Well, maybe we are making a small dent in sexism and misogyny after watching the performance of media professionals (and others who will go unnamed but fall under the general heading of Liberal/Progressive) during the primary campaigns. News articles over the past four days have been filled with story after story about not only the depth and breadth of sexism and misogyny displayed, but the admiration and respect Clinton has earned - even among detractors. Some examples:
Senator Diane Feinstein told ABC's George Stephanopoulos that sexism was one element that "derailed Clinton's campaign":
"She got treated poorly ... I think, to a great extent, by [the] press, yes, I think she did. I read column after column where it was personal and malevolent, and to some extent, even venal. And I don't understand why that was necessary," Feinstein explained.
Feinstein was one of two U.S. Senators (I am aware of) who actually spoke up about the sexism when it occurred. The other is Sen. Barbara Mikulski (MD).
Christine Todd-Whitman noticed, too:
[snip]
When Mrs. Clinton made points forcefully, people called her shrill, not bold and determined. When Mitt Romney teared up, he was described as compassionate, while she was labeled weak.
and...
... The press presented Barack Obama with his two years in the Senate as an agent of change, not a novice. In contrast, ABC’s Charles Gibson asked Mrs. Clinton if she would “be in this position” if it weren’t for her husband.
To this day, a businessman with no elected experience is considered qualified for high public office; a woman with the same background is called unprepared.
[snip]
Katha Pollitt, meanwhile, seemed to be just warming up in her op-ed:
Like a magnet -- was it the pantsuit? -- Clinton drew out the nation's misogyny in all its jeering glory and put it where we could all get a good look at it. "Iron my shirt" hecklers. Wearers of Bros Over Hos T-shirts and buyers of Hillary nutcrackers. Fans of the Citizens United Not Timid Web site (check the acronym). Vats of sexist nastiness splattered across the comments section of hundreds of blogs and Web sites. It's as if every obscene phone caller and every exhibitionist in America decided to become an amateur political pundit.
[snip]
But, I have really no comment on this one:
Even the Democratic National Committee chairman is avidly trying to make up for accusations that he allowed sexism in the race to pass unchallenged.
“The wounds of sexism need to be the subject of a national discussion,” the chairman, Howard Dean, said in an interview. “Many of the most prominent people on TV behaved like middle schoolers” toward Mrs. Clinton.
This comes close to striking the right chord, except I'd note that it wasn't only "the loonier reaches of cyberspace...":
[snip]
In a culture that’s reached such a level of ostensible enlightenment as ours, calling a powerful woman "castrating” – however you choose to put it – ought to be seen as just as offensive as rubbing your fingers together to convey a love of gold coinage when you talk about a Jew. It’s nothing other than an expression of woman-hate — and the degree to which such expressions have flourished, in the mainstream media and in the loonier reaches of cyberspace this year, has added up to be a real national shame.
There is also the good...
... At the CNN candidate forum on faith, values, and poverty that Sojourners co-sponsored last June Luke got to meet her again and told the Senator privately, "Hillary, I can't vote, but if I could, I would vote for you." She beamed the biggest smile back to my son and said, "Oh Luke, that means so much to me!" Luke has remained totally faithful to Hillary during the primary political season, proudly wearing a Clinton button on his safety patrol belt and was one of her disappointed supporters when she finally had to concede. Five year old Jack voted just the way his big brother did in their DC public school primary, resisting the Obama landslide.
... even from Laura Bush:
... "I know what its like to run those campaigns, to be the candidate and how very difficult it is both emotionally and physically. It's a huge endurance, process of endurance, and so I'll have to say I have a lot of admiration for her endurance and strength" ...
And brava to Rebecca Traister for this:
... But the more aggressive the characterizations of Clinton and her voters as old, shrill, humorless and racist became, the more galvanized I became in my personal interest in her. Learning to embrace Hillary -- despite my still-real criticisms, and in part because I felt somehow thrown in her boat as soon as I cast my nearly accidental vote for her -- has been an extraordinarily formative political experience.
Gail Collins, who is one sharp (and funny) columnist, hit it out of the park:
For all her vaunting ambition, she was never a candidate who ran for president just because it’s the presidency. She thought about winning in terms of the things she could accomplish, and she never forgot the women’s issues she had championed all her life — repair of the social safety net, children’s rights, support for working mothers.
It’s not the same as winning the White House. But it’s a lot.
Meanwhile, MSNBC (Keith Olbermann apparently has found a new calling) continues to benefit from sexism and hatred of women. I don't find it "delightful" that some progressives find this "delightful":
And finally, I found this absolutely delightful: “For the first time ever, MSNBC’s ‘Countdown with Keith Olbermann’ was the #1 show at 8 p.m., out-drawing Fox News’s ‘O’Reilly Factor’ head-to-head among Adults 25-54. This is the first time since June 2001 that MSNBC has out-rated ‘The O’Reilly Factor’ at 8 p.m. Excluding Tuesday’s primary coverage, “Countdown with Keith Olbermann” averaged 477,000 A25-54 vs. 472,000 for the ‘Factor.’”
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