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Thursday, February 14, 2008
Karin Agness :: Townhall.com Columnist
Hillary Clinton: An Unlikely Uniter
by Karin Agness
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We disagree on almost all the issues—healthcare, Title IX, abortion, women in the military. We argue about the role of women in society. We debate how much nature influences us. But there is one issue that has united conservative and liberal women in the past—pornography. So we know it can be done. This rare and uneasy alliance is slowing forming once again, but this time to take on a much tougher opponent—Hillary Clinton.

The “women’s vote” matters. Women made up a majority of voters in 2004. According to the Census Bureau, women currently comprise 52% of the electorate and women are known to be more likely to show up on Election Day.

Conservative and liberal women should make their voices heard by recognizing the threat Clinton poses to what each group stands for and uniting against her presidential ambitions. And we are starting to do just that. While conservative women have generally been at least weary of Clinton from the beginning, liberal women are starting to recognize Clinton’s shortcomings. Last week, Kate Michelman, the former president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, endorsed Barack Obama. Tuesday, Obama won the support of women by double digits in Maryland and Virginia.

For liberal women, uniting against Clinton at first appears to be a tough decision. On one level, Hillary Clinton is the ultimate feminist —she is, after all, the first woman to have a real shot at winning the presidency.

But on a deeper level, Clinton’s campaign is full of anti-feminist tactics that challenge feminism as a way of life. Women on the left emphasize that they want to be treated as independent individuals, many preferring not to marry or to keep their maiden last name, and be judged solely on their intellect. They claim they can do everything men can do and do it better. They tend to fight to be treated like men, rejecting or belittling sex differences. Yet, Clinton effortlessly has fallen into the role of a damsel in distress, waiting for Bill Clinton to come rescue her campaign throughout the primary season. For example, after a particularly weak presidential debate appearance at Drexel University by Hillary last fall, Bill, not Hillary, led the attack, criticizing the debate moderators and other candidates for picking on poor little Hillary and claiming that “those boys have been getting tough on her lately.”

Clinton is mercilessly employing a new campaign tactic, which exaggerates rather than belittles sex differences—tears. Clinton is making an effort to attract women through an emotional appeal which worked in New Hampshire, instead of through an appeal to women’s intellect. Is this how early feminists thought the first women president would have to act to be elected? Early feminists were burning bras and writing intellectual defenses of female liberation, not crying for sympathy.

The decision to vote against Clinton is much easier for conservative women. She sees bigger, more expensive government, not strong families, as the solution to all of our problems. Think universal healthcare. She rejects traditional values, celebrating the hippie generation by even trying to get a $1 million earmark for a New York Woodstock Museum in an appropriations bill.

Worse, Clinton mocks women who take their responsibilities as a mother and wife seriously, responding to an interview comment about her outspoken role in the campaign by saying, “I suppose I could have stayed home and baked cookies and had teas, but what I decided to do was to fulfill my profession which I entered before my husband was in public life.”

Furthermore, Clinton’s campaign continues to claim that Republican women are going to vote for Clinton just because she is a woman. Last fall, Clinton’s chief strategist, Mark Penn predicted that as many as one fourth of Republican women would support Clinton in a general election because she is a woman. Are Republican women not smart enough to choose a candidate based on their policies? This seems to be the implication and one that should further motivate conservative women to campaign against Clinton.

Yes, Clinton has occasionally attempted to soften some of her policies in the past to broader her overall support, as all candidates do in elections. But any observant American knows that the only thing conservative about Clinton is her newfound love for pearls.

In the 1970s and 1980s, conservative and liberal women united to fight pornography, albeit for different reasons. Many religious conservatives argued against pornography because they thought it was sinful and increased sexual immoral behavior, while many noted feminists such as Andrea Dworkin, Catharine MacKinnon and Robin Morgan argued that pornography was degrading to women and facilitated violence against women. Women of all political stripes spoke out, raising much awareness to the issue.

It is time for a new generation of women on the right and the left to speak out on an important issue. Like their alliance to fight pornography, conservative and liberal women should unite, rejecting Clinton’s attempts to woo our votes based on our shared gender, instead voting for the candidate who shares our policies and respects our intellect. Clinton may not be able to unite the country for her, but she has the power to unite women against her.

