Sunday, February 10, 2008

Flaming feminists...

Yes, that essay Chelsea Clinton apparently forwarded.

I will give her this: Robin Morgan makes some good points. But I can make some points too:

1. OJ is a regular feature on late night shows - and not in a good way. But I don't see people saying "that's racist!"

2. Clinton-hating is not woman-hating in as much as the Clintons tried to do many things in the 90s that half the US did not like, e.g. Hillarycare, and even did, e.g. winning the Presidency. Also, like it or not, President Clinton's peccadillos and Senator Clinton's continued stick-by-my-man attitude sure angers many. Those are probably the people who buy Hillary nut-crackers. Democrats love Hillary (80+% approval ratings among Dems. Can't seem to find the link now.) That is probably why Hillary Clinton is seen as a polarizing figure, not because she's a woman who has come a long way. Counter-example: Nobody says Condi Rice, a Black high-achiever, is a polarizing figure, and definitely not because she's a woman!

3. Anybody who sees South Park making fun of Senator Clinton as reflective of a broader misogyny... is way off. South Park makes fun of everybody. I vividly remember an episode with a village of animal lovers... the other kind!

4. A recent Tim Russert show I watched had Doris Kearns Goodwin and Mary Matalin as two of the four talking heads. In today's shows, Chris Matthews had two women out of four commentators, while Russert had Gwen Ifill and George Stephanopoulos apparently had Donna Brazile (I didn't see this show). I won't defend Fox News.
a. A more pertinent question would be - why are all the talk show hosts white and male? There is the Katie Couric news hour on CBS, but it lags behind the NBC and ABC news-shows from what I hear. Oh well.

5. As someone said, Senator Clinton is better qualified - to be Secretary of Health and Human Services (can't seem to find the link). See my earlier post on how Senator Obama can get things done, that I think Senator Clinton cannot.

6. Morgan says Black feminists supporting Hillary Clinton are seen as "race traitors." But Morgan, by voting for Senator Clinton because Morgan's a woman, is trying to classify women who vote for Barack Obama as anti-feminists... gender traitors, even. How does that make her better than the people she's vilifying?

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