Kirsten Gillibrands Moment Has Arrived
The New York senator has made sexual assault the focus of her political career. Now, the world has caught up with her.
By DAVID FREEDLANDER December 7, 2017
The Washington sky was darkening outside her window, and Kirsten Gillibrand slumped down in her chair. It had been a long day. In the morning, the New York senator hosted a news conference with a mother whose twin 6-year-old daughters had been allegedly raped by their father’s military commander. As she walked off the podium, she’d been confronted by questions about her colleague Al Franken’s reported history of groping women, news that broke for the first time that morning. “Deeply concerning,” she replied, adding that she believed the story of his accusers. “I expect to hear more from Senator Franken.” And she had just come from a podcast interview with the New York Times in which she’d blown through the Democratic code of silence on Clinton misdeeds by saying that yes, if Bill Clinton were president now, he would have to resign after something like the Monica Lewinsky affair.
That last one wasn’t a piece of news Gillibrand had planned on making that morning. She had long been a supporter of the Clintons, both of them. She inherited Hillary Clinton’s seat in the Senate, and credits her with the decision to run for office in the first place. Bill Clinton campaigned for her in her first run for Congress. She strongly supported both of Hillary’s campaigns for president. But Gillibrand is no longer a rank-and-file Clinton Democrat. As the nation is convulsed with a deluge of allegations of sexual harassment and assault, one that seemingly every day fells another star, Gillibrand is at the political center of it. For years she has been battling against sexual assault in the military and on campus, and talking about sexual harassment in politics, and now at last it seems as if the rest of the world has caught up to her concerns. And so once the question has been put before you, in this political moment, when at long last it looks like all of that work is finally paying off and progress is being made, what else can you say about Bill Clinton lying about having oral sex with his 22-year-old intern other than that he should have stepped down and “things have changed today”?
The blowback was immediate. “Over 20 yrs you took the Clintons endorsement, money and seat. Hypocrite,” wrote Philippe Reines, a longtime Clinton confidant, on Twitter. “Interesting strategy for 2020 primaries. Best of luck.”
The first half of the tweet was predictable, a Clinton loyalist biting back at a perceived threat to the family. But the second half was telling. The world is paying attention to Gillibrand in a new way. At least since the day after Donald Trump’s inauguration, when Gillibrand thrilled the crowd at the Women’s March, jabbing the air with her finger and telling them, “This is the moment of the beginning of the revival of the women’s movement. This is the moment you will remember when women stood strong and stood firm and said never again. This is the moment that you are going to be heard!” The 51-year-old Gillibrand has come to represent a rising generation of Democratic leaders, one who came of age in an era when equality of the sexes was something almost taken for granted. And the buzz about her presidential ambitions has only grown.
For years, the issues that Gillibrand has made her name on—aid for 9/11 workers, ending "don’t ask don’t tell" in the military, transgender rights—were important but distinct, touching on segments of American life that most people never interact with. And now, at a moment when the cover has been ripped off toxic workplaces from Hollywood to Wall Street, Gillibrand is finding that the rest of the world has caught up with her crusades.
<snip>
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/12/07/kirsten-gillibrand-profile-feature-sexual-assault-2017-216053
= new reply since forum marked as read
Even if we don't understand the games being played and frown at not always admirable seeming feints and runs, we need to be able to trust underlying principles and goals to remain essentially the same.
I do for Obama and Hillary, but they're both well identified by their own records as solid liberals like me. Her long history in public service, especially, the policy wonk passions she's always worked toward, belie the constant lies about what those principles and goals are.
Gotta say I'd trade either of our betraying hard core, plutocracy serving Georgia senators gladly for the current version of Gillebrand, though, even if I had to hold my nose all the way to the polling place and out again to do it. A frequent experience for a liberal in Georgia.
that seat.
I think I'm detecting sarcasm.
Gillibrand went from blue dog to progressive and tossed out a rival for 2020. Boy, she's good. 
...her issue. I reverse my thought about her bringing up Bill Clinton - now, I'm thinking maybe it was planned to get the attention it got... and, that was only the beginning...
And this puff piece is barf inducing. She should probably enjoy that kind of coverage...while she can.
....Visionary and fighter of women’s rights.
I don’t want to hear shit about this opportunist phony. I will happily watch her demise and contribute gleefully to her opponent that will go against her in the primaries.
Would especially enjoy it if her opponents initials are HRC.