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About The Author
Karin Agness is President of the Network of Enlightened Women.
 
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left-right women united
There is another issue, Karin, that left-right women unite on -- human trafficking. Again, the reasons are different and similar to how you describe the divide on porn.

quite shallow
Another superficial TH column. How much effort does it take to repeat the conventional wisdoms of conservatives about Hillary Clinton? If one took the time to do a little research, e.g. read one her books, one might have a better basis to write something noteworthy. In her book, It Takes a Villiage, Clinton champions all types of public and private programs for children. She lauds programs in red states and blue states. The only consistent theme is that they work. Perhaps it's her commitment to results rather than ideology that confuses conservatives.

HILLARY
........ STEPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPY
STUNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNK
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

dishonesty and vanity
There is one other difference between some liberal and conservative women perhaps regarding their views of pornography. Some, though definitely not all, liberal women rail against pornography disingenuously. They enjoy the idea that men are vulnerable to it. They enjoy the idea of that kind of control and power. The nuttier ones even call some parts of the sex trade empowering for women when it suits their purpose. Sometimes liberal women who rail against pornography seem to only do so to finesse the issue of pornography into the open where it is used to demean men, while shielding themselves by their supposed moral opposition. For such women, the issues of pornography are merely used as selfish leverage. Another twist is that some, again definitely not all, progressive women simplty enjoy having an issue. Do they really want to solve their issue? Arguably not terribly much. Perhaps they simply like saying they do. Their own vanity trumps all else and why would they want to implement effective change if that would mean losing their cherished role? So whereas superficially such progressive liberal women may seem to hold the same position as conservative women, sometimes their deeper goals are essentially at odds, since the progressives want to highlight and use pornography for their own ends while conservatives want to diminish it.


Clintons threaten Democratic party

Clintons threaten Democratic party with political suicide bombing

Out of desperation and narcissism, the Clinton campaign has confirmed that they will (1) renege on her signed pledge and push to seat the delegates from MI and FL, and (2) push superdelegates to “steal” the nomination from Obama even if he has won more pledged delegates, popular votes, and states.

Of this strategy, Andrew Sullivan writes: If Clinton were to win this way, she would, I believe, guarantee the Democrats will lose in November. A bitter, polarizing, divisive battle for Michigan and Florida with the result being a Clinton nomination would prompt large numbers of independents and Obama Democrats to stay home or even vote McCain. Would the Clintons sacrifice their party for their own ambition? You bet they would.

READ MORE

http://controlcongress.com/uncategorized/clintons-threaten- democratic-party-with-political-suicide-bombing

Barack is trumping Shrillary
with a better game plan and tactics.
I think that when they autopsy her campaign many will point to Slick Willie as the loose cannon that backfired... the race card thing was STUPID, but leave it to the Clintonista's to try any dirty trick. The tears thing could only be used once, and only a few states have a lot of Mexicans actually voting (see Mexifornia)-- SO FAR.

Barack has out-campaigned her, partly because Presidente Jorge and the rest have so stunk up Washington (what else is new?!) that is is best not to be stressing experience there. Shrillary had parlayed Slick Willie's adultery into a Senate seat (as even honest libs like Howard Fineman admit), but too many correctly do not see Slick's time in the W.H. as HER experience, though she tries to play that for all it is worth.

Barack is an empty suit so far on details, but so was Jimma' Carter in '76 when he followed another failure/bad smell in the W.H... appearance passes for reality to many. And he got lucky to have the underwhelming liberal open border RINO Amnesty Juan McQuisling as his opponent. We are sick of hearing the neoCON drivel about how we must never leave Iraq; it is the only tune the old man can play. He admits that he does not understand economics-- swell time for that "straight talk."

We had better support a lot of REAL Republicans for Congress to stop the bleeding and save the republic from the ILLEGAL invasion and the permanent welfare state, which the 'Crats will have when the ILLEGALS all actually vote, which will not even require citizenship... that's what the driver's license ploy is all about.

