If DiFi ran for President, she would have gotten completely different

[dkf]

media coverage from the Press because she has a manner that is dignified and demands respect. I know people may disagree with her positions, but she has a certain presence that lets you know she is a serious person not to be trifled with.

The treatment the Press gave to Hillary was because she was Hillary, not because she was a woman.

Both Hillary and Bill are drama personified. That is their MO and they milk it for all they are worth. Their shenanigans are the root of their coverage.

[Gormy Cuss]

1. DiFi wouldn't make it out of the gate with her "dignified" manner.

HRC can be faulted for many things in her campaign but the treatment she got from the press was sexist long before her campaign faltered.

[dkf]

4. I'm sorry but I don't see it.

Beyond a few stupid gaffes and lame catcalls can you explain this to me?

[Gormy Cuss]

7. Start with comments on her body, her clothing choices, her laugh, her "shrill" voice.

The items in my subject line are just the tip of the iceberg. If after all that you missed the sexism, I can't hope to school you in it. You may need to read about the women's rights movement and sexism to understand it.

Recognize that I also believe that she and her campaign have made colossal mistakes too.

[dkf]

9. Did you see pics of Obama in his swimming trunks?

And he talks about his own skinnyness.

The men just wear dark suits. Hillary could wear black suits day in and day out too. That is what I do. Black is easy.

Lastly, people talk about her laugh because it sounds unnatural, and her voice because she yells too much. I find listening to her annoying, in the same way that I found John Kerry and George Bush annoying.

I'm beginning to see that any negative comment about Hillary is considered sexist. No wonder people think the media is sexist.

This is ridiculous.

[Arkansas Granny]

18. Why don't you check out this thread before you call sexism in the media ridiculous.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x6310210

[TheWraith]

17. You ignore the fact that those are the same comments you see about male candidates.

How many height jokes did you hear about Dennis Kucinich? How many about Obama's ears? Edwards' looks and hair? How much analysis any time a presidential candidate shows up in anything other than a black suit? And yeah, her laugh and her voice got noticed because the laugh is unnatural, and she raises her voice at the end of a sentence.

To be honest, you're going looking for things you can call sexist, and then telling people who don't agree that they don't know what they're talking about.

[Gormy Cuss]

19. Nope.

I'm not looking for sexism but I call it as I see it. Kucinich was treated unfairly because of his height, BTW. There is a long history of voters choosing the taller candidate in the U.S. As to the other comments, Obama's ears aren't a racial or gender stereotype, are they? On the other hand one could easily argue that the attacks on Kucinich's height and Edward's looks, particularly his hair, were attempts to portray each as less than manly.

To be honest, I'm old enough to remember when it was perfectly acceptable to say that a woman couldn't be president because women are just too emotional, that women who wear pants are just trying to be men. Both of those messages are there when pundits of HRC's generation or older commented on her crying, cackling, and choice of clothing.


on edit: for those who haven't seen my posts in other threads on this issues, I say this as someone who has NEVER wanted HRC to be the party candidate. I don't like her positions on issues.

[papau]

14. those that do not want to see, won't see - indeed that is how Obama won votes IMO

[TheWraith]

15. Actually no, they don't see what's not there. nt

[still_one]

2. I disagree. The press was continuing the Clinton hate campaign they did in the 90s

The media has been against the Clinton's since the neocons took over the media through murdock and others

However, the way the Hillary ran her campaign, played right into their hands

[dkf]

5. Maybe the media was against the Clinton's after they were forced

by their bosses to cover Monica for a year straight.

The Clintons have always been a media circus. Which goes back to my point that the treatment was because of who she is, not what she is.

[still_one]

20. They were bitter before that. Whitewater, the killing of Vince Foster

I could go on, but the right wing Clinton hate machine started the moment he was elected

and they permeated the medai

[Demit]

3. And if Hillary's last name hadn't been Clinton, things might've been different too.

And if my aunt had wheels she'd be a teacart.

