1972: Democratic front-runner Edmund Muskie chokes up, doesn't cry, in New Hampshire, responding to patently false attacks against his wife, attacks later linked to the Nixon Dirty Tricks squad. The resulting media coverage of the "weeping" helps to effectively end the Muskie campaign.
2007: Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton chokes up, doesn't cry, in New Hampshire, responding to reports about her spiraling candidacy and the demands of campaigning. Soccer moms love it, and she pulls off a strong victory in the primary. If she wins the nomination, "The Cry" will be remembered and characterized by the media (ad nauseum, like Howard Dean's "The Scream," which wasn't a scream) as the moment that helped catapult her to the nomination.
1 comment:
You're so right! I have never seen such in-depth analysis of someone getting slightly choked up in public. My gawd. And you're right about Dean, too--what scream? Sheesh, that's normal conversation where I come from.
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