Goodbye Carol Moseley Braun hello sexism

[dsc]

As a Dean supporter I am glad that Senator Moseley Braun endorsed my candidate. But the fact that Al Sharpton is doing so much better than she did, is a testemeant to sexism. By any reasonable standard she is vastly more qualified to be President than he is. She has a long record of winning elections and governing. He has a record of winning not one election. She was ambassador to New Zealand. Her only problem was an ill timed trip to Nigeria. He has Tawana Brawley and several other scandals at least equal to her Nigeria trip. It would be nice to have another explanation for her inability to raise money and get votes relative to his ability to do so but I don't see it. So goodbye Senator Moseley Braun. I hope to see you in a Dean administration.

[funky_bug]

1. Her endorsement speaks volumes

and I was quite sorry to see her go, but I'm happy that she went out with class and dignity. She conducted herself with the utmost respect in all the debates, and stayed far away from childish antics. I cannot for the life of me understand how Sharpton is doing better than Carol. Yes, she had a few "scandals", but they do not compare to the Tawana scandal that Sharpton got muddied with.

My take on Sharpton is that he is a preacher, pure and simple. He has the gift of delivery, and a good sense of prose and timing. How that translates to politics and electibility is beyond me.

[Bread and Circus]

2. I see your point but Al Sharpton has done well for himself in the debates.

May I be so bold as to suggest that perhaps people liked
Al's fiery appearances more? It seems a little too simple
of a conclusion to use "Sexism" as a crutch. I think Hillary
would have certainly bested most of the candidates. Just
because Al and Carol are both black doesn't mean the only thing
differing between the two is gender.

[dsc]

3. He started with a much higher base

and for no apparent reason. He did well in the debates but she also did as well.

[funky_bug]

His higher base

may have had a lot to do with name recognition. While I can see your point that they both did well during the debates, what we remember about Carol is her smile, and possibly that little catch phrase ("take the men only sign off the White House") and what do we remember about Sharpton, aside from his recent "co-signer" comment? Mostly his one-liners and his ability to fling and zing his opponents.

[EllieDem]

5. Someone earlier said that

CMB's withdrawl is a sad day for women. Well, what women? Look how few obviously supported her. We women are always talking about more women in higher positions of power, but then when they enter races, women don't support them necessarily.

[AP]

4. Carol said that people shoud vote for her because she's a woman, but never

really explained what it was that woman should be voting for.

If she had a message of middle class opportunity, and talked about crippling debt, and about working together across gender, race and class for a better America, then should would have covered the full argument.

She needed a set of policies which matched the symbol of her gender.

I don't think she was really ever able to bring those two halves together.

[PatrickS]

6. I love the name of your thread

:evilgrin:ªª

[mbali]

7. Your subject line suggests that sexism will result now that CMB is out

but you make no mention of sexism or how it will play in your post.

What's your point? Are you saying that the absence of a woman in the race means the other candidates will engage in sexism?

[PatrickS]

8. Read it carefully

"But the fact that Al Sharpton is doing so much better than she did, is a testemeant to sexism"

[dsc]

10. If subject lines had a thousand characters I would have been more precise

But to be clear the sexism is why she lost IMO. I thought the post was clear.

[mbali]

14. CMB did better in the DC primary than Dennis Kucinich

so, while sexism may certainly be a factor, it's not the only factor.

Many people have observed that, regardless of Sharpton's reputation, he's added quite a bit to the race, particularly to the debates. In fact, until he yanked Dean's chain the other night, that view seemed pretty prevalent even among Dean supporters. So, the fact that more people supported Sharpton than Braun is probably less a result of sexism than the fact that people find him much more interesting.

[Padraig18]

9. Carol made her point, and made it well.

As she said today, the fact the she was up on the stage with everyone else speaks volumes to minorities and to women about empowerment--- you CAN be President, just like anyone else. I'm sorry to see Carol go, but she has successfully 'purged' herself of any past 'sins', in my mind, and I will proudly support her in any endeavor she chooses to undertake in the future.

Carol has CLASS! :)

[AP]

11. Although I didn't know this until recently, I wonder if this didn't help:

AMY GOODMAN: As we move down the alphabetical list, Carol Moseley-Braun.

CHARLES LEWIS: Carol Moseley-Braun is the person who gave speeches. I mentioned Glaxo-Wellcome paid her $20,000, which is one-third of her income, the year she was a candidate, and there was a senate ban on speech honoraria. In other words, they couldn't receive it, but she was a senator-elect, not a senator, so weeks before taking the oath - there is a pattern with her of repeatedly poor judgment on ethical matters where she was under a cloud, under scandals, under investigations, monies - there was problems with her staff and her money being spent by her senate office. So, there are a lot of things involving the conduct while in office involving money that were very, very interesting, but, you know, she embraced Glaxo-Wellcome, back to them, the pharmaceutical industry. Powerful interests were close to her in her short time in the senate.

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/01/09/1541218

[fishguy]

12. The post is all about sour grapes

Here are some excuses why other candidates will lose-
Kucinich-I'm short, people do not like short men.
Lieberman-I'm Jewish.
Kerry-I'm Catholic.
Sharpton-I'm black.

Really, what good does this post do?

CMB was never in it because she was an inferior candidate.
She could not even win a second term as a senator.

[Cuban_Liberal]

15. Hmmm....

... who will win, then?

[dsc]

16. You might want to look at my avitar

My candidate benefitted from this.

[elperromagico]

13. Make her Secretary of State

I'll keep saying it until it happens. She's innately qualified for the job, as you have ably pointed out.