Oh joy, 2 1/2 years of "The Country isn't Ready for a Woman!" BS.

[Ripley]

I see it posted everywhere lately. Even by women who claim they are feminists. :shrug:

Tell me great Yodas, when will the USA be ready? They usually claim "we're at war." So what? The War on Terra has no freaking end...there will never be an election cycle in the next century where there aren't terrorists causing havoc.

Convenient isn't it? The ready made answer...we're at War always and that necessarily means half the population is AUTOMATICALLY excluded from being considered as a President. Well, little Yodas...

Do you really think a woman (any woman at all) would do a worse job on handling our country's Military resources and determining national security and our best use of troops than...

SMIRK????? Or for that matter Dennis Kucinich?

Look, I'm a Dr. Dean fan from way back. I really admired Hillary as a First Lady...I heard her speak one time and thought she was probably smarter than Bill. HOWEVER, I do not think she would be our best candidate for 2008. But it has nothing to do with her being a woman. It also has nothing to do with her video game stance or IWR vote or Universal Health Care. To me those are side issues (the game thing is just being ridiculously twisted by immature misogynistic guys and the IWR applies to the majority of Senators including Kerry).

Her overall groomed presence is in the same mold as all the other Washington Dems....placating. Way too compromising. And afraid to rock the boat. Hillary is not a republican anymore than Kerry is, so I wish that shit would stop. But you will notice she is held to a very different standard than the men.

Oh, and this laughable thing about how they'd really support Boxer or Pelosi! I can guarantee you that if one of them were running they'd target her ass real fast. They'd step out of line on one issue or another... and BOOM!****KAPOWHEE*** throw her to the curb.

I think this country is incredibly overdue for a woman President. And yes the country has become more conservative in the last few years, but that doesn't mean all conservative women would be against a woman! People so overgeneralize about all the swing voters, independents, or even fed-up repukes as being fundamentalist backwards wackos with their women staying at home washing drawers all day long.

As I've said before, It's the Media Stupid! should have been the slogan for 2004 and it still is. And for Liberals to constantly repeat the Media Concocted Faults of Possible Democratic Candidates is disheartening to say the least. Think about it. They did it with Dean, they did it to all the candidates, especially by giving the Swift Boat Liars a free pass on Kerry.

I'm really starting to think DU ain't that progressive anymore when I see so many women and men saying the country isn't ready. If this country is the great experiment of Democracy it's supposed to be, we are overdue folks. And having a fake resume with creds of showing up at a Champagne Unit in TAG is a pretty bottom of the barrel demand for a female to meet.

[cally]

1. I've had a momemt or two of exhilleration of

having Hillary as the Dem candidate. She is the first woman that actually has a good chance of winning the Presidency. Many of the political women trailblazers have won seats that were once held by their husbands or father. I wish that wasn't the common path but it seems to be in this country. If Hilary is the candidate, we'll continue to hear how we shouldn't run a woman because we have to win. :eyes:

I don't support her for the same reasons you don't. She's trying too hard to be Republican lite for my tastes. I also think she brings out the attack machine but maybe any Dem candidate does. At least she's used to it and has learned to handle most of the attacks. I'm worried Clinton wouldn't expose all the scandals and illegal activity of this maladministration. We wouldn't have a Bush II if Carter and then Clinton had exposed the misdeeds of the previous administrations.

Wait until Boxer takes a lead on the anti-choice stance of Roberts. She's always taken a lead on women's issues. Pelosi has joined her in the past. All the so-called progressives will start in on them for not focusing on Rove and the 'more important issues'.

[Ripley]

2. Great point Cally.

About the husbands or father's things. I agree that people know Hillary pretty well because she was a First Lady for 8 years. In fact, I think i've seen polls where she has the most name recognition of all women in politics in America. And that is half the battle.

Of course there are some who hate her. But honestly, those people who smear her on the Right are the same ones who smeared Kerry! They'll smear ANY DEMOCRAT! I just don't buy that she is so polarizing. I honestly think some non-political "normal" pro-choice Republican women would vote for her, just to see a woman make it. Of course they'd lie about it in public. Har.

Hillary is as tough as any man and can handle whatever they throw at her. I just hope that if she does decide to run she speaks out on two things: 1) like you say, EXPOSE the long list of corruption and lies by Bush and Friends in a more forceful way than Kerry did and 2) speak directly about the roll-backs on women's issues and how it is wrong.

I'll never forget that horrid picture of Rich, Old, White Republican Guys standing behind Smirk signing the so-called Partial-Birth Abortion bill. They were yukking it up when he signed it. If that isn't the Poster Child for how PHONEY their concern is for the fetus and the POWER they have over women's bodies and medical privacy issues...

I don't know what else is.

And like I said, she wouldn't be my first choice, but I sure as hell will vote for her if she gets the nomination.