Tuesday Reads: Getting Knocked Down and Getting Back Up
Posted: January 26, 2016 Filed under: morning reads, U.S. Politics 59 Comments
Clinton speaking at the University of Texas in Austin in 1993. Courtesy Clinton Library
Good Afternoon!!
Apologies for the late post. I had to spend my morning getting my bearings. When I first get up, my routine is to get some tea or coffee and open up Google News to see what people are talking about. Lately I’ve been looking at Twitter too.
The first story that caught my eye on Google is this one by Collum Borchers at The Washington Post.
Why Hillary Clinton is struggling, in 3 CNN audience questions.
Boy, did Hillary Clinton get a dose of reality in Iowa, where polls are all over the place but show her losing ground one week before the state’s first-in-the-nation caucuses. Right out of the gate, questioners hit the former secretary of state with some of the least flattering narratives about her.
This was the first question from the audience:
It feels like there is a lot of young people like myself who are very passionate supporters of Bernie Sanders. And, I just don’t see the same enthusiasm from younger people for you. In fact, I’ve heard from quite a few people my age that they think you’re dishonest, but I’d like to hear from you on why you feel the enthusiasm isn’t there.
And this was the second:
Secretary Clinton, earlier this month Vice President Joe Biden said you were a newcomer to the issue of income inequality, while praising Senator Sanders for his authentic voice on the issue. How do we know that you will keep this issue a top priority? ….
Even the third question, which came from a man who identified himself as a strong Clinton supporter, introduced the troublesome topic of Benghazi. (The man said he was impressed by Clinton’s performance during a congressional hearing on the 2012 attack last fall.)
When compliments come with that kind of baggage, you’re having a rough night.
Borchers admits that Hillary gave good, non-defensive answers, but gosh–those questions!
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaks during a CNN town hall at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, Monday, Jan. 25, 2016. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
Reporters do this again and again. Maybe Borchers needs to take a look in the mirror and ask where the “narratives” about Hillary Clinton came from. Obviously, it’s from the media. Republicans attack Hillary, of course; but the media is responsible for their decades of ugly, sexist reporting and opinion pieces on this “narrative” they created and pushed.
Besides, does anyone really believe CNN didn’t screen the questions and choose those? Give me a break.
After that, I took a look at Twitter. This hashtag was trending: #WordsThatDon’tDescribeHillary. I hated to look at it because I already knew what I would see–vicious misogyny, sexism, and probably violent threats. But I clicked anyway and I found just what I expected.
What did surprise me is that many Twitter users pushed back and eventually Twitter took down the hashtag. Of course one of them was Peter Daou, a tireless fighter against the war on women.
and Tom Watson.
And Twitter took it down!
And there were thank yous.
Suddenly I saw that there are good people in the world too. The Bernie bros are probably not even the majority of people who support Bernie Sanders. But they are hurting him badly with undecided voters who witness their behavior. If you need evidence of that, look at this tweet from Sanders’ “rapid response director.” He even pinned the tweet to top of his feed.
I don’t know how Hillary does it. She was wonderful last night–friendly, warm, genuine, and willing to answer every question–unlike grumpy old man Bernie Sanders. But what Bernie bros (sadly, a lot of them are women) heard was just the ugly voices in their heads.
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton greets attendees after a CNN town hall at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, Monday, Jan. 25, 2016. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
I guess we’ll find out next Monday whether the Bernie bro strategy works on Iowa voters. Meanwhile, I’m going to follow Hillary’s lead and “get back up” every time I get “knocked down” by this garbage.
Last night RalphB shared a wonderful article on Hillary by Ruby Cramer at Buzzfeed. (That’s where I found the photo of Hillary at the top of this post.)
Hillary Clinton wants to talk to you about love & kindness.
On this particular day, after a routine campaign event at a college in Manchester, New Hampshire — after taking photos and giving a speech, after getting a question from the audience about the women who’ve alleged they were sexually assaulted by her husband and answering it without hesitation or alarm, after moving onto the noise and chaos of a crowded rope line —Clinton is shepherded away to the quiet of an available room: the building’s industrial-style kitchen. And it’s in this setting, seated in a fold-out chair at a small table, that Clinton seems almost surprised by the most basic line of questioning: why she runs.
