Ever since I wrote an article in the Washington Post ten days ago, I've been getting love letters from women and super-smart men and brickbats from the Hillary-Haters. Unfortunately the Hillary-Haters are in charge. They monopolize the networks, the newspapers, the talk shows -- both radio and TV. They are crossing their legs for fear of castration. They are wearing the body armor our troops never got. Or got too late to matter. They are determined that a woman will not prove herself competent as Commander in Chief.
What's their ammunition? Oh, it's simple. They call her Mrs. Clinton, not Ms. or Senator. They pull out those nutcrackers in the shape of her supposed thighs. They complain about her ankles -- too thick. They complain on Fox TV that "White women are the problem" -- (idiot boy Kristol, the brain-damaged scion of Irving who rose through nepotism like our unelected "president"). Then they say she has "baggage" -- which could mean wrinkles, or her husband, or her daughter Chelsea whom they say she is "pimping." Then they say she never divorced Bill -- as if it's anyone's business. Then they moon over Obama's rhetorical style. Then they make it appear that she's a drone or a worker bee and has no royal jelly. Or else she has royal jelly and is queen bee. And that's her problem.
If Bill defends her, he's a pimp. If he doesn't, he's a creep. If Chelsea campaigns, it's cynical. If Obama trots out those cute little girls Michelle gave birth to, he's a family man. If Michelle attacks Hillary, it's news. If Hillary attacks Michelle -- well she can't because that would be racist. All we need now is a black woman in this race -- Maya or Oprah or Toni or Gayle or Donna -- any of whom would be a far better president than the one we've still got (not to mention his surrogate Dad, Dick Cheney, his co war-criminal). You couldn't attack Oprah or Maya or Toni or Gayle or Donna because of their color. Wow -- what an idea! Oprah for President. I'd definitely vote for that. I adore Maya Angelou as both person and poet. Toni Morrison is a genius and a true progressive. Gayle King is an executive, mother, communicator. Donna B. is a spokeswoman on CNN. Oprah -- well, she's Oprah -- way beyond having a last name.
Let me tell you about the Hillary-Haters who fill my inbox, they can't spell. They also believe in witchcraft. They believe HRC boils eye of newt with unborn baby's hair and little Jewish children not yet circumcised. They think she had a child with Vince Foster (even though Chelsea looks much like Bill and even his mother), then murdered him. They think she will leave Iraq, not leave Iraq, give us universal health care, not give us universal health care, sanction the killing of fetuses, not sanction the killing of fetuses, defend Israel, not defend Israel, end the Death Tax, not end the Death tax.
Honey, they are all mixed up. But they know they hate. And not just her -- but lots of people and things and ideas.
Ho hum. We've seen this all before in the United States of Amnesia (Gore Vidal's brilliant phrase). Remember Geraldine Ferraro -- tarred with the brush of her Italian-American husband, whom they claimed was a mafioso? Remember Bella Abzug, attacked for her hats (which covered too large a brain)? Remember Eleanor Roosevelt, attacked for her teeth? Remember Victoria Woodhull (the first woman to run for president) "hanged" as a whore? Remember Emma Goldman rode out of town on a rail -- for being Jewish, liking to dance and supporting the rights of the working classes?
Perhaps you know the history. Most likely you don't. They'd rather you didn't know it. Hence trillions for guns and pennies for education. The military industrial complex needs your boys and your girls in Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan. But there's no one to guard the "homeland" -- a nice Hitlerian locution. Perhaps they'd rather you didn't know that every great empire -- from Persia to Greece to Rome -- fell when it spent more on war than on its people. This is history, kids. But we don't read history any more. History begins with Britney and ends with Paris.
I give up. If I have to watch another great American woman thrown in the dustbin of history to please the patriarchy, I'll move to Canada -- where they live four years longer than we because they have universal health care. Or Italy -- where Berlusconi played at being Mussolini but life is sweet anyway and people take vacations in August and at Chanukah (Christmas or Diwali or Kwaanza) and Passover (Easter).
Ok folks, stick your heads in the sand like Maureen Dowd who thinks we're not against women but just against Clinton "baggage." Or Barbara Walters who seems to have forgotten how viciously she was attacked when she got her first million dollar contract -- worth only half a million in Euros today.
