Game Change paints Elizabeth Edwards as "abusive, intrusive, paranoid, condescending, a crazy woman," who is "prone to irrational outburst." Elizabeth Edwards was so mad about John's affair, the book's anonymous sources say, that she ripped her blouse off in a parking lot.
Chapter 20 is called "Sarahcuda." Writing about their 400 page book of sleazy gossip over at TIME, the men tell us that thanks to their book, "the truth about Palin has begun to emerge," and "the real Palin behind her public persona is . . shocking." The men tell us that Governor Palin is "ignorant" and possibly "mentally unstable." They describe her eyes as “glassy and dead.” They refer to her “perky self,” her “strange blue funk,” and her “catatonic stupor.” The esteemed reporters have their article decorated with really bad photos of the normally photogenic Governor Palin.
The egomaniacs actually speculate about what will happen now that they have written their glorious book. How will Sarah Palin respond, they ask, "to the facts (sic) about her in Game Change?"
Gee, maybe the Governor will go into one of her catatonic stupors or strange blue funks. Maybe her eyes will go all glassy and dead and she'll rip her blouse off in a parking lot.
Hillary Clinton is said to be "scheming, profane, sometimes paranoid, often tone-deaf," and the evil woman was obsessed with the “whitey tape,” according to Ben Smith's review. The book's authors quote high level anonymous sources who say brilliant and revealing things like "This woman shouldn't be president."
But isn't it remarkable how similar the 3 deranged women are? It's like women are all the same. Chris Matthews is loving this stuff. Why not? It's the male-centered misogynistic election coverage all over again.
The cable news channels have been obsessing over the book for 6 days and counting. Game Change was written by media darlings and Beltway reporters Mark Halperin and John Heilemann. The authors are beloved by the likes of the National Enquirer, Matt Drudge and Politico. Halperin and Heilemann say that they interviewed 300 people, but they can't tell us who the people are. In other words, Halperin and Heilemann spent the last year and a half recording the gossip of 300 anonymous men.
How credible are the authors? See Mark Halperin's photoshop of Senator Mary Landrieu -- the one with the gob of semen in her hair. This is a grown-up? I once thought better of John Heilemann who has kept better company and seen better writing.
If I order this renowned trailer trash tomb it will be because I like to study what passes for political commentary in our Tabloid Nation, especially when it is loaded with misogyny, as this one so obviously is. One overly kind review calls Game Change, “400 pages of two-year-old campaign gossip.” Even the authors admit that their book is largely a collection of paraphrases created out of campaign gossip from anonymous sources.
In Ben Smith's reading, the 2008 cast of presidential wannabes come off as mostly a bunch of secretly nasty trailer trash characters right out of the Jerry Springer show. Except for Barack Obama. Only he is truly a noble and admirable character.
Glenn Greenwald says it best:
The media sleazebags who turned Bill Clinton's penile spots, cigars and semen stains into headline news for two straight years haven't gone anywhere; they're actually stronger and more dominant than ever.
Politics Feminist News Gender Sarah Palin Elizabeth Edwards Hillary Clinton
