You see why I prefer comments. My browser will not send paragraph breaks in the blog editor.

Anyway, here's what I like about Hillary:

* Encyclopedic knowledge of policy.

* She is an awesome debater. Quicker on her feet than Obama.

* I prefer her healthcare plan (slightly).

* I prefer her answer about meeting foreign leaders (slightly).

* I love the fact that she looks like the Columbia Pictures Torch Lady (1993 redesign).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Columbia_Pictures.png

* I loved the headband, and glasses. Bring back the headband, Hillary!

* I admire her ability to project strength. She hasn't just broken gender boundaries, she's practically made them a non-issue.

Now at this point you may be asking why I've been sending money to Obama. But that violates the ground rules of the thread. I'm only allowed to say what I like about the other candidate.

Okay, I'll play along.

Like you, I am highly impressed by Hillary's ability to wonk about - well - just about anything. Her attention to detail and her amazing memory skills are truly extraordinary.

As for what I like about Gravel - his honesty. His crankiness. His wacky commercials. Like Perot, Gravel challenges the status quo. He shakes it up, if you will.

This is really minor, but her response in the NH debate to the question about why people don't like her--"Well, that hurts my feelings," was one of my favorite political moments ever. It was so perfectly delivered, so endearing. I have read--from Kos and others--that Hillary is incredibly funny, but her political persona doesn't really allow that. It shone through there.

As Alex says, her health care plan is better, though I don't like either of 'em. And I love the fact that the issue of toughness is completely off the table for her.

And I sure as hell hope I look half that good at 60.

My favorite positive story about Hillary appeared in the semi-famous 1994 New Yorker article that covered mostly her health care reform efforts. The point of one long passage was that she was so well versed on the big and detailed issues relating to health care that she didn't need notes when she appeared before Congressional committees. The article reported that other health care wonks just couldn't come close to matching her mastery sans notes. Everyone who watched her performances was completely impressed.

I've always felt that she had top flight analytical ability, as was also demonstrated most prominently in her health care efforts.

She takes extreme care to make behind-the-scenes politics personal, remembering birthdays, etc. She has a woman's touch, which I think is much needed in politics. Her caring seems genuine and extensive.

She followed her most basic impulses when she worked under Sol Alinsky, the fabulous radical from Chicago. She was an ardent radical back then. Ironically, Obama worked in the Alinsky mode as well, attributing much of what he learned about organizing to Alinsky.

How she survived her consistently, intensely degrading father is a miracle. I think she paid for it and is egregiously partly ruled by it, but that's part of the compliment. She's suffering from it but still rising to the top despite it.

I loved how she handled Bill's infidelity. I believe in digging deep and sticking to it despite the bad things your loved one does.

There's much more. She's obviously an amazing person, and it's a crying shame that she can't get to the top this time.

I think she's a very good debater and her health care policy is more comprehensive.

Clinton was a cool First Lady. I thought she really broke the mold and I liked the fact that she wasn't treated or perceived as mere decoration.

She is very close with her daughter and it reminds me of my relationship with my mom.

Her detail-oriented understanding of policy is simply amazing. During debates, she is articulate, clear, and very quick on her feet.

Most of all, I love her brains. I think she's whip smart and not afraid to show it. That intellectual confidence is one of the most attractive things about Clinton. In that, she's an excellent example for many young women (and men).

This exercise is a sick one, but then that has never before stopped me.

Hillary has an amazing ability to forgive former sworn enemies. I would say the same of Bill. He never struck me as one to harbor a grudge, not even against his most vicious attackers.

For example, I'll always remember that shoe-shaped cake Hillary personally brought in for Tucker Carlson, sparing him from having to honor his wager and eat a real shoe. This was an olive branch Tucker did nothing to deserve, but Hillary was big enough.
http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/07/09/tucker.shoe/

I do have an "on the other hand" to this, but I'll stick to the rules of the game.

Enough of this kumbaya nonsense. I'm heading back to the left column of the TPMEC where the real politics is discussed.

