Frank Rich: Angry Clinton Women (heart)McCain?

[cal04]

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/15/opinion/15rich.html?ref=opinion
Angry Clinton Women McCain?

TEN years ago John McCain had to apologize for regaling a Republican audience with a crude sexual joke about Hillary and Chelsea Clinton and Janet Reno. Last year he had to explain why he didn’t so much as flinch when a supporter asked him on camera, “How do we beat the bitch?” But these days Mr. McCain just loves the women.

In his televised address on Barack Obama’s victory night of June 3, he dismissed Mr. Obama in a single patronizing line but devoted four fulsome sentences to praising Mrs. Clinton for “inspiring millions of women.” The McCain Web site is showcasing a new blogger who crooned of the “genuine affection” for Mrs. Clinton “here at McCain HQ” after she lost. One of the few visible women in the McCain campaign hierarchy, Carly Fiorina, has declared herself “enormously proud” of Mrs. Clinton and is barnstorming to win over Democratic women to her guy’s cause.

How heartwarming. You’d never guess that Mr. McCain is a fierce foe of abortion rights or that he voted to terminate the federal family-planning program that provides breast-cancer screenings. You’d never know that his new campaign blogger, recruited from The Weekly Standard, had shown his genuine affection for Mrs. Clinton earlier this year by portraying her as a liar and whiner and by piling on with a locker-room jeer after she’d been called a monster. “Tell us something we don’t know,” he wrote.

But while the McCain campaign apparently believes that women are easy marks for its latent feminist cross-dressing, a reality check suggests that most women can instantly identify any man who’s hitting on them for selfish ends. New polls show Mr. Obama opening up a huge lead among female voters — beating Mr. McCain by 13 percentage points in the Gallup and Rasmussen polls and by 19 points in the latest Wall Street Journal-NBC News survey.

(snip)
The ludicrous idea that votes from Clinton supporters would somehow make up for McCain defectors is merely the latest fairy tale brought to you by those same Washington soothsayers who said Fred Thompson was the man to beat and that young people don’t turn up to vote.

[The_Casual_Observer]

1. No matter how pissed anybody is, they won't vote for McCain.

[Warpy]

2. I know some who are angry

but they're planning to write Clinton in, not vote for the top office, or sit the election out rather than vote for the mean man who defeated her.

I hope that they, too, will get over it and realize that the USSC is reason to vote for just about anyone with a (D) after his/her name and that their votes are important, too.

The next few months will see much of the hysteria die down. Right now, they're in the early stages of the grieving process. Acceptance and a return to sanity will come later.

[Maeve]

3. This is one of those columns to file away and return to

It's the cold manipulation these bozos are trying to pull that is the real sexism--and I trust my fellow women enough to believe we won't fall for it.
:kick:

[Yael]

4. Et tu, Mom? LOL!

The only figure in the McCain camp who has candidly acknowledged any glitches is his mother, the marvelous 96-year-old Roberta McCain. Back in January she said that she didn’t think her son had any support in the G.O.P. base and that those voters would only take him if “holding their nose.”

[Jade Fox]

5. Love that last paragraph....n/t

[liberalcanuck]

6. Just read Rich's article. It's a fantastic piece of journalism. Basically

says "bullshit" to the entire msm.

I love this paragraph:

<snip>
But as we know from our Groundhog Days of 2008, a fictional campaign narrative, once set in the concrete of Beltway bloviation, must be recited incessantly, especially on cable television, no matter what facts stand in the way. Only an earthquake — the Iowa results, for instance — could shatter such previously immutable story lines as the Clinton campaign’s invincibility and the innate hostility of white voters to a black candidate.
</snip>

[madmom]

7. My SO was a Clinton supporter, and got very angry at the msm and Obama about

the primary even to the point of saying he'd never vote for Obama and he'd vote for mclame. All through his rants I didn't say much of anything, after about a week he said ok I'm over it, who am I kidding, no way in hell could I vote for mclame or any repug. Maybe there's a lesson here, let them get out their rants/frustrations they'll come back just don't beat them over the head.

[underpants]

8. I knew that Andrea Mitchell was misrepresenting what was in the NBC/WSJ poll

and I posted as much that night. Suddenly she stopped talking about specific numbers and started giving vague analysis.

Typical.

Another great article by Rich.