Oh, I have a Campbell crush now, too, and I don’t even like the girls.

Way to rant, Campbell! I didn’t know she was married to an icky wingnut tool, but I forgive her.

PS: Any thoughts on the latest Rick Davis revelations? I’m starting to think McCain has to shitcan Davis or this could drag him down. Heh!

Any thoughts on the latest Rick Davis revelations?

Let’s see how it bubbles up today, but I’m currently guessing that the stubborn maverick won’t budge.

Man, this “declare war on the media” thing is really working out for them.  Talk about over playing your hand…

Betty—The emergeging response over at FreeRepublic is that “Rick Davis’ company performed a business service for Frannie and Freddie, so it’s only right that they received compensation. What Davis did is TOTALLY unlike Obama taking campaign funds from these criminals. Davis was simply doing a day’s work for a day’s pay, which is the foundation of American freedom, after all.”

Somehow, though, the “Frank was a straight-up, in-your-face K-Street whore who was undermining America’s economic foundations BECAUSE THAT WAS HIS JOB, FUCKER” strikes me as the sort of defense I’d expect from a very bad attorney representing a contract killer who got caught in the act.

That would be “emerging,” of course.

Off topic: I despise that self-righteous, hypocritical blowhard Melissa McEwan. Anyone else? I’m restricting this to a short comment to keep me from writing a post that will probably get me in a whole buncha trouble.

I’m restricting this to a short comment to keep me from writing a post that will probably get me in a whole buncha trouble.

Do it! Do it! Do it!

Seriously, I don’t keep up with MM, but I have a vague impression that she’s one of those insufferable more-feminist-than-thou types who would do us all a favor by having a nice, steaming hot mug of shut-the-fuck-up.

She’s currently policing the progressive blogosphere for examples of sexism against Sarah Palin.  She recently took on Margaret Cho (ya know, a comedian) for directing allegedly “sexist” remarks at Palin and called out the The American Prospect for running an ad for “Yet Another Bush We Can’t Trust” t-shirts with Palin’s face on them.  What drives me nuts about her selective sanctimonious bullshit is that she allowed her content to be cross-posted not once but three fucking times at No Quarter, long after it had clearly descended into racist hate site territory, and the last time she was cross-posted there, NQ was running that ad for Webster Tarpley’s book comparing Obama to Mussolini. Somehow I missed her posts calling out Flowbee and SusanUnPC for being racist shitheads and condemning them for running that ad. What a fucking hack.

I am now an official member of the Campbell Brown Fan Club.

She’s currently policing the progressive blogosphere for examples of sexism against Sarah Palin. 

Oh shit Kevin, I better put my whole blog to “private”

steaming hot mug of shut-the-fuck-up.

Thanks Betty, I just blew coffee all over the keyboard. (note to self: don’t drink coffee while reading Rumproast)

What a great rant from Campbell. I had missed it, so thanks for posting. It gets right to the point—treating her like she needs special protection and care-and-feeding is the most sexist thinking out there. (Kinda like insisting that the primary rules for Florida and Michigan should be changed after the fact to help Hillary, because however will we see a woman president in our lifetimes if we don’t game the system to her benefit?)

As a feminist of thirty years’ standing (since joining ERA Illinois as an eighth-grader—and lord, did THAT ever make me popular with the boys!), this campaign season has shaken up a lot of my previously unexamined assumptions about what feminism should mean. I always knew at the intellectual level that mainstream feminism had a long ways to go to address the gap with class-based and race-based privilege—shit, I read bell hooks as all good dutiful white liberal feminists do.

But I didn’t realize how great the gap was until I started reading various fora where trashing Obama for his perceived sexism (always rather poorly sourced, and presented more as a sin of omission than commission—i.e., “Why won’t he say more about the terrible things Chris Matthews says about Hillary”—again, the sexist assumption is that the little lady needs protection from the mean media men and can’t fight her own battles, even though her whole campaign persona was of “the fighter!”) was de rigeur. Yet at the same time the racist tactics of the Clinton camp were either promoted or ignored. I’m sorry, but if someone claims that a white woman’s experiences being married to a president constitute legitimate grounds for commander-in-chief credentials, but a black man’s experiences as a duly elected state senator don’t mean squat, that someone is a fucking racist troll. And anti-feminist to boot for promoting the notion that matrimonial privilege is still the most legitimate path to power for a woman with ambitions.

So . . . that’s where I’m at right now. Calling yourself a feminist means very little to me anymore, if your feminist struggle begins and ends with getting a woman into the White House. That’s not why I got involved lo these many decades ago.