I like the way Sen. Clinton handles Bill O'Reilly. I thought she did really, really well. I like the way she can think on her feet and never appear stumped. Though I don't like her pantsuits, I do like her hair and makeup and necklaces.

I like that she will not let the lib'rals, filthy bloggers, muslims or other falafel eaters take over our Glorious Nation and will destroy the great satan of Iran and then we can all fly up with Jesus and live happily ever after. She also has good fashion sense.

She's tough as nails and she never gives up.

She showed that a woman can mount a credible presidential run. (I would add a caveat here, but that would be against the rules.)

Her media strategy has been nothing short of amazing. She can play 'em like a fiddle.

She's very good at telling voters what they want to hear.

She's genuinely smart and hard-working.

By the way, is this an exercise in masochism? Kudos for getting so many folks to sign up.

What I like about Obama:

He inspires people who otherwise have given up on the idea that government can work to improve people's lives. He offers real hope that things can be very different in America- in a good way.
He is post racial and brings hope worldwide that all humans can work together on global problems and that America will rejoin the world community as a worthy partner in peace.

He's a quick study and responds well to the difficulties thrown in his path.

He was man enough to marry a strong woman and has been an active parent to lovely girls who will bring joy to the WH.

Sorry, I cannot play. She lost me at the justification for her Iraq vote and most of the things other have posted I either disagree with or think they are acualy negatives (tenacityextremus for example).

Why I like Mike Gravel:

He was brave enough to transfer the Pentagon papers to the trunk of his car late at night under threat of interception by the FBI, and then read them into the Congressional Record in a basement hearing room of the Capitol so Nixon could not stop the truth about Viet Nam from being know by the people.

New to blogging. I have to say this is the best use of blogging I have seen in weeks.

As a Dem, I can honestly say, we were lucky to have two candidates that appealled to so many. However, in keeping with the blog, I like the following about Hillary:

1) she's highly intelligent (and probably would have made a better president than Bill);

2) she clearly loves her family (as evidenced by the relationship with Chelsea and supporting her lying, cheating husband); and

3) she is a serious fighter (since she did it through Bill's candidancy and today.

This is tough.

As to Hillary, her ability to be undeterred in the face of criticism and frankly, utter hatred from many detractors is fascinating. I honestly believe her to be a sociopath - but that doesn't put her past admiration in my book (I know that might sound a bit twisted). I compare her to Tom Ripley of The Talented Mr. Ripley, a famous literary sociopath. She possesses an amazing ability to fake emotion where it's needed, and morph into any form she deems necessary to achieve her ends.

Interesting. This isn't quite working as I planned. In my imagined version of this thread, we gradually discovered that the other side isn't so bad. "We have a lot in common after all!" And so we all walked off, arm in arm, to kick the crap out of some bewildered Republicans.

Instead, I think we are discovering that each side can barely tolerate the other, although we grudgingly respect their wily tenacity, slick oratory, and stubborn refusal to be killed.

But hey, I'll take what I can get!

It's been a historic primary, folks. Never before have we had two candidates who were so closely matched in . . . er . . . wily tenacity, slick oratory, and stubborn refusal to be killed. That, at least, is something we have in common. Something we can unite around!

We're the Democratic party, suckers! and when we get to the general election, you Republican semi-fascists better get the hell out of the way, because when we're not busy spending millions of dollars disemboweling each other, we are the meanest, wiliest, most tenacious bunch of mofo's you have ever seen.

How's that for uplift.

Ok Mr. Khan, I shall oblige this topic's real purpose.

I've always respected her devotion to healthcare reform and her being able to be her own person for the most part, not your typical first lady puppet figure.

What do I like about Hillary? Nothing. I've never liked either her or Bill and voted for Bill twice while holding my nose. These two really turn me off. I think they are craven, corrupt, narcissistic, and hypocritical, and have thought so ever since I can remember. It's rare for me to have a visceral dislike of people. When I do, I just dislike them in their entirety. That's how I've always felt about the Clintons. This is how about half of America feels about the Clintons. And I think Hillary would not be a good president. She's too MUCH of a fighter.