“I think most people who interview me never ask me,” she says. “They nibble a little bit around the edges but there’s very—” Clinton turns to the one aide present, her press secretary, also seated at the table, and asks him to think back: “I don’t know of very many instances in the last 14 years that we’ve had these kinds of conversations.”
She has been asked every day, for decades, what she thinks, but rarely why. And here, next to a dishwasher, Clinton slides right back into the subject. Her words are slow and deliberate and she takes the conversation to this discussion she’s been trying to talk about, to bring up on the trail, as she is again ensnared in a campaign that’s more difficult than expected, in an election dominated by the language of anger and fear.
“I am talking about love and kindness,” she says.
As Clinton sees it, she’s really talking about a “shorthand” for her personal and political beliefs, for all the impulses that shape what she does and how she does it. She is talking about the core of “what I believe and who I am.” Even if no one views her that way. Even if she’s never been quite able to explain it. Even if she still isn’t known for the vision she’s been trying to share for decades, going back to the beginning. Even if her earnest efforts to connect with people are hampered not just by her image, but by the actual barriers of public life. After so many years, how do you convince a nation full of people who think they know everything about you that they don’t?
Hillary Clinton during giving her keynote speech at the Democratic National Convention in 2008.
The article goes back to Clinton’s early days as First Lady, and how she was “mocked” and ripped to shreds by the DC Villagers.
This was 1993. She is first lady — a few months into the job, head of her husband’s health care effort, split between the White House and the hospital room in Little Rock, Arkansas, where her father lies brain-dead, 18 days after a stroke. There is a speech she can’t get out of — 14,000 people at the University of Texas — and on the plane ride to Austin, in longhand, she sketches out a second appeal for the same “mutuality of respect.”
“We need a new politics of meaning,” she tells the crowd. “We need a new ethos of individual responsibility and caring… a society that fills us up again and makes us feel that we are part of something bigger than ourselves.”
Again, she makes news. Again, reporters come calling. And again, Clinton tries to explain. That spring, she gives a series of interviews on the subject of her beliefs — political, philosophical, and spiritual….
The speech and subsequent interviews — earnest, unembarrassed, and decidedly open — are laughed at in Washington. Columnists call her a New Age “aspiring philosopher queen.” One compares her remarks to “a cross between Jimmy Carter’s malaise speech and a term paper on Siddhartha,” with all the “distinctive marks of adolescent self-discovery.” The New Republic asks: “It is good to hear the First Lady is also pro-meaning, but before we sign on, one question: What on earth are these people talking about?”
Another two decades pass, and Hillary Clinton doesn’t sound like she did then.
This was 2015, back at that small table in New Hampshire, a couple weeks before Christmas….This was the day in June after nine people were gunned down, mid-prayer, inside their church in South Carolina. Clinton had even been there that day, in Charleston, and received the news of the shooting on the plane ride out. She was speaking at a conference on the West Coast, and that’s where it slipped out for the first time. “I know it’s not usual for somebody running for president to say what we need more of in this country is love and kindness,” she said. “But that’s exactly what we need more of.”
What an amazing article! It will be lost on the Bernie bros and the other Hillary haters, but let’s remember that Hillary Clinton is very popular in both Iowa and New Hampshire. In 2008, after Barack Obama and John Edwards ganged up on Hillary in a debate (“you’re likable enough,” Obama said) New Hampshire voters went out to the polls and gave Obama the shock of his life so far when Hillary won the primary. It’s never over until the votes are counted.
Hillary and NH Sen. Jean Shaheen
Here’s New Hampshire Senator Jean Shaheen, a Hillary supporter on the polls in her state:
“Well, listen, I think it’s always nice when you’re ahead in the polls, but I’ve been involved in politics long enough to know that the polls don’t mean much. They’re a snapshot in time and they’re based whoever you happen to reach in your polling sample,” the New Hampshire senator said to WKBK Radio on Wednesday.
“They’re gonna fluctuate. They’re go up and down,” she added, citing Clinton’s win in New Hampshire in 2008 after several polls showed that she would lose.
