Reporters Agree: Hillary Is A Cold Fish
January 2, 2008 -- 3:28 PM EST // //

You already knew this, but reporters really, really don't like Hillary, as this account of an encounter between Hillary and the press today confirms yet again:

Hillary stepped onto the parked press bus in Indianola for about 90 seconds to deliver bagels and coffee, and I'm not sure what this says about Clinton and the press — the chill, I think, comes from both sides — but it was a strange moment. She expressed her sympathies that we're away from our families and "significant others," tried a joke at the expense of her press secretary, and paused. Nobody even shouted a question, whether because of the surprise, the assumption that she wouldn't actually answer, or the sheer desire to end the encounter.

One reporter compared the awkwardness to running unexpectedly into an ex-girlfriend.

"Maybe we should go outside and warm up," said another, as Clinton exited into the freezing air.

This is a strange and telling encounter. Hillary brings reporters bagels, says some conciliatory stuff. They sit in silence. Hillary leaves. Reporters mock Hillary, with one suggesting that the bus is colder than the outside air because of Hillary's presence.

The takeaway, obviously, is that reporters think Hillary is a cold fish -- that even if she did bring them bagels, she just doesn't like them very much.

Now, obviously, one doesn't want to read too much into a single incident like this. But it gives me a chance to hit on one of this blog's themes again -- the strange inability of some in the press to connect Hillary's disdain for the press with its 15-year treatment of her.

The other day, after putting up a post on this topic, I was chastised by someone who I have great respect for. This fellow accused me of a lack of nuance and pointed out that Hillary often does wear a frigid mask towards the press and that the Clinton campaign happily uses the press to its advantage when it can.

Yes, of course these things are true. The point here is not merely that Hillary is nothing but a martyred victim. The point, rather, is that it's deeply weird that reporters and commentators so frequently seem unaware that there's a connection between Hillary's hostility towards the press and their own treatment of her for 15 years.

After all, maybe one of the reasons Hillary is cold towards the press at times is that they say things like this:

HOWARD KURTZ: Hillary Clinton, let's say she doesn't win Iowa. Let's say she gets edged out by 1,000 votes. Is the press going to savage her as a loser?

DANA MILBANK: The press will savage her no matter what, pretty much.

Just a thought.

Anyway, this episode seemed like a telling one indeed.

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