In this year of political rage, one aspect that baffles me somewhat is the absolute electrified, apoplectic, blurred-vision hatred of Hillary Clinton. Nor do I get the similar outrage expressed about President Barack Obama, who in the comment section world makes Donald Trump look like a lovable Disney character.
In this year of political rage, one aspect that baffles me somewhat is the absolute electrified, apoplectic, blurred-vision hatred of Hillary Clinton. Nor do I get the similar outrage expressed about President Barack Obama, who in the comment section world makes Donald Trump look like a lovable Disney character.
Looking back on political figures, I can truly say there are only a handful of people I could really get vein-popping angry about:
• Sarah Palin (not because she’s a woman; because she’s a moron).
• Donald Trump.
• Ted Cruz (but he looks like a Care Bear now).
That’s about it, and I’m a political cartoonist.
I respected Dick Cheney as a frighteningly good pro gone bad. I thought Richard Nixon a genius who played hardball, which got way out of hand. Dan Quayle? Practically Machiavelli by today’s standards, and not at all a bad person. I don’t even think he was, you know, dumb.
But do I hate Hillary Clinton?
Meh. No.
She certainly has provided puzzling moments. But in the words of Obama, she’s likable enough. But is she a lying murderess with cankles? You would think so, based on the emails I get.
One amateur political observer on my Facebook page called her “Lady Trump.” Another one of my regular dyspeptic pen pals calls her “Hildebeast.”
Think of her worst moments: Does she exaggerate? Hmm. OK. She’s in politics. Does Trump exaggerate? Are there any Trump voters out there equally offended by his flat-out lies, or is it just the woman in the race?
Trump says she’s an enabler of Bill Clinton. I would think anyone thinking about voting for Trump is enabling a truly mentally ill con artist (his GOP opponents said it, not me), but let’s look at that assertion for fun.
Bill gets caught. It’s embarrassing. He has been with a bunch of other women, which isn’t exactly a Breaking News Alert for Hillary. She’s even said “Bill is a hard dog to keep on the porch.”
So, she stays with him. Perhaps she actually loves him enough to forgive him. Is that enabling? If you’re in politics, everything is cynical, right? Or maybe some things are just as they appear.
If you hate Hillary for being a liar, do you hate Trump for being a liar? He lies incalculably. Do you hate President Ronald Reagan for lying? He lied about things, too. “No arms for hostages” in the Iran-Contra affair comes immediately to mind.
Why do these guys hate Hillary? I don’t know if it’s that she reminds them of their strict mother, their Catholic school nun, their first wife, their second wife or their lack of any female presence in their life, but this spitting, aneurysm-inducing venom is spectacularly overblown even in an election year.
She might even lose to a guy who runs (enables) beauty pageants. Last poll I saw, 65 percent of GOP women will vote for the sexist clown in November.
Now that’s enabling.
Maybe Trump “spokesman” John Miller can clear this up. Or Joan Miller.
But only if she’s a 10, right?
Because women who aren’t 10s are fat pigs.
Ask Trump. He said it, not me. Aren’t you enraged yet?
Jack Ohman is a columnist and political cartoonist for the Sacramento Bee. Readers can email him at johman@sacbee.com