Sanders leads Clinton 60% to 33% in a recent poll from WMUR/CNN of Granite State voters.
“The thing that I think is important about this poll is that it shows almost half of the voters in New Hampshire that plan to vote in the Democratic primary still haven’t decided who they’re gonna vote for. So there’s still lots of room for movement in the race,” she said.
We’ll find out in the next couple of weeks.
More interesting stories, links only:
Poynter: Media strains to analyze Dems’ Iowa town hall.
Michael Cohen at The Boston Globe: Could President Sanders defeat a Republican Congress?
LA Times: Sanders turns confrontational and Clinton emphasizes her record in Iowa town hall.
Des Moines Register: Students to choose between class, caucus.
Jill Abramson on why many young women pick Sanders over Clinton: ‘Hillary, can you excite us?’: the trouble with Clinton and young women.
Rebecca Traister on Samantha Bee’s new late night show: Smirking in the Boys’ Room.
Mother Jones: This Is What Happens When We Lock Children in Solitary Confinement.
That’s all I have for you today. I hope you enjoy the rest of your Tuesday.
peej
Carissa
bostonboomer
ecocatwoman
mablue2
peggysue22
quixote
skydancingguestblogger
Mona (aka Wonk the Vote)
Sky Dancing 
On MSNBC a few minutes ago, Kasie Hunt said something that should be heartening for Clinton supporters, although I’m not sure she realized the implications of it. According to Hunt, she asked Sanders if he expected to beat Obama’s Iowa turnout in 2008. He told her no. That most likely means he expects to lose. The polls that show him beating Clinton are all based on turnout models that have him handily outpacing Obama’s numbers, particularly among white male first-timers.
I think he’ll lose Iowa. The latest poll shows Hillary ahead. He has to win Iowa to be viable much longer.
I thought the questions they asked Hillary were awful. Wonder who picked the questioners.
CNN producers. Think they were mostly guys?
Probably.
Maybe Josh Uretsky? Heard he was looking for a new job recently.
Talk about biased questions!
I noticed the Buzz Feed article posted yesterday. It is a long but excellent read. I passed it along to others. Thanks for sharing.
I feel the same, and will share. She really has a zest for life, that is mentally beautiful. Like her, you and most women, we know those feeling of dejection from all who surround us, it’s a constant, and it’s includes things like what we wear, our hair, our communications, and trying to bring everybody into the fold, because as humans we share the bonds of love, of friendship and community. I think like her, as we have aged (not sure how old you are) we almost have perfected female loveliness, with grace, elegance, and yes with our sadness and with our anger, and with nature.
What I have a hard time with is the voraciousness of the media, often seen and expressed by men as Hillary being heartlessness. Women who go along with men, and do this are so damn cold hearted. It’s a falsehood that women have reacted to, as they see their place in this world.
I really like “kindness matters, and I have done shorthand for years, but yes, be kind”…….take the high road. I sure am in agreement with Hillary.
I’ll just briefly repeat my comment in the thread below: that I taped the townhall, then stayed up to watch some of Hillary’s answers, and I thought she was absolutely superb. Then to read this virtually inevitable idiocy from the media and the twitterers, is either pathetic, or galling, take your pick.
Borchers is either agenda-driven, or an idiot. The friendly question about intervention came from someone who said that he was a lukewarm supporter of Hillary, until he watched all eleven hours of the Benghazi hearing, and after that he was a strong supporter. (Obviously, he was extremely impressed with how she handled the Republicans. He even talked about wishing that someone would punch Trey Gowdy). So no, Mr, Borchers, that was not a question with baggage. But I guess that would get in the way of Borchers’ narrative. It seems that most journalists today can only hold one thought at a time, and anything which might be contrary to that, has to be be reconstituted in their brains. As to the first two questions, they were deliberate set-up questions from Sanders supporters. The first one was rude, stupid, and CNN should never have allowed it, except that of course it fits their bill. How about if some Hillary supporter asked Sanders, ‘Senator, many of my friends say that you are grumpy, you yell at the audience, you are a committed Socialist, and you keep saying the same things over and over. And that you stole Hillary’s campaign data. How do you respond to this?” Except that no Hillary supporter would be that rude.
