Clinton's Crocodile Tears. Spare Me!

Which candidate do we have today? Is it the cackling Clinton? The hearth-and-home Hillary with mother and daughter in tow? The tough-as-nails two-term Senator from NY?

None of the above. Today the Clinton campaign introduced the Softer-Sided Sister.

From CNN:

WASHINGTON (CNN) - Democrat Hillary Clinton got visibly emotional at an Iowa campaign event Monday morning designed to showcase a softer side of the New York senator.

So let me get this straight. She cries at a function designed to show her softer side. What, is she the reincarnation of Shirley Temple now? Crying on cue - she must have learned that from Bill.

Flanked by childhood friends and constituents who each offered testimonials on the Democratic presidential candidate, a glassy-eyed Clinton spoke noticeably softer than most past appearances on the stump.

"It is very exciting for me to have so many of my friends from my entire life who have come out here, to talk with Iowans, to answer questions, to give you some insight and information about our relationships, about what I've been trying to do my entire life, and particularly as an adult," Clinton said at a campaign event in Johnston, Iowa Monday.

"What I try to do every day is figure out how to help somebody," she said later in the event. "You can try to help somebody every single day, and I've tried to do that as a public servant, as an activist, and now as a senator."

It just so happens that today's waterworks coincides with the debut of a new website, www.TheHillaryIKnow.com which appears to feature friends and family (appropriately age, gender and race-balanced) telling us how kind and gentle HIllary is. To me it's more like the Pope hiring a dashing movie producer to remake his image (no, seriously).

I suppose it's good to show the different sides of a candidate that we might have to live with for 4 or 8 years. It's another totally to "remake" somebody based on polls she swears she doesn't care about. Campaign staffer: "how can we make Hillary more likeable?" Campaign staffer #2: "Oooh, oooh, I know! Let's make her CRY!"

Ugh, I hate this stuff! Give me a grumpy Dodd, confused Richardson or a bumbling Biden anyday.

Our Bloggy supervisor and all-around hit generator David Knowles likened these Meet the Hillaries moments to this: