Pundits Have Field Day With Hillary Cackle

Washington Post:

Forget the cleavage. It's now about the cackle.

No joke: Hillary Clinton's laugh is now being analyzed, scrutinized and, yes, mocked as if it were a sound barrier on her glide path to the Democratic presidential nomination: Is it real? Is it fake? Is it a diabolically clever attempt to portray her as a human being?

What a hoot.

Jon Stewart, setting the pace for political journalism, kicked things off last week by assembling a grab bag of giggling and guffawing when the senator appeared on all five Sunday talk shows, from a barn outside her Chappaqua, N.Y., home. As Clinton was seen bursting into belly laughs-- sometimes oddly and abruptly -- at queries by the likes of Bob Schieffer and Chris Wallace, the "Daily Show" host likened her to a robot switching into chuckle mode when aggressive interrogators needed to be neutralized.

Read the whole story: Washington Post

Comments

[hellothere]

What's this "Cackle" business? Using cackle to describe a chuckle or a laugh is a thinly- disguised and perhaps subconsciously misogynist attempt to paint Hillary as a witch -- "she cackles, therefore she's a witch." It is the same thing as labelling an aggressive or ambitious woman abrasive. I hear it all the time from people who have no self confidence or feel threatened. It's an attempt to cut a powerful woman off at the knees with an emotionally charged under-handed jab. I figure Jon Stewart is just reaching for a cheap laugh. The wing-nuts, I'm sure, have political motivations. Not everything smells like of sexism.. but calling Hillary Clinton's laugh a "cackle" reeks of it.

[mikeodd]

How about 'chortle'? Is that gender-neutral enough to describe a cheap tactic?

[3fingerbrown]

People are always asking why presidential candidates can't behave more spontaneously like human beings in their public appearances. Well, this is why.

[Ramirez]

Here is Glenn Beck's take on The Cackle:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PlF12X1dCeo

"And your little dog, too!"
*********

Here is the Dem Debate with HRC breaking into laughter during questions about upcoming war on Iran.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3gQfz8GC0o

Great clip. You'll laugh. You'll cry.

[Ramirez]

Here is the Jon Stewart clip of The Cackle:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o72Cq7AgjSQ

Funny stuff.

[roxnev]

It is all a joke, you would be justified LOL at most all of it. Especially if it is Tim Russert

[nunzia]

Well of course they are having a grand time with that! Easier than substance.

[Economike]

What? that delightful tinkling laugh. What's the problem?

[jaxbarrow]

If we are going to critique the presidential (or potentially presidential) giggle and or laugh, how 'bout we critique how that same person waves ( "W" being the perfect example of a silly wave) or perhaps a hashing out of how they use the English language.
Hmmmm - who would turn up at the bottom of the list on that subject?
This is all fluff and nonsense.
Who started this anyway? The public (who I guarantee you are more interested in the War and their own lives than how this person or that person laughs) or is this another one of those made up stories that the press seem to relish? Can't they find anything of substance to explore - like what Brittany Spears was doing last night?
We are screwed if this is an example of the national dialogue.

[Advocate123]

Yeah...cuz nobody ever made fun of Bush's laugh, or way he spoke.

[Economike]

Making fun is one thing, suggesting it is going to influence who wins the election, quite another.

[Rand]

What REALLY bothers me is that the CT Cowboy grins and chuckles every time he's talking about death, but grimaces when talking about health care


PLEASE do NOT believe me: Watch it for yourself during his next nonsensical speech!

[ebbtide]

she should not laugh when serious questions about the serious events going on right now involving this country. Too much. Instead, she should answer the questions with seriousness, wit and ability to debate. She looks asinine laughing at serious questions while avoiding an answer. Teenagers do that.

[NWProgressive]

"Serious" questions asked by those with very dubious motives deserve an answer, but the laughter is expressing her opinion of the person asking it, not the question itself. Hillary is most certainly not my choice for president, but to expect her to take seriously every crackpot wingnut who tries to frame her candidacy by asking heavily loaded questions? Give me a break.

This whole thing is yet another attempt to change focus from real issues to something utterly ridiculous. That the media takes it's cues from Jon Stewart (who I hold in the highest regard, and who himself mocks the mass media when they take their cues from him), only speaks to the quality of mass media in our country, not Jon or Hillary.

[Economike]

The clip I saw of her laughing at the inane, leading and maliscious question posed to her, seemed to be the only sane response.

[paulk]

Both the media and the Republicans deserve to be laughed at.

Hillary is not hurting herself by expressing her contempt by laughing at the absurdity of the questions asked her... or the Republican attempts to frame her message.

[Rand]

She's not my choice for the nomination, but this is just silly

A LOT of folks have fake-sounding laughs which are real: Have you ever heard Chris Matthews????