The race for the Democratic nomination has officially gotten ugly.

In neighboring Norristown, Pa. last Thursday, Jose Ortiz stabbed his brother-in-law, Sean Shurelds, after a political dispute while the two were watching the Democratic debate. Shurelds, an Obama supporter, complained that Clinton was “trashing” Barack unfairly. Ortiz, a staunch Clinton backer, took offense. Shurelds recalls the conversation as follows:

Shurelds: Obama is winning this thing!
Ortiz: He can’t win, be realistic.
Shurelds: Let’s see how realistic you are when he wins.

With that brilliant last retort, there’s no doubt that Shurelds won the war of words. But Ortiz, whose candidate proclaims she is a “fighter“, then took matters into his own hands by plunging a kitchen knife into his brother-in-law’s stomach. Shurelds sustained spleen, lung and diaphragm injuries. Ortiz is in county jail and if convicted of felony assault, could face a more serious injury: disenfranchisement.

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Stanley Fish’s February 3rd NY Times blog, “All You Need Is Hate,” got me thinking. (Note the Beatles mentality of the 21st century.) Fish, a professor of law, discusses what affectionately has become known as Hillary-hating. Hilary-hating is a distinct breed of political bashing. It’s acutely chauvinistic, callous, and aggressive (read: macho).

I kind of get it. I wouldn’t want Hillary as my mother — even if Bill Clinton were included as a package deal. (And moreover, maybe her criticism is due to society’s general dislike of aging women, and she shouldn’t take it personally.)

Still, Hillary haters are not your typical critics. They are borderline delusional and suspiciously fervent. I say suspicious because this type of bashing would not be accepted if it were on the basis of class or race.

Therefore, who are these Hillary haters? How hateful are they? Should I be scared? 

I conducted my sociological research via Facebook. (And that’s legitimate!)

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Don’t know who to vote for in upcoming presidential primaries? Feeling lost and confused by the vast array of information? Perhaps a brain-scan could help.

Penn’s (or should I say Annenberg’s?) very own Kathleen Hall Jameson was one of several authors of yesterday’s New York Times editorial enticingly titled, This Is Your Brain on Politics. Basically, the team of researchers took brain scans of several independent voters as they saw images of presidential candidates or watched stump speeches.

Jameson threw voters’ deepest, darkest feelings about each candidate into the limelight.

Funny picture of Hillary after the jump!

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