She take some heat however she will prevail and come out a stronger leader.

^ I meant "She takes some heat however she will prevail and be an even stronger leader."

I think that Hilary bashing is the sport of choice these days. While I would love to believe that it's simply because people don't like her personally, I tend to think it's because she's a woman and a strong one at that. Maybe I'm wrong, but it just seems that she's followed the same patterns as male politicians and gotten called out on it much, much more.

I agree with her, but I'm not sure it's fair to say Obama and Edwards have gotten a free ride. They're all under the microscope. Maybe she's under it more, I wouldn't disagree with that, but I'm just not sure that's the best tact to take. Stay positive instead?

Agreed with her and annebreal. This was not be the best explanation, blaming her attackers to to speak, but she gets nailed by the men and the press. As a woman, I just wish I liked her politics more! I am all about Edwards and if he doesn't make it through, then Obama.

I think she will prevail also...she definitely will get my vote.

I think she's sort of tried to have it both ways- getting upset about other people's negativity while being negative herself. And I just think she's too divisive- her "vast right wing conspiracy" comments come to mind. I don't see how a person who is loathed by a large percent of the country could be a uniter and move us in a positive direction. I think she's just too polarizing.

In addition, her "35 years of experience" thing doesn't work for me. She's been a senator on her own merit, of course, but everything else has been as the wife of a governor and president. Not that she hasn't picked up a bit here and there, but I wouldn't want the wife of a heart surgeon performing surgery, figuring her time married to her husband counted as medical experience, and how much more important is the office of President?

While I think it's great that a woman is attempting to run...I think it's ridiculous that she is saying Edwards and Obama have had "free rides". Anyone who runs for President has to work hard, take quite a bit of criticism, and be "bullied" by people. I hate how she comes across as if she obviously has it harder because she is a woman. Everybody has strengths and weaknesses, and gender is not one of them, but I feel like she thinks she deserves more than the others simply by being female. I'm glad that a woman is finally in the running...but I kind of wish it was somebody other than Hillary.

I agree with Bookish...Hillary is too polarizing.

I like Clinton and while I wouldn't vote for her in a primary (Edwards would get my vote if he was on the ballot in MI) I would in a general election. I do think she has been criticized a little more than other democratic candidates but I truly think it has more to do with her politics and how she carries herself than with the fact that she's a strong woman. I mean, she just always came off as a cold person (until recently) whereas Obama and Edwards and Richardson seem to be friendly and such. Also, she comes off as a professional politician, which turns off a lot of people (including several of my friends who have said the same thing) whereas Obama and Edwards don't so much. I just don't know. I really do like her and I am glad that there's a woman finally running for President, but I agree with pinkdragonfly, I wish it was someone else.

Agh I hate Hillary.

i really liked hillary before she ran for president. i liked her because she seemed moderate compared to her democrat counterparts and she was unafraid to say "yes im in the middle". her whole presidential campaign has been about ducking and weaving from her moderate past and talking about her "experience". really? how much does the first lady do when she is in the white house? and what exactly is she going to do that someone with "experience" wont do? now she has this idea that she is being bullied, please, when you have "experience" nobody can bully you from that. all it is, is another "dont forget im a woman" angle from a bs campaign run by a bs candidate.

I think that Hilary was taking a lot of heat because she was the "front-runner" with the best financed campaign. Obama was perceived not be electable until Iowa -- now he's a real opponent for her. She learned that she needed to be herself more in New Hampshire, and to fight back. But the challenge is not to give the other party amunition.

In the words of one of my favorite authors "Hillary Clinton is a fanatic pretending to be a moderate." And I believe this too. I detest Hillary.

I think it's very coincidental that her crying episode that cracked her stony exterior happened when she began to lose. She is starting to lose it in general, making attacks on Obama that are not in character with a winning candidate from interviews I've heard.

Whether you like or hate her doesn't make any of these statements more or less true. Really more than one option is correct - she is criticized for things a man wouldn't be. All politicians are criticized. Her taking heat shows a tested politician. I'm not confident in the "electability" question, though. In the end, WHO CARES?!!!! Why do we constantly talk about the unimportant things like crying, screaming, name calling, hair cuts, fund raising - we talk around politics not about politics. It's so annoying, but I feel helpless to change it.

What I do find amusing is how much the right wingers hate her, though, given that she's the most right wing of all the dems running. They just can't get past the blind hatred to see that she's more like them than they realize, which makes her not that much like me, though.

And redegg - yeah, I agree with you. It was coincidental, nothing more. So now can the silly bobble-heads on tv stop talking about it?

"Why do we constantly talk about the unimportant things like crying, screaming, name calling, hair cuts, fund raising"
We talk about these things because they attest to the character of the person. It's very important. Is someone's funding legit or are they getting it from someone who is not on the up and up yet they have no problem with that? Are they being manipulative and insincere through having crying episodes that are not real or was this genuine emotion?

Discussing things like this bring factors to light about a candidate that are not revealed when they just spew forth their same viewpoints over and over for the camera. We're left really wondering if they are going to do what they say, if they are sincere about it, and if they are honest.

And Hillary is not the most right wing. She follows a different form of thought completely.

Most of the time she is the one who brings up the fact that she is female. I think it is tacky to use it as a gimmick. Edwards and Obama don't side with each other because she is a woman...it is because of policy. It really saddens me to hear people say they WANT to vote for her simply because she is a woman. Can we get past such trivial details, and focus on the issues at hand?

I am very irritated by news articles that always have the tag line attached to Obama and Hillary's names...", running to be the first female president." and "running to be the first black president." GET OVER IT! It really cheapens the democratic process to vote for someone based on their biological make up and not their level of wisdom and competency.

I also agree that her "35 years of experience" is very deceptive. She was a first lady...not an elected official by any stretch of the imagination. I believe that if you count Obama's state congressional work, he has actually been an elected official for longer than Hillary (his combined senate experiences equal 11 years). He was the president of the Harvard Law Review, which is a group that 6 Supreme Court Justices have been alumni of. Not too shabby.

We don't know what the future holds for us. We need someone that can wisely sift through it all and guide our country. Based on what Obama says in the "issues" section of his website, I think he has very wise ideas.

Hillary is too invested in corporations, IMO.

well, i am all for a woman as president, but just not hillary. i think its a bunch of b.s. that she's stayed with bill when he's cheated on her so many times just so she can use his name for her own political gain. then she's supposed to be this great feminist role model! i want the first female president to be someone that i can look up to, but i can't bring myself to even thinking about voting for hillary. although i do feel bad for her that she's constantly under the microscope, i do not want her to be prez.

Jillness I agree with you. I think that she's kind of jumped on the female president bandwagon much more after her loss in Iowa. And while I can respect that, you can't play both sides of the field like that...don't attack those singling you out when you're using it too. And Obama has been getting the rather unfair "inexperienced" label...not a free ride.

I agree character is a factor to consider, but it seems to be given far more weight than it deserves. And I really don't see how much someone's hair cut costs as a character issue. These are all red herrings. They keep us from talking in depth about the things that really matter. I would be fine if it was given the small weight it merits, but stuff like that is given the most weight. The debates are evaluated not on positions but on who spoke with authority, who was nice and who wasn't.

As to Clinton not being the most right winged dem running, I guess I just don't know who's more right wing than her, then. I'm not questioning whether one likes her or not, but she's more right wing than Obama, Edwards, Kucinich, Richardson, Dodd, Biden. She does follow a different path than the dems, just a more conservative one. That works for some people, just not so much me.

I have liked Hillary ever since her health-care proposition days as the first lady. She really is an independent thinker. I think that's one of the things that's difficult for her. Many men and even women find this uncomfortable. Also, I think that staying with her husband after his indiscretion is part of the reason she is called "cold". Like she couldn't really care if she didn't smack the crap out of him and throw him out on his ass. But relationships get more complex the longer we are in them. I think it showed both strength and grace to stay, both of which are qualities that I love.

I do think men are always less criticized than women, unfortunately. Women in politics always have to deal with more skepticism. Nevertheless, I just don't believe Hillary. Everything in her looks so premeditated, she is so desperate to give a specific "image", but she doesn't succeed.

I'm not a fan of her, but yeah, I definitely think because she's a woman she's being treated a little differently, more harshly.

