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Hillary's Cheap Pandering to Female Voters
(link fixed)
Sorry, but my take on Hillary is she's standing squarely on the accomplishments of her husband in order to get ahead. I think that does very little to advance the woman's movement. (WStarr)
I've noticed that Hillary has frequently used references to her gender as well as her husband's accomplishments to help her out in this race.
Here's an example:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCGCrjmCkh0
skip to 2'10"
"Someone standing on the steps of the capital will place his or HER hand on the Bible..." (women cheer loudly)
Why didn't she just leave gender out of it and say "place their hand on the Bible"? Can you imagine if Obama had made such a cheap appeal to a particular demographic? Maybe he might have said...
"Someone standing on the steps of the capital, either a white person or maybe a BLACK man... (black people cheer loudly)...will place their hand on the Bible..."
I guess that could have been Jesse Jackson's line....
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Comments (5)
Because "their hand" is grammatically incorrect. Hand is singular, not plural.
February 19, 2008 9:01 AM | Reply | Permalink
Well, then I failz at Engrish. :)
Either way, if you actually listen to the clip it's obvious by the emphasis and pause after "HER" that she's aiming for cheap brownie points with females.
Not saying I'm shocked or upset since it's exactly what we would expect from her. I'm just glad that her rival has avoided using such tactics.
February 19, 2008 1:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
That's the best example of pandering to women you could find? Good grief.
February 19, 2008 9:41 AM | Reply | Permalink
There are plenty of other examples. She's repeatedly used "shout outs" to court female voters. Nothing wrong with that if you're speaking at a feminist rally, but I think she fails to realize how many people it alienates in a large election. Not to mention her CRYING routine.
Previous black candidates for president have run into the same problem as well. They give so many shout-outs (both subtle and blatant) to black people that they alienate many of the non-blacks.
How about at the last debate: "IT TOOK A CLINTON TO CLEAN UP AFTER THE FIRST BUSH AND A CLINTON TO CLEAN UP AFTER THE SECOND BUSH."
I guess this isn't so much pandering as it is riding someone else's coattails. Plus it disregards the fact that her personal accomplishments as First Lady were at best minimal and at worst a fiasco (Hillarycare, recalled appointments, etc).
Getting ahead using your husband's fame and fortune... Is that what the Feminist Movement was all about? I'm not saying she hasn't done anything on her own. But if she had taken her husband out of the argument (and off the campaing trail!) I think she'd be doing a lot better right now.
February 19, 2008 1:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
Correction, here is the actual quote:
"It took one Clinton to clean up after the first George Bush, it'll take another Clinton to clean up after this one."
It was a good line and got her plenty of applause, but it was clearly an example of using her name and husband's accomplishments to support her candidacy. Don't her supporters expect a bit more from her?
February 19, 2008 1:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
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