So today, another passive aggressive attack comes from another woman in the Obama camp (see also previous post, "Unacceptable"). Although a resignation and apology followed - only after the comment was printed - it is another view into how the Obama camp is communicating behind closed doors about Hillary. What is really interesting is the manner in which the offensive words were spewed, with such aggression, desperation and disdain, a reflection of Samantha Powers', a 37 year old, own insecurities, self-hatred and jealousy of watching another woman succeed.
Here is the complete quote:
"Earlier, clearly rattled by the Ohio defeat, Ms Power told The Scotsman Mrs Clinton was stopping at nothing to try to seize the lead from her candidate."We f***** up in Ohio," she admitted. "In Ohio, they are obsessed and Hillary is going to town on it, because she knows Ohio's the only place they can win. "She is a monster, too – that is off the record – she is stooping to anything," Ms Power said, hastily trying to withdraw her remark. Ms Power said of the Clinton campaign: "Here, it looks like desperation. I hope it looks like desperation there, too."You just look at her and think, 'Ergh'." http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/latestnews/39Hillary-Clinton39s-a-monster39-Obama.3854371.jp
The apology only came after it was published. I wonder how many times she has said this before? I wonder how many times it has been said in Obama's presence? I wonder who else is saying it? I wonder why did she have to resign - and was not fired?
Amateur Hour...
Power was Obama's senior foreign policy advisor. It is one thing to attack someone on substance, but name-calling? Really? Are we back in high school? It sure looks like desperation over there...
Saturday, March 8, 2008
Thursday, March 6, 2008
International Women's Day, March 8th
International Women's Day, March 8th
"The new millennium has witnessed a significant change and attitudinal shift in both women's and society's thoughts about women's equality and emancipation. Many from a younger generation feel that 'all the battles have been won for women' while many feminists from the 1970's know only too well the longevity and ingrained complexity of patriarchy. With more women in the boardroom, greater equality in legislative rights, and an increased critical mass of women's visibility as impressive role models in every aspect of life, one could think that women have gained true equality. The unfortunate fact is that women are still not paid equally to that of their male counterparts, women still are not present in equal numbers in business or politics, and globally women's education, health and the violence against them is worse than that of men."
http://www.internationalwomensday.com/
We have a long way to go folks...What we do in this U.S. presidential election, will certainly have a significant effect on the rest of the world. What are you going to do?
"The new millennium has witnessed a significant change and attitudinal shift in both women's and society's thoughts about women's equality and emancipation. Many from a younger generation feel that 'all the battles have been won for women' while many feminists from the 1970's know only too well the longevity and ingrained complexity of patriarchy. With more women in the boardroom, greater equality in legislative rights, and an increased critical mass of women's visibility as impressive role models in every aspect of life, one could think that women have gained true equality. The unfortunate fact is that women are still not paid equally to that of their male counterparts, women still are not present in equal numbers in business or politics, and globally women's education, health and the violence against them is worse than that of men."
http://www.internationalwomensday.com/
We have a long way to go folks...What we do in this U.S. presidential election, will certainly have a significant effect on the rest of the world. What are you going to do?
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
What a fighter
Hillary Clinton, a true fighter - for us all. When everyone was writing her off, she didn't give up. When people said she should quit, she kept going. While people said she's divisive, she brought people together. When people said she isn't inspiring, she inspired us all to fight for what's right, to fight for the working class, to fight for those of us struggling everyday and those of us who have been ignored for so long. Don't we all want someone like that to be our leader?
The latte drinking folks may think they're smarter or better than us, but we are the people that built this country and helped the latte folks afford their expensive lifestyles. It's time that the latte drinking posse listened to the people here on planet earth. Us dunkin' donuts coffee drinkers are too busy to listen to the long, boring rhetoric. We are too busy to hear ideas without plans, talk without solutions, lofty goals without real strategies. We want in and out service. We want change alright, but we want someone with the capacity to deliver.
And as a single mom, who pays for her own health insurance, I want someone that has a proven record of fighting for me and my daughter, because they know what it feels like to engage in the daily fight and the challenges we face. Yes, new may seem brighter, but I am loyal to those that have always been there for me, still standing there for me, and will go toe to toe for me.
So thank you, Hillary, for being that fighter we need. I've never walked away from fighting for what's right and I know you won't either.
The latte drinking folks may think they're smarter or better than us, but we are the people that built this country and helped the latte folks afford their expensive lifestyles. It's time that the latte drinking posse listened to the people here on planet earth. Us dunkin' donuts coffee drinkers are too busy to listen to the long, boring rhetoric. We are too busy to hear ideas without plans, talk without solutions, lofty goals without real strategies. We want in and out service. We want change alright, but we want someone with the capacity to deliver.
