One irony... when Bill Clinton ran against George H.W. Bush, one of the most effective critiques of the sitting president was that he was a wimp.

Isn't it interesting that this description fits our current sitting President almost to a tee?

I wonder why more Democrats don't see the intense and burning irony of this situation?

THIS IS EXCELLENT NEWS!! FOR HILLARY!!!

You forgot "drive a Ford truck." Cause they're "Ford tough" (from what the commercials tell me).

This post got me day-dreaming of what's to come....

I have a picture in my head of the day that Obama gets enough delegates lined up to be the presumptive nominee. The Clinton campaign, instead of conceding defeat, holds a rally with "We're Not Gonna Take It" blaring in the background. Mark Penn and Harold Ickes are in a steel cage ultimate fight. Bill and Geraldine Ferraro are smashing empty beer cans on their heads. Lots of guns and trucks. Maybe a banner in the background that reads: "Toughness rules. Obama drools"...

I can't wait for Obama to be the presumptive nominee.

Sounds pretty spot on to me.

Much better than hypnotizing people with silly talk of hope in Chicago Senate elections while taking EVERY fellow Democrat on the ballot to court over their candidacy petitions.

Or talking about change in politics while re-running 1990s healthcare TV spots.

and the list is endless. Even Dean seems to be waking up finally.

I don't recall her saying she landed under snark. Just that there was snark in the area. There was snark. We ran with our heads down. Thinks like that. I don't think she ever said that at that time there was snark aimed at her. I may be wrong, and would appreciate a link to a live video of her saying someone snarked at her. Those of us who have had snark aimed at us know the difference. In a snark zone there is always occasional snark. When it comes directly at you from more than one direction at once, that's something entirely different.

"Silly talk of hope." Ah yes, hope that silly thing. Instead we should all just despair. It's a much better state of mind.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCm13K4Mq50

Brilliant.

How to be tough: Get a little (just a little) over-baked.

Great post, Genghis. I especially loved the quotes (and the stage directions--shoe banging indeed!) 'Course, I'm not sure TOUGH people get irony....

Corey Hart counts as tough? Yiminey!

I've had tough meat before. She's not so much tough as she is gamey.

Actually, I think I might be persuaded to switch my support to her if she would come out to every speech to this soundtrack:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Tv-VxrsF9sI

Campaign observer toughness scoring system:

1) For every debate you have started to watch, give yourself 1 point; for every debate you have endured to the bitter end, give yourself 2 points.
2) For every time you have seriously engaged with a TPM troll, give yourself 3 points.
3) For every race-baiting Bill Clinton quote you have listened to and resisted the urge to throw something at your TV, radio, or former President, give yourself 5 points.
4) For every time you have heard a comment from someone who has said they would never vote for that black man, that Negro, etc., and restrained yourself from punching them, give yourself 10 points.
5) For every time you have listened to a lesson from the Clinton campaign on the New Math, give yourself 1/2 point (sorry, these are too plentiful to give more).

I am approaching 100 points (including 30 points from #4).

Something tells me your life hasn't been as tough as Hillary's. Something tells me you don't have her energy and stamina, even though you are much younger. Something tells me you don't respect her toughness because you don't know what it is.

Someone please tell me that this Corey Hart fellow never really existed, that it's just some kind of snarky mystification. I watched the clip and it's mind-bogglingly awful. Did people really have such terrible taste in the 1980s?

I swear Obama reads TPM (or maybe just Genghis posts). He addresses toughness in IN:
http://www.jedreport.com/2008/04/what-it-really.html

First Clinton steals my Rocky comparison, then Obama steals my toughness analysis. All politicians are friggin' plagiarizers. (Except Canadian politicians.)

Here's the text:

One of the things that I learned in the school yard was: the folks that are talking tough all the time, they’re not always that tough. If you’re really tough, you’re not always looking to try to start a fight. If you’re really tough, sometimes you just walk away. If you’re really tough, you just save it for when you really need it. I’m not interested in fighting people just for the sake of scoring political points. If I’m going to fight somebody it’s going to be fighting over the American people and what they need.

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/04/26/obama-ive-been-taking-some-hits/

Thanks for the catch, yod.

What matters is he's tough INSIDE. To take all that crap without throwing it all back, that's tough!

Going through all the awful youtube videos, tougher.