That's right - more from Hillary's wild-ass supporters.

Today, I was fortunate enough to click over to my daily publication of choice, The Washington Post, and what do I see on the website's front page but an article delineating the "potential embarrassment" that is the battle between Democrats and "The Hillary Supporters."

Maybe, instead of getting all riled up at work over the language that the media chooses to use in its discussion of anything-related-to-Hillary-Clinton, I should start to accept the cognitive framing that they would like to apply to her and her militant supporters.

Maybe I should be okay with the fact that the media now wants to use Hillary Clinton's candidacy to stir up drama where it doesn't exist - by suggesting that her supporters are refusing to acknowledge that she lost. We are so ARDENT in our support that we didn't cry when she declared her race over, we haven't acknowledged that Barack Obama is the candidate we'll be voting for in the general election - instead, we're all going to Denver carrying posters that say "Hillary for President."

Maybe it's just me feeling particularly FEMALE this morning (using that term to stand in for, you know, bitchy or loud), but who decided that us Hillary supporters are going to cause upheaval at the convention?

Is it just me, or does that sound pretty-fucking-ridiculous? So because I'm a Hillary supporter, I want to go cause ruckus at the Democratic National Convention and show a lack of support for Barack Obama? Because I support Hillary Clinton, I want to go into the convention and "embarrass" the hell out of everyone there by showing signs of disunion?

Am I the only person that thinks that all that would stand to do is make me look like an idiot? But maybe the news would cover me looking like a total idiot! And then, I can be the face of Hillary supporters everywhere - every last one of us.

So just because someone asks me today how I feel about the election, and I tell them that I supported Hillary Clinton first, am I somehow less of a Barack Obama supporter? If I intend to vote for him on election day and question those who do not, then count me amongst his supporters. Do not question it.

And do not suggest that, just because I'm a woman and I supportED Hillary Clinton's campaign for President, that I'm not interested in seeing Barack Obama get elected as our next president.

Goodbye to all that. Disgusted, is how I feel, yet again. Instead of attending the DNC, I think I'll go stand outside CNN offices and write up posters declaring my disgust for the media and how it portrays us unruly, not-helpful, homogeneous Hillary supporters.

Is it so bad to think that Hillary could still be picked as VP?

Call me naive... stupid... interested in a greater good for this country than perhaps the average person can even begin to imagine...

Is it so wrong to think that there still stands a chance that Barack Obama would choose Hillary Clinton as his running mate? Is it so wrong to think that a combination of the two candidates who have turned out more primary-voters than all of history would be a winning one? That two people who were once formidable opponents could run together - because they have actually agreed on the issues all along? They are both liberal candidates? That she strengthens his stance on healthcare?

Is it so wrong to think that having Hillary as a running mate might really encourage Hillary's camp to swing into action for Obama's campaign?

You can call me naive - but you can also call me rather intuitive. I feel like Barack Obama might understand what is in his best interest... and choose Hillary after all.

And if/when he doesn't, I will be at the bar crying into my Blue Moon. But until that time, I'm going with my gut. I think Barack Obama could pick Hillary as his VP.

Maybe it's just the fact that I read this Associated Press article today. Whatevskies.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080620/ap_on_el_pr/obama_clinton

Letter to the Editor

I wrote this response to yesterday's article, Media Charged with Sexism. I think it was a little militant for the NYT, but it made me feel better to write it:

On behalf of Clinton supporters and feminists in this country, I'd like to thank you for speaking our collective minds: cable commentators aren't so subtle with their sexism.

However, it's impossible to not be angered by this piece simultaneously. Should I ignore the very deliberate delay of its publication? Why address the issue now, and not when MSNBC compared Chelsea to a prostitute back in February? In fact, the very political timing of this article undermines its message.

It's convenient to address this issue now, at the end of Clinton's campaign. You got your male candidate, mass media. Congratulations.

Yet acknowledging sexist tactics after the fact will not garner my vote, Chairman Dean. I haven't been baking pies and making babies for the past eighteen months, I've been stewing silently while watching cable commentators spew sexism. Don't patronize me.