And as a single mom, who pays for her own health insurance, I want someone that has a proven record of fighting for me and my daughter, because they know what it feels like to engage in the daily fight and the challenges we face. Yes, new may seem brighter, but I am loyal to those that have always been there for me, still standing there for me, and will go toe to toe for me.
So thank you, Hillary, for being that fighter we need. I've never walked away from fighting for what's right and I know you won't either.
Friday, February 29, 2008
A Glaring Double Standard
A glaring double standard
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080226.wltimson26/BNStory/lifeMain/home
For every 'presidential' and 'charismatic' bestowed on Barack Obama, there are 10 adjectives commentators have used to put down the way Hillary Clinton dresses, talks and emotes. Call this what it is – blatant sexism
JUDITH TIMSON
From Tuesday's Globe and Mail
February 26, 2008 at 2:05 AM EST
Guess what they call powerful and strong women who support Barack Obama? Obamazons. And what about powerful women who support Hillary Clinton? In Hillaryland, they're probably too damn tired, mystified and disappointed to care all that much about cutesy names.
A week before the Texas and Ohio primaries, the political obituaries are already being prepared – perhaps still prematurely – on Ms. Clinton's presidential bid.
I wonder if they will include the ugly truth that sexism has played a disturbing role in this riveting primary campaign.
There are certainly legitimate reasons not to like Ms. Clinton, but that doesn't explain the very different treatment she has received in the media. While grown media men and women have swooned over Mr. Obama, confessing that he is so charismatic he gives them goosebumps, Ms. Clinton has been mocked, trivialized and denigrated in a way that should give every woman pause.
Her laugh is a “cackle.” Her daughter Chelsea is being “pimped out.” She is only there because of her husband. She is “inauthentic” and manipulative, especially that time she cried in New Hampshire (and she didn't actually cry, by the way, even though anti-Clinton forces quickly had T-shirts made that said “Cry Baby” on them.)
When Ms. Clinton wasn't very occasionally showing her soft side, she was characterized as grating and aggressive. When she demonstrated how much she knew about so many issues, she was trying too hard to be “the smartest girl in the room.”
Young women rushed to loftily disassociate their perky post-feminist selves from a middle-aged female presidential candidate who is probably the most assured and knowledgeable woman any of them has ever seen running for high public office.
MSNBC's Chris Matthews even called Ms. Clinton an “uppity woman.” Imagine any commentator calling Mr. Obama an “uppity black” and keeping his job.
Author and commentator Barbara Ehrenreich also took a gratuitously nasty swipe in the Huffington Post at Ms. Clinton's platform style: “The frozen smile has to go, too, along with the [metronomic] nodding, which sometimes goes on long enough to suggest a placement within the autism spectrum.” Oh, come on.
And Slate.com's female commentators merrily dissected Ms. Clinton's female factor, ostensibly unaware of the self-hatred it revealed: “One of Hillary Clinton's great weaknesses as a candidate is that – fair or not – she seems so completely familiar to us. Not just because she's been around for years, but because the characteristics for which she's inevitably criticized are themselves these centuries-old archetypes: the castrating shrew, the righteous scold, the manipulative weeper …”
After the debate last week, Mr. Obama was described as “looking very presidential” or “like a Roman senator” while Ms. Clinton was mocked for wearing a pantsuit with yellow stripes on the jacket that made her look like “a modern major-general” or “a guest star on Star Trek: The Next Generation.”
To me, she looked as she always did, both polished and strong.
And besides, how is the first serious female contender for the most powerful office on Earth supposed to look or laugh or show emotion or compete?
In a blistering commentary that many women forwarded to each other, feminist author Robin Morgan decried some of the most egregious sexism, including former Nixonite Roger Stone's new Hillary-hating group, “Citizens United Not Timid” (examine the capital letters); John McCain answering “How do we beat the bitch?” with “Excellent question!”; and “the most intimately violent T-shirts in election history, including one with the murderous slogan ‘If only Hillary had married O.J. instead!'”
Ms. Morgan wrote: “This is not just Hillary-hating. This is sociopathic woman-hating.”
Of course, many commentators, male and female, have written admiringly about Ms. Clinton, endorsing her outright as The New York Times did, or suggesting that, however flawed, she is clearly the best-qualified candidate to be U.S. president.
And Mr. Obama is a supple and inspiring politician who has run an astonishing campaign. It is Hillary's bad luck (she who hasn't had much luck with men) to have been opposed by this juggernaut after she launched her once-thought-to-be unassailable bid for the Democratic nomination.
On one particularly bad day, The New York Times's Maureen Dowd weighed in with one comedian's joke about Mr. Obama winning every recent primary: “Hillary says it's not fair, because they're being held in February, and February is Black History Month. And unfortunately for Hillary, there's no White Bitch Month.”