Hillary towers over the other candidates in competence insight, intelligence, and the ability to make things better in many respects. If some people are too foolish to see it, there’s really not much one can do. I keep sending her money, and hope that it helps a bit. We all can do something. Hillary will win the nomination, even if these insufferably smug pseudo journalists laugh at her and mock her every step of the way. And as for Sanders’ band of Millennials, I always figured that the decline of our educational system would manifest itself on the political scene. Sanders has an absolutely zero chance to get any of his proposals to the floor of the House, much less enacted. Might as well buy one of those bottles of colored water they used to hawk as all purpose medicines to the suckers outside the fairs.
I recorded the whole show but can’t bring myself to watch BS. However, I read on the internuts that BS got a question about the Hyde Amendment and wants to keep part of it. Did you catch his answer?
No, I must admit that I did not watch Sanders. Well, I had the TV on and the sound off, and just saw him waving his hands a lot. I guess I should have watched his part, but I’ve seen him in all the debates, and he really does never deviate from his mantra: “rigged casino,” “break up the big banks,” “free college tuition for all,” “single-payer healthcare,” “we need a revolution.”
I love Bernie. He reminds me of some of my favorite professors in college. But he would be a miserable failure as President.
I did watch the Bernie segment last night but I don’t remember a question about the Hyde Amendment. Sorry. I tend to get hypnotized by the way he talks with his hands.
I don’t think there was.
I did hear that someone asked him about it and he agreed with Hillary. He didn’t think of it until she talked about it, he’s never done anything about it, and he probably never will.
Bernie Sanders Commits to Rescinding the Hyde Amendment
http://theslot.jezebel.com/bernie-sanders-commits-to-rescinding-the-hyde-amendment-1754723802
It was part of his attempts to make up for attack Planned Parenthood and NARAL.
http://www.reardonreports.com/491-2/
Why did Vermont’s 3 governors endorse Hillary?
“Two Corinthians walk into a bar…”
Jerry Falwell Jr. endorses Donald J. Trump:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/01/26/evangelical-leader-jerry-falwell-jr-endorses-trump/
http://www.dailynewsbin.com/opinion/bernie-sanders-blocks-president-obamas-fda-nominee-in-revenge-for-obamas-pro-hillary-interview/23674/
This is weird.
What in the world is he doing?
No idea. Weird if he wants votes from Obama supporters. These guys think he really didn’t like being called a new shiny object. Barney Frank says he’s a purity pissant to work with so maybe it’s some show of purity.
Ed Markey is also against the nominee. In fact he put a block on before Bernie did.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/bernie-sanders-robert-califf_us_56a7adb5e4b0b87beec6178c
The timing certainly looks bad for Bernie though.
http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/bernie-sanders-robert-califf_us_56a7adb5e4b0b87beec6178c
Sorry, didn’t see you posted that already.
That is a problem with being a long-time Independent from Vermont; you don’t need to seek consensus, and you can just do what you do, without political consequences. Consensus building, and not being a Jacobin, is essential in being Chief Executive. You can do the other if you are a senator with a smallish consituency. There is even some value in it–but it does not translate well to President. A shame that most of his supporters don’t even consider that–but maybe they don’t even care about the consequences, just the excitement.
That writer may have jumped to conclusions. There are good reasons to not care for the nominee, who is cosy with Big Pharma.
Here’s what Breast Cancer Action (which accepts no funding from any company that profits from cancer) says in their letter to Congress:
WaPo story on the anti-Hillary hashtag I wrote about in my post.
What an anti-Hillary hashtag tells us about sexism in the 2016 campaign
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/01/26/wordthatmightdescribetheamericanvoter/
At least somebody is writing about it. Let’s hope it’s this kind of talk that gets traction. The tweets are disgusting but no surprise. Why isn’t anyone concerned with how hot Bernie Sanders is? Or Ted Cruz? Or Trump? or any other candidate running including those who have dropped out.
BB you spelled everything out so very well today. Thank you, and thanks to Ralph for sharing Hilary’s story.
