For those about to gloat about the end of women in politics, I salute you.
What is probably feeling like the end for a lot of feminist Clinton supporters should be treated more like a beginning. Katha sez:
Clinton has shown that a woman can be a mainstream, non-symbolic candidate of a major party -- she can raise tons of money, run a professional campaign, get lots of votes from men as well as benefit from the female side of the gender gap, and come this close to winning.
We've also learned more about institutional misogyny and how to fight it. The full-blown panic over whether or not this was the last chance ever for a female President seems premature to me. One reason I've been annoyed at Clinton for hanging in after it was becoming clear she wasn't going to win was that she was taking donations that might be better aimed elsewhere, such as organizations like Emily's List that are out there making sure that we have more worthy candidates in the future.
I don't think Obama should offer Clinton the V.P. spot, though it's increasingly clear that this might be the choice out of some sort of political machinations. And that's precisely why I don't think she should be offered the spot. She'd be in a vantage point to extract a pound of flesh from him in that case. While I think well of Hillary Clinton, the DLC baggage and her top level campaign staff need immediately and unambiguously to be dumped. They don't need more power; they need less. There's way too much energy poured into the V.P. pick, anyway. People won't vote for you because of your V.P., but the V.P. can be an albatross. Clinton just doesn't seem like she'd help, but she could hurt. Same, by the way, with Jim Webb. Edwards would be a non-controversial pick, as would Kathleen Sebelius.
I'm actually not that worried that there will be many Clinton supporters who don't vote or vote for McCain out of feminist foot-stomping temper tantrum throwing. That's a level of bitterness, cruelty, and stupidity that most people just don't have, even and especially feminists. I'm far more worried about the people that are racist or believe that Obama is Muslim sleeper cell or something. But those people are mostly Republicans anyway, so I don't think there's a loss there.
Let's get right down to business. Behold the presumptive GOP nominee's deft political skilz -- here's a snippet of McSame whining during his speech Tuesday. He's mad that Barack Obama has repeatedly tied him to Dear Leader:
You will hear from my opponent's campaign in every speech, every interview, every press release that I'm running for President Bush's third term. You will hear every policy of the President described as the Bush-McCain policy. Why does Senator Obama believe it's so important to repeat that idea over and over again? Because he knows it's very difficult to get Americans to believe something they know is false. So he tries to drum it into your minds by constantly repeating it rather than debate honestly the very different directions he and I would take the country. But the American people didn't get to know me yesterday, as they are just getting to know Senator Obama.
They know I have a long record of bipartisan problem solving. They've seen me put our country before any President - before any party - before any special interest - before my own interest. They might think me an imperfect servant of our country, which I surely am. But I am her servant first, last and always.
Read the Freepi reviews... This is the speech that Harold Ford called "powerful."
Why, oh WHY...does he always sound:
A) Angry B) Like an automaton
We need to start a fund for a speech coach for John....
Dammit, another one of those grins at his own lines like he was doing in the first debate. That’s a very annoying habit.
We are so screwed.
Amen he is like taking Ambien I always get sleepy listening to him
I wish he would get that angry at the bureaucracies in Washington, slaving away every day to make THEIR lives better and try to run ours for us.
accepting McLettuce is like being 9 years old and forced to eat your own cooking
We need to start a fund for a speech coach for John....Why spend money? Just have GW give him some pointers...
We’re going to need a lot of alcohol.(or caffine)
McCain is sooo lame...... If the guy wins its because enough Americans are scared of Barry.
alcohol...lots of it, especially before I pull the lever my friends.
Someone with image experience needs to get with McCain and have him change some of those annoying habits. Like the winking and the “my friend/s” etc. Sometimes it is condecending.
Ohdearlordhelpus...that sing-song monotone he uses..
I’ll live w/ Mc Media for 4 years then I want Oliver North as my next president
oh here goes the sumabritches and he can kiss my ass
McCain speaks with a little halo over his head these days.
He just slammed Bush on the war in Iraq. Why is he beating up on Bush!
God help us.
In other news...
McSame's no maverick when it comes to LGBT rights.
We all know that, but I would like to know how the Log Cabin Republicans are going to address McCain, considering his record on our issues. HRC has a nice primer on just how discriminatory the Arizona senator; he may have opposed the Federal Marriage Amendment, but that's precious little comfort when you see the positions he's taken.
OPPOSED Ending Discrimination Against GLBT Americans in the Workplace. Senator McCain cast a deciding vote against the federal Employment Non Discrimination Act.