Well, here's a thought: Perhaps every day is white bitch month for powerful women, and every ambitious and successful woman who is honest with herself and others knows this: As she gets up each morning and slaps on her knee-highs and her pantsuit and goes into the office to prove – yet again – that she is the smartest and most capable person there, she too can quickly engender the same kind of hate that Ms. Clinton has put up with on the campaign trail. Just by being herself.
It's all about the narrowness of roles for women, or, as Ms. Clinton herself said in a New Yorker interview, “I think that the world is only beginning to recognize that women should be permitted the same range of leadership styles that we permit men.”
Whatever happens next week or beyond, and even if Ms. Clinton manages to get the nomination, this sexism should be named and discussed for what it is.
Which doesn't mean I think every Hillary joke making the rounds is sexist. I laughed out loud at this one: Chelsea Clinton goes up to a returning American soldier and says, “What do you fear the most?” And he says: “Osama, Obama, yo' mama.”
Well, at least she was only the third most scary item on his list.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080226.wltimson26/BNStory/lifeMain/home
For every 'presidential' and 'charismatic' bestowed on Barack Obama, there are 10 adjectives commentators have used to put down the way Hillary Clinton dresses, talks and emotes. Call this what it is – blatant sexism
JUDITH TIMSON
From Tuesday's Globe and Mail
February 26, 2008 at 2:05 AM EST
Guess what they call powerful and strong women who support Barack Obama? Obamazons. And what about powerful women who support Hillary Clinton? In Hillaryland, they're probably too damn tired, mystified and disappointed to care all that much about cutesy names.
A week before the Texas and Ohio primaries, the political obituaries are already being prepared – perhaps still prematurely – on Ms. Clinton's presidential bid.
I wonder if they will include the ugly truth that sexism has played a disturbing role in this riveting primary campaign.
There are certainly legitimate reasons not to like Ms. Clinton, but that doesn't explain the very different treatment she has received in the media. While grown media men and women have swooned over Mr. Obama, confessing that he is so charismatic he gives them goosebumps, Ms. Clinton has been mocked, trivialized and denigrated in a way that should give every woman pause.
Her laugh is a “cackle.” Her daughter Chelsea is being “pimped out.” She is only there because of her husband. She is “inauthentic” and manipulative, especially that time she cried in New Hampshire (and she didn't actually cry, by the way, even though anti-Clinton forces quickly had T-shirts made that said “Cry Baby” on them.)
When Ms. Clinton wasn't very occasionally showing her soft side, she was characterized as grating and aggressive. When she demonstrated how much she knew about so many issues, she was trying too hard to be “the smartest girl in the room.”
Young women rushed to loftily disassociate their perky post-feminist selves from a middle-aged female presidential candidate who is probably the most assured and knowledgeable woman any of them has ever seen running for high public office.
MSNBC's Chris Matthews even called Ms. Clinton an “uppity woman.” Imagine any commentator calling Mr. Obama an “uppity black” and keeping his job.
Author and commentator Barbara Ehrenreich also took a gratuitously nasty swipe in the Huffington Post at Ms. Clinton's platform style: “The frozen smile has to go, too, along with the [metronomic] nodding, which sometimes goes on long enough to suggest a placement within the autism spectrum.” Oh, come on.
And Slate.com's female commentators merrily dissected Ms. Clinton's female factor, ostensibly unaware of the self-hatred it revealed: “One of Hillary Clinton's great weaknesses as a candidate is that – fair or not – she seems so completely familiar to us. Not just because she's been around for years, but because the characteristics for which she's inevitably criticized are themselves these centuries-old archetypes: the castrating shrew, the righteous scold, the manipulative weeper …”
After the debate last week, Mr. Obama was described as “looking very presidential” or “like a Roman senator” while Ms. Clinton was mocked for wearing a pantsuit with yellow stripes on the jacket that made her look like “a modern major-general” or “a guest star on Star Trek: The Next Generation.”
To me, she looked as she always did, both polished and strong.
And besides, how is the first serious female contender for the most powerful office on Earth supposed to look or laugh or show emotion or compete?
In a blistering commentary that many women forwarded to each other, feminist author Robin Morgan decried some of the most egregious sexism, including former Nixonite Roger Stone's new Hillary-hating group, “Citizens United Not Timid” (examine the capital letters); John McCain answering “How do we beat the bitch?” with “Excellent question!”; and “the most intimately violent T-shirts in election history, including one with the murderous slogan ‘If only Hillary had married O.J. instead!'”
Ms. Morgan wrote: “This is not just Hillary-hating. This is sociopathic woman-hating.”
