Hillary-Bashing: Fight Back

by Damozel | Robin Morgan has an incredibly eloquent piece at the Women's Media Center discussing the relentless---and apparently acceptable---bashing of Hillary in the media and in general.  I had to read it in small segments.  I have excellent blood pressure and it seemed likely that this piece, filled with gut-wrenching truths about the current atmosphere of the Democratic campaign, might actually address this point.

But I'll start with Morgan's statement of support for Hillary.  She sums it up for me:

I support Hillary Rodham because she’s the best  qualified of all candidates running in both parties. I support her because her progressive politics are as strong as her proven ability to withstand what will be a massive right-wing assault in the general election. I support her because she knows how to get us out of Iraq. I support her because she’s refreshingly thoughtful, and I’m bloodied from eight years of a jolly “uniter” with ejaculatory politics. I needn’t agree with her on every point. I agree with the 97 percent of her positions that are identical with Obama’s—and the few where hers are both more practical and to the left of his (like health care). I support her because she’s already smashed the first-lady stereotype and made history as a fine senator, because I believe she will continue to make history not only as the first US woman president, but as a great US  president....

Me, I’m voting for Hillary not because she’s a woman—but  because I am.  (Women's Media Center)

Morgan bashes away at the nasty, sexist gender politics that are apparently acceptable when a middle-aged white woman confronts a youngish African-American man.  It's offensive all right.  I'm not necessarily offended for the same reasons that Morgan is, but I am offended, and we are certainly of one mind on some of them.

—Hillary is too ballsy but too womanly, a Snow Maiden who’s  emotional, and so much a politician as to be unfit for politics.

As I have previously noted, there's a certain sort of person--- driven by envy, repressed or overt misogyny, or castration anxiety---for whom Hillary can't do anything right.                     

—She’s “ambitious” but he shows “fire in the belly.” (Ever had labor pains?)—When a sexist idiot screamed “Iron my shirt!” at HRC, it was considered amusing; if a racist idiot shouted “Shine my shoes!” at BO, it would’ve inspired hours of airtime and pages of newsprint analyzing our national dishonor. (Robin Morgan)

This is true and all I can say is:  fools like Iron-my-shirt get away with it only because it reflects a view so out of touch with current reality that the only possible response is to roll your eyes and get on to the next thing.  Morgan isn't going to convince me that women have the same---or as recent---a history of oppression as African-Americans.  I grew up in South Carolina.  So there is a difference.  Which doesn't excuse "Iron my shirt!", though I find it ridiculous and pathetic---a limp thrust---rather than frightening.

Morgan makes a good point about the Kennedy endorsements.                   

—Young political Kennedys—Kathleen, Kerry, and Bobby Jr.—all endorsed Hillary. Senator Ted, age 76, endorsed Obama. If the situation were reversed, pundits would snort “See? Ted and establishment types back her, but the forward-looking generation backs him.” (Personally, I’m unimpressed with Caroline’s longing for the Return of the Fathers. Unlike the rest of the world, Americans have short memories. Me, I still recall Marilyn Monroe’s suicide, and a dead girl named Mary Jo Kopechne in Chappaquiddick.) (Robin Morgan)

Amen.  When people tell me that Obama is another JFK---or a young Ronald Reagan---I merely roll my eyes.  That's all we need at this dangerous juncture in our nation's history. 

Next, some "toxic viciousness."

Carl Bernstein's disgust at Hillary’s “thick ankles.”(Robin Morgan)

Yep, that's harsh, all right---coming from a man with no physical defects.  But of course, men who buy into the media image of women only like the ones who hone themselves down to the disappearing point.  So much less threatening to the poor little things. 

Here's another:

Nixon-trickster Roger Stone’s new Hillary-hating 527 group, “Citizens United Not Timid” (check the capital letters). (Robin Morgan)

That's really more sad than outrageous:  you wonder what name designed to match the acronym would have been more maladroit: 'Citizens United Not Timid?'   That's just lame.  (My colleague proposed:  'Conservative [e]Unuchs No Testosterone'?  Works for me.)

Unlike Morgan, I just can't get worked about this one.  It says way more about the people who belong to it than about Hillary. After all, if that's what they want to call themselves, who am I to argue?

As my British colleague, Cockney Robin, points out, the word is routinely used in England.  In England, Cockney Robin notes, that particular very offensive word would be considered an accurate description of the sort of person who'd create a name for his 527 org around that particular acronym.  It would also perfectly describe the sort of people who'd find that 'joke' risible and rush to join. 

I say we consider the word in its Pickwickian, or British, sense and point and laugh at the people who have chosen to adopt it as their banner. People who unintentionally reveal themselves are always good for a laugh.  (Note to my fellow feminists:  I think it's time for women to stop cringing in horror over the C-word.  It gives the word way more power than any word ought to have and invites people to use it "against" us.  Ridicule, not "shame!", is the more withering response.)

Anyway, here's another slur:

John McCain answering “How do we beat the bitch?" with “Excellent question!” Would he have dared reply similarly to “How do we beat the black bastard?” For  shame.  (Robin Morgan)

John McCain said that?   That's disappointing.  Forget the gender slur; I thought that they were meant to be friends?  I take back every nice thing I ever said about him.  Though this confirms my opinion that the GOP are shit-scared of Hillary.