I can’t help but think, when Rachel Maddow, hosted the debate, and showed Sanders as a young man at rally, and O’Malley with his college buds, giving a glance of their lives in college, and when it came to Hillary, she got short changed here, and I think those early years before her marriage, is very a part of who Hillary is, and that shines with good taste in this article.
Thanks Fannie. I didn’t see that forum that Rachel hosted. She’s another Bernie bro.
Bernie has the entire MSNBC network. Had Obama given the type of interview he gave to Glenn Thrush in favor on Bernie, it would be running there around the clock.
This was a pretty remarkable endorsement in all facettes given by a seating POTUS during the primaries and before the first vote is even cast. I don’t think the entire network spent 15 minuntes on it.
These people play any discredited poll savaging Hillary Clinton for days.
Where do they think some little punk got the gall to just come up the the mic and outright asked one the premier female public figure in the world “why are you so dishonest?”.
I heard that CNN picked the questions.
The latest thing is that the Bernie bots think Elizabeth Warren has endorsed Bernie because of a line in a recent speech.
I honestly don’t care what Warren does. But if she endorses Sanders, she’ll sink her own career in the party. She can join Bernie in the Democratic Socialist caucus, I guess; but Warren isn’t that far left on every issue.
I agree BB, that didn’t sound like an endorsement of anyone in particular
Rachel is very much a Bernie Bro……I’ve burned down her email inbox twice this year.
I was sort of irritated by how CNN attempted to make Bernie look warmer by asking him about his parents, his youth, his humble beginnings, his athletic accomplishments in his youth and his brother. Honestly Bernie seems to me like a decent guy, but also a one trick pony. As noted by someone who commented earlier, being an Independent Senator from VT means he can vote however he wants, no compromise needed. He can go as far to the left as he decides, no repercussions, no party accountability, no long term commitment to Party goals, no responsibility to help get others elected or to help other keep the job they already have. He would be a terrible POTUS! My wife commented as we were watching him last night that she wasn’t sure he’d survive the Presidency because he’s never faced the sort of stress, scrutiny and conflict that is required of the person who holds that job.
On the up side, Hillary was brilliant! She is the most qualified person in the field without a doubt. She knows exactly what the job entails and she’s up for it.
Now, all we have to do is vote, the rest of it is out of our hands. GO HILLARY!!!
And thanks for the post today BB, it is excellent.
Thanks, Mouse.
MSNBC is planning to host a rogue debate in NH that only O’Malley has agreed to so far.
Donald Trump says he is going to boycott the next debate and put on a competing event.
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Interesting. This would violate the DNC restriction to six debates. O’Malley doesn’t have anything to lose. If Sanders attends, then it rather forces Hillary to go. On the other hand, we know how reactive the DNC can be, as to the states which dared to move up their primaries. So if Hillary says that she will abide by DNC rules, it may adhere to her advantage, more so than attending a debate which MSNBC is certainly going to make favorable to Sanders, in commentary if nothing else.
Clinton has agreed to do it. Sanders is the only holdout.
lol
Bernie is scared.
From the New Hampshire Union Leader:
“Two Democratic presidential candidates said they would like to take part in a debate next week hosted by the New Hampshire Union Leader, despite a threat from the national party to punish them if they take the stage. Sen. Hillary Clinton would be ‘happy to participate in a debate in New Hampshire if the other candidates agree, which would allow the DNC to sanction the debate,’ a spokesman said Tuesday. Gov. Martin O’Malley said he would participate in the debate, set for just five days before the first-in-the-nation primary. The holdout is Sen. Bernie Sanders, who said through a spokesman there should be three or four more debates, but he would not want to jeopardize his spot in other debates by taking part in an unsanctioned event.”
http://www.unionleader.com/Clinton-OMalley-express-support-for-pre-primary-debate
Two people have been shot and Ammon Bundy is in custody.
http://www.rawstory.com/2016/01/two-people-have-been-shot-and-ammon-bundy-is-in-custody-report/
I hope this joker and his fellow militant terrorists are all under arrest.
