[I]f you're a white male, please do not loudly proclaim that Hillary Clinton's election would be meaningless for feminism or for women because she's only in this position because she married Bill Clinton or because Barack Obama is the true feminist or because you don't like her. Having talked this through with some of the women in my life, I'm now convinced that, as a white guy, you, and I, have no idea what it would mean to see a woman elected to the presidency. It's just not within our universe of experience. That is not to say Clinton's run is more or less historic than Obama's, and it's not to say that Clinton can't be criticized or should be supported. But 50+ percent of this country is female, a sizable majority of the electorate is female, and of 42 separate presidents, we've never had a woman. It matters, and that should be acknowledged whether or not you support her candidacy.
Exactly right. Both Clinton and Obama represent transformative figures in American politics, and one hopes both presage a long run of people who don't look like me running for the presidency, and winning. Whatever the outcome of this election, Clinton's presence in it has been a positive.
John McCain don't know much about economics, either, which maybe explains why he doesn't understand that it's problematic to talk about how he won't "play election-year politics with the housing crisis" while "two of his top advisers were recently lobbyists for a notorious lender in the mortgage meltdown."
John Green, the senator's chief liaison to Congress, and Wayne Berman, his national finance co-chairman, billed more than $720,000 in lobbying fees from 2005 through last year to Ameriquest Mortgage through their lobbying firm, disclosure forms reviewed by the Daily News show.
Ameriquest, which since has been bought out, was forced to settle suits with 49 states for $325 million. More than 13,680 New York homeowners got taken for a ride by the company, records show.
"They would be defined as the most blatant and aggressive predatory lenders out of everybody," said Bruce Marks, head of the nonprofit Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America.
All aboard the Straight Talk Express! Beep beep!
Says Nicole Belle, who gets the hat tip, "But will the media bother to confront McCain about this derailing from his 'straight talk' against special interests and lobbyists? Nah, I don't think they will either." One more ticket for the "no chance" train, please.
Investigators have questioned a young woman they suspect gave birth to a fetus found in a restroom on a Continental Airlines plane after it landed in Houston, police said Monday.
I just close my eyes and pretend that the media still plays a useful role in the republic, the Democrats are a genuine and effective opposite party, our government isn't being sold piecemeal to corporations, our elections are fair, we've got universal healthcare, and Al Gore is really our president.
And sometimes I just close my eyes and pretend I'm making out with Al Gore.
...to Kate, too! She is celebrating one year of being a big fat pain in the ass of humanity, which I trust everyone will recognize as the enormous compliment I intend it to be.
UPDATE: Oops. Jeff beat me to it, but I typed out the transcript, so I'll leave this one up for my Shaker deafies.
Not exactly news, I know—but even despite his well-known reputation, it's sickeningly hilarious to hear him stumble away from using "cotton-picking" in the middle of a tirade about how black politicians (like the named Condi Rice and unnamed Barack Obama) shouldn't be the "moderator" on a national discussion of race. Presumably because a hero of race relations like him should be.
[Transcript and commentary below.]
Blitzer: …check in with Lou, uh, he's got a show coming up in about an hour, but I want to pick his brain on some intriguing comments from Condoleezza Rice involving race in our country. You saw what she said?
Dobbs: I saw what she said, that the United States has a "birth defect" on the issue of race. Uh, I think it's really unfortunate that Secretary of State Rice believes as she does. The fact is, most Americans don't have a problem talking about race. What we have is a problem, uh, talking about race without fearing, uh, recrimination and distortion, uh, and someone using whatever comments are made for their own, uh, purposes, usually political purposes.
The reality is, this is the most socially, ethnically, religiously, racially diverse society on the face of the earth. Now, Wolf, we don't make enough of that in the national media; we listen to some idiot say "You can't talk about race" or "There ought to be these responses when you talk about race or ethnicity." And too often, in fact, nearly always, we fail to point out that there is no country on the face of the earth as progressive, as racially and ethnically diverse, as our own.
It's something for us to be proud of. And if any—and to hear a politician, whoever it may be, talk about how difficult it is to talk about race, well, the heck with 'em! We're living with the issue of race; we've gotta be able to talk about it. And I can guarantee you this: Not a single one of these cotton—myah—these—just—ridiculous politicians should be the moderator on the issue of race. We have to have a far better discussion than that.
Blitzer: Lou, we'll see you back here in one hour. Thanks very much.
Dobbs: You got it.
The irony would be delicious if it weren't so nauseating.
