The Myth of Destruction
Written by admin on February 20, 2008 – 1:53 am -I recently received a link to the following post from a progressive list I’m on:
An Open Letter to Senators Clinton and Obama
February 19th, 2008Dear Senators Clinton and Obama-
You’re both talented, experienced, inspiring, accomplished individuals. However, as the last few months and few dozen primaries have shown, voters are divided about which one of you should be our presidential candidate. But we all agree: both of you are far better than the alternative.
We need a Democrat to take the White House. But if we spend the next months fighting each other over which of you is the best candidate, we’re going to lose this fall. That loss will be devastating not just for the next four years but for decades to come.
Don’t divide our party the way the last two elections have divided our country. Work together. Make the Democratic ticket as strong as it can be. Show us that you’re capable of leading the party — and the country — together.
Clinton-Obama. Obama-Clinton. We don’t all agree which ticket would be best, but what we do know is that our party and our nation will be much better united than divided.
Sincerely,
Your Party Members
Honestly, I don’t understand this kind of talk. A few things should be keep in mind:
1. Primary voters should have a chance to vote.
2. The primary voter totals show that:
With 99 percent of the vote (in Wisconsin), both Obama and Clinton received more votes
than ALL THE REPUBLICANS COMBINED! If it was only on votes and you stripped all party affiliation (of those that are still running), the order would go:
Obama 645,554
Clinton 452,590
McCain 224,122
Huckabee 151,114
Paul 19,129
Gravel 596
How is this election process ripping the Democratic Party apart?
Tags: Clinton, Democratic Party, election victory, Obama
Posted in Clinton, Democratic Party, Obama | 1 Comment »
Hillary’s Rudy Moment
Written by admin on February 13, 2008 – 12:23 am -Recently the New York Times recently ran a story about Hillary’s strategy concerning their pathway for the next few weeks of the campaign. They wrote:
Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and her advisers increasingly believe that, after a series of losses, she has been boxed into a must-win position in the Ohio and Texas primaries on March 4, and she has begun reassuring anxious donors and superdelegates that the nomination is not slipping away from her, aides said on Monday.
By not addressing the losses of the past weekend, Clinton is following the path of fellow New Yorker, Rudy Gulliani. Gulliani kept saying that it was all about Florida, that his early losses didn’t mean anything. If Clinton is wise, she’ll back away from this tactic and start making big money dumps in the states ahead. If it’s one thing that should be learned from Rudy, it’s that every primary is important.
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Hillary Talk, Not Gender Talk, Not Frank Talk
Written by admin on February 8, 2008 – 4:44 am -In the past week or so I’ve noticed increasing heat (see also: infighting) from the supporters in the GLBT Clinton camp. Tuesday they pointed towards Hillary Clinton’s “fully inclusive” ENDA statement as a sign that Hillary is a more GLBT inclusive candidate than Barack Obama. I unexpectedly found an example of this kind of rhetoric from Nancy Nangeroni (of Gender Talk fame). She included the text from Hillary’s statement to the GLBT community that included her support to “pass the Employment Non-Discrimination Act and assure that they are both fully inclusive of sexual orientation and gender identity and expression.”
But that wasn’t the original statement. Over at Ourchart.com Hillary’s post was edited:
The first inclusion statement was so ambiguous, you could insinuate inclusion of the Rockettes, the New York Giant’s offensive line, or the Cher Impersonators Local 237. But the big shocker is that the language of the re-edit goes even farther than the transgender inclusive ENDA bill (HR. 2015) or it’s stunted orphan GENDA (HR. 3686) that was never voted on in the House.
Gender identity is:
“the gender-related identity, appearance, or mannerisms or other gender-related characteristics of an individual, with or without regard to the individual’s designated sex at birth.” - HR 3686
Gender identity or expression, on the other hand, is defined as:
a person’s actual or perceived gender, as well as a person’s gender identity, gender-related self image, gender-related appearance, or gender-related expression whether or not that gender identity, gender-related self image, gender-related appearance, or gender-related expression is different from that traditionally associated with a person’s sex at birth.
Could it be that Hillary Clinton is really Glenda The Good Witch?
“Some of my colleagues, some of my friends, I say to my colleagues in the gay community, maybe I will do a little stereotyping, maybe they have seen the Wizard of Oz too often. They seem to have Speaker Pelosi, a wonderful dedicated, committed supporter of human rights, confused with Glenda the good witch. They think if she waved her magic wand she could somehow change things.” - Barney Frank
Call me Elphaba, but I’m not much on “good witches” or fairy tales. If Hillary is for “gender expression”, one has to wonder if she’ll oppose HR 3685 when it comes up for a vote in the Senate later this month.
Nangeroni ends her post at Gender Talk by saying:
Your turn now, Mr. Obama.
If Nangeroni would have visited BarackObama.com she’d see Obama’s PDF on GLBT issues:
Expand Hate Crimes Statutes
In 2004, crimes against LGBT Americans constituted the third-highest category of hate crime reported. Obama co-sponsored legislation to expand federal hate crimes law to include crimes perpetrated because of sexual orientation or gender identity.
Fight Workplace Discrimination and Promote Rights
Obama believes the Employment Non-Discrimination Act should be expanded to include sexual orientation and gender identity.
This document was created on 10/11/07. It’s nice that Hillary’s finally come on board to support transgender people in Feburary 2008, but it’s disingenuous to claim Hillary’s got one up on Obama. One only need look at what Clinton said in May of last year to see how each compared on the gender identity issue:
HRC:
Currently, there is no federal law protecting individuals from job discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. Qualified, hardworking Americans can still be denied job opportunities, fired or otherwise be discriminated against just because of their sexual orientation in 33 states and because of their gender identity in 42 states As president, would you support and work for passage of a federal bill that would prohibit job discrimination based on sexual orientation an gender identity?
Obama: “I believe the Employment Non-Discrimination Act should be expanded to include sexual orientation and gender identity. I sponsored legislation in the Illinois State Senate that would ban discrimination in employment on the basis of sexual orientation.”
Clinton: As president, I will sign the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) into law.Throughout my Senate career, I have been an original co-sponsor of ENDA. It is inconceivable to me that people who work hard and do a good job every day can stillbe fired because of who they love. It ’s unfair, it’s un-American, and I will put a stopto it once and for all.
You can view HRC’s Presidential Questionnaire found here (for Hillary) and here (for Obama).
If you’re going to spout rhetoric, research that of which you speak. If you fail to, you end up looking like a liar or a fool.
Posted in Clinton, ENDA | No Comments »
