Letters to the Editor
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Hillary and Barack and Edwards, and Ron Paul, too
Congratulations on a thought-provoking column, Camille. Your opinions more or less mirrored mine on the subject of Hillary.
Initially supportive of her and sympathetic to her campaign and the abuse she's endured, I've come to have second thoughts about Hillary's motivation to be president.
I initially thought she was the best qualified among the Democrats to be president. But after observing Hillary and Barack Obama over the last few months, I am convinced that the young guy from Illinois is the best qualified candidate. (Forget the Republicans. Every one of them is deeply flawed. Every one of them, except Ron Paul, bears the Mark of Cain that is the Bush Iraq policy.)
Of course, if we are talking about integrity, both Dennis Kucinich and Ron Paul have more integrity than all the other candidates combined. But we don't generally vote for the guy with the most integrity, do we?
One final thought: John Edwards, if you're listening, please consider taking the second spot on a Barack Obama ticket. (I know, you've run for VP already.....but just think about it. The VP position in an Obama administration would be pretty dynamic.)
An Obama-Edwards ticket would be extremely formidable, with Edwards helping to pry some of those Southern states away from the GOP.
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Ron Paul
Many of your views coincide with Ron Paul's in an interesting warp of the space-time continuum. He's had the courage to actually come out against more foreign aid to Israel. This is a first as it usually means political death. More and more people are speaking out against the strangulation of our foreign policy by the Israeli Lobby. I'm wondering how you feel about the Paul candidacy and more specifically about his Israel position. I will completely understand if you avoid this letter, I was worried about writing it.
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Spot On
I think the article on Hillary is spot on. Dems should wake up if they want to both take back the Whitehouse and achieve policy changes under that rule. Hillary will keep us all divided and insure slow if not no-go on any policy changes.
As a Republican I am naturally against most of what Democrats stand for (I won't bore you with my list), but I HAVE always admired one aspect of the Democratic Party. The desire to strive for the new and somewhat “ideal”. The "thinking out-of-the-box" halo that surrounds their truly great members (And there have been a few). As a Republican I would love to hate Hillary for 4-8 years as I did her husband but Obama is another mater altogether. If all the dems want is the Whitehouse and a chance to make some changes with maybe a little nonpartisan help from the other side of the isle, Republicans like me may be their ticket. Plastic Romney?, semi-liberal Rudy?, Bible thumping Huckabee?, or maybe war veteran, semi-liberal, it's my turn McCain. You tell me whom I can get fired up about on my side. No, the Dems have a cross over chance with Oboma like never in my lifetime. But then Hope MUST springs eternal in someone who voted for GB twice.
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Paglia: Our Bridge To The 19th Century
It sounds as though Paglia has her own psychological baggage that might go something like this: working-class Pennsylvanian, bitter because she couldn't get into one of the Seven Sisters colleges, is intent on destroying the women's club of those fortunate enough to have attended. She sees herself as having never benefitted from the women's movement directly and now lashes out at Hillary Clinton for being "the first" woman. Incensed that it would not be a more "traditional" blue-collar Democrat (like herself), but a woman who rode the wave on her husband's coattails, Paglia seeks to shred Hillary, thus eliminating the object of her envy and hatred.
But enough about Paglia's psychological baggage. The real travesty here is that she continues the sadistic tradition of dragging down any woman who represents a threat, real or imagined. Paglia has, sadly, swallowed the right-wing Republican anti-Hillary, anti-woman virus they cooked up years ago when Hillary showed she wasn't the good First Lady they thought she should be. I'll bet they're pleased, seeing just how effective their sexist slime has been...even among Democrats!
Take a seat next to Chris Matthews, Camille. He's right next to adoring male fans of the 19th century.
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Takes One to Know One
This Freudian analysis of Herself is from the real smartest woman in the world, who famously said "It takes one to know one." Meaning the two of them play for the other team. Since Ms. Paglia is not going into that matter too deeply here, I hope she is neither projecting nor missing something else. Hillary Clinton represents something revolutionary in American politics: Anti-Americanism and Anti-Christianity in the basic form. She, like Strobe Talbott, may not be interested in us, our borders or our sovereignty. She may be more than unstable. She may be driven to achieve something supernatural for us, all in the name of fairness.
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It's the word Feminazi, stupid
I'm a liberal reader of Salon.
I am a feminist
I am an educated female
I believe deeply in freedom of speech
I hate censorship
I believe Paglia has every right to use the word "feminazi"
I enjoy some of her musings, every once in a while whether I agree or not.
I am keeping my subscription intact
I am tolerant of others' views
I support neither Hillary or Barack yet
I love Led Zeppelin
My earlier post was directed to Joan Walsh. I told her I was sad to read the word "feminazi" in a paid columnist's piece. Not only is it a vile, hateful word, it's a fricking shorthand that came from Rush Limbaugh. You don't just throw around the word Nazi to be cute. I think that Paglia is LAZY and uncreative to co-opt that word from a known hater and liar, Mr. Limbaugh.
Use of the word feminazi speaks volumes about how Paglia sold her soul to the devil just so she could be "edgy and provocative". Feminazi is mean and tired and someone else's hate-speak.
Again, Joan Walsh, aren't there better feminists out there, who think for themselves who could put out a better column? --who can come up with fresher concepts and words than feminazi?
I'll say it again for those of you who think some feminists are "nazis": I'm not asking for Paglia to be fired, but I'm asking Ms. Walsh to think about her choice and how employing Paglia reflects on the principles and goals of Salon.
I'm still proud to have a subscription star by my name. I'm not going anywhere.
Glorious