I assume your point is to argue against the idea that the media was being sexist in its treatment of Hillary. I guarantee that they'd find a different way to be sexist with another female presidential candidate, whoever she might be. What kind of mother is she? Is her husband beyond reproach? What?! She doesn't have children? What kind of woman is that? What, no husband?! What does THAT mean...?

It has nothing to do with how 'dignified' or 'serious' someone's manner is, or what 'presence' they have. Try substituting race for sex in your description, and see how pernicious your argument is—that someone has to be a certain way before they have to be treated with respect.

[dkf]

8. I'm sick of all these sexism accusations.

Where is the proof?

And citing Hillary nutcrackers and "iron my shirt" by a couple of idiots is lame.

Lastly, since when is examining what kind of parent/spouse you are sexist? Bill got that treatment, McCain is getting that treatment (the story of his first wife is simply appalling) and frankly I love the stories of Obama and his kids and how Michelle makes him take out the trash.

[Demit]

21. Men don't get heckled from the audience to go iron shirts.

There is a double standard for women in public life—as there is for every woman in everyday life—who would deviate from accepted female roles. A man is not expected to explain why he is spending so much time away from his children. Men don't constantly have to navigate their way between being seen as too emotional and being called an ice queen. Men don't get called 'manipulative' or 'calculating'—they're called shrewd for working the system. If a man gets called ambitious it's a compliment; when a female is called 'an ambitious woman' it is with an undertone of distaste. These things are real, and they happen all the time. And they would happen in some form or another even if the woman had 'dignity'. Who has been treated with kid gloves for eight years even though he is the arguably the most undignified person ever to hold the title of President of the United States? The man still gets treated with EXTREME deference by the media.

And McCain is the PERFECT example of a man being treated differently. Thanks for bringing him up! McCain is not being quizzed on the business dealings of his spouse, the way Geraldine Ferraro was. McCain isn't being (even gently) speculated about—that he got helped to where he is because of his wife's power/money. And—haha!—YOU might be familiar with the story of his first wife, but to suggest that it is getting any play in the press is ludicrous. I'm not talking about human interest, get-to-know-the-candidate kind of stuff. I'm talking about the media's compulsion to seize on otherwise irrelevant things and making them a 'character issue'. Can you source me any media story that has tried to make McCain's treatment of his first wife a character issue? Can you?

Maybe what's making you sick isn't the accusations of sexism. Maybe it's the sexism.

[IndyOp]

6. I disagree. I've never been a Hillary Clinton supporter and I can still see that ANY woman

who ran for the Presidency would've been treated as a child / nagging wife / ball-breaking bitch / whore. Hillary was slammed with every negative stereotype - and any other (especially Democratic) woman who ran would have been, too.

[dkf]

10. Someone compared Hillary to a child? I must have missed that. The nagging wife I don't see either

because I don't see her and Bill as having that kind of relationship and I don't think the press does either. Ball-breaking Bitch should be a compliment to a strong female. Lastly, I don't connect Hillary and sex and I didn't see much of that in the press either.

I only saw Hillary being accused of infidelity here, with Huma, and in the tabloids, the same ones that had Obama doing God knows what with that toothless lie-detector failing psycho.

[IndyOp]

11. Women are compared to children by claiming that women are "overemotional"

or "not rational" --

Most of the following video is FOX News -- but there are also CNN guests and MSNBC hosts and guests saying some outrageously sexist crap.

Sexism Sells -- But We're Not Buying
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-IrhRSwF9U

[dkf]

13. I saw it...I still don't get it.

except for the coffee thing. That does grate.

But, if we want to get rid of the female as hostess thing, we should dump the "First Lady" title. That seems like the most sexist role ever.

[sallyseven]

12. DiFi voted for Mulcasky

That would have thrown her off the democratic spot. Hillary was dignified and her presence made me feel confident that she would do the job right. The press treated her poorly because she was a woman. They will treat Obama poorly because they want McCain to win. The rest of your post is obnoxious.

[ToeBot]

16. I don't know about the press, but I'd plumb the depths of base behavior to derail that campaign.