Of course, many commentators, male and female, have written admiringly about Ms. Clinton, endorsing her outright as The New York Times did, or suggesting that, however flawed, she is clearly the best-qualified candidate to be U.S. president.
And Mr. Obama is a supple and inspiring politician who has run an astonishing campaign. It is Hillary's bad luck (she who hasn't had much luck with men) to have been opposed by this juggernaut after she launched her once-thought-to-be unassailable bid for the Democratic nomination.
On one particularly bad day, The New York Times's Maureen Dowd weighed in with one comedian's joke about Mr. Obama winning every recent primary: “Hillary says it's not fair, because they're being held in February, and February is Black History Month. And unfortunately for Hillary, there's no White Bitch Month.”
Well, here's a thought: Perhaps every day is white bitch month for powerful women, and every ambitious and successful woman who is honest with herself and others knows this: As she gets up each morning and slaps on her knee-highs and her pantsuit and goes into the office to prove – yet again – that she is the smartest and most capable person there, she too can quickly engender the same kind of hate that Ms. Clinton has put up with on the campaign trail. Just by being herself.
It's all about the narrowness of roles for women, or, as Ms. Clinton herself said in a New Yorker interview, “I think that the world is only beginning to recognize that women should be permitted the same range of leadership styles that we permit men.”
Whatever happens next week or beyond, and even if Ms. Clinton manages to get the nomination, this sexism should be named and discussed for what it is.
Which doesn't mean I think every Hillary joke making the rounds is sexist. I laughed out loud at this one: Chelsea Clinton goes up to a returning American soldier and says, “What do you fear the most?” And he says: “Osama, Obama, yo' mama.”
Well, at least she was only the third most scary item on his list.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Superwoman
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=27532107
A dedication to Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton who has been fighting for the best interest of this wonderful nation called America. A wife, mother, Senator, adovocate to millions of voices across the nation. Senator Hillary Clinton is nonetheless a SUPERWOMAN. Song was taken from the 2007 Alicia Keys album "As I Am" LYRICS:
Everywhere I'm turning
Nothing seems complete
I stand up and I'm searching
For the better part of me
I hang my head from sorrow
Slave to humanity
I wear it on my shoulders
Gotta find the strength in me
Cause I am a Superwoman
Yes I am
Yes she is
Even when I'm a mess
I still put on a vest
With an S on my chest
Oh yes
I'm a Superwoman
For all the mothers fighting
For better days to come
And all my women, all my women sitting here trying
To come home before the sun
And all my sisters
Coming together
Say yes I will
Yes I can
Cause I am a Superwoman
Yes I am
Yes she is
Even when I'm a mess
I still put on a vest
With an S on my chest
Oh yes
I'm a Superwoman
When I'm breaking down
And I can't be found
And I start to get weak
Cause no one knows
Me underneath these clothes
But I can fly
We can fly, Oooohh
Cause I am a Superwoman
Yes I am
Yes she is
Even when I'm a mess
I still put on a vest
With an S on my chest
Oh yes
I'm a Superwoman
A dedication to Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton who has been fighting for the best interest of this wonderful nation called America. A wife, mother, Senator, adovocate to millions of voices across the nation. Senator Hillary Clinton is nonetheless a SUPERWOMAN. Song was taken from the 2007 Alicia Keys album "As I Am" LYRICS:
Everywhere I'm turning
Nothing seems complete
I stand up and I'm searching
For the better part of me
I hang my head from sorrow
Slave to humanity
I wear it on my shoulders
Gotta find the strength in me
Cause I am a Superwoman
Yes I am
Yes she is
Even when I'm a mess
I still put on a vest
With an S on my chest
Oh yes
I'm a Superwoman
For all the mothers fighting
For better days to come
And all my women, all my women sitting here trying
To come home before the sun
And all my sisters
Coming together
Say yes I will
Yes I can
Cause I am a Superwoman
Yes I am
Yes she is
Even when I'm a mess
I still put on a vest
With an S on my chest
Oh yes
I'm a Superwoman
When I'm breaking down
And I can't be found
And I start to get weak
Cause no one knows
Me underneath these clothes
But I can fly
We can fly, Oooohh
Cause I am a Superwoman
Yes I am
Yes she is
Even when I'm a mess
I still put on a vest
With an S on my chest
Oh yes
I'm a Superwoman
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
She's got guts
Hillary should have just closed with, "Wanna fighter? If yes, then I'm your girl."
And yes, she is our girl, with true guts and the true will to fight for the American people.
Thank you, Hillary, for another great debate where you showed the depth of your knowledge of the problems that face this country and how to solve them.
And yes, she is our girl, with true guts and the true will to fight for the American people.
Thank you, Hillary, for another great debate where you showed the depth of your knowledge of the problems that face this country and how to solve them.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)