Rose and Clyburn
14 January 2008 11:11 pm by Taylor Marsh
Charlie Rose video via Huffington Post
Rep. James Clyburn is one of the most important politicians in South Carolina.
There has been much talk about Clyburn’s anger over the growing tensions between
Clinton and Obama. He said in this interview he will indeed stay out of the
primary race.
We’ve dealt with the race issue for now, putting the lid back on it. The same cannot be said for the rampant sexism facing Clinton.
Jane
has a good post up on how I felt today when I read Matt
Bai’s bloviating. Even after reading the statements of Obama
and Clinton
that are focused on stopping the rhetorical wildfire blazing across the media
landscape, I’m skeptical if this is possible. Traditional media has no intention
of allowing Democrats to close a wound that is so much fun for them to poke,
prod and widen.
In Bai’s blog we get a non-stop screed of It’s All Clinton’s Fault. But as posted over the last months and months, it clearly is not. The latest attacks that brought us all to this climax began in earnest after New Hampshire and haven’t stopped since, with people like Bai pushing it, though he’s got company.
Chris Matthews had barely awakened the day after he said he “would not underestimate Hillary Clinton again” when he fired another volley her way saying she’s only where she is because of her man. It’s okay to characterize Clinton like this, because she’s fair game. Valerie Plame, who is supporting Clinton, no doubt feels her pain after she went from covert agent to desk jockey all on the creative writings of Robert Novak, helped along by a corrupt and craven White House.
But maybe tomorrow, as we honor Martin Luther King, Jr., we will all calm down and there will be no more press releases out of Obama’s South Carolina office.
However, that doesn’t mean the pathological misogyny that is rampant throughout the postings of many males will stop. This one-sided slobbering also pervades her progressive policy reviews as well, except for people like Paul Krugman, who is such a hero in this fight. Other than Krugman, reading some of the reviews has been like watching a teenager act out towards his mother. Clinton sent out the rundown earlier today on Senator Obama’s 129 present votes, since traditional media isn’t doing it. Big Tent Democrat took a few to task today as well. It won’t stop them.
What Clinton has gotten throughout this primary season is nothing short of a rhetorical gang up from the castrata club. It’s now woven into our daily reality. We may be able to put the lid back on the racial pot, at least for a while, but there will be no such truce on the sexism. People like Matt Bai and Chris Matthews feed off of it every day and there are too many political vultures, including so called progressive males, standing around to lend a hand.
But Emily’s list, who is backing Clinton, isn’t standing around. They’ve got a writing campaign going on. I hope you join in.
Write MSNBC Exec. Phil Griffin
