Will the Hillary Hate Machine Ever Take A Rest? It's Deep-Seeded & Psychological, So 'No'

The TV Interview That Haunts Hillary Clinton Politico

On Sunday, January 26, 1992, on '60 Minutes 'on CBS, in a time slot immediately following the Super Bowl, America's First Lady Hillary Clinton responded fiercely to questions about her husband’s reported infidelity with a former newscaster and lounge singer named Gennifer Flowers. Flowers had told a supermarket tabloid about how she had been then presidential candidate Bill Clinton's mistress for 12 year. Suddenly, it fell to Hillary to clean up her husband's mess, and for better of worse, she invoked the name of a country music star. 

“You know, I’m not sitting here, some little woman standing by my man like Tammy Wynette,” the black headbanded First Lady told the nation. “I’m sitting here because I love him, and I respect him, and I honor what he’s been through and what we’ve been through together. And you know, if that’s not enough for people, then heck—don’t vote for him.”

This was America’s introduction to Hillary Clinton, and it worked—for her husband. By almost every account, Hillary Clinton's '60 Minutes' appearance saved Bill Candidate's presidential-candidate butt and his entire political career. 

For her, however, it came at a steep cost. In 10 minutes of television, she projected a set of complicated, even conflicting images—forthright but defensive, feisty but dutiful—triggering the mix of skeptical, antagonistic feelings that have defined her with a share of the American public ever since.

Rather than admit that while part of Hillary's problem is her own creation, there are multiple anti-Hillary factors in play, ones that underscore how conservative a country really is in electing any woman president of America. A country that ranks about 90th in the world in electing women to public office clearly has its own inner ambivalence about female politicians. In this article Politico focuses on "Clinton’s perennial, awkward and generally unsuccessful efforts to re-introduce herself, to redefine herself.

It didn’t have to be this way."

Hillary Clinton's 'Angry' Face New York Times

If only Hillary Clinton would smile, her road to the presidency would be so much easier, say pundits. During Clinton's recent televised forum on national security and military issues this month -- the one where Matt Lauer spent a third of her time hammering her about emails, Republican National Committee chairman, Reince Priebus, tweeted that she was “angry and defensive the entire time — no smile and uncomfortable.” Hillary tweeted back undaunted by Mr. Priebus’s opinion “Actually, that’s just what taking the office of president seriously looks like.”

It's an old song, one sung by men for years now and actually hummed by American women as well: "A woman making stern-looking facial movements must be angry or upset. A man who looks the same, on the other hand, is focusing on the important matters at hand."

This is a classic example of a psychological phenomenon studied by Lisa Feldman Barrett: "how people perceive emotion differently in men’s and women’s faces. It’s something for Americans to consider as they watch the first debate between Mrs. Clinton and Donald J. Trump on Monday."

The journal Emotion published a Barrett's lab study that photographed males and females in a variety of facial poses or expressions including smiles, frowns and widened eyes. The images were than shown to test subjects who were asked if the person in the photo was being emotional, or just responding to a situation. Subjects consistently chose emotion for the photos of women — confirming their belief that female expression are causes by an internal feeling or personal response. In the case of me, the subjects were more likely to choose a situation.

Seeking to reinforce their findings, Barrett's team repeated the study using androgynous faces, created on a computer that melded male and female features. Using identical faces, the researchers then produced 'male' and 'female' versions of each face by adding gender-typical hair.

Unaware of the trickery, the test subjects confirmed the research results for a second time.  Female-hair faces were more likely to be perceived as responding to an internal, emotional cause to the facial poses. Male-hair faces were evaluated as responding to an external situation. 

Barrett's team concluded in her words: “She’s a bitch, but he’s just having a bad day.”

Equal Opportunities for Women Politicians Still Elusive by Julia Gillard, Australian prime minister 2010-2013 Politico

Countless women are ill over the rampant misogyny expressed in the current presidential campaign and earlier Democratic primary. The misogyny was rampant and nearly out of control among both Trump and Sanders supporters. 

Former Australian prime minister Julia Gillard overviews the anti-female politicians views worldwide, with a special emphasis on America's presidential election.

"A harder, darker tone has emerged in this U.S. election campaign. The Washington Post analyzed 100,000 tweets from the New Hampshire primary and found the most “gendered” language used in reference to Clinton included the word “bitch” and threats of rape. For former Democratic nominee Bernie Sanders, “dad” and “basketball” were as bad as it got. The latest whispering campaign about Clinton’s health and stamina draws freely on stereotypes that women are weak, while men can take it.
Clinton faces a commonly-held perception that she is not likeable, despite the fact that those closest to her say she is kind, warm, funny and a great listener. This unfair perception illustrates what many academic studies also show: People tend to perceive women leaders as cold, hard and selfish."

Kim Kardashian Says She'll Be Voting For Hillary Clinton BuzzFeed

Everyone can take a chill pill. Kim Kardashian has explained to the nation that she will indeed be voting for Hillary Clinton.  Kardashian explains that she consulted with numerous people including Caitlyn Jenner before reaching a firm decision to support Hillary. 

As for Caitlyn, she's silent on her vote and for good reasons. Reportedly devastated by the cancellation of her reality show 'I Am Cait' due to abysmal ratings of less than 700,000 viewers a week, not giving Trump the Republican Caitlyn Jenner hug is probably a wise strategy. The LGBTQ community has been furious with Jenner for her embrace first of Ted Cruz and then Trump. 

Step-daughter Kim Kardashian clarifies her intention to vote Hillary.

A “quote” of mine was released yesterday causing my phone to blow up by friends, family and even both candidates’ camps, so I want to explain the context in which I said I was “on the fence” about my vote.
There was a point when I wasn’t 100% sure I was even going to vote in this election; I didn’t want to vote blindly. But I also thought about how not voting would mean that I wasn’t making my voice heard, so I decided to talk to my closest friends and family who I love and trust, to have an open conversation about politics.
I believe we owe it to ourselves, and to each other, to ask questions. To do our research so that we vote for the candidate who represents our own beliefs. We should start at a place of openness, receptiveness and honesty, and we should talk to those we love, trust and respect.
I had a long conversation with Caitlyn, who has always been open about her political views, and she encouraged me to do my research before making my decision and then vote for the candidate whose policies aligned with the things that matter most to me. And so that’s what I did. I thought about the things that are so important to me that they outweigh everything else, such as gun control and protecting women’s rights to safe and legal abortion.
I found that without a doubt, I stand with Hillary. I’m with her. I believe Hillary will best represent our country and is the most qualified for the job. This year, I’m not just voting for myself, but also for my children, and I took that into careful consideration when I made my decision. Now that I have made my choice I want to be clear… I would never judge anyone based on their political or religious beliefs. I believe that both candidates have the intention of making the country a safer and stronger place for every American, they just have different ideas about how we get there.
God bless America for allowing us to even make these decisions – there are so many in this world who are not so privileged.

Hillary Clinton Headlines September 26, 2016

Hillary vs. the Hate Machine: How Clinton Became a Vessel for America's Fury Rolling Stone

Hillary Clinton's Final Exam New York Times

Voters Want Hillary Clinton to be the Grownup Slate

This is Hillary Clinton's Millennial 'Problem' Newsweek

The Science of Clinton: Education, Advanced Manufacturing and More For Research FiveThirtyEight

Maybe Millennials Think Clinton's Already Won. She Hasn't New York Magazine

Swing State Paper the Latest Conservative Outlet to Endorse Hillary Clinton Newsweek

The Pressure's On Hillary Clinton in First Debate, Fair or Not Newsweek

Trump team builds 'psychological profile' of Clinton for debate Politico