Hindsight's 20-20

The New York Times published this article today (6/13/08) on the sexist commentary surrounding Hillary's campaign. Isn't it convenient to point this out AFTER her campaign is over? Haven't we been saying this all along?

It's difficult to not be annoyed, and yet agree at the same time. Keith Olbermann, Chris Matthews, Wolf Blitzer... you should be ashamed of yourselves. Hopefully your daughters weren't watching.

The Speech.

Here's the video (you may just see some of us on there as well!):



And an excerpt (on Hillary's campaign as a woman):

To those who are disappointed that we couldn’t go all the way – especially the young people who put so much into this campaign – it would break my heart if, in falling short of my goal, I in any way discouraged any of you from pursuing yours. Always aim high, work hard, and care deeply about what you believe in. When you stumble, keep faith. When you’re knocked down, get right back up. And never listen to anyone who says you can’t or shouldn’t go on.

As we gather here today in this historic magnificent building, the 50th woman to leave this Earth is orbiting overhead. If we can blast 50 women into space, we will someday launch a woman into the White House.

Although we weren’t able to shatter that highest, hardest glass ceiling this time, thanks to you, it’s got about 18 million cracks in it. And the light is shining through like never before, filling us all with the hope and the sure knowledge that the path will be a little easier next time. That has always been the history of progress in America.

...

When that day arrives and a woman takes the oath of office as our President, we will all stand taller, proud of the values of our nation, proud that every little girl can dream and that her dreams can come true in America. And all of you will know that because of your passion and hard work you helped pave the way for that day.

In the heat of the moment.

People should not underestimate the scope and impact of this disgrace. If we are supposed to bow down and support Mr. Obama, then he must first explain to me why Hillary should not be his running mate given the following circumstances: Barack Obama finished first as a result of the most unbelievable political trickery: caucuses and super-delegates… Without those stupid caucuses, Barack would have been trounced in the primaries. Hillary Clinton won all the important states and the popular vote. Can you think of a more qualified VP candidate than Hillary?

Hillary is willing to work as a VP for Barack. Explain to me why she does not “deserve” the VP position.

I will vote for the democratic ticket if Hillary is the VP. If not, I will not vote at all. I will never vote for a Republican, and I am outraged by the treatment of Hillary Clinton. I will not be told to suck it up. If they want us Hillary folks to be team players, then they should be team players as well. This is not a one way street. I am entitled to hold a grudge, and I am quite good at it. I am sick of people with money, the ignorance of the US voting public (George W Bush?), and the incompetence of the Democratic Party (primary rules, election strategy, etc.) dictating who our president will be.

This sucks big-time. I want the best candidate. Not sloppy seconds.

- The Couch Critics, Washington, DC

I've always been inpsired by the early feminist movement...

I've always been inspired by the early feminist movement; it was something that I wished I could have been part of. I was jealous of my mother's generation, my professors', of clear battles to be fought. I heard their complaints that they felt abandoned by my generation, the generation of "i'm not a feminist, but", the girls who were too busy with their lives, their self-made lives, the lives they felt they owed no one but themselves for. I saw that guiltless attitude around me for the gift it was, but I always felt that responsibility. I feel oddly abandoned once again, now, but by that generation, the one that I thought had steeled me. My mother and my godmother are slowly distancing themselves from Hillary, and I feel betrayed. I feel surprised at this betrayal, and shocked by the depth of my hurt. I feel, somehow, that they aren't living up to their end of the bargain. They promised me role models, and they have been. But in this action I feel that they are saying to me that there is an end. That maybe life has been hard. That maybe they feel a little wore down. That maybe there is this new energy out there, this man and all that that entails, and I can recognize that small surrender because I've felt it before, felt its pull. But what my mother meant to me today when she told me she had switched sides was that it had been silly, to think that she could get away with it. That Hillary could get away with it. That I could get away with it.

- Alix E., Boston, MA