controlled shock collar so that aides can zap her when she starts to get screechy"

In a January 7 post on his blog, Achenblog, which was also published n the print edition of The Washington Post, Joel Achenbach wrote that Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (NY) "needs a radio-controlled shock collar so that aides can zap her when she starts to get screechy," adding: "She came perilously close to going on a tirade. Volume is critical in these things: Ask [former Vermont Gov.] Howard Dean [(D)]." Achenbach was referring to Clinton's performance in the January 5 ABC News/Facebook Democratic debate. As Media Matters for America has documented (here, here, here, here, and here), the media have frequently attacked Clinton for the tone and volume of her voice or laugh. Most recently, following Clinton's appearance on all five Sunday political talk shows on September 23, 2007, the media latched onto Clinton's purported "cackle."

As Media Matters noted, on October 9, 2007, Fox News' Fox & Friends juxtaposed an audio clip of Dean's exclamation during his 2004 concession speech after he came in third in the Iowa Democratic presidential caucuses with an audio clip of Clinton laughing during a September 23, 2007, interview on Fox Broadcasting Co.'s Fox News Sunday. During the segment, Republican pollster Frank Luntz called Clinton's laugh a "cackle" and co-host Steve Doocy said Dean's exclamation was "like a cackle."

--MORE HERE--

No comments: