Sen. Debbie Stabenow on Hillary and Women's History

Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) wrote this wonderful piece for the blog on HillaryClinton.com. Read it here.  As for my blog from Texas - it's coming very soon.  I had an amazing time.

A Kudo

Sharon got this email from field organizer Bob McDaniel, who volunteered in Tacoma for a few days before the rally and caucus and was very helpful. We wanted to share it with you because it was so sweet. Bob said:

"I measure our activists out here in Ohio using the South Sound yardstick and they all come up woefully short on energy and organizational muscle. Congratulations on the primary win. Methinks if they are going to give ‘em trouble seating the FL and MI delegations, maybe they should unseat the WA caucus delegates and send ones based on the the WA primary as the true representatives of your fine state.

Thanks so much for your dedication and resolve on behalf of HRC. It made this tired old organizer so happy he could cry."

So thank you all for your amazing energy and commitment! You made a field organizer cry! :)

Hillary and Obama debate: the SNL take

We all need some laughs, so take a moment to enjoy this video, Saturday Night Live's take on what happens when Obama answers questions posed by the adoring media.

Maybe I was the only one, but when I watched Senator Obama refuse to reject Louis Farrakhan's support last night, then laugh at Hillary when she pointed this out, then pretend that the issue was all semantics and play the point for comedy to the audience, I thought: this is not a man I want as my president. Obama is smart enough to understand Hillary's distinction between denouncing someone's beliefs (and how could a Democratic nominee not denounce anti-Semitism and racism?) and outright rejecting that person's support for your campaign. Sometimes an ideology is vicious enough that only the strongest possible language - free from equivocation and waffling - is what's needed to reject any association with it once and for all. Instead of being presidential, Obama acted as if the exchange was just an opportunity for a cheap debating point. That really got my goat!

Robin Morgan: "Goodbye to All That 2"

In 1970, writer and activist Robin Morgan wrote "Goodbye to All That," a famous feminist screed. Today, outraged by the double standard applied to Hillary as opposed to all male politicians, she has written "Goodbye to All That No. 2." You can read it here. Here's the first paragraph:

"During my decades in civil-rights, anti-war, and contemporary women’s movements, I’ve avoided writing another specific “Goodbye . . .” But not since the suffrage struggle have two communities—joint conscience-keepers of this country—been so set in competition, as the contest between Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama unfurls."

Thanks to Kathy Hayes and several others for sending us this article!

Guest Blog: The roller-coaster ride of supporting Hillary

I posted a link to our media petition in my last blog. Here is an article by local resident Mary Magee on the subject. The link to the petition is at the bottom of the article.

"I support Hillary Clinton in her run for President. I believe in her candidacy because I’m a woman, a baby boomer, and an admirer of the Clintons and the service they have given this country so far. Supporting Hillary has been a roller-coaster ride, especially since October. Media coverage of her, in all its forms has been disappointing.
With rare exceptions, nothing Hillary does is treated in the media as anything but suspect. If she’s tough, she’s called inaccessible. If she’s emotional, she’s weak or phony. If she gives nuanced answers, she’s incompetent, or worse.
The MSNBC debate on October 30, “07 made me furious as I saw newsmen, Tim Russert, Brian Williams and Chris Matthews, lead the charge against Hillary. The “moderators” were in attack mode. (And no, they don’t do this to both parties equally. If you want evidence, go to www.dailyhowler.com and look at Bob Somerby’s archives for 11/2/07).
More upsetting was the fact that John Edwards, Chris Dodd and Barack Obama followed MSNBC’s lead and went after her, painting her as untrustworthy. A charge taken right out of the opposition’s play book. It’s a trend that has continued in subsequent debates.
I should add that MSNBC reporters Williams, Russert, and Matthews, were hand-picked by Jack Welch, a conservative media mogul who supports Bush, and expects his journalists to attack Democratic frontrunners. They ridiculed Gore in 2000 and Kerry in 2004. We’re all living with the consequences.
Predictably, there was a media frenzy after the October debate, most of it anti-Hillary. Kathleen Parker of the Orlando Sentinel had three columns published within eight days, all mocking Hillary and accompanied by demeaning cartoons.
In the November 15, ’07 Nevada CNN debate, Hillary fought back and I was elated, until I read two columns by Maureen Dowd from the New York Times. On November 16, ’07 she wrote, “(Hillary) may hope that we’re all evolving into a kingdom of queen bees and their male slaves.” On November 18, ’07 she referred to Hillary as a “dominatrix,” who cracks the whip at “Obambi.”
I’m sure these sexist and racist remarks were encouraged by her friend, Chris Matthews, himself a major misogynist. I kept wondering where our other women columnists like Ellen Goodman and Tad Bartimus had gone.
As the right-leaning media ridiculed Hillary, those on the left passed her by. Progressive talk radio touted Edwards and Obama, especially host Ed Schultz, a kind of liberal Rush Limbaugh. Big Eddie, as he likes to call himself, twists everything Hillary says or does, than is enraged when she doesn’t come on his show.
In the midst of the fray, a ray of light came from an amazing person. On November 19, ’07 Leonard Pitts, a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for the Miami Herald wrote a response to the McCain supporter’s horrible comment, “How do we beat the b….?” Pitts, an African-American pointed out that sexist slurs are no more acceptable than racial slurs. A rare acknowledgement that sexism is playing a heretofore unmentioned role in the campaign. His point was recently reinforced by Gloria Steinem in her January 8, ’07, New York Times article.
Iowa’s results were upsetting, but Hillary’s debate performance just before the New Hampshire primary was awesome. Her win there surprised all the pundits. As I savored the post-election coverage, I switched from CNN to MSNBC and watched Chris Matthews and Tim Russert squirm while Keith Olberman applauded Hillary for her win.
I respect Hillary because she rebounds in spite of the discrimination she faces. She keeps fighting for what she believes. We should all have that much courage."
Reach Mary Magee at marymagee@harbornet.com

Here is the link to the petition:
http://stage.citizenspeak.org/node/1224

Let's speak up for Hillary and for ourselves

Hillary Clinton supporters aren't always as vocal as the Obama supporters. Let's make our voices heard! Here are two petitions that you should sign right now to let your support for Hillary be heard by the people that matter.

First, go to http://www.petitiononline.com/waforhrc/petition.html to let Senators Murray and Cantwell know that you want them to stick with Hillary. They are getting tons of email and calls from Obama supporters right now asking them to change their minds. You should also go to www.cantwell.com and www.pattymurray.com, click "contact us" and tell the Senators - via phone or email - to stick with Hillary!

Second, we all know the media has been shamefully biased in favor of Obama and against Hillary. Go to http://stage.citizenspeak.org/node/1224, fill in the form, add your own comment, and click Send. The letter asking for balanced media coverage, plus your name and comment, will be sent to 25 influential journalists, including Wolf Blitzer and Brian Williams.

This isn't over till it's over, and we can make a difference!

Great article from Illinois student

Here is an eloquent article that Jack Bentley, a senior at Wesleyan University and a Hillary volunteer, wrote for The Argus, his university paper.

"When I think of the qualities I want to see in our next president, I think my president should be unafraid to introduce profound changes wherever necessary, should have a deep commitment to democratic government, should have broad knowledge about policy and bureaucracy, and should have the courage and resilience to endure the inevitable scrutiny and attacks from the media and political opponents. However, like most Americans, I also want my president to inspire me. I want my president to show me that America can be the country I want it to be if I am willing to work hard to bring about change in the face of the toughest odds. That inspiration must go beyond thoughtful words. Inspiration is produced by actions, and by actions, I have been deeply inspired.

I have been inspired by a young college student in the sixties who resisted the temptations and indulgences of the times and successfully organized her classmates to lobby the administration to actively recruit more African American professors and students at a predominantly white east coast establishment school. I have been inspired by a student body president whose commencement address (which was featured in Life Magazine in 1969) shocked the nation by chiding her parents' generation for failing to grasp the urgency of the times and by exhorting her classmates to put their diplomas to use by engineering massive social change. I have been inspired by an adventurous college graduate who slimed salmon at a fish-processing cannery in Alaska, complained about unhealthy conditions at the cost of losing her job, but in so doing managed to get the entire plant shut down. I have been inspired by a graduate of Yale Law School who turned down lucrative opportunities at prestigious law firms to work on behalf of needy children.

