Pelosi: Clinton Loss Won't Mean Women Suffer A 'Step Back'

Bloomberg:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said women won't suffer a "step back" if Democrat Hillary Clinton loses her presidential bid, and rejected the idea of sexism in the presidential campaign.

Clinton, 60, a New York senator, is "bigger than all of it"' and has shown "courage," Pelosi, a California Democrat, said in an interview with Judy Woodruff broadcast on the PBS NewsHour last night.

Read the whole story: Bloomberg

Comments

[gintheb]

I have to disagree with all those who say that this campagn has irreparably damaged women'schances at political advancement in the future. I am a man and I feel that there are still some outstanding women politicians who are still young enough to have a significant impact in the near future..... as long as they are not like her. B.O. may even select one as veep. The next step would be the White House. I think and I hope that Hillary's damage will be only self-limiting and we'll keep an open mind toward the others.

[trinity]

I was listening to NPR this morning and some gung-ho feminists Hillary supporters stated that if Obama got the nomination, they they would help McCain get elected. They felt it was better to support McCain than the Democrats because of how much the DNC treated women as second-class citizens.

[nomobull]

was this before or after her infamous remars today. i would not want to be associated with her right now.

[Agentprovokatur]

That's really old news and you also see it here on various HuffPo threads, the old "suicide vote."

It would almost be amusing to watch or read if it wasn't on the order of cutting off your FACE to spite your nose.

Because we all KNOW how pro women the Republican Party is in general and how likely they are to be pushing for a woman president any time soon.

And that doesn't even address the completely unprincipled position this is (if you consider such twisted logic as somehow being in "support of women") based on the continuing harm to the country of another 4 years of Republican control of the White House, the executive branch and its corresponding regulatory agencies, the Justice Department and judicial nominations. The list is endless.

And all because they feel like the "DNC treated women as second-class citizens"?

Time for them to grow up, see a psychiatrist or admit they are actually Operation Chaos agents.

[condew]

Voting Republican fits with the Hillary plan to make Obama lose so she can run against McCain in 2012. As if her paw prints wouldn't be all over the loss.

[JackND]

I'll laughing hysterically when they complain that the McCain SCOTUS really has made them second class citizens.

[rzan]

There are feminists who just love the role of victim. Let them stew in their victimhood. Hillary is no feminist.

[AC500]

Women will suffer a set back if she wins. That a woman who lies, cheats and will steal to win the nomination should set the standard for the office of President for other women is abhorrent.

[PackyJ]

Actually, based on Clinton's latest insane comments ("Why should I drop out before all the potential assassins have their say?") I'm thinking that the longer she stays in, the farther a "step back" it is for women.

[marc1antony]

not the first time she has made the RFK reference - so she is full of bullturd, when she claims it's because the kennedy's have been on her mind. she said it before and is trying to signal the loonies by repeating it.

http://www.time-blog.com/swampland/2008/05/hillarys_bizarre_rfk_comment.html

[marijam]

Yes, it will hurt future women who want to run for the office. Especially now that Hillary has come out with this just awful, awful gaffe about Obama and Bobby Kennedy. No woman should be treated the way Hillary has been treated during this race. She got it from both sides, so I'm not surprised that she has shown this sign of stress. It's been a long race.

[nonconformist2]

Women and feminists (like myself) have to speak out to counter these fanatics who claim Hillary speaks for all women. It is giving women a bad name. Making us look like we are unreasonable and bitter. Not to mention all the women in the world who have truly been victimized. My heart and my sympathy is for them. Not some manipulative lying politician who crushed her moral compass under the heels of her sensible shoes.

[111]

Excuse me - she has been treated extremely well in this primary. If she can't handle the primaries she certainly couldn't handle a general election.

that was no gaffe about assassination she has been saying the same thing since March
http://www.time-blog.com/swampland/2008/05/hillarys_bizarre_rfk_comment.html

She was not tired and made a mistake. She has made reference to the JFK assassination repeatedly and deliberately at fundraisers and in interviews. It is in writing. Her inference that she is staying in this race to step in when Obama is assassinated.
I lived through John Kennedy's assassination, Robert Kennedy's assassination, Martin Luther King's assassination and Malcolm Xs murder. This nation has not yet healed from these painful, heart wrenching events.

She is vile and disgusting. I can honestly say that I hate her now.

[ergoth]

good for you. i'm sure she cares what you think.
it's obvious, there will never be a female potus. females are still seen as second class citizens. if it wasn't hillary being pilloried it would another woman. you can say it's her, but it'll happen all over again 15 or 20 years down the road.

[hillarysupporter]

Get over it. The media is making a big deal over nothing. Ironically, Obama's decision to run for president has actually split the country, instead of uniting the country. Now everyone has to "walk on eggs" and they're paranoid about what they say because it could be taken as racist. We've gone backwards, not forward.

[DMcD]

Note to Pelosi ---------

Maybe Clinton's loss won't hurt (maybe it will) but your conduct (or lack of it) in regard to getting Bushco "under control" (as we voted for) sure does.

[UrbanInterloper]

Pelosi's right. Clinton's run is historic and the next generation of female candidates will undoubtedly have an easier time being taken seriously because of it. Loss or win for Clinton 2008 is really secondary to the longer historical view.