However, I do confess to a grudging respect (maybe admiration is more appropos). What do I respect about her? Her toughness. Her incredible verbal skills (i.e., debate performances), her ability to make her point of view seem right even when it isn't.

What if what you like about a candidate is the criticisms that candidate leveled against one of the remaining candidates?

Does that violate the spirit of the rules of this blog?

I would oblige the request of the poster, but you wouldn't understand a goddamned thing I would then be saying, you benighted, typographically-challenged Philistines.

Suffice to say that whatever disingenuous compliments I might pay the demagogue, Obama, would tower in their brilliance above the puerile, syncophantic mumblings of this diaper-wearing, pacifier-utilizing crowd of sheeple that shout their adoration to him from their ill-constructed socialist yurts.

Why are there no references to medieval poetry in this thread? Name the infield of the 1912 Pittsburgh Pirates. Ah, the crickets chirp again. Damn you. Damn you fools to hell.

She's a tough competitor.

She's very smart.

Her daughter loves her and she's been a really good parent.

Barrack is smart and an excellent orator when he's well-prepared or on comfortable ground. He gathered a lot of money and a lot of volunteer support from a lot of people. He managed an excellent nomination campaign strategy. He broke the sterotype of a black man running for president. He has so far been able to walk a few pretty fine lines successfully. He has inspired some vidoes and jingles that, while not slick, have that Youtube thing happening.

I think often a person's best and worst qualities are the same -- we just judge the quality differently based on context. E.g. Hillary's tenacity has bugged me in the context of this nomination process. But when I think of her tenacity in the context of her motherhood, I envision that she would not just lie down in the railroad tracks to save Chelsea, she would STAND in the tracks and stop the train by sheer force of will. And I care more about how someone treats their family than how they perform their job, so this is a deep compliment.

I've been bummed by the negativity on recent threads here, so I was really glad to read this one -- and I hope we do more of them. But ultimately, even if we can't all come to like and admire the "other" candidate, we can still choose to be respectful and move on -- Like parents who divorce are advised to do for the sake of the children. And in terms of the general election, our children's welfare IS at stake; their health care, their education, their world long after I kick this mortal coil. I see that as our challenge: to let the past go and focus on winning the general election. I'm really being a mom, aren't I? (A 13-year-divorced mom!)

Hillary is totally unafraid to make her intelligence, dilligence and strength a core part of her public persona. Too many women smart feel uncomfortable putting these aspects of themselves to the fore.

I believe that she really does care passionately about important issues of public policy, and I admire that.

I also admire that she is incredibly disciplined and hard-working.

I like that she engages directly with voters. Her first New York Senate campaign was terrific.

I mildly prefer her healthcare plan to Obama's.

I respect the fact that she gets crucified by the press on a regular basis and does not let this stop her. Personally I would find this incredibly difficult or impossible and I wish that I had more of her ability to disregard what others say about her. (Seriously, this isn't snark, this is something I would like to learn.)

I will take a moment to report my inner process in responding to this thread. It has been very difficult to simply hold onto even one positive in my mind long enough to type it, without a host of negative qualifiers coming in as a dive-bombing swarm to blot out the sun of that positive!!! Yes, I do own that inner process as a part of my own failings. So, this is a way of saying, thanks, Alex, for providing this challenge.

Hillary is a master of detail, and shows a masterful organization of those details as she presents her case on issues. I admire that mastery.

I like Hillary's tenacity and will to achieve her goals.

I especially liked Hillary's handling of the Bosnia flap when she admitted her misspeaking and added that 'she is human, which might come as a surprise to some'. In that instance, she....... [oops, scratch this.....a qualifier trying to slip in, aaarrrgghhh]

I like Hillary's loyalty to her family, to Bill, Chelsea, and her mom.