Hillary's position in Monday's schedule

[Bill McBlueState]

Does anyone else find it odd how Hillary was scheduled last night? Here we have one of the most, if not *the* most powerful and influential woman Democrat in the country. Yet, she gets about five minutes of speaking time, and it's mainly to introduce her husband.

There still seems to be this archaic need in politics to have women be seen as their husband's "little helper." Same deal with Teresa -- she spends too much time smiling and nodding at whatever John says (witness their appearance on Larry King a couple weeks ago), when she can clearly stand on her own merits.

And we all remember the shock and horror when Judy Dean didn't follow her husband on the campaign trail.

We still seem to be stuck in the last century on this one.

[jean]

1. it appears Monday was the night for prez's and our last prez candidate

I was relieved Hillary had a 'limited' exposure, yet was at the podium, spoke eloquently AND was onstage with the lady Senators. It was perfect.

[AlCzervik]

2. Totally agree with that

She got to speak which was good but this convention is about John Kerry. I'm sure the GOP was very sad tht they didn't have any Hillary red meat from the convention to raise money.

[emulatorloo]

3. Karl Rove and the repug talking heads were real upset about it last week

Tucker Carlson was livid!

OTOH, the ***junior*** senator said she was happy about it and did a TREMENDOUS JOB!!!!!!!!!! talking up John Kerry.

[Caution]

4. considering Senator Clinton barely even mention President Clinton

in her "introduction" and instead gave a pretty damned good speech of her own, I'm not read to get all pissed off about it. Women have been *extremely* prominent so far as speakers.

Hillary Clinton, like it or not is a very polarizing figure in politics. Democrats love her, Republicans loathe her and since we are trying to win an election for the Presidency, Senator Clinton takes a back seat to political maneuvering. Would I have liked to hear more from her? Yes, but guess what, my vote is already assured. This convention is about winning support from those who are swing voters and the last thing to do is to take a chance at potentially alienating them. Is it fair to the Senator? No, probably not but it's intelligent politics.

Why do you think the repugs are ferreting out the people they are for their convention?

[Longhorn]

5. She also got to speak during the networks' primetime coverage.

I thought it was great placement and an outstanding speech. I love how the speeches have been short, to the point, and mostly entertaining. This convention has been moving at a crisp, fun pace!

[TahitiNut]

6. I fail to see the 'logic' in any complaint about Hillary's role.

The Democratic Party has, what, 48 Senators? How many are up for reelection this year? How many challengers? (Hillary is neither. Obama is the latter.) Every member of the House is up for reelection. How many Democratic candidates for Governor (incumbant or otherwise) are competing in an election this year? How many of the female Senators have a larger role in the Convention? (None that I know of.)

The Convention is primarily about presenting the Kerry/Edwards ticket and secondarily about extending their coat-tails in other national offices. To the degree other prominent Democrats can serve those objectives, their participation makes sense. To the degree the attention is diverted from those objectives, their participation makes no sense.

[seabeyond]

7. she did perfectly

worked for me. and no i am not jumping on the repug bandwagon adn say, dems are unfair to women. all i have to do is look at repug wives and listen to scalia and others talk womens role, and be totally comfortable in our wives and their independence and individuality, and not bash dems

hillary has been a senator only one term, there are a lot of others that have been in offices longer. for her to have gotten on the stage even to introduce her husband, allowed to make a wonderful speech for those 15-20 minutes was totally fair in my book

and i am not going to feed the tucker repugs wanting to divide and create issue in dems

[Selwynn]

8. Did you watch it? Because it was nothing like that.

1) "5 minutes" was more like 15 minutes.
2) Her speech had little to do with introducing her husband. She mentioned him in the begginging and then at the end, the rest of it was a speech like anyone else's speech in support of Kerry.
3) The "introduce Bill Clinton" thing is just a formality, she had more than five minutes and she gave a full speech in focusing on John Kerry.