Cam
You are correct about Hillary being a champion for private and public programs for children. She sent her daughter to private boarding schools and when she was home she had private nannies take care of her day and night. This made sure that motherhood never got in the way of her political ambitions. When you did see her child in public is was for those touching moments she was used as a prop with the three of them holding hands walking across the White House lawn to give that loving family image to get sympathy for the latest fiasco and you're right this consistent theme worked for all the liberals that bought it.

Great article. Brilliant points.
Brilliant article, Ms. Agness. Strong points.

Lew
What "political ambitions"? There's no evidence that she would have ever run for office if Chuck Schumer hadn't talked her into running for the Senate. In her book It Takes a Villiage, she fully acknowledges that, as attorney, she was fortunate enough to affor a nanny for Chelsea. She then devoted her life to seeing that all children have access to the same level of care. Read the book. If you're still cynical, at least then you'll have some valid basis.

Pornography splits feminists
Feminism is divided on the issue - so it is tricky to get women to unite against Hillary on the issue.

For the left, pornography involves tricky issues of free speech and government interference in the bedroom. The left even had trouble uniting against pornography in its most egregious use - public display in a public library.

But pornography also splits feminists into those who see porn as one tool in the arsenal of sexual liberation. Just as the mythology of prostitution and "sex workers" has the workers in a position of power vis-a-vis the clients, so pornography exploits the fantasy of the power of the owner of the viewed body over the needy viewer.

The opponents of the restriction of pornography dress themselves up in the First Amendment, and become martyrs of liberty.

Good luck.


The other side
Sorry, the other side of the issue is taken up by moralizing feminists who complain of the objectification of women. This philosophically tenuous position has come under fire by a new generation of women who want to "deconstruct" the cartesianism implied by the argument. "Post modern" women may not buy it.

Cam
Her political ambition had to start at least 35 years ago. She keeps telling us that on her stump speech. She was a legal counsel during Watergate and fought to get one president out of office for lying and then fought to keep another one in office that lied under oath. I truly hope you don't think for one minute that it was just Bill that promised her the nomination if she stuck by her man.

Again Lew
read her book. She's been fighting for causes all her life. Exactly who is in the position to "promise" anyone the nomination either now or 8 years ago?

I've been so wrong!
Cam is brilliant! If Hillary Clinton wrote something in her book then it MUST be true! I can't think of a single reason whe would write anything false or self-grandising. I mean, she never has lied to us before, right? And I'm sure 8 years ago she hadn't even thought of running! That would mean she'd had a plan the whole time....Nah... Where can I get this honest, genuine acount of this wonderful, selfless woman? Hopefully filed under fiction.

Al
Cam is a perfect example of why the Clinton's were so successful for so long. If they said it, it's got to be true. The cause she has fought for is how to live off a government subsidy at a grand scale all of her adult life.

Al
As conservatives so often do, you've described yourself perfectly. Liberals aren't the ones who write off all information coming from sources other than Fox News as MSM.

Given that you haven't read her books, you wouldn't be in a position to say whether they're self-grandising or not, would you? I've read books by Ann Coulter, David Limbaugh, and Ramesh Punurru.

Only small portions of her book, It Takes a Village, reference her own life. It's almost entirely about lauding the programs of others.

With 935 documented lies, the Bush Administration has set a record Clinton or anyone else will have a tough time breaking.

Cam
Wow, that's a lot of assumptions you've made there. I never said I'm conservative or said anything to indicate that I "write off" views that differ from my own. I don't recall discussing my television or reading habits. Not once did the word Bush leave my fingertips. It may be that your own thoughts and feelings somehow tainted your reading of my comment.

I merely stated that HC is a self serving, manipulative, liar who's only goal is to reach the White House through any means possible (an opinion many liberal Obama supporters share) and that I wouldn't read her piece of trash book if you paid me. I stand by that opinion. Anything else you think you know about me - you made up in your head.

wow woodstock
let's celebrate knocking down fences and barging into a concert free.
let's celebrate the rain, mud, feces, urine in abundance.
ok, i'll go to hippie rehab tomorrow.

adios (i gotta cry now)
Harvey
Lancaster, Hippyfornia
dial 1 for english
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