Doctor Who Club of Australia

[Theta Sigma]

In the season 1 Sliders episode The Weaker Sex, the sliders landed in a world in which the female sex is the dominant gender and it revealed in this world that Hillary Clinton is the President of the United States. I'll come back to her later in this post.

In order to initiate a men's rights movement, Professor Arturo agrees to become a mayoral candidate of San Francisco running against the incumbent female mayor.

Knowing full well that if he wins he would have to stay in that world to serve as mayor and cannot continue in his travels with his friends.

He says he decided to do a Muskie. Edmund S Muskie was then US Vice President Hubert H Humphrey's running mate on the unsuccessful Democratic ticket at the 1968 Presidential election. Muskie had been the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination in 1972 but Muskie's campaign collapsed when he broke down in tears in response to attacks made to his wife although he later stated that what appeared as tears were melted snowflakes. The perception being the tears made him looked weak in contrast to his image of a calm and reasoned person.

In the Sliders episode, the Professor faked in crying during a debate with the female mayor. However instead of achieving certain defeat, he had a surge in support in opinion polls as a result of the tears.

In the real world recently, when it looked like she was going to lose the New Hampshire primary, Hillary Clinton broke down in tears but her tears did not have the same impact as Muskie's tears. She actually went to win the New Hampshire primary and kept her presidential hopes alive.

So while Hillary Clinton is still a long way off in becoming President, the Sliders episode certainly got it right on the positive impact that tears have on a political candidate!