Furthermore, every candidate have assets and liabilities that stem from the various demographic categories they fall into through no choice of their own, but by virtue of fate. These demographics do not automatically define a candidacy, however, and each candidate must choose whether or not to base their entire viability on such things. Sometimes the asset is the same as the liability as well - in Clinton's case, I think she's both winning and some losing votes because she's a woman. Does this matter and is it fair? The answer is really quite irrelevant; in life, we play with the hand we are dealt. If she is able to leverage her gender in her favor electorally, and in such a way that simultaneously helps move the nation forward, then undoubtedly it's a good thing for her to do so, even if in an ideal world, gender should not matter.

Ultimately, I think the Clinton campaign is far more defined by her Iraq vote in 2002, her advocacy for universal health care, her belligerent foreign policy statements (e.g. "totally obliterate" Iran), and her campaign's overall tone since February 5. Gender is an important factor, but one of many factors, all of which simultaneously work to her advantage and disadvantage.

[marijam]

No they won't have an easier time of it. Hillary will be raised as a specter of what can happen when an emotionally stressed woman gets strung out in a long race. If I were Hillary, with all the hatred that's been coming her way, from both sides, I'd quit politics entirely. It's really obvious there is no love for her in the Democratic party. I feel sorry for her. I really do.

[nonconformist2]

The problem is that it is impossible to really gauge how gender issues effected her campaign because it is impossible to separate out her gender from her suffocating larger than life crushingly ruthless personality. The good news is that all future women candidates look damn good by comparison.

[hillarysupporter]

Pelosi is wrong., as usual.

[mollyjackson]

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi violated federal campaign finance laws by appearing with Newt Gingrich in a television commercial that ran in her district less than a month before a contested primary, according to campaign finance experts. The ad was paid for by former Vice President Al Gore's non-profit group, the Alliance for Climate Protection.
Under the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 - popularly known as "McCain-Feingold" and which passed with Pelosi's support -- the degree to which a candidate's campaign can work with an independent group for a commercial is limited. The rules are set on content and conduct for any political commercial. Content rules can apply to the use of a candidate's name, for instance, while conduct is determined by what role the candidate had, if any, in planning the production of the commercial. If a candidate is found to have helped plan an ad run by an independent group and the ad mentions the candidate's name, it could be against the law. Judicial Watch will file a complaint to the Federal Election Commission about the commercial, said Tom Fitton, president of the conservative watchdog group. He said that even if the ad was not intended to skirt campaign finance laws, it resulted in skirting those laws. The Pelosi camp was equally responsible and equally liable for violations of running the ad. They can't pass the buck to the Gore camp.

[jlc0426]

Hillary has become an embarrassement!!!

[poles]

Hillary is a set back to women just by being hwo she is. Hillary has no integrity, she is dishonest, she is a liar, and has absoluty no morals. Hillary in her own words.
http://tammybruce.com/2007/02/hillary_in_her_own.php

[CocteausTwin]

It doesn't take a genius to read between these lines.

[GiggidyGeshmoygen]

the real irony of clinton's sad behaviour is that, with a gracious exit, hillary would have left the doors wide open for a future female president, however, the pathetic charade she is currently engaged in will only reinforce (rightly or wrongly) every stereotype, reservation and/or prejudice any man (or woman) ever had about the wisdom of allowing a woman to occupy the oval office --

[GravitonX]

Read: She won't be missed.

LOL

[Fergie13]

Read: Come November neither will you.

[thepoliticalcat]

Hmmm ... are you planning to wipe out GravitonX in November?

Probably another Hillaryis44 troll. Why don't you come to terms with the fact that Clinton is rapidly losing ground, and has been since she started running? As a former supporter of hers (for 20 goddamned years!) I felt really cheated when she started playing kissyface with Rupert Murdoch and Richard Mellon Scaife (chief funder of the Vast RightWing Conspiracy). Cheated, bamboozled, and betrayed. And guess what? Lots of other people are starting to feel the same way. California's buyers' remorse has already caused a huge shift towards Obama.

[barackobama4prez]

I won't be missed either. I will be back here until NEXT november if necessary. To speak ill of Hillary Clinton and John McBush.

[MyThought]

Oh good grief - Obama's voting record, other than the Iraq war (and he wasn't a senator then) is almost exactly the same as Hillary's.

You know, when you put someone on too much of a pedestal - you tend to get let down.

[Politihal]

Will someone please tell Nancy Pelosi, perhaps the most annoying woman in the world, ferme la bouche!

Halli http://www.thecjpoliticalreport.comalreport.com

[thepoliticalcat]

There's a lot to dislike about Pelosi but anyone could tell you that Clinton holds that title.

[DrToketee]

You know how to make Hillary and most of her supporters literally disappear overnight? A forgotten memory?

Have Obama leak out that he will be choosing Gov. Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas as his running mate. Take a very close look at her. You will find Sebelius' outstanding in-the-trenches-for-the-people politcal and executive record over many years will add much-needed leavening to Obama's out-front progressive values, but more importantly, she would make the vaunted over-hyped Hillary look like ... the amateur want-to-be that she really is. Give it a little time for the news and knowledge to spread, and then the women of America will come to rave about Obama's choice.

[ATLiberal]

He needs someone to shore up the military cred. Jim Webb, with a bonus of VA, a new swing state.

[olivia]

Sibelius would be outstanding. It would nullify all the charges of sexism too.

[hillarysupporter]

Sebelius doesn't have the seventeen million-plus voters that Clinton has. Sebellius is not well known.