Why does America hate Hillary Clinton so much? - Joan Smith, The Independent (April 27)

[Apollo11]

THE INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY - London, England - 27 April 2008

Medusa, bitch, witch, mad cow, DemocRAT... Why does America hate Hillary Clinton so much?

by Joan Smith

Hillary Clinton is a witch who eats babies. She is a modern-day Medusa who turns men to stone. She is a DemocRAT, with a rodent's body and long tail. She is a mad cow, spreading disease across the country. Hey guys, life's a bitch, so why vote for one? No, I haven't taken leave of my senses: I am simply repeating some of the most vitriolic attacks on a woman who has dared to run for the White House, prompting an outpouring of misogyny on a scale that brings to mind medieval witch-hunts. The amazing thing is not that Clinton is trailing Barack Obama, but the fact that she's doing so well.

Last weekend she won Pennsylvania, despite her campaign being outspent three-to-one. She has been written off countless times since January, when commentators gleefully – and wrongly – declared that Clinton had been defeated in the New Hampshire primary; one conservative pundit confidently said: "The witch is dead, and life is going to change." Three months later, Clinton is still in the race, but I sometimes wonder how she manages to get up every morning. I'm not a natural supporter, but the degree of vilification she has been subjected to reminds me of the pathological misogyny of the notorious witch-finders' manual, Malleus Maleficarum.

Let's start with the T-shirts, mugs and stickers at the online "Hillary vilification shop" where images of her as a rat, a mad cow and Medusa are on sale. "Hillary will eat our babies," one message proclaims. "Pillory Hillary 2008," says another, next to an image of Clinton in the stocks. Most sinister of all is "Wanna See Hillary Run? ... Throw Rocks At Her", echoing the barbaric practice of stoning women to death.

(...)

"This is sociopathic woman-hating," the feminist author Robin Morgan. "If it were about Jews, we would recognise it instantly as anti-Semitic propaganda; if about race, as KKK poison. Where is our sense of outrage – as citizens, voters, Americans?"

(...)

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/joan-smith/joan-smith-medusa-bitch-witch-mad-cow-democrat-why-does-america-hate-hillary-clinton-so-much-816122.html

[leftofcool]

1. She has been hated for years

So has Bill and of course, according to DU, he is now the worst president we ever had.

[ccharles000]

2. I don't hate her.

I love her!

[susankh4]

3. K&R

Excellent post!

[Demeter]

4. What's Not To Hate?

What has Hillary done for the nation? For its children? For her sisters? Point to one accomplishment that was for somebody else's good that is solely or even partly Hillary's doing.

[Apollo11]

5. Healthcare for children and veterans

But if you think everything Hillary says is a lie - then I guess you won't buy it.

[natrat]

6. please her health care plan will be nothing more than mandating huge profit for corporations

[ncsoapmaker]

7. Heres a few things she has done

As a law student, Hillary represented foster children and parents in family court and worked on some of the earliest studies creating legal standards for identifying and protecting abused children.
Following graduation, she became a staff attorney for the Children's Defense Fund.
Was one of only two women lawyers on the staff of the House Judiciary Committee considering the impeachment of Richard Nixon.
Hillary ran a legal aid clinic for the poor when she first got to Arkansas and handled cases of foster care and child abuse.
She organized a group called Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families.
At 30, President Carter appointed her to the board of the United States Legal Services Corporation, a federal nonprofit program that funds legal assistance for the poor.
She led the American Bar Association's Commission on Women in the Profession, which played a pioneering role in raising awareness of issues like sexual harassment and equal pay.
Hillary was twice named one of the 100 most influential lawyers in America.
As1st Lady she traveled the globe speaking out against the degradation and abuse of women and standing up for the powerful idea that women's rights are human rights.
In the White House, Hillary led efforts to make adoption easier, to expand early learning and child care, to increase funding for breast cancer research, and to help veterans suffering from Gulf War syndrome who had too often been ignored in the past.
She helped launch a national campaign to prevent teen pregnancy and helped create the Adoption and Safe Families Act of care into adoption has increased dramatically.
She was instrumental in designing and championing the State Children's Health Insurance Program. She battled the big drug companies to force them to test their drugs for children and to make sure all kids get the immunizations they need through the Vaccines for Children Program.
Hillary's 1995 book It Takes A Village, about the responsibility we all have to help children succeed, became an international best seller. Hillary has donated the proceeds -- more than a million dollars -- to children's causes across the country.
In 2000, Hillary was elected to the United States Senate from New York. As Senator, Hillary has continued her advocacy for children and families and has been a national leader on homeland security and national security issues.
After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, Hillary worked with her colleagues to secure the funds New York needed to recover and rebuild. She fought to provide compensation to the families of the victims, grants for hard-hit small businesses, and health care for front line workers at Ground Zero. And she continues to work for resources that enable New York to grow, to improve homeland security for New York and other communities, and to protect all Americans from future attacks.
She is the first New Yorker ever to serve on the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Hillary passed legislation to track the health status of our troops so that conditions like Gulf War Syndrome would no longer be misdiagnosed.
She is an original sponsor of legislation that expanded health benefits to members of the National Guard and Reserves and has been a strong critic of the Administration's handling of Iraq.

[Apollo11]

9. Thanks for posting this!

:kick:

[pingzing58]

8. I don't why so many DUers hate Hillary. I don't trust Obama and never will.