OPPOSED Protecting GLBT Americans from Hate Crimes. Senator McCain voted three times against expanding the federal hate crimes law to include sexual orientation.
PROPONENT of Discriminatory Military Policy. Senator McCain supports Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell and does not believe that gays should serve in the military.
OPPONENT of Equal Benefits for Same-Sex Couples. Senator McCain voted for the Defense of Marriage Act which prohibits same-sex couples from receiving federal rights and benefits in any state.
ACTIVELY SUPPORTED State Ban on Domestic Partnerships. Senator McCain campaigned for a ban on same-sex relationship recognition in his home state of Arizona – even appearing in a campaign television ad.
SUPPORTED the Confirmation of Anti-GLBT Equality Judges. Senator McCain voted to confirm President Bush’s judicial nominees who had taken anti-GLBT positions. He has pointed to Justice Samuel Alito as a role model for future Supreme Court appointments.
SUPPORTED a Discriminatory HIV/AIDS Policy. Senator McCain supported a Jesse Helms strategy to cut off funding for prevention efforts aimed at the gay community and voted to prohibit foreign nationals with HIV from immigrating to the United States.
9:01 PM: McCain's speech was inspiring. Literally dozens of people standing in a room, booing things. I can only hope he's as good of a president as he is a talker...person...man.
9:02 PM: Obama's our nominee!
9:04 PM: McCain should bring Wiis to campaign events. I've heard old, angry people don't hate those with every fiber of their being. Yet.
I don't think that Hillary will or should concede tonight. I'd rather see her and Obama do an event in person, together, showing some cooperation and togetherness.
9:08 PM: A black man has a legitimate shot at being the next President of the United States of America. All joking aside, this is a major moment in American history.
Joking not aside, I'm glad to see that we managed to nominate someone who wasn't a comedian or Morgan Freeman.
9:13 PM: I just got a fundraising e-mail from John McCain. It's like he took an Obama speech and wiped his ass with it, and then put in links to his donation page. How Churchillian.
9:19 PM: They just showed Obama's stadium full of people. Jeffrey Toobin's head is about to explode from the dischord between that and John McCain's seance.
9:23 PM: Just to be clear, if McCain's speech was a disease, your face would be melting right now.
9:31 PM: The Clintons are walking out to speak now.
I already know this will be called the best speech she's ever given by the talking heads. It may or may not be, but it doesn't matter, because it always is.
9:40 PM: Clinton brings up a great point - 35 million people voted in the Democratic primaries and caucuses. 122 million voted in 2004. 30% of the general election turnout has already gone out and voted for a Democrat.
9:44 PM: I want to be more annoyed that Clinton's speech is entirely about how great she and her campaign are, but...well, I actually am kind of annoyed. There was even a website mention. Why? It's just oddly off-kilter. And there was just a "Denver" chant. This is what people are talking about when they say that the onus falls on Clinton to help bring her supporters to Obama.
9:52 PM: Uh, McCain campaign? You're still losing 28% of the party vote and you're running uncontested.
9:55 PM: Harold Ford, what the fuck are you doing?
10:03 PM: The more I think about Clinton's speech, the more I have to wonder about if she's not deeply hurting herself. Obama is now the leader of the Democratic Party. He's the nominee. She didn't need to concede tonight, but the way she didn't do it is making it sound like she's just waiting until Obama implodes...going on the sixth month now. You can write to Hillary here.
10:08 PM: I hereby call a moratorium on ever using "Beautiful Day" as a song for anything again. Municipal spelling bees use "Beautiful Day".
The Obamas just hit the rock. The First Couple is pretty fucking sweet.
10:15 PM: Obama and Clinton are giving the same speech about Hillary Clinton.
10:23 PM: Wait a minute, Obama's going after McCain without a creepy grin on his face or awkward pauses. He's making a case that his opponent is wrong without using stupidly delivered scare words and boogedy boogedy hands.
This guy can't be president. Shit.
10:33 PM: This speech is so good that Obama just guaranteed six months of Republicans declaring him a homosexual Muslim abortionist. On his good days.
Seriously, just amazing.
The wingnut version of a Zen koan: "If a woman is beaten or raped, but shuts up about it and doesn't tell anyone, did it really happen?" I mean, no one but the abuser knows about it, right? So it's like it didn't happen, right? Sure, you weenie liberals might say the victim knows about it, but that's because you're liberals and you just love victims, to the degree that you're willing to believe that if a woman suffers, it matters even if she doesn't bother anyone with her bitching and moaning about it.
Kathryn Jean Lopez inspires - nay, 
