12/16/2010

Remember Bill Clinton's tears? Why does the media treat Boehner so differently?



Clinton pretty clearly switches from laughing to crying as soon as he sees that a camera is filming him.

The clip above is from Ron Brown's funeral, where Clinton famous went from laughing to crying instantly as soon as he saw that a TV camera had spotted him. Anyway, Ruben Navarrette has this at CNN:

Still, I wasn't expecting to see some of those on the left, who usually say how great it is that some men can display their sensitive side and show their emotions (see: Phil Donahue), ridicule House Speaker-elect John Boehner for doing that very thing.
If I didn't know better, I might think it had a tad to do with the fact that Boehner is a Republican. But that would mean that liberals maintain two codes of behavior -- one for those on the left, and one for those on the right.
Liberal media commentators -- most notably, some of the women on ABC's "The View" -- have attacked and ridiculed Boehner for repeatedly crying in public, whether on the floor of Congress or during media interviews such as the one Boehner recently did with Lesley Stahl on CBS' "60 Minutes."
"View" co-host Joy Behar childishly dubbed Boehner the "Weeper of the House." The show's matriarch, Barbara Walters, played therapist and diagnosed Boehner as being afflicted with "an emotional problem."
. . . Most Americans have good memories, and so they'll recall when liberals used to insist that a politician showing emotion was a mighty good thing. Let's return to 1992, when Bill Clinton burst onto the national stage, bit his lip and started blubbering up a storm. Those on the left thought this sort of thing was grand, and they compared it favorably with the man whom Clinton defeated: George H.W. Bush, who was much more stoic and often said that he was raised not to show his emotions in public.
Apparently, Clinton was raised differently. In fact, both in office and since leaving office, Clinton has done so much crying in public that it's part of his persona. Clinton cried at the church service after the Oklahoma City bombing. He cried at the funeral for Commerce Secretary Ron Brown. He cried in appearances after the Monica Lewinsky affair came to light. As a former president, he cried when his wife, Hillary, spoke at the 2008 Democratic National Convention after she had lost the party's nomination to Barack Obama.
The question isn't whether Bill Clinton can turn on the waterworks but whether he can turn them off. Just a few months ago, there were stories about Clinton vowing not to cry when he walked daughter Chelsea down the aisle at her wedding. And, when that day came, did Clinton let the tears flow? Of course, he did. . . .

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