Or Oprah who forgets she wasn't always Oprah -- I knew her when she had two names. She was always really smart, but she used to identify with women. And now she's joined the Obamarama. I get it. I understand. People want their own color in the White House (pun intended). And nobody said Barack wasn't brilliant.
But the truth is, we have no idea what he stands for. At least I don't. All we have are soundbites and attacks on "the" Clintons. But I guess the great American Amnesiate prefers it that way. And they always get what they deserve in the White House. Last time it was Dubya -- the dumb son of the CIA who showed them by never heeding their warnings. We lost Al Gore to sound bites about his nerdiness. Then we lost him again to hanging chads in Florida. We lost Adlai for being too intellectual. They used to say "egghead" in the olden days. And we lost Kerry to touch screens in Ohio and to election officials later indicted and tried and convicted. I didn't like him anyway. I especially hated his not returning fire at the Swiftboaters, and that stupid salute at the Democratic convention where Barack was born from the head of Athena.
Flip Flop, Flop Flip. This is the nature of our political dialogue. Might as well vote Repugnican as Democratic -- though I never have in my whole life. They're all just pols who secretly pledge to ignore fifty three percent of the population. And guess what? The fifty three percent is resigned to it. We don't like it. We wish it were otherwise. But we adore our sons and grandsons and husbands and fathers and grandfathers -- not to mention our nephews whom we happily nepotize.
One of my nephews works for Hillary. I bet his heart is breaking too.
There are two stages before political irrelevancy.
First the politician becomes the object of derision and then they become the object of pity. That is where HRC finds herself.
Hey, call me silly, but doesn’t her campaign remind you of the war in Iraq.
Bush was fixated on winning Baghdad, thinking that constituted victory and gave little thought to the aftermath.
HRC was fixated on winning Super Tuesday, feeling confident that she would have it wrapped up by then, so why bother with the caucus states.
Bush thought that the Iraqi people wanted democracy but what they really wanted was security.
HRC thought the American people wanted experience, but what they really wanted was change.
Bush thought that since he had the support of the Chalabis the support of the Iraqi people would follow.
HRC thought that if she had the support of the Rangels and Youngs, she would have the support of a core constituency.
Both Bush and HRC can be faulted for hiring people based on loyalty and a distant, secondarily, competence.
Neither Bush nor HRC can be accused of admitting to error.
Neither can be accused of humility.
Both feel that if you are not with them, you are against them.
Bush calls his enemies evil.
HRC threatens to “demonize†those who question her wisdom.
All of this is so old school!
Well a political Tsunami is sweeping across this land and I am reminded of a Dylan line, “Something is happening here and you don’t know what it is, do you Mr. Jones!â€
Skycontrol 02/20/08
The corporate media has heavily hyped Obama's campaign the last few months and the same corporate media, will end his campaign as fast as they hyped it.
The corporate media wants corporatist, fascist Bloomberg. The unfortunate senator Barry Obama has been their marketing gimmick. The Chicago skeletons arranged in his closet make it most unlikely that he will ever be president.
Should I scream because the MSM is so against white men? Now it's just a wrestling match between the corporatist vetted candidates. I don't watch the MSM because it's 99.9% bull. Kristol and Fuks Noise are idiots. I wouldn't give them a second thought.
For me, it is not about race or sex, it is about issues, history and voting record. Senator Hillary Rodam Clinton is a DLC.ORG centrist, pro-war, corporatist.
As for Obama, This is a video of Obama being interviewed by the SF newspaper board. It's all issues. It is comforting to see that Obama is not just pretty rhetoric.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?f=/c/a/2008/01/20/EDIAUHASH.DTL&o=0
If she had stood by HER convictions and RAN her campaign on her own maybe she would still have some credibility. I am a 50ish, white female and I can spell.
We have two candidates from the Democratic Party running for president. One of them will be the nominee, and regardless of who that person is, responsible Democrats must vow to support that decision. The alternative is the destruction of all that we believe. John McCain and four to eight more years of Republican control will bring us a never-ending war in the Middle East and the continued pillaging of our treasury to pay for it, not to mention the innocent lives that will be lost. He will also bring more Scalias to the Supreme Court, GUARANTEEING the end of reproductive rights, civil rights, habeus corpus, detainee representation, and environmental rights.
