What Actually Happened in Iowa
09 October 2007 8:55 am by Taylor Marsh
There has been an avalanche of reviews on Clinton’s back and forth with Randall
Rolph. You just knew there had to be a video of the exchange somewhere. Well the video above illustrates the lengths to which people will go in this
primary season to label Clinton as “harsh,” “snippy,” bitchy,
overbearing, and that all time favorite adjective, polarizing. Even John and Elizabeth Edwards are helping push the stereotype along, though they coyly say it may not be fair, as they continue to blow air on the wingnut talking point. The
truth via video bears none of these “journalistic” or opposing campaign judgments out.
I’m. So. Shocked. I also find it very ironic that I got the video from Hillaryis44.
Why is it ironic? Read on.
When I point out these things, which women understand completely, I’m then
accused of being in the bag for Clinton. Judgments matter not to me, but facts
are important. I have no intention of standing by while the first viable female
candidate for president is unfairly depicted, mocked, or politically gutted
because she’s strong, but instead is called “harsh.” Any woman who
has ever stood her ground knows what this is about. It will not be ignored on
my watch, on my show or on this blog.
Many people can’t stand it. How could I dare take on Edwards… or Obama. I
must have a motive, be secretly in her campaign. So as you can imagine, I’ve
been getting a lot of emails lately. When I started analyzing the election quite
some time ago and became one of the only people covering Clinton fairly things
got really interesting. Another doing due diligence is eriposte over at TheLeftCoaster; see this post on Hillary as “Corporate Democrat” for starters, but eriposte’s dissection of the Vanity Fair piece on Sally Bedell Smith’s book is a must read. When I started pointing out the obvious, that she’s
running the best campaign and has been delivering the best performances, all
hell broke loose. Edwards fans went ballistic. Obama’s fans from the start couldn’t
stand that I just wasn’t in a swoon. Here’s one of the best emails I’ve gotten
recently:
Your Name: fyi
Your Email: fyi@fyi.com
Subject: fyi
Message: A village lost its idiot. http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/10/9/6514/08424
In case it gets deleted, it’s a diary by AnotherObamaGirl accusing you of
being the proprietor of Hillaryis44.
Next time anyone sees a post like this, please send me the entire text of
the post. DailyKos has deleted it, which I appreciate. But I’d sure love to
see the whole thing. I can always use a laugh.
Meanwhile, I will continue to speak out and challenge the candidates. It’s
important that actual facts get presented, even when it means being objective
about the sexist coverage Clinton is receiving. There’s something else.
Clinton may or may not win the nomination, but this is an historic time for
women in this country. Whether she can pull it off and become the first female
nominee for president in U.S. history remains to be seen. It’s up to all of
you. But each one of us needs to understand and appreciate what she’s accomplishing.
As of today, she gained respect in the Senate the old fashioned way, she earned
it. She’s raised as much money as any man in the election cycle and more
than all but one. She’s working every single county, while also making sure she votes
on critical legislation. She’s campaigning for every vote, just like she did
in New York, working her hardest to convince voters she can win. She’s also
delivering better than the men in most debates and forums. Her campaign has also been the most disciplined and best run. This is not a small
moment in U.S. history, whether you like Clinton or not. It’s pathetic that
she’s not getting covered as such, because for anyone who has been around going
as far back as Geraldine Ferraro, it took a long time to get a woman running again
on the big ticket, let alone for the top spot. It’s a huge moment for us all, whether Clinton pulls it off
or not. If she does succeed it won’t be because so called “progressives”
aided her cause or even took the time to post the truth about what’s going on
out in primaryland, preferring slash and burn, while ignoring the glaring faults of candidates not coming close to her performance. Clinton and I will never agree on everything, but we do
have one thing in common. We understand how hard it is for a woman to do what
she’s doing, especially in the boy’s club where national security, military matters and foreign policy, at least in America, are seen as guy things. Ask Nancy Pelosi.
This blog covers all the candidates fairly and honestly. If you don’t like
the coverage, perhaps it’s time you checked your own bias instead of policing
mine.
UPDATE: Jeralyn over at TalkLeft has some thoughts on the matter too.
