Beltway press reviews are in on Matt Lauer’s abysmal performance at NBC News’ Commander-in-Chief Forum last night: Lauer was out of his depth, ill-prepared and sexist, lobbing open ended softballs at a lying, flailing, Donald Trump, never correcting him while performing a hit job on Hillary Clinton. At a forum dedicated to foreign policy, Lauer spent most of his time on – God help me...
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Hillary Clinton was just profiled in New York Magazine by the gifted Rebecca Traister, who wonders if Hillary’s road to the nomination needed to be as hard as it was. In her piece, Hillary Clinton vs. Herself, Traister posits Hillary made her path more difficult owing to her “pathological” need for privacy and purported hatred of the beltway press. While she fairly reports Clinton’s gift...
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The New York Times editorial board, after penning a glowing endorsement of Hillary Clinton’s candidacy, now chastises her for going hard at her opponent Bernie Sanders at last Sunday’s debate. If I have this correctly, Sanders can daily infer she is a corrupt oligarch – obfuscating her excellent record – and she must stand there while he does it, never attack him and make sure...
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The now viral comment rapper Killer Mike made at a Bernie Sanders’ rally that “having a uterus doesn’t qualify a woman to be president” constitutes crass sexism; reducing a very qualified Hillary Clinton to a body part. That Killer Mike quoted another woman in advancing a sexist argument doesn’t make it less sexist. Worse is the disrespect to Clinton’s achievements. Few women or men could...
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When famed journalist Bob Woodward made reference to Hillary’s “shouting” the other day, I kept wondering if Bernie Sanders’ incessant barking, even yelling, on the campaign trail bothered him. But, no. Bob Cusack, editor-in-chief of The Hill, got a snoot full of twitter backlash during the Dem Debate last night when he tweeted: When Hillary Clinton raises her voice, she loses. .@BobCusack You’re editor-in-chief at...
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Reporting for Rachel Maddow’s Blog, Steve Benen tallied political guests on the big five Sunday Talk Shows: “Meet the Press,” “Face the Nation,” “This Week,” “State of the Union,” and “Fox News Sunday.” In 2015, Donald Trump made 36 appearances – or three Sundays every month for a year. A number of his “appearances” were by phone, but he still had a constant, free platform...
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The criticisms leveled at Hillary Clinton are in an orbit beyond familiar disparities in male vs. female candidates’ coverage and treatment. Last week, four of Bernie Sander’s campaign staffers “improperly accessed the Hillary Clinton campaign’s proprietary voter database” and downloaded private Clinton voter data. Sanders apologized for the breach during last Saturday’s debate. Hillary accepted, even while his campaign distracted from their actions by claiming...
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The tropes used to advanced sexist stereotypes may be more subtle now than they were the last time Hillary Clinton ran for President, but there is still a double standard when measuring a woman’s appearance, likability, authenticity and credibility. And yes, it might be sexist when Senator Sander’s presidential campaign operative says he would consent to “interview” Hillary Clinton for a subservient position — especially...
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Why do we still demand impossible metrics for women on likeability, “authenticity” and credibility while automatically conferring those qualities upon men? Senator Bernie Sanders got in some hot water last week owing to senior campaign operatives’ remarks about being “willing to consider” Hillary Clinton for Vice President and “consenting to interview her.” His adviser’s statements were as insecure as they were condescending, considering Clinton is...
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Republicans have chosen to double down on defunding Planned Parenthood, even by shutting down government, if necessary. But is their crusade yielding the desired result? Presidential candidate Carly Fiorina just found out the hard way that, as media strategist Shawna Vercher put it, “Lying matters more to people than anyone thought.” Author and commentator Anita Finlay agreed, stating that “Fiorina has been caught lying about...
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