Hillary's "pregnant pause."

[pnwmom]

http://www.salon.com/opinion/walsh/?last_story=/opinion/walsh/election_2008/2007/11/16/gender_card/

Hillary Clinton just handled the completely predictable gender question very well. CNN's Campbell Brown, who was recently hired away from MSNBC but had to postpone her move to the 8 pm anchor slot because she's pregnant, asked a tough but fair question about whether Clinton and her supporters had played the gender card by pointing to the fact that it was an all-male stage candidates who ganged up on her in the last debate.

Clinton insisted she didn't claimed sexism was behind the attacks. "I'm not trying to play the gender card, I'm trying to play the winning card. People aren't attacking me because I'm a woman, they're attacking me because I'm ahead," she told Brown, and then praised the Democratic field for offering a Latino and African American as well as a woman. When Brown followed up, asking Clinton what she meant when, in a speech at her alma mater Wellesley, she talked about trying to break into the "boys club" of the White House, Clinton showed perfect comedic timing. She paused for a second after the question, and then looked at the pregnant anchor with incredulity and simply said:

"Campbell."

Brown grinned. "Just curious."

SNIP

[TwilightGardener]

1. I thought that was a very good moment for her. Every woman knows the "boys club".

[pnwmom]

6. That was the moment when my elderly mother picked up the phone and called me.

She loved it!

And she said something like: "Don't they know men have been playing the gender card FOREVER?"

[gateley]

2. My honest response was that she was stalling for time - I see your point, though.

[pnwmom]

5. I didn't have that feeling at all. I had exactly the same reaction

as Joan Walsh -- in that pause, HRC was pointing out the ridiculousness of the question.

[gateley]

8. Yeah - I see that now - and again, find it interesting on how we each interpret

things differently. I'm in agreement with you all now, though. One of the MANY good things about DU - I'm presented with other viewpoints other than my own that make me think.

[pnwmom]

9. It is also interesting how much a person can convey in their voice

that doesn't come through on the written page. For example, this sentence (which Hillary said immediately after the pause) doesn't look like much on paper:

"Well, it is clear I think from women's experiences that from time to time, there may be some impediments."

Listening to her say it, the sarcasm (or, the "understatement") was crystal clear. But on paper, a reader might not notice that at all.

Which is why, I suppose, it is important to actually hear candidates speak and debate -- you just can't convey as much meaning in a transcript.

[gateley]

11. Even my best friend and I who have been on the same wavelength for 25 years

misunderstand each other's inference in e-mails.

[pnwmom]

13. Just as an aside, you might be interested to know that Robert Frost

struggled with the issue of how to convey tone of voice in his poetry. Because so much can be lost when you can't hear the speaker's voice.

For example, the Road Less Traveled had a narrator who was being ironic -- but the poem is usually interpreted in exactly the opposite manner than Frost intended -- because tone is so difficult to convey on paper.

[gateley]

14. That IS interesting -- didn't know that. Too bad he didn't have an 'irony' smilie! nt

[polichick]

3. I thought she was calling Campbell on her shit...

She might've said, "DUH!"

[Tellurian]

4. Hillary aced the Pakistan question...that was her best response of the night!

imo...of course!

[William769]

12. She's back and kicking ass!

[Tellurian]

17. Wondering if anyone has seen Edwards sitting down today?

:rofl:

[Catherine Vincent]

7. I thought the sound had gone off for a second.

I didn't realize what she was doing. :)

[Evergreen Emerald]

10. That was the moment of the night

She actually made Brown grin and blush (the right-wing tool).

[HuffleClaw]

15. as usual she tries to have it both ways

forever shifting her position is getting old real fast

[pnwmom]

16. There are two completely different issues here. From the beginning,

she said the debate pile-on was because she was in the lead.

But it is also undeniable that women have been at a historical disadvantage in the world of politics, and that not a single woman has ever served as President of the United States in more than 200 years as a country. In the world of politics, men have always played the gender card -- Bush's flight suit, Ghouli the testosterone husband, tall Freddie with the deep voice. If HRC can figure out how to play the card to her advantage -- good for her.

[underpants]

18. Damn! does Dan Senor know she is pregnant?

Oh yeah he probably does

you know so they have their story together