If the loss of your rights is what any of you would prefer rather than to swallow your pride and vote for your party's nominee, then so be it. Hang your heads in shame. You and I both know that neither Barack Obama nor Hillary Clinton will destroy the Supreme Court - but the Republicans WILL. This I can promise: I SWEAR TO ALL MY SISTERS in this country that I will not be a party to causing them to lose all the rights, ESPECIALLY ROE VS. WADE, that we have spent decades achieving.
This country's pretty badly in the hole. That doesn't bode well for the future of independence, as such. In english, we're being bought out/sold out. I don't know who or what you chalk that up to, exactly, but there's been some trans-national fiscal funnybusiness that's a damn sight more important than any pie-in-the-sky that Hillary's selling. Sunshine singalongs won't end the war, either.
I still think Paul's the right choice. He's the only one out there not promising billions in handouts, though, so people are kind of ignoring him. Doesn't change much, but my feeling is, the Pandidates such as Hillary will likely draw bigger crowds, but the concept of Independence, the whole declaration thing, the whole 'impeach Cheney' concept, the whole idea of not having Texaco in the white house, that's pretty much Paul's direction. Hillary's more of a social engineer. For that matter, so is Barack. The law is the law is the law, and waffling on it has helped put this country into this war/not war state of being that's caused a lot of problems, blurring our borders, and burying people in debt. If Hillary thinks she can be a clear decision-maker, then by all means, more power to her, comma, the starting point is the Constitution, and an aversion to real estate bribe money, or payola from other sources. If she can turn out her pockets, and have clean karma in that regard, well, that's great, then I'd tentatively support her. But, those are the kind of issues that have nothing to do with gender, but rather public accountability.
Candidate: Are you now, or have you ever been, a real estate agent?
Insider trading
Whitewater land deal scandal
Travelgate
Obstruction of justice regarding Vince Foster’s suicide
Suspicions of bribery involving NY Hasidic Jews during her run for the Senate
The self-serving pardons of Mark Rich, Almon Glenn Braswell, and Carlos Vignali (to name a few)
Standing idly by and watched genocide take place in Rwanda
Exchanging earmarks for endorsements
And the list goes on and on….
The biggest factor undoing her is her war vote. THAT should be the lesson of this primary, not "women will never be able be President". Feminism and opposition to stupid wars are both two noble causes, and you're doing both a disservice.
Ms. Jong, you say you don't even know what Barack Obama stands for. Well, lots of other people do. (He did write a book, you know.) Grow up. It's not always about race or gender.
Or please tell me if this women, in her open letter to Hillary Clinton, is a filthy woman hating liar and right wing conspiracist:
http://www.counterpunch.org/cole02082008.html
How are you a champion of women and children while in bed with frankenfood giants like Monsanto? Please-if these charges are false address them and show PROOF to the contrary.
Don't pee on my leg and tell me it's raining and please don't try to tell me that legitimate questions about the specifics of Hillary Clinton's 35 years of change are simply sexist, personal, ignorant attacks.
The most telling part of this exhange follows:
AMY GOODMAN: Marian Wright Edelman, we just heard Hillary Rodham Clinton. She used to be the head of the board of the Children’s Defense Fund, of the organization that you founded. But you were extremely critical of the Clintons. I mean, when President Clinton signed off on the, well, so-called welfare reform bill, you said, “His signature on this pernicious bill makes a mockery of his pledge not to hurt children.†So what are your hopes right now for these Democrats? And what are your thoughts about Hillary Rodham Clinton?
MARIAN WRIGHT EDELMAN: Well, you know, Hillary Clinton is an old friend, but they are not friends in politics. We have to build a constituency, and you don’t—and we profoundly disagreed with the forms of the welfare reform bill, and we said so. We were for welfare reform, I am for welfare reform, but we need good jobs, we need adequate work incentives, we need minimum wage to be decent wage and livable wage, we need health care, we need transportation, we need to invest preventively in all of our children to prevent them ever having to be on welfare.