I have been inspired by a Midwest-raised, east coast-educated woman who moved to Arkansas to become the principal bread winner for her family throughout her husband's tumultuous political career, when doing so was still not quite socially acceptable. In that time, she not only worked as a lawyer, but wrote several scholarly articles about the plight of underprivileged children which have been highly influential. She put her words into action when she started the Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families, chaired the Legal Services Corporation under President Carter (during which time she increased its funding from 90 million to 300 million), started a program to help Arkansas parents who could not afford preschool help their children learn to read at an early age, patiently and successfully battled the Arkansas Education Association for mandatory teacher testing and maximum classroom sizes, and fought the corporate board of Wal-Mart to hire more women and alter its environmentally un-friendly practices.

I have been inspired by a heroic First Lady who pioneered universal health care coverage in the face of cruel disdain from powerful voices. When those powerful voices shouted her down, she got right back in the ring and fought to create SCHIP, a program which is now so revered, that President Bush was strongly criticized for not increasing its budget. I have been inspired by a U.S. Senator who overcame a reputation of being "polarizing" by befriending and even sponsoring bills with fellow senators who were once leading the effort to impeach her husband. I have been inspired by a courageous and poised public servant who during several years of callous and fruitless investigations of her honesty, undeservedly brutal attacks from her self-proclaimed enemies, and an all-too-publicized marital problem, managed to become a leading worldwide proponent of equal rights for women and the disadvantaged, a defender of strong families, an advocate for productive and peaceful international relations, and the embodiment of one fundamentally American principle: if you work hard and stand up for your beliefs, you can be whatever you want to be.

I can be inspired by well-articulated ideas, but I am more inspired by someone who can work relentlessly to put those ideas into action. As Hillary Clinton herself said, change is only a word without the experience and strength to back it up. Hillary Clinton is a candidate of meaningful change, not of the status quo. She is a candidate of new ideas and collaborative innovation, not the candidate of a bureaucratic establishment. She is the candidate who I know will fight for me because she has been fighting for me since I was seven years old. From the time she was a young and ambitious college student like me, she had a vision for America, but what inspires me most about her is that she has since devoted her life to fighting for that vision. If you find it in your heart to care for somebody else, you will have succeeded. - Maya Angelou

Michelle Obama and Senator Clinton

It doesn't give me any pleasure to criticize Michelle Obama.  She is an intelligent, accomplished black woman.  We probably share some of the same values - family, education, achievement.  But I am angered at her sexist attacks on Hillary Clinton and frustrated at the media's failure to comment on them.  You've probably heard that Ms. Obama said that she "would have to think about" whether she could support Hillary if she were the nominee.  But did you know that she said the following to a Chicago audience:

"One of the important aspects of this race is role-modeling what good families should look like [applause].  And my view is that if you can't run your own house, you certainly can't run the White House.  [applause]  Can't do it!"  

Watch the clip here.  

I agree with Michelle that role-models are important.  And Michelle Obama certainly has the chance of a lifetime to be a role model.  So what does she use her time in the spotlight to do?  Take us back to the Dark Ages of sexism.  Michelle unapologetically said that Bill's bad behavior was Hillary's fault.  That Hillary, the betrayed wife, of all people, should have somehow prevented her husband from cheating, and her failure to do so makes her incapable of raising her daughter or running the country.

...Wow. Not only is it illogical, it sounds more like the ranting of a patronizing, holier-than-thou male Republican talk show host than a progressive woman.

I don't want Michelle Obama in the White House as First Lady if her attitude towards women in power continues to be this regressive.

Welcome to our blog!

We hope this will become a place for conversation about the latest news in the Hillary campaign.  Right now, we are bracing ourselves for possible defeats in the upcoming caucus states, but we want big wins in Ohio and Texas.  You can make calls to help Hillary win at HillaryClinton.com/makecalls.

Are you interested in writing posts for our blog?  Email us at SouthSoundforHillary@yahoo.com and we would welcome your contributions!  We are also looking for your pictures from Hillary's rally at the University of Puget Sound.

Don't forget to mail in your primary ballots or go to the polls on February 19th - you can find all the information at www.southsoundforhillary.com

Expect more interesting posts soon!

Emma