I think she's human, and as a human (save psychotic humans) has emotions. Jon Stewart played a montage of many presidents crying, including one of both of the Bushs'. As for things she or people in her office have said, every single president ever sworn in has said things that, taken out of context, would be bad. I feel sorry for this country when people hear something and say, "Hillary said WHAT? I hate her now!" I've found it to be true that they ALL say things you won't like. You have to pay attention, research, and dive deep into their politics to really know them. Of course most people just look at them, watch one debate, or hear them talk in a 30-second news snippet and swear off them forever. People are just dumb.

I digress... Yes, Hillary has been bullied, but they all get bullied.

I'm really NOT a Hillary fan, which could be why I don't think she's criticized any more than any of the other candidates. But it's not like she didn't know what she was getting into when she decided to run, so I can't really feel sorry for her even if she IS criticized more than the others.

oh please NBC news clearly are Obama cheerleaders... some news media outlets don't even pretend to be objective when it comes to him...Obama is against the war, then wil did he vote to fund it, stand for your principle and vote against funding the war, tell people how you are going to have to increase taxes to pay for all your new social ideas...Go McCain

Crying totally worked for her husband. He showed his compassion unabashedly when it was appropriate and it was perfectly acceptable. I think Hillary can handle the heat and the boys are just jealous.

did anyone read Gloria Steinem's op-ed in the NYTimes? it was pretty powerful. no matter what women still get the short end of the stick.

Hillary is playing the media, and we're all swallowing it hook, line and sinker. There are some excellent comments above! She pretends to be the underdog, to attract more sympathy votes, but IMO she's the cold, calculating part of the Clinton partnership. I don't think Bill could have gotten to the White House without her.

A big second to the remarks that she shouldn't be claiming 35 years of experience.

And for those who say they want to vote for her because she's a woman, that's equivalent to saying you won't vote for Obama because he's black. Gender and race should have no consideration in such an important decision. Besides, she has no idea what us normal women's lives are like. Remember, she even furnished her current home with stuff taken from the White House when they left! How utterly wrong is that?!

Hillary bashing has very little to do with her being female. She was the front runner and ran a campaign that essentially assumed the nomination...that's a big reason why everyone targeted her. It's her "Free ride" comments that annoy people. Edwards and Obama have worked really hard and have had their fair share of controversy to deal with.

She just seems to be more of the same DC politics.

Hillary can't cry "you are picking on me because I am a woman" and expect to be taken seriously by leaders of countries who stone women for riding in cars with non-relatives.

I used to really like Hillary, but now I just see her as a panderer. People call her cold, so she cries, to show emotion, people think she is riding on her husband's name, so she contemplates losing the name Clinton and returning to Rodham.

I'm for Ron Paul. I think it's great that a women is running for president, it changes a lot of standards in the political world but I don't think we need another Clinton on our hands.

Oh and as for Criticizing... Watch a Republican debate and see how much heat Ron Paul gets...It's sad that he's the only one that is actually FOR the constitution and he has this huge dream and no one wants to listen because they think he's not a qualified republican...I'm going to laugh at the naysayers when he becomes president

Can we please dig up reagan and have him run? even dead he would win against hillary.

I cant stand her. and her crying just made me happy

I second that Lainetm!

LOL CaterpillarGirl!

I think all of the candidates are scrutinized and she needs to stop whining about it. It's politics. It happens. It's apart of the job and I'm sure it will continue to be. I think that the media coverage has her being bullied, but all of the candidates are in the same boat. We just don't hear about it as much.

The fact that she is a woman should not change the way that she is treated and to be honest, it has. I think it has because of her behavior and the way the media blows it up.

I say suck it up and keep it moving!

I feel that if you are a woman and you feel that you have what it takes to be the POTUS you should be able to stand up and take whatever is coming to you like woman. Don't stand behind your husband and have him defend you like this is the midevil times. You are a grown woman! Don't hide behind his record of what he did when he was in office either, because you want to claim your time as first lady as part of your experience then you have take it all, good and bad. You can't claim to have had a part in all the good stuff but have no idea what happened with the bad. And when you get soundly whooped by a better candidate don't cry because things aren't turning out the way you planned for the last 35 years. MAN UP! There is no crying in baseball. I don't care if you're a man or a woman.

Here here Shawn!!!