Gender Card – Poke her – Old Maid – War
Coming out for Hillary Clinton in one-on-one or small group situations still reminds me of coming out as a lesbian. I’m the lesbian, not Hillary, contrary to the sledge-hammer innuendos of Ann Coulter. Though we wish the best for everyone, Hillary may not be a lesbian. And that’s okay.
And, is it just me, or does Ann look a lot like the young, recumbent and recently unwrapped King Tut?
Approaching the declaration for Hillary is like approaching that triple-solcow moment in a skating routine. Have I got the strength, the torque, the momentum, the sequins to come out to this person? Since I don’t want my inner Dick Button murmuring disappointedly, “Aw, she only did a double,” I declare my orientation for Hillary and prepare myself for the inevitable Hilla-phobia blowback.
The other night at my study group dinner, it happened again. About eight of us meet monthly to discuss some dense, progressive policy book we all claim to have read. I’m generally seated at the kid’s table. Before we got into the book discussion, we were doing our usual recap of recent political events. Several members always end up moaning and thudding their foreheads on the table in the ‘dovening for democracy’ portion of the evening.
When we got to discussing the presidential campaign, my dear partner asked everyone to go around the table and announce who they were for, and cruelly looked at me to start. I took what I knew would be my last bite of mushroom risotto for the evening and declared I was for Hillary.
A fine expectorated Chianti mist was settling from my friend’s mouth, as she bleated in horror, “Why?”
“Other than the fact that I think she would make Bill O’Really’s head blow up and that she is the most qualified for the job. . ,” I started. “WHAT has she done?” my apoplectic friend silent screamed. I continued, “I support her just so that I can get into fights with people about the appalling levels of sexism in the world,” and daubed a small bit of mushroom off my neighbor’s cuff.
Full disclosure: at the gym I’ve been listening to the audiotape of Susan Falludi’s The Terror Dream on my IPOD. Falludi reports so extensively and bloodlessly on the uses of 9.11 to restore “traditional” manhood, marriage and maternity that she has gotten hysterical, vicious reviews which prove her point exactly. The men at the gym seem genuinely unsettled by my mirrored glowering at them.
It was as if I were one of those Dixie Chicks of Bridge and had held up a hand-made sign at an awards ceremony. Talk about gender card. I started to lay them out on the table. In South Carolina, a woman, perhaps Ann Coulter’s grandmother, called Hillary a bitch and John McCain didn’t cut her off. He has, no doubt, heard or even said worse. Maureen Dowd never met a woman she liked, making her a worthy NY Times columnist. Katie Couric can’t catch a break.
My friend rebutted from east, west, north and south. Perhaps I overtricked, when I endplayed her with, “Why do you hate yourself so much?” I’m not proud of it. Let the conversation continue.
November 15, 2007 @ 9:40 pm
I really like the visual of Bill O’Reilly’s head blowing up and I have to ask, would that man be in the position he is in if not for the Clintons and what they did to the FCC? Amending it so that media can be owned by just a few very wealthy people? Wasnt that done on the Clinton watch? If I am wrong please correct me, I do enjoy that even when I am not wrong. Anyway, what about the Clintons being more loyal to their class at Davos instead of the citizens of the United States, sending all of the good jobs to Mexico and China through NAFTA, didnt all that start with the Clintons and their loyalty to their rich and ultra rich friends? What about Kucinich? He wants us out of Iraq, he wants a dept of peace, he is awesome. Waht about John Edwards, he will cancel the health care of the senate and house unless every citizen gets the same. What a lovely thought. What about Ron Paul, he will take us back to the gold standard and get rid of the Federal Reserve YES, and get us out of Iraq and impeach Cheney to boot. Awesomeness in action. And as a history buff I personally have an affinity for the 19th century which he promises to take us back to. I want to want Hillary, I truly do, but will she get rid of the useless Federal Reserve which does nothing for the citizens except put us in debt from the moment they print money. We need a bank of the USA, run by the USA not the Rothschilds. Is her loyalty to her class, the ultra rich or the people of the United States?