Framing Of The Shrew

With Iowa polls showing Clinton leveling off and with the race growing more contentious, a sudden cluster of “Angry Hillary” stories have emerged.  (Here’s the latest from TIME.)

Whatever you think of Hillary, I think it’s profoundly shallow, dangerous, and also sexist for media to play “the Dean card” and pathologize a candidate just for turning up the heat.

When I saw this image by itself on the wire the other day, I thought it was almost too easy to play with.  Then, this morning, I saw it illustrating the NYT’s “Angry Hillary” contribution (“Clinton Aims for Anger Without Making People Mad”).

In this instance, the choice of the pic was ingenious, if even more toxic, given the thrust of the article, which is that Hillary puts on a pleasant face, but if you read her words (i.e.: what’s “behind the curtain”), she is duplicitously venomous.

…I think this thesis is pretty ridiculous.  I don’t think Hillary has been any more or less duplicitous this past week or so.  She’s just doing what any politician in a like situation would be doing.  Without losing composure, she’s fighting.

(image: Carlos Barria/Reuters. Iowa. December, 2007.  via nytimes.com)