Yesterday, I got on the press for its absurd, idiotic focus and commentary of Hillary's "evil, bad men" joke. Today, from Greg Sargent, we get the actual video, and some more bizarre commentary. First, the video:
Now, back to Sargent, who writes:
Many are trying to interpret this as a sly reference to someone in her past -- Ken Starr, perhaps, or even that guy she lives with whose first name is Bill. She later said it had been what it sounded like -- a reference to Osama Bin Laden.
Is that really what it sounded like? Hillary slyly rephrases the question to say "what in my past prepares me to deal with evil, bad, men," gets a laugh line, cracks up herself, and Sargent thinks she was talking about -- what? Reading news coverage of Osama bin-Laden? Speaking to her husband after the bombing of the Cole? That's what we're to believe she finds funny?
Hillary was making a joke. She said she was making a joke! '“You guys!” she chuckled after the third question from a reporter on the topic. “I thought I was funny. You guys keep telling me, lighten up, be fun. Now I get a little funny, and I’m being psychoanalyzed.”' She was using a form of humor called "exaggerism," a "witticism that overstates the features, defects, or the strangeness of someone or something." That's a good thing. I thought there was nothing I could want less than to watch the press misinterpret and psychoanalyze her every stab at levity for the next year. But I was wrong. To watch progressives then react in a precisely opposite, perfectly proportional way will render an intolerable situation absolutely excruciating.
Watch that clip again. You know the saddest part of this whole controversy? Hillary's joke was actually funny. The sort of sly playfulness that makes a campaign bearable both for candidates and voters. She was funny, the swell of voter laughter rich and genuine. It was, and is, the press that couldn't crack a smile, and now I bet Hillary isn't either.
