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28 Sep 2007 09:42 am

Clinton In New Hampshire

A reader writes:

Just in case you might have missed it, there was a pretty telling little piece of the debate Wednesday night, tone-wise, and it related to the debate over torture.

This bit is being commented on as revealing Clinton's independence from Bill, but more importantly, it showed that she brawls. This was the only really noteworthy exchange in an evening of boilerplate, and made Obama's dull performance even weaker in comparison. Everyone I was watching with - mostly Obama leaners like me - started laughing at Tim Russert's punctured pomposity. The two comebacks in a row were spot-on in tone, and really evidence a rhetorical fluidity and willingness and ability to attack with a grin on her face.

This is exactly the kind of thing that I'm looking for in a candidate for the general, and no one else really showed it. The whole bit was so far from the clearly practiced and woodenly inserted humor note we're all so sick of. She was really a cut above, and I almost hate that I'm starting to like her.

One move like this in the general with a big audience and the whole narrative of Hillary as a shrew or a pill will be revealed as silly. Just like Russert's stupid schtick.

Yep, it was all over the cable shows last night. Even I had to smile.

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