I am one woman who is appalled at the thought of Hillary Clinton as president. Why? Because she has never demonstrated the qualities of leadership that we desperately need.

She is a passable legislator who certainly works hard and diligently does her homework. But when this country needed every strong voice raised against the Bush tyranny, she triangulated. She calculated the effect of every Senate vote and every Senate speech -- not on how it would affect our country's future but how it would affect her chances to gull enough people into nominating her in 2008.

She has enjoyed a SAFE SEAT, dammit, from which she could have stood up to lead a Democratic opposition. Instead, she voted the "safe" vote every time, whether it's been for the Iraq invasion, Bush appointees, Bush initiatives. She's made a point of currying friendship across the aisle, in the stupid and vain hope that "moderate" Republicans might refrain from vilifying her.

Clinton has been well behind the curve of public opinion on every issue, waiting until the polls are overwhelmingly for or against before she timidly, tentatively signals her lukewarm and qualified agreement. Is that the behavior and courage of a leader?

Can anyone figure out where she stands on her signature issue, health care? She is among the biggest beneficiaries of insurance and pharmaceutical industry money, so is it any surprise that a govt-sponsored, single-payer system is nowhere to be found in her current, safe, tinker-around-the-edges proposals?

She got stung back in 1993 over her health care initiative and the only lesson she learned was to pull in her horns. That episode was also the ONLY example we have of Clinton's abilities as an executive. Do we need more secrecy and bumbling?

I'm very dissatisfied with the Democratic field as it stands. The only ticket that could rouse me would have Al Gore at the top. Clark, Edwards, Obama -- any of them would be fine for the #2 spot. As for Hillary Clinton, she is a legislator, not an executive.

She's a big risk for the Dems though. I like her fine if she wins, but ONLY if the wins.

First: lots of people are lying when they say they don't support Clinton because she's a woman; she is less dynamic than Joe Biden and her principles are less transparent than a slab of granite. If she were a man, she'd be trailing Kucinich.

Second: the whole tone of this post is disturbing. Can you imagine a piece that wonders why Bush doesn't win more white men? The suggestion is that it's okay to expect women to support Clinton because she's a woman. Should blacks support Clarence Thomas? Should Latinos support Gonzales? Someone once said we should judge people by the content of their character; what they hell were they smoking, huh?

Broadsheet would serve women a hell of a lot better if it spent more time explaining why Clinton as president would suck for women (or be good for women, if it could justify it with facts).

Wow. I guess to be president a woman needs a mastectomy.

Just more proof that a woman's body matters more than a man's.

For the most part, Americans don't have an opinion about Hillary Clinton, though almost all of them would claim they do. Thing is, the Hillary in play is a media construct that has rather little to do with the person one can come to know through her books and speeches. Which is why a great many Republicans can actually think that Clinton is some sort of tremendous liberal, if not a socialist-lesbo-killer-whore, instead of a rather moderate Democrat. And why people like Chris Matthews can reactivate every neanderthal sexual stereotype in the book, Chris having single-handedly brought the expression "dumb mick" out of retirement. The entire election is going to be a mindless Punch and Judy show between action figures created by dueling PR firms.

I know it is a radical suggestion, but sometimes I think we'd be better off if we had a free press in this country.

Since I'm medical marijuana patient, I don't think she'd like it very much if I supported her. Her husband made it absolutely clear that he thinks we're all a bunch of lying slimeballs. Oh well.

as long as you have a "free market" where whoever has the most money can buy control of the public conversation then we are going to struggle with this.

But you feminists will keep plying that fraudulent trope anyway.

Not that this is at all relevant, but there's no way that "hillary clinton cleavage" is the third most googled phrase today. I work at Yahoo!, and it doesn't show up in the top 1000 queries today, and I'm sure that's true of Google as well.

What Google Trends shows is queries that have increased sharply in frequency. So hers is the third-fastest growing query today.

I assume the other letter writers have already noted that there's no way that a small change in the way a male senator dresses would make headlines. It's not like she showed up to work in a bikini or something. Most of the time I think that we've come so far as a country in reducing out-and-out sexism, but then things like this make me realize how far we still have to go.

From the "Clinton cleavage" article:

"The cleavage, however, is an exceptional kind of flourish. After all, it's not a matter of what she's wearing but rather what's being revealed. It's tempting to say that the cleavage stirs the same kind of discomfort that might be churned up after spotting Rudy Giuliani with his shirt unbuttoned just a smidge too far. No one wants to see that. But really, it was more like catching a man with his fly unzipped. Just look away!"

Oh, please. Much ado about nothing. Sounds like Robin Givhan is due for a claw-clipping.

...then smart good looking women will do well in politics. Just as smart good looking men can do well in politics right now. And no one will think it's strange for a president or presidential candidate to look sexy, when they are in fact sexy.

Just look at my governor, Jennifer Granholm. Very sexy and it doesn't hurt her a bit.

Hillary is just looking a little bit forward to the day when women are fully accepted as leaders, and that's a sign of her confidence. And nothing can do her more good than having confidence.

No doubt her advice on this matter is coming straight from Bill.