Sick Of It!

The Hillary bashing continues...

Ms. Clinton has said she will suspend her campaign on Saturday, endorse Mr. Obama, and ask for party unity, but the television pundits are still kicking her. Today her camp issued this statement: 'Hillary is not seeking out the Vice President slot', but I have heard many TV pundits snarkily say, 'But she will take it if it's offered.'

DUH! And what the hell is wrong with that?!!

This goes back to when she ran for Senate here in New York State. All they could say was, 'She just wants to be President.' SO WHAT?

When Mr. Obama ran for Senate, did people whine about how he wanted to be President? When any number of of men have run for public office, did anyone ever say, 'He just wants to be President?' For the love of God people, what the hell is wrong with wanting to be President? It must be because she, as a woman, has the audacity to have some ambition. I say it again.... What The Hell Is Wrong With That?!!!!?????

This campaign has opened my eyes to a level of misogyny in this country that I had been blind to, and I am angry. Don't get me wrong, I will back Mr. Obama all the way. Anything is better than another four years of a Republican in the White House, as far as I'm concerned, but back the hell off Hillary. When you look at the numbers, she got just as many votes as Obama. She freakin' won one of the very last primaries. Just because people fell madly in love with Mr. Obama, that means that the woman should should just bow down and give up?

Can you tell I'm pissed? Because I am. It's like until Hillary lies down and shuts up, these people will not be happy. And that offends me to my core.

I am still hoping that somehow, Hillary can get the VP nod. I think she would be a great asset to an Obama White House. But we are several weeks away from any such decision, and ultimately I will back Mr. Obama on whomever he chooses. But for the love of God, back off my gal Hillary!!!

*Motivator courtesy of ZenLizzy from the TWoP boards

What's Goin' On

So, there are all kinds of things running through my head tonight. Many of them spurred on by, what else, television.

Tomorrow is the season premiere of Jericho. I am beyond excited. The past year has been a really interesting ride for me. I jumped on the SaveJericho train almost right from the beginning, and I have found a whole community of passionate and humble fans. They have encouraged me and commiserated with me, and I can truly say that I have made some new friends because of all of this. Everyone worked so hard to save the show, and then continued with great ideas for promoting and getting the word out. The fans voices have been loud and strong, and we have been rewarded with not only seven new episodes, but the pleasure of cast and crew members reaching out to us through message boards and chat rooms. It is a great feeling, and I can't wait for it all to start.

This weekend I spent watching Band of Brothers on The History Channel. This was a ten part mini-series originally shown on HBO back in 2001. I caught a few installments back then, but never really had a chance to see them all. This season, I became a fan of the show Life, which stars Damian Lewis, who also had a major role in BoB as Captain Dick Winters. Yes, I wanted to check it out because of him. Yes, he is one of my new TV boyfriends (what?), and he was great. But I gotta say, once I got rolling on this series, the thing that really stood out was the whole story. WWII is an amazing time in our history, and the story of Easy Company is remarkable. I can't really shake what I got from this show. And I spent a good chunk of today thinking of our soldiers over in Iraq and Afghanistan. How anyone who has been to war can come home and get on with some semblance of a normal life is beyond me. I have a deeper respect for anyone who has been in a combat situation. War is horrifying and numbing, and to run into the fire is nothing more than heroic. Forget the politics, forget the reason they are there, these kids deserve everything we can give them, both on the front, and here back at home.

Don't these two make a nice pair?

I am not shy in letting people know that I am a proud Democrat, and a fervent Hillary Clinton supporter. Not that I rhave anything against Barack Obama, but I feel like Ms. Clinton is the best choice. Regardless of how this all turns out, we will get a quality candidate. But I gotta say, I thought sexism was more dead than it really is. Day after day I see and hear things about Ms. Clinton that is insanely offensive to me. The misogyny that is running rampant in this camapign is intolerable, and the fact that no one with a big voice is up on a soapbox denouncing this is disheartening. Someone told me that she was talking to some female coworkers of hers about it, and they said, 'That's just the way it is, it's never gonna change.' I was agast to hear this. There is plenty to do about it, starting with just talking about it. It's pretty eye opening to someone like me, who on a day to day basis doesn't feel the sting of sexism, but now I realize that it is boiling under the surface, and it frustrates me.

Anyway, that is what's rolling around in my head today. Wonder what will be there next.

Pundits and Pollsters and Matthews, Oh My!

After a few years off of politics, I have been sucked back in! I spent a good portion of this past Tuesday night watching the results in the New Hampshire primaries. It was great, dramatic television.

We had heard for days that Obama was the new frontrunner, and that he was going to run away with the primaries. The pundits were reading the polls and speculating based on the Iowa caucuses. But the problem with speculation, is that it is just that, speculation.

I think there were a couple of factors working towards Clinton's win. First of all, the 'moment of emotion' that hit all the papers and was played ad naseum on the news channels, making some true emotion look like some kind of cataclismic event. A moment that I feel like was blown way out of proportion, simply because it happened to a woman. I hate to play the gender card here, but the penises out there seem to be really intimidated by a strong smart woman, and I feel like the scrutiny on her every move, her every fashion choice, her every expression is ridiculous and, quite frankly, made me want to run for President, just so I could tell everyone to shove it.

The other factor was most likely the crankiness of the population of New Hampshire. They, like me, hate to be told what the outcome will be, and I think they decided to take all of the blah blah, and go ahead and make up their own minds. And let's face it, this was a close race. One of the reasons it seemed like such a great victory, is that all those talking heads had decided that Clinton was done. They were in such a hurry to predict what was going to happen, they forgot how seriously the Live Free or Die-ers took their votes. The New Hampshire-ites listened to all the candidates had to say, and gave their votes, I'm sure, in a calm and well thought out fashion.

Now don't get me wrong, I think both Obama and Clinton make good candidates for my party, and I am a long-time Edwards supporter, so I would be happy with any of them making it to the end, but I am so excited that we seem to have an actual race on our hands. Even what's going on with the Republicans is interesting to watch. To have such a wide open race on both sides makes this years election that much more compelling. For all of us to have an actual choice this year can only be good for the country. I am thrilled that Cheney has chosen not to run.

So I watched Chris Matthews and Keith Olberman on MSNBC all night long, mainly because they have the faces I like; Tom Brokaw and Brian Williams and so on. Matthews made it very clear most of the night, without saying it out loud, that he did not want Clinton to win. He was sure she was done. During the Iowa caucuses it was very obvious that he was rooting for Obama. His remarks prompted me to say, over and over, 'Chirs Matthews has lost his mind!'. Olberman was doing a fine job all night balancing out Matthews' very slanted commentary. It ended up making my roommate and I, who hadn't really decided who we would vote for, begin rooting for Hillary. Every time the results fell further to her favor, we whooped it up. It made for a fun evening that could have been another boring night of politics. It re-lit my political fire, and I am looking forward to a spirited campaign from both sides. Hopefully, it has lit a fire under other Americans too.