Kerry - agree with everything you have said (and also lifelong feminist - charter subscriber to Ms. Magazine).

I despise that self-righteous, hypocritical blowhard Melissa McEwan.

Kevin, puh-leeese take on Melissa.  I am so sick of her referencing Joe Biden as a sexist and a racist based on the incontrovertible evidence of, gasp, a couple of lame jokes he told (and completely inoffensive jokes as well) and totally ignoring his long record of legislation supporting women and minorities.  Not to mention that she and her flying monkeys over there have the last say on just what a feminist is, always, and forever and don’t dare to disagree or we will be all over you.  Plus, as you said, she is not calling out legitimate racism at No Quarter but smearing Biden with the label on the basis of no evidence.  Hypocrisy, thy name is Melissa.

Melissa McWhoNow?

I rarely, rarely read her blog because, imo, it’s one of the dullest corners of the internets.  It’s like - I don’t know - pixelated Ambien or something.

Well said, Kerry. I agree 100%. There should be another name for people who are 100% fixated on putting a woman—any woman—in the White House. Ovarists? I dunno. But they can’t have “feminist.” They don’t understand the meaning of the word.

I used to comment at Shakespeare’s Sister WAAAY back at the beginning and had to quit when Melissa threw in with the “fat is healthy,fuck you"writer,Kate whatever her name is. This shit ran off some of the good writers she once had over there(T-Rex,Litbrit,Jeff Fecke,and I forget who else)with this crap. Everything is a fucking insult to her and her minions. Not that she’s always wrong,but honest to god,this shit of obesity being healthy is insane. I got reamed for talking about The Ominivore’s Dilemma and the need for more locally based food supplies and I never went back.

Go for it Kevin,seriously.

Well maybe the glassed crusader can take a run at this forward-thinking fellow who hails from the same Congressional District that gave us David Duke ...

I think I’ve said it before, but, damn, we’ve got some of the smartest and wittiest folks commenting here in all of the blogosphere.

Regarding Melissa, I appreciate the great feedback. Not sure if I want to get in a blog war now, particularly with someone who’s as inexplicably well-respected on the left side o’ the ‘sphere, but if I keep seeing from her what I’ve been seeing lately, who knows what will happen.  Stay tuned.

Thanks for the nice comments. I’m not even really calling out anybody in particular—I think we should note that the Shakespeare’s Sister site also has kept track of many of the racist/secret Muslim smears launched against the Obamas. But I definitely feel that the Clinton campaign’s overt attempts to use race as a wedge issue were given more of a pass by some feminist commentators, who then tried really hard to find sexist intent in everything Obama did. Do I think he’s entirely free of male privilege? Um, no. But I think he was far more respectful of his female opponent than she was of him—he never, to my knowledge, implied that John McCain was more worthy of the Oval Office than Hillary Clinton, for one thing.

But then I read ridiculous things pn several sites claiming things like “Well, it’s obviously easier to get elected in this country if you’re black than if you’re a woman,”

A) That’s obviously not true, because there are more white women in the United States Senate right now than there have ever been black senators of either gender—same with state governors.

B) Even if that’s true, why is it inherently problematic that barriers of race come down before gender? Can anyone honestly argue that black people of both genders have historically had a harder row to hoe than a lot of white women?

I had to dump one online friendship with a woman in Australia who was very invested in Hillary and kept beating the drum that Obama was an empty suit, he hadn’t done anything, he was deliberately running when he knew it was—wait for it—HILLARY’S TURN and how dare he? And she argued that it was so much easier to be black in America than a woman. (As if she would fucking know about race in America to start with. As a white woman, I can’t claim to understand all the racial nuances in this country, and I live here.)

Finally, I asked her if she would honestly want to trade places with an aborigine male in her country, given that she believed his gender gave him advantages over her (white, highly educated) female self. No answer. Which is in itself an answer.

I don’t like arguing the rights of black people vs. women or lesbians vs. feminist battles as a rule, because I think they play into the “let’s you and her fight” strategy of the dominant power structures. But when people like Gloria Steinem, Erica Jong (ugh) and Robin Morgan began their intellectually dishonest and insulting arguments for Hillary that managed to promote the “this black guy is an empty suit and women who support him are gender traitors and dumb little manpleasing whores” meme (mostly Morgan and Jong there), then I part ways with the feminist power structure.

Er, should read “Can anyone honestly argue that black people of both genders have historically NOT had a harder row to hoe than a lot of white women?”

Of course, there’s a chance that the McCain campaign isn’t shielding Gov. Palin becaus eof any inherent sexism, but becasue she’s a total lightweight, irrespective of her gender.  Anyone thought of that?  Sheesh.