Misogyny I Won't Miss

[platinumblondelife]

As the Democratic nomination contest slouches toward a close, it's time to take stock of what I will not miss.

I will not miss seeing advertisements for T-shirts that bear the slogan "Bros before Hos." The shirts depict Barack Obama (the Bro) and Hillary Clinton (the Ho) and are widely sold on the Internet.

I will not miss walking past airport concessions selling the Hillary Nutcracker, a device in which a pantsuit-clad Clinton doll opens her legs to reveal stainless-steel thighs that, well, bust nuts. I won't miss television and newspaper stories that make light of the novelty item.

I won't miss episodes like the one in which liberal radio personality Randi Rhodes called Clinton a "big [expletive] whore" and said the same about former vice presidential nominee Geraldine Ferraro. Rhodes was appearing at an event sponsored by a San Francisco radio station, before an audience of appreciative Obama supporters -- one of whom had promoted the evening on the presumptive Democratic nominee's official campaign Web site.

I won't miss Citizens United Not Timid (no acronym, please), an anti-Clinton group founded by Republican guru Roger Stone.

Political discourse will at last be free of jokes like this one, told last week by magician Penn Jillette on MSNBC: "Obama did great in February, and that's because that was Black History Month. And now Hillary's doing much better 'cause it's White Bitch Month, right?" Co-hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski rebuked Jillette.

I won't miss political commentators (including National Public Radio political editor Ken Rudin and Andrew Sullivan, the columnist and blogger) who compare Clinton to the Glenn Close character in the movie "Fatal Attraction." In the iconic 1987 film, Close played an independent New York woman who has an affair with a married man played by Michael Douglas. When the liaison ends, the jilted woman becomes a deranged, knife-wielding stalker who terrorizes the man's blissful suburban family. Message: Psychopathic home-wrecker, begone.

The airwaves will at last be free of comments that liken Clinton to a "she-devil" (Chris Matthews on MSNBC, who helpfully supplied an on-screen mock-up of Clinton sprouting horns). Or those who offer that she's "looking like everyone's first wife standing outside a probate court" (Mike Barnicle, also on MSNBC).

But perhaps it is not wives who are so very problematic. Maybe it's mothers. Because, after all, Clinton is more like "a scolding mother, talking down to a child" (Jack Cafferty on CNN).

When all other images fail, there is one other I will not miss. That is, the down-to-the-basics, simplest one: "White women are a problem, that's -- you know, we all live with that" (William Kristol of Fox News).

I won't miss reading another treatise by a man or woman, of the left or right, who says that sexism has had not even a teeny-weeny bit of influence on the course of the Democratic campaign. To hint that sexism might possibly have had a minimal role is to play that risible "gender card."

Most of all, I will not miss the silence.

I will not miss the deafening, depressing silence of Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean or other leading Democrats, who to my knowledge (with the exception of Sen. Barbara Mikulski of Maryland) haven't publicly uttered a word of outrage at the unrelenting, sex-based hate that has been hurled at a former first lady and two-term senator from New York. Among those holding their tongues are hundreds of Democrats for whom Clinton has campaigned and raised millions of dollars. Don Imus endured more public ire from the political class when he insulted the Rutgers University women's basketball team.

Would the silence prevail if Obama's likeness were put on a tap-dancing doll that was sold at airports? Would the media figures who dole out precious face time to these politicians be such pals if they'd compared Obama with a character in a blaxploitation film? And how would crude references to Obama's sex organs play?

There are many reasons Clinton is losing the nomination contest, some having to do with her strategic mistakes, others with the groundswell for "change." But for all Clinton's political blemishes, the darker stain that has been exposed is the hatred of women that is accepted as a part of our culture.

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thoughts?

[platinumblondelife]

bump

[platinumblondelife]

Well, I would like to say the criticism of Hillary Clinton has been disgustingly sexist imo. No one gets scrutinized for their wrinkles if they are men. Like Tina Fey said, Rush Limbaugh said Americans don't want to see their President turn into an old lady. But America didn't seem to mind when Ronald Reagan did that.

[I am Roboto]

I think Hillary has indeed been treated far worse in the media then her competitor. Whether that's a symptom of sexism or simply a reflection of the media's overwhelming pro-Obama bias I'm not sure, but the anti-Hillary sentiment is definitely there.