Post-blizzard, Sen. Murkowski notes that only women turned up to run the Senate
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/reliable-source/wp/2016/01/26/post-blizzard-sen-murkowski-notes-that-only-women-turned-up-to-run-the-senate/?postshare=9741453860947944&tid=ss_tw
Well, of course!
Obama and Bernie Sanders to meet at White House on Wednesday
http://www.rawstory.com/2016/01/obama-and-bernie-sanders-to-meet-at-white-house-on-wednesday/
I hope Obama tells him to stop trying to hand the WH to the GOP.
So a older white guy who shouts and wags his finger in your face is exciting, whereas a brilliant, articulate, practical and experienced woman with a lifetime drive to make things better for children, the poor, the sick, the discriminated against, is not. Whatever, bro.
Lots of women and girls are excited about Hillary, but see that doesn’t count. If you can’t excite young white men, you’re boring.
Every sky dancer should read this and give Joan Walsh love.
http://www.thenation.com/article/why-im-supporting-hillary-clinton-with-joy-and-without-apologies/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=socialflow
Harney County News: Ryan Bundy shot, wounded, and Tarp man, Lavoy Finicum, shot dead. The two were headed up to a meeting in John Day, about 70 miles away when the FBI stopped them.
According to story, they were told to go home, but something else is coming down the pike, and I don’t know what to make of it.
Addicting Info:
http://www.addictinginfo.org/2016/01/26/ammon-bundy-arrested-ryan-bundy-and-tarp-man-shot-after-confrontation-with-police-video/
You really got to give it them, some rural sheriff’s like, this Glenn Palmer of Grant Co. Oregon, are as much a problem as the Bundy’s. He’s not going to give up his power as sheriff, but somebody better kick his ass out.
http://www.oregonlive.com/Oregon-standoff/2016/01/post_2html
Sorry BB, I hadn’t read your posting about the Shoot out in Haney Co.
Sounds like there’s a bit more info being released. The first mention upthread was thin on info. Agree; there’s a lot more out there we don’t know yet.
Here’s a better read: You wouldn’t believe this witch from Nevada who serves in Assembly, by the name of Michele Fiore. She owes a million to IRS and is holding office in Neveda and supporting the Bundy’s. Not to mention, another sheriff named Palmer, from another county in Oregon, has been supporting Bundy’s Homegrown terrorism, and they were on the way to a meeting in regards to his support. How do people hold office, and support terrorism and think they are above the law? The Haney County Sheriff has been a pain in their asses, he’s not buying their horseshit.
http://www.oregonlive.com/oregon-standoff/2016/01/bundys_in_custody_one_militant.html
An arrest warrant went out for Daleidan………the republicans are shitting bricks, and blaming it on a woman.
http://rhrealitycheck.org/article/2016/01/26/david-daleiden-indicted-felony-charges-connection-planned-parenthood-scheme/
One thing that is true about me is that I am consistently not a woman.
So, please help me understand why so many young women seem to be looking for reasons not to support Hills.
I never understood college aged women lining up behind Obambam, and now I don’t understand why so many younger women are enamored with Weekend @) Bernie.
I keep hoping that eventually they will wake up.
In my opinion, it’s because these young women are very busy and only have time to get their news filtered through their friends and whatever social media they use. If they took the time to learn about Hillary and understand exactly who she is, they would support her. That’s why the media slanting things to make her look bad is damaging.
I was at a wedding over the summer and a young man whom I’d known since he was a child approached me with his assessment of Hillary. He was a former Obot who now felt Bernie was the answer to all of our problems. Of course he knew where I stood. I never had to say a word to defend Hillary because the young man’s girlfriend joined the conversation and absolutely blasted him. He was shocked because she had supported Bernie along with him but she just said to him, “How do you know you don’t like Hillary? Have you read about her? Have you listened to her speeches? Well I did, I listened to her tell the story about her mother and about who she is and I think I’m going to support her over Bernie…”
It was really surprising but it made me realize that people just need to ignore the noise from the media and find out what she’s really about.
I have had similar experience with young male friends whom I assumed would fall in line behind Bernie, but their opinions were MUCH more mature and informed than I expected. Not only do they think Hills is more electable, they think that she will make a better President. Turns out they read books and not just the internet. Your point is well taken.
Thanks.