In defense of the sanctimonious women's studies set || First feminist blog on the internet

Dear Maureen Dowd,

Jill

I’ll support Hillary Clinton shutting up and dropping out of the race as soon as you decide that as another loud-mouthed and unapologetic woman who pisses people off, you should drop off the editorial pages of the Times.

And I will start to love your mouthiness again as soon as you stop referring to Barack Obama as “exotic” with “braided ancestry.”

Let’s keep our eye on the prize, no?

20 thoughts on Dear Maureen Dowd,

  1. Maureen Dowd is a fucking nightmare. She has been obsessed with the Clintons for many years, and, unfortunately, she has for some bizarre reason apparently been encouraged by her editors to allow that obsession free rein on the pages of the New York Times. Who the fuck wants to read that garbage?

    I expressed my opinion of another one of her wackaloon screeds here:

  3. I’ll support Hillary Clinton shutting up and dropping out of the race as soon as you decide that as another loud-mouthed and unapologetic woman who pisses people off, you should drop off the editorial pages of the Times.

    Can we add William Kristol to that request, too?

  4. Heh. I just saw Huff in the L-Word saying that “dykes are the new fags.”

    I’m about three seasons late though, and Shane is hot, so don’t mind me.

  5. Amen. It’s absurd how slanted the press is when it comes to the candidates. Hillary is usually bashed, while Barack is treated like a god. I wish reporters would figure out the meaning of the phrase “journalistic integrity.”

  6. Amy, I’ve worked in newsrooms before, and I’ve been one of the few women to defend Clinton (particularly when misogynistic attacks are used).

    My take on it is this:

    1. The media is easily charmed by a well-spoken man. (Not so much a well-spoken women. Women are *supposed* to speak better since it’s in their genes and all… ).
    2. Most of the media is run by men (though that will change in the future — more women are graduating with journalism degrees than men right now)
    3. And women in the media are generally hesitant to voice opinions contrary to the men’s … as it may reduce chances of advancement.

    But then again, that’s only from my observations and other media persons may feel differently.

  7. Oh, and I meant to address journalistic integrity.

    MOST journalists have it. Unfortunately, the loudests ones are the ones that get noticed, kind of like how radical Republicans or radical Democrats seem to represent the entire group, even though most people are closer to moderate.

  8. while Barack is treated like a god.

    Oh–yeah. Barack was treated like a deity with the Rev. Wright controversy.

  9. Dare I hope that when the election is over we’ll finally stop hearing about how all the ladies are burbling about how sexy Obama is? Because that’s so absolutely the key factor in most women’s choice between Clinton and Obama, you know.

    I voted for Obama over Clinton because, seeing two intelligent and competent candidates, I figured I’d place more weight on their marginal differences on foreign policy than on their marginal differences on domestic policy, given that Presidents have a freer hand in foreign policy. I absolutely did not vote for Obama because I want oh so badly to sleep with him. Fantasy fodder is what movies are for, not political campaigns.

  10. Here’s what I do not understand: The media is supporting Obama in a fashion very similar to the way they supported G.W. Bush in 2000, We have spent the last two terms talking about the inability of our media to tell the truth, do any investigative reporting, or stand up against the overall Republican agenda. Lies get told and repeated – over and over.

    Now, those very same folks are telling us all how Obama is just so wonderful, and Hillary is crap.

    Why do you want to believe these folks again? They’ve lied and lied. You’ve said they have abandoned you — yet, when they support a more centrist version of GWB — you just fall for it.

    Ms. Dowd is a nasty type. She seems to hate women, and follows the crowd. If that’s what she had to do to keep her job — poor thing.

  11. I’d have to insist that Kristol get the boot first and foremost – but, yeah. I totally hear ya.

    But to Tina Sokol’s comment, that “the media is supporting Obama in a fashion very similar to the way they supported G.W. Bush in 2000…” and “telling us how Obama is just so wonderful, and Hillary is crap” –

    Actually, there’s been an assload of bias being directed at both Clinton and Obama; McCain is the one getting the hero treatment and the perpetual free ride. That shit has got to stop.

  12. Danakitty, you are so right about what women face in the mainstream media. I am loath to post yet another link to my own blog in this thread, but I have written about a particular satisfying incident in which Mika Brzezhinski called out Joe Scarborough for being the obnoxious asshole that he is, and goaded him into laying bare his raw vicious misogyny right on the air on “Morning Joe”, his show on MS-NBC. He basically threatened to “backhand” her right on the fucking air.

    If anyone is interested, the post can be found by Googling physioprof and “lame wingnut ass”.

  13. Oh, just to be clear: The incident wasn’t “satisfying” because a smart female journalist was threatened with a “backhanding” on the air. It was satisfying because the horrible shit that goes on behind the scenes was made obvious in public, letting people know that, unfortunately, misogyny is alive and well in the newsrooms of the mainstream media.

  14. I’m with Felicia – since when has Obama been treated like a god? I’d really like to know, since I’ve seen a lot of veiled (and not so veiled) racism directed at him, beginning with Joe Biden’s comment about him being clean and articulate. And hasn’t he had to have far more Secret Service protection than the other candidates, and didn’t he receive it far earlier than the others because a few Klansmen swore to take him out?

    And when oh when is the mainstream media going to play hardball with Clinton on her connections to a right-wing religious cult? Or ask why her husband has been her attack dog? Or why she gave an interview to a newspaper owned by the billionaire who financed the “vast right-wing conspiracy” that forced the impeachment of her husband and nearly destroyed her family? Or flat-out *lied* about being under sniper fire in Bosnia?

    More important, when are feminists going to call her out for her support of “conscience clauses” for pharmacists who refuse to dispense birth control and Plan B? And when is someone, anyone, going to ask her just what she plans to do for women in this country? I haven’t seen anything particularly supportive of women or women’s issues come out of her tenure in the Senate or her current campaign…and at this point I frankly don’t expect to.

  15. What I don’t understand is how Dowd, who clearly knows WAY more about the election (and its coverage) than some layperson like me and presumably doesn’t WANT to come off looking like an oblivious jerk will still use the word “magic” in reference to Obama.

  16. THANK YOU Victoria. I completely agree. McCain is getting the easy ride here and the press fawn over him in the exact same way as Bush–though he’s the guy you’d like to have a barbeque with rather than a (nonalcoholic) beer with.

  20. Hillary Clinton has run such an incompetent campaign. One wonders if this is how she would run a government.

    Sorry but after the job Bush has done I feel more comfortable taking my chances with Obama.

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