[platinumblondelife]

Originally Posted by I am Roboto

I think Hillary has indeed been treated far worse in the media then her competitor. Whether that's a symptom of sexism or simply a reflection of the media's overwhelming pro-Obama bias I'm not sure, but the anti-Hillary sentiment is definitely there.

Well, John McCain has overwhelmingly been the media favorite. But anyway, I do think it is sexism. Why is it ok to basically call Hillary Clinton, a respected former first lady and senator a bitch?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BnA_uPz7d8

[OH Nuts!]

Originally Posted by platinumblondelife

Well, John McCain has overwhelmingly been the media favorite. But anyway, I do think it is sexism. Why is it ok to basically call Hillary Clinton, a respected former first lady and senator a bitch?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BnA_uPz7d8

I don't like any of the Hillary name calling and bashing either. To be perfectly honest I don't like it for ANY candidate, whether I support them or not. But some people, unf., really get off on this stuff, and have enough of a hatred/dislike of a candidate to create a market. Disheartening, really.

We all have politicians we like and DISLIKE. But even with the few politicians/political figures who repulse me, I try not to take shots. I just make sure I VOTE in every election and that I don't vote for them.

[Augustus McCrae]

Originally Posted by platinumblondelife

Well, John McCain has overwhelmingly been the media favorite. But anyway, I do think it is sexism. Why is it ok to basically call Hillary Clinton, a respected former first lady and senator a bitch?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BnA_uPz7d8

Obama has been made out to be a choir boy by the media and you say that McCain has been the favorite? You haven't heard anything about Wright, bitterness, his wife on any of the mainstream channels. The reason Hil is getting hammered by the mainstream media is because they want Obama to win.

[platinumblondelife]

Originally Posted by Augustus McCrae

Obama has been made out to be a choir boy by the media and you say that McCain has been the favorite? You haven't heard anything about Wright, bitterness, his wife on any of the mainstream channels. The reason Hil is getting hammered by the mainstream media is because they want Obama to win.

McCain is definitely the one who gets a free ride on almost everything.

Address the point: sexism.

[Augustus McCrae]

Originally Posted by platinumblondelife

McCain is definitely the one who gets a free ride on almost everything.

Address the point: sexism.

Those blinders of yours must be getting pretty damn heavy by now.


Screw your point.

[platinumblondelife]

Originally Posted by Augustus McCrae

Those blinders of yours must be getting pretty damn heavy by now.


Screw your point.

You are so dumb. You can't have an intelligent conversation, whatsoever. Why is sexism permitted so heavily in society? Why are women treated with such disrespect, especially someone as respected as a first lady?

[Augustus McCrae]

Originally Posted by platinumblondelife

You are so dumb. You can't have an intelligent conversation, whatsoever. Why is sexism permitted so heavily in society? Why are women treated with such disrespect, especially someone as respected as a first lady?

Quit your whining. You make it sound like we keep you in the kitchen and the bedroom all day and night.

Speaking of disrepecting the First Lady, it sure didn't stop you from blasting her in some earlier threads. I guess it's only offensive when it's on your side. Loser.

[platinumblondelife]

Originally Posted by Augustus McCrae

Quit your whining. You make it sound like we keep you in the kitchen and the bedroom all day and night.

Speaking of disrepecting the First Lady, it sure didn't stop you from blasting her in some earlier threads. I guess it's only offensive when it's on your side. Loser.

The only one who is a loser is you. Do you have a wife? A girlfriend?

Also, why is it that a woman talking about sexism is always "whining."

[Sterling Holobyte]

I personally don't think that this is a wide-spread symptom of sexism, especially here in America.
This is a narrower field called politics that we are talking about, and the opposing forces(right and left) are going to drag out whatever dirt they can use to make their candidate win. And most in the media love Obama and want him to win the nomination, and think he can win the election, so naturally they are going to go after Clinton, who was once their savior as well.

[platinumblondelife]

http://youtube.com/watch?v=kcdnlNZg2iM

[Augustus McCrae]

Originally Posted by platinumblondelife

The only one who is a loser is you. Do you have a wife? A girlfriend?

I was hoping that you and me could "hook up!!" You seem "trainable!"

Originally Posted by platinumblondelife

Also, why is it that a woman talking about sexism is always "whining."

Not always. Just when it comes to weak ass examples like you show. When it really is happening it loses it's volume because of false and weak accusations like yours.