US Election Stuff

You'll love this, Missa  - if you haven't already seen it

https://twitter.com/EverydaySexism/status/587335083075436544

I hadn't seen it, PAN, that's great. I expect to have my card filled by...oh, mid-June.

As late as that!!?

Here's Tina Brown's op -ed in New York Times

http://nytlive.nytimes.com/womenintheworld/2015/04/13/the-hillary-moment/

I'm trying not to underestimate my fellow Americans. Let's be honest, I could probably fill it now if I were masochist enough to dig into the Fox News comment threads. And thanks for that op-ed, good stuff!

Would really love to be in NYC for the Women In The World thing.

Looks really good. But I'm likely to be about three weeks too late. Grrr.......

If you click the link on the op-ed page, all the way at the bottom it says there's another summit in London in October. Another option?

Ooh, thank you!

Wonder if there'll be the same calibre of speaker?

Can the Americans amongst us explain to an ignorant European (read: me  ) why Hillary is getting so much backlash for running for president? What do you think about her running for president? Would she be good?

Codexchick wrote:Can the Americans amongst us explain to an ignorant European (read: me  ) why Hillary is getting so much backlash for running for president? What do you think about her running for president? Would she be good?

Well you have asked a loaded question.  I'm sure the other stateside women here will have lots of opinions of Hillary.

I do support Hillary for President but I have reservations about her. I love the idea of having a woman President in the White House and I do believe Hillary is very accomplished and well experienced to handle the job.  She will be a strong contender.  She is a big advocate for women's issues and that's attractive to me. But her last campaign for the Presidency didn't go too well.  I don't think she comes off as very genuine sometimes and she can be stiff when dealing with the press and her audience.  She doesn't have a good relationship with the press either.  There are still controversies over the Benghazi situation.  Was she telling the truth?  Recently it was learned that she has a private email server at home and she was using it to conduct Department of State business.  That was considered inappropriate by many in government and the media.  She has been accused of hiding/destroying pertinent emails.  And then there is her and President Clinton's political and business past dealings before and during their time in the White House that is still considered controversial.  Hillary is not without her warts so to speak. 

 But after all is said and done she is the best candidate IMO for the job. I wish there was  more competition in the Democratic campaign field running against HC. Right now there are possibly just two other Democratic candidates running for President. There are many Democrats who would like to see Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts run.  She is a very impressive politician.  But she has already said she won't run and I'm not sure if she isn't too far left in her politics for the country.  And she doesn't have nearly the kind of leadership experience that Hillary has.  For better or for worse.  It would be no secret that I'm a Democrat and I don't have too many good things to say about any of the Republican candidates who will be running against HC.

I would be interested to read what others think of Hillary.

Gosh, Codex. How long have you got?

Here's a sample of what's to come.

https://twitter.com/hashtag/privateeye

This week's cover.......if you can't read it says

'Time to have a woman in the White House. Reply from Bill 'Been there. Done that'

Love the bottom caption: UK likely to vote for a man

With her experience as First Lady, Senator, and Secretary of State, there isn't a candidate on the Republican side (or any feasible candidates on the Democratic side, for that matter) who can hold a candle to her.  She's a bit too hawkish on foreign policy for my tastes, and a little too close to Wall Street, but she's all we've got running on the Dem side right now, and she'd certainly be a good President.  The Benghazi situation was a clearly trumped-up (according to the investigation committee itself, nothing untoward occurred) attempt to undermine not only President Obama, but future presidential candidate Clinton.  There's a terrific video clip of Hillary testifying before the congressional committee investigating Benghazi, in which I believe John McCain is railing about nonsense, and she's literally just reorganizing her binder on the table in front of her, with the occasional unimpressed glance back up at him, as if to say, "Seriously? You know I have more important stuff to do, right?" It's amazing.