I love, by the way, how Dobbs: King of the Strawmen casts Rice's comments (and, obliquely, Obama's) as some sort of PC-policing, telling "most Americans" (i.e. whites) that they can't talk about race except in specific and rigidly-defined ways acceptable to people of color—as opposed to reality, in which Rice and Obama were both addressing not "race" generally so much as institutionalized racism and exhorting people to consider their nation's difficult and complex history with regard to race.
Tomato tomahto.
Also kudos for his taking a brave stance on noting that "most Americans" (i.e. whites) "don't have a problem talking about race" except insomuch as they fear "recrimination and distortion." Uh-huh. It's too bad "most Americans" can't make their astute observations about race—like "nappy-headed hos"—without some cotton-picking brown person using it against them!
Lou Dobbs can always be counted on to show great sensitivity and care when talking about issues of race. Like this video, where he complains that it's crazy to say America has race problems, because America's super-tolerant, and he's sick of the cotton-pickin' -- er, politicians -- complaining:
Lou Dobbs: proudly destroying relations between races, one ethnic group at a time.
So just now I was looking for a copy of Judith Butler's Gender Trouble, and here are my top three search results:
Mmmokay...Neither the title nor the author name for the third entry is anything like my string. There were no other books with "gender" or "trouble" in the title that might warrant a third place slot? Based on customer reviews, Lee's book is about how gender is NOT socially constructed; rather, Lee holds that society is constructed by natural gender (and she pulls some "quantum physics" out her ass to "prove it"). Just keeping it balanced, and, hey, every point of view is equally valid, right? Even if I didn't search for it!
"It's a strange turn of the road when I find among the candidates running this year that the one, in my opinion, closest to the Kennedy legacy, the John F. Kennedy legacy, is John S. McCain."—Sen. Joseph Lieberman on ABC’s "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" this weekend.
I'm trying to figure out what, precisely, is supposed to make McCain so much like JFK. The military service? The infidelity? The contributions to a clusterfucktastrophied land war in Asia? I'm flummoxed.
...to Driftglass, celebrating three years of, let's face it, basically drinking everyone's fucking milkshake.
Also, I would just like to note that I have met Mr. Drift Glass in person, and not only is he exactly as awesome as you'd expect; he has a spectacular sense of style.
William Kristol comes to the breathtaking conclusion that John McCain will have to run on something other than his biography.
The McCain campaign’s first general election ad, released Friday, includes moving footage of him as a prisoner of war. What was Democratic Chairman Howard Dean’s reaction? “While we honor McCain’s military service, the fact is Americans want a real leader who offers real solutions, not a blatant opportunist who doesn’t understand the economy and is promising to keep our troops in Iraq for 100 years.”
Most Americans want to be told we can leave Iraq sooner rather than later. McCain has chosen instead to tell Americans the hard and unpopular truths that we’ll be there for a while, and that there’s no sacrifice-free path to defeating our enemies and securing a lasting peace. This is “blatant opportunism”?
The McCain ad must have alarmed Dean because McCain’s biography is so much more impressive than Hillary Clinton’s or Barack Obama’s. McCain will spend this week trying to reinforce his biographical advantage, embarking on a “Service to America” tour to places associated with his own, and his family’s, service to the country — from McCain Field (named for his grandfather) near Meridian, Miss., to Annapolis, to two of his stateside Navy postings in Florida.
This is a perfectly reasonable way for McCain to spend time while most of the country enjoys the Democrats’ rollicking demolition derby.
But here’s something for the McCain campaign to remember: Democracies don’t always elect the man who has done the most for his country.
That last line really resonates, especially after the last seven-plus years.
One can lament this “progress” of modern democratic politics, away from rewarding real merit based on past achievement, toward a present-oriented shallowness and a future-oriented wishfulness. One can regret that in our day, historical memory is so short, respect for past accomplishments is so thin, and gratitude for service rendered is so lacking.
But our ingratitude may be the flip side of a healthy hardheadedness, and our focus on the present the byproduct of a sensible pragmatism. When we elect a president, we’re not giving a lifetime achievement award. We’re choosing someone to govern for the next four years. The qualities of a young military hero may not be those of a successful president.
McCain knows this. As an elected official, he’s never rested on his P.O.W. laurels, remarkable though they are. He’s been a major player in the Senate — in foreign policy and military matters, and as a successful sponsor of (sometimes misguided) domestic reform legislation.
As a presidential candidate, McCain is running, as one would expect, a substantive foreign policy campaign, as shown by his fine speech last week before the Los Angeles World Affairs Council. But with recession on the horizon, three-quarters of the American public thinking the country’s on the wrong track, and the president and Congress at historically low approval levels — shouldn’t we be seeing more of McCain the domestic reformer?