Then there's this:                     

Goodbye to the HRC nutcracker with metal spikes between  splayed thighs. If it was a tap-dancing blackface doll, we would be righteously outraged—and they would not be selling it in airports. Shame. (Robin Morgan) 

I took the nut-cracker to be a back-handed tribute, once again reflecting the atavistic fear with which Hillary is regarded.  I laughed and celebrated the fear that Hillary has the power to inspire. 

But Morgan is right:  no one would dare create a similar "tribute", back-handed or not, to Obama.      

Goodbye to the most intimately violent T-shirts in election history, including one with the murderous slogan “If Only Hillary had married O.J. Instead!” Shame. (Robin Morgan)

Jesus Christ.  Though I think Morgan should dial back the "shames."  It just brings out the same latent fear of the mean teacher with scissors that makes the grown up kindergartners so frightened of Hillary.

Goodbye to Comedy Central’s “Southpark” featuring a storyline in which terrorists secrete a bomb in HRC’s vagina. I refuse to wrench my brain down into the gutter far enough to find a race-based comparison. For shame. (Robin Morgan)

I'm sure the dorks who created "Southpark"---which I've always sort of assumed started as a pathetic attempt to win the approval of the jocks who used to give them swirlies--- will come up with one.  This actually doesn't bother me.  I don't expect anything else from them.                        

Goodbye to the sick, malicious idea that  this is funny. This is not “Clinton hating,” not “Hillary hating.” This is sociopathic woman-hating. If it were about Jews, we would recognize it instantly as anti-Semitic propaganda; if about race, as KKK poison.  Hell, PETA would go ballistic if such vomitous spew were directed at animals.  Where is our sense of outrage—as citizens, voters, Americans?  (Robin Morgan)

But Don't kid yourself:  these attacks on Hillary are happening because she's a woman, and they are based on a principle of attacking her because she's a woman.

And there's more, much more.  Read it.  I dare you. 

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"She Thicks Men's Blood with Cold" Part 3:  The Hillary Derangement Syndrome in Action

Buck Naked Bloggerama:  Obama's "Harry and Louise Ad" 

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Four Misleading Statements About Hillary Clinton?   

The New York Post "Endorses" Obama, Disses Hillary   

To Obama Supporters Accusing the Clintons of Blasphemy:  A Counterblast 

The New York Times Endorses....(Can We Have the Envelope Please?)

Comments

[Adam]

There's no question that racism is the most taboo form of discrimination in this country. It's much easier to get away with sexism or misogyny than racism. The sort of sexism noted here deserves to be pointed out and criticized, exactly as Ms. Morgan does. That said, I don't think any of these comments, offensive though they are, are infecting the debate as a whole or turning anyone's vote. The most pernicious form of discrimination at play in this campaign is the quiet, subtle discrimination that happens behind the curtain in the ballot box. I think that form hits Obama and Clinton alike.

The "beat the Bitch" question was asked months ago, when Hillary was widely expected to cruise to the nomination. And of course, McCain himself didn't say it. Well, judge it for yourself - it's on tape:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLQGWpRVA7o

McCain hardly comes off as a saint there, but it's a much more respectful response than Ms. Morgan leads you to believe.

At any rate, I think the Republicans are more shit-scared of losing than they are of any particular candidate. Hence Ann Coulter's pre-emptive sour grapes a few days back:
http://anncoulter.com/cgi-local/printer_friendly.cgi?article=233

I also think that Coulter (and others like her who are denouncing McCain from the right) like the idea of being able to blame failure in Iraq on a Democrat who gets us out. It's much easier to claim "we were just about to win" than it is to defend an ongoing debacle.

Republicans have every reason to fear Hillary - she has a good chance of winning the general election. Of course, they have more reason to fear Obama, who polls consistently show is more likely to win, and whose policies are identical from the perspective of a mainline Republican.

[TIV: The Individual Voice]

I read it and posted it when a feminist friend emailed it and I found it hysterical, obssessive, and unreadable, as if none of the male candidates ever called eachother names. Everything was out of context. I strongly disagree that Hilary is a victim. If anyone has brought sex into the discussion, it has more to do with her family history than the media. That's just my opinion as a very feminist woman who chooses not to vote for this woman candidate because I don't think she is as qualified as Obama. Period. I discuss it on my blog on and off. Robin Morgan just gets my goat.

[TIV: The Individual Voice]

Here's a well written Obama post for you not to miss
http://obsidianwings.blogs.com/obsidian_wings/2008/02/obama-actually.html
Obsidian Wings: Obama: Actually, I Think We Can

And here's my post about how the election is about the war and Obama's anti-war speech as Hilary was voting for the war:
http://theindividualvoice.blogspot.com/2008/02/this-election-is-about-war.html
THE INDIVIDUAL VOICE: THIS ELECTION IS ABOUT THE WAR

These are but a few reasons that I want out with the old and rotton ways of all previous administrations and in with the new, the grass roots, the bottom up government that we deserve. Obama is brilliant. He was editor of the Law Review at Harvard. He can speak polidy detail like a professor but I doesn't want to bore the people, he wants to inpire them. Any woman who sees this as an election about our genitals ha learned nothing from the last thirty years of feminism and is a victime of feminista thinking. Just my opinion.

[TIV: The Individual Voice]

Sorry for all the typos. Stirred up and tired. Bad combination.

[damozel]

Morgan is irate over the acceptance of gender-specific slurs. It IS appalling, at least to me. Others are free to remain un-appalled. But those who think the slurs aren't offensive SHOULD try imagining similar ones applied to Obama.

I would love to see Obama become president too...in eight years or so.

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