BUT. She reminds me of her husband in that I've never seen two more inarguably brilliant people do such stupid things.  Why on earth she ever thought it would be okay to have a computer server in her home on which to conduct national security business escapes me.  I don't believe anything shady happened, but the right has been out for her blood for twenty years; why would she load their guns for them?  There's an arrogance and an air of "It's my turn, I've earned it," that just rubs me the wrong way.

Donna mentioned Elizabeth Warren, who happens to be my senator and whom I really, really want to run.  She doesn't have the national leadership experience that Hillary has, and zero foreign policy experience outside of her short time as senator, but everyone said the same thing about Barack Obama eight years ago.  She's a true progressive, and I'd like to see her run if only to force Hillary a little more to the left in the primary.  I think a strong debate is always good during the primaries, to hash out where the party is and where it's going; I'd hate for Hillary to run uncontested.  Worst case scenario Senator Warren runs, gets a national soapbox for progressive issues, loses to Hillary in the primaries, and goes back to Congress to become a successful and influential Senator.  Worked for Ted Kennedy.  And it would be kind of great to have both candidates running on our side be women, against the clown car of dudes on the Republican side.

My cynical take...

I am a registered independent. However, I have yet to meet a Republican that I would vote for, so that makes me a Democrat by default. Yes, there have been small third parties, but none viable enough for me to feel like I'd be wasting my vote in supporting the candidate. And I am Black, so not voting is not an option.

I love to follow politics, but hate the mechanics of the political process. Power corrupts, and all that. There is not one politician I know of who has come out of it as clean as they went in.

My jaded view is that it does not matter one bit which Democrat becomes President. You pretty much know what you're in for, policy-wise, and most of it is stuff we can all live with. Sure, the battles change depending on the winner's history and background, but that's probably it. We would be on the same course if the President is Hillary or Elizabeth W or Joe Biden or whatever other Democrat comes along.

It is when the President is Republican that we should all strap ourselves in for years of turmoil. Economic warfare at home, and warfare for economic reasons abroad. Unnecessary fights to "fix" laws that millions of people besides them know are right and just. Factions fighting for control of the party and bringing everything else to a halt. And a mess left for the next man or woman.

So I don't much care who wins the Democratic nomination. I would love to have a female President, though.

It's the Republican nominee who causes the most concern. Will it be someone blissfully dumb, painfully out of touch, or just plain old racist & sexist... or all of the above? Not good options, and the sad thing is that the one who appeals to the worst in the party's supporters will win the nomination. It's been generations since these people left the country better off than when they came in, to put it nicely.

So, come on, Democrat (Insert Name Here).

Agreed, Way2.  On the Dem side, you're really just looking at which nominee will prioritize the issue that's important to you.  I'd like someone who will be vocal about their support for marriage equality instead of using wishy-washy "I'm for it but can't outright say it" talk-arounds (I'm looking at you, Candidate Obama).  Someone who will push for income parity and a hike to the minimum wage, which may be complicated for a former member of the Walmart board of directors like Clinton.  But, as you say, better to have literally any Democrat, than one of the current crop of Republican candidates.

Fortunately, I believe they've let the Tea Party monster grow so big as to hurt the GOP.  The GOP nominee will have to move so far right to please the Tea Partiers in the primaries that he'll (let's be real, their nominee won't be someone with a lady brain) never be able to win over moderates and independents in the general election.  The landscape is very different even from 2008. I don't think Romney could win the nomination this time out; even he is not conservative enough.  Hillary and her tendency to make dumb decisions just in time to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory make me nervous, though.

I'm also curious if this swerve of the conservative wing/party of government to the far right has been something that's occurred in other countries, or if it's specific to the US.  It's been pretty extraordinary to see the effect President Obama's election has had on our conservatives' willingness to let their racist/homophobe/misogynist flags fly openly, when just a few years ago they at least had the decency to cloak it in dog-whistle terms.  I prefer to know who my enemies are, so I'm cool with it, but I'm wondering if it's uniquely American. Any international posters care to comment?