In other words, shouldn't Mr. McCain be telling us how he's going to fix everything that the Republicans screwed up since they've been in charge? So far he's done squat except to say that people who got sub-prime loans shouldn't have gotten them in the first place.
Mr. Kristol can put on the all the brave fronts and bluster that he likes, and he can make his jabs and japes at the Democrats for their on-going primaries, conveniently forgetting that right-wing stalwarts like Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter were calling for the exile of John McCain before he became the Great Inevitable. Referring to the Democrats primary as a demolition derby shows that Mr. Kristol is capable of transference, although he may not appreciate the irony.
As Obama and Clinton go at it over the next couple of months, McCain can ignore the Democrats and set forth his own policy agenda. His focus on substance could provide a nice contrast to their political bickering. And his policies, combining conservative principles with reformist energy, could contrast well with their stale liberal orthodoxy. Then Howard Dean will really be sputtering.
If Mr. Kristol thinks that what either Sen. Clinton or Sen. Obama is offering is "stale liberal orthodoxy," -- in spite of the fact that neither candidate or their positions are stale or orthodox (and there are a lot of people who don't think they're sufficiently liberal) -- then what does John McCain offer? The same "compassionate conservative" principles we've been getting for the past eight years, only now it's coming from him, not Bush?
At long last, the hugely important and race-alteringly influential endorsement we've all been waiting for!
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama may be hard at work on the campaign trail, but the senator from Illinois can count on James Wilkie Broderick, Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick's 5-year-old son, for his support in his battle for the White House…
"He's really, truly into this election," [Parker] says of her little guy's interests. "He's come to this conclusion on his own based specifically on Barack's gender. It's that deep. He's a fan and a true supporter of Barack Obama."
Aside from politics, Parker, 43, says James loves building things and spending time with his mommy and daddy.
That's so funny! I love building things and spending time with my mommy and daddy, too! God, who knew I'd have so much in common with such a political juggernaut?
I'm just glad I found out about JWB's endorsement now. I still hadn't made up my mind what I was doing in Indiana's upcoming primary, but now I'm definitely going for Barack.
Unless I hear that JLo's twins like Hillary.
(I'll leave you to have fun with "He's come to this conclusion on his own based specifically on Barack's gender" in comments.)
You know how I've been saying that your attempts to pressure Clinton out of the race make it impossible for her to drop out without looking as though she were bullied, and how the last thing anyone with the most basic sympathy for gender equality should want for the first ever viable feminist female presidential candidate is to see her bullied out of the race, of which Clinton is certainly aware, so even the appearance of bullying will make her more entrenched and less inclined to appear as though she allowed herself to be pushed to the sidelines? Yeah:
In comments leaked to the New York Times, Mrs Clinton is said to have told aides that she would not be "bullied out" of the White House race and in a conversation with two allies compared her plight to "big boys" trying to bully a woman.
And given that, in the last few days, three members of her own party—Senators Chris Dodd and Pat Leahy and erstwhile candidate Bill Richardson—have made public calls for her to get in line behind Obama, amidst a slew of media urging the same, often in deeply misogynist frames, it's pretty difficult to argue with her.
It's also pretty difficult not to wonder why so many people in her own party—in D.C., in the blogosphere, throughout the country—seem so reluctant to give her the room to drop out with dignity and on her own terms. Because at the moment, from where I'm sitting, it looks like you're not just content to see her lose; you want to make sure she's humiliated in the process, too. Otherwise known for centuries among Uppity Women as Standard Operating Procedure.
Try to be better than that, wouldja? It's 2008, for fuck's sake.
New looks are up! Including one from Matilda, posing with what Paul the Spud calls my Big Gay Afghan:
If that look doesn't do it, nothing will. I expect to see my compatriot Mr. Whitty on The Tonight Show accepting an apology any time now. Well done, Tilsy!
President Mondo Fucko throws out the first pitch at Nationals Park earlier today. In keeping with the Bush Doctrine of the preemptive strike, he refused to take the mound until a count of 0-1 was registered on the board.
In particular, note Eric Boehlert's assessment (in Susie's piece) of the blogosphere's dereliction of duty on behalf of Hillary and the unfair media treatment she's gotten: "What's happening online now is potentially dangerous: HRC has gotten dreadful press, not fair, 'gotcha,' and so on—there's a portion of the blogosphere that has ignored that and there's a portion that has encouraged that. [...] [W]e can't very well say, 'You can't go after our candidates … except this one'."
The deafening near-silence on "Blue Dress Day" was one of the most disappointing days for me as a progressive feminist blogger in almost four years of blogging.
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John McCain 
