Someone tell me, please, how grown men in 2008 can believe it’s their right - their duty, even - to tell a woman when she should rein in her ambition and go home.
Male columnists, male politicians, male talking heads, male “surrogates” - all of them harrumphing that it’s time for Hillary Clinton to stop it, just stop it, with all this talk of being president.
Who cares if the race is close? So what if millions of Americans believe their yet-to-be-cast votes matter? Voters, schmoters. When was this ever about them?
Hillary Clinton, they insist, must quit.
Well, boys, you’d better sit down for this one: This is no longer the playground of your youth. The girls aren’t sitting in the stands keeping score and cheering whenever you’re at bat. In fact, the girls aren’t girls at all anymore. We’re all grown up, and we are so done with this notion that the trajectory of our lives must end at the border of your comfort zone.
Hillary Clinton marched across that border miles ago, and she is not about to surrender. Not now, anyway, and not ever because you said so. And if you’ve got anything besides hubris knocking around in those heads of yours, you will take note of the potential backfire in your volley.
“OK, now I’m mad,” a friend, Karen, told me last week. “Who do they think they are?”
She supports Barack Obama, but the thought of finger-wagging men telling a woman what to do really set her off. She might change her vote, and anyone reading some of the comments on newspapers’ Web sites and blogs knows she’s not alone.
I’m thinkin’ that’s not where you fellas were going with this one. But I also think I can help.
The problem here is that you don’t understand the tenacity of American women.
It’s not all your fault. Your history books were full of tales of manly men beating each other up and then taking the livestock and womenfolk as prizes. Frankly, you were misled.
You didn’t learn about how women risked their lives birthing babies in open fields and harboring escaped slaves on their flight to freedom. You probably didn’t spend much time on how Alice Paul and her fellow suffragettes were tortured in prison because they dared to picket for the right to vote. And chances are you’ve never cracked the spine of the book “Women’s Letters: America From the Revolutionary War to the Present” by Lisa Grunwald and Stephen J. Adler. If you had, you would have seen the letter Abigail Grant wrote to her husband, Aszariah, in 1776 after she found out he had been less than heroic in the battle at Bunker Hill.
“Loving Husband,” her note began. “I hear by Capt Wm Riley news that makes me very Sorry for he Says you proved a Grand Coward when the fight was at Bunkers hill & in your Surprise he reports that you threw away your Cartridges So as to escape going into the Battle. . . . [I]f you are afraid pray own the truth & come home & take care of our Children & I will be Glad to Come & take your place, & never will be Called a Coward, neither will I throw away one Cartridge but exert myself bravely in so good a Cause.”
See, that’s the thing. You’ve got to remember that there’s a bit of Abigail Grant in a whole lot of us women. Granted, we hide it well. Most women are all fervor and no fanfare, running everything from companies and campaigns to families and food drives without so much as a plaque with their names on it at the end of it all.
We’re full of fight, too, which is the only way we got the vote, the pill and the right to own property, as opposed to being property. We don’t beat our breasts and brag about this, though, which appears to be part of the problem. Some men apparently still confuse humility with acquiescence, and then they think we need their permission to make a difference.
One mile at a time, Hillary Clinton is clearing a new road, taking hits for the rest of us along the way.
“It feels so personal,” another friend, Mary, told me. “Whenever I hear men bash Hillary, it feels like they’re attacking me.”
Hillary IS Abigail Grant, yes! A piece of our history that I did not know. I will get that book of women's letters. Thank you. But let us not forget; it is not just men who rage against the pink banner. It is also some of our sisters and some of our daughters and nieces. How have we failed to bring them into this women's quest for our small but equal place in the sun? It gives me pause and a real knowing that we will think and talk and write about this time in women't history for many years to come.
jangles...gendergappers had a wonderful line yesterday about today's young women..."They landed on 3rd based and thought they got a triple" - but without understanding, appreciating or - in my opinion, respecting the work we older sisters (and brothers!) did to pave the way.
I wonder about these two states and the mess it is and I wonder if maybe Hillary should call Barack and ask him to meet with her privately, just the two of them, and forge some kind of compromise where they each give a little, get a little but come up with a deal that honors those voters, announce their proposed bargain in a joint statement. I do not think any posturing or press is going to produce any movement.
This off topic a little but very important. Check this out at TalkLeft:
The story about the pregnant woman is TRUE that Hillary has been repeating. She was denied treatment at a clinic near her home (not the Hospitol the chose to accuse itself) because she did not have the $100 per visit they wanted, because of the previous bills she had incurred. The media needs to get its act together.
Please pass on because the media will never correct itself, and Hillary needs our help.
13 comments:
"The people who cast the votes don't decide an election, the people who count the votes do."
Joseph Stalin
Very impressive, and one might fly it upside down to indicated distress.
What an image, and ain't it the truth.
That should be posted everywhere
BEAUTIFUL. Clapitty clap clap! (two-finger whistle)
You're all gonna live this!!
------------------------------
Sunday, April 06, 2008
By: Connie Schultz - Plain Dealer Columnist (Cleveland, OH)
Full Article:
Someone tell me, please, how grown men in 2008 can believe it’s their
right - their duty, even - to tell a woman when she should rein in
her ambition and go home.
Male columnists, male politicians, male talking heads,
male “surrogates” - all of them harrumphing that it’s time for
Hillary Clinton to stop it, just stop it, with all this talk of being
president.
Who cares if the race is close? So what if millions of Americans
believe their yet-to-be-cast votes matter? Voters, schmoters. When
was this ever about them?
Hillary Clinton, they insist, must quit.
Well, boys, you’d better sit down for this one: This is no longer
the playground of your youth. The girls aren’t sitting in the stands
keeping score and cheering whenever you’re at bat. In fact, the girls
aren’t girls at all anymore. We’re all grown up, and we are so done
with this notion that the trajectory of our lives must end at the
border of your comfort zone.
Hillary Clinton marched across that border miles ago, and she is not
about to surrender. Not now, anyway, and not ever because you said
so. And if you’ve got anything besides hubris knocking around in
those heads of yours, you will take note of the potential backfire in
your volley.
“OK, now I’m mad,” a friend, Karen, told me last week. “Who do they
think they are?”
She supports Barack Obama, but the thought of finger-wagging men
telling a woman what to do really set her off. She might change her
vote, and anyone reading some of the comments on newspapers’ Web
sites and blogs knows she’s not alone.
I’m thinkin’ that’s not where you fellas were going with this one.
But I also think I can help.
The problem here is that you don’t understand the tenacity of
American women.
It’s not all your fault. Your history books were full of tales of
manly men beating each other up and then taking the livestock and
womenfolk as prizes. Frankly, you were misled.
You didn’t learn about how women risked their lives birthing babies
in open fields and harboring escaped slaves on their flight to
freedom. You probably didn’t spend much time on how Alice Paul and
her fellow suffragettes were tortured in prison because they dared to
picket for the right to vote. And chances are you’ve never cracked
the spine of the book “Women’s Letters: America From the
Revolutionary War to the Present” by Lisa Grunwald and Stephen J.
Adler. If you had, you would have seen the letter Abigail Grant wrote
to her husband, Aszariah, in 1776 after she found out he had been
less than heroic in the battle at Bunker Hill.
“Loving Husband,” her note began. “I hear by Capt Wm Riley news that
makes me very Sorry for he Says you proved a Grand Coward when the
fight was at Bunkers hill & in your Surprise he reports that you
threw away your Cartridges So as to escape going into the
Battle. . . . [I]f you are afraid pray own the truth & come home &
take care of our Children & I will be Glad to Come & take your place,
& never will be Called a Coward, neither will I throw away one
Cartridge but exert myself bravely in so good a Cause.”
See, that’s the thing. You’ve got to remember that there’s a bit of
Abigail Grant in a whole lot of us women. Granted, we hide it well.
Most women are all fervor and no fanfare, running everything from
companies and campaigns to families and food drives without so much
as a plaque with their names on it at the end of it all.
We’re full of fight, too, which is the only way we got the vote, the
pill and the right to own property, as opposed to being property. We
don’t beat our breasts and brag about this, though, which appears to
be part of the problem. Some men apparently still confuse humility
with acquiescence, and then they think we need their permission to
make a difference.
One mile at a time, Hillary Clinton is clearing a new road, taking
hits for the rest of us along the way.
“It feels so personal,” another friend, Mary, told me. “Whenever I
hear men bash Hillary, it feels like they’re attacking me.”
See, guys, that’s not good.
Remember: Abigail Grant lives.
Hillary IS Abigail Grant, yes! A piece of our history that I did not know. I will get that book of women's letters. Thank you. But let us not forget; it is not just men who rage against the pink banner. It is also some of our sisters and some of our daughters and nieces. How have we failed to bring them into this women's quest for our small but equal place in the sun? It gives me pause and a real knowing that we will think and talk and write about this time in women't history for many years to come.
jangles...gendergappers had a wonderful line yesterday about today's young women..."They landed on 3rd based and thought they got a triple" - but without understanding, appreciating or - in my opinion, respecting the work we older sisters (and brothers!) did to pave the way.
I wonder about these two states and the mess it is and I wonder if maybe Hillary should call Barack and ask him to meet with her privately, just the two of them, and forge some kind of compromise where they each give a little, get a little but come up with a deal that honors those voters, announce their proposed bargain in a joint statement. I do not think any posturing or press is going to produce any movement.
This off topic a little but very important. Check this out at TalkLeft:
The story about the pregnant woman is TRUE that Hillary has been repeating. She was denied treatment at a clinic near her home (not the Hospitol the chose to accuse itself) because she did not have the $100 per visit they wanted, because of the previous bills she had incurred.
The media needs to get its act together.
Please pass on because the media will never correct itself, and Hillary needs our help.
sas: go over to MyDD...there is a diary that platantly calls Hillary a liar - based largely on this this story.
Comment. Post. Help!
Sorry...blatantly!!!!
OT: How do you pronounce Anglachel?
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