Last week, newly minted GM CEO Mary Barra withstood a battering from a Congressional committee over GM’s recent recall of 2.6 million vehicles. Per Allan Stamm of Deadline Detroit, they demanded to know why “GM didn’t react to signs dating back to 2001 that Chevrolet Cobalts, Saturn Ions and similar vehicles had faulty ignitions” since “13 deaths and 32 crashes have been linked to the...
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In an interview on CNN’s Crossfire, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, who last week intimated he’d make a better president than Hillary Clinton, avoided attacking her despite host S.E. Cupp’s efforts to get him to brand Hillary as an “old guard” candidate and the pawn of corporations. Refusing to take the bait, Sanders instead discussed the need for solutions to bolster the middle and working classes, badly damaged but...
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An article I posted, What the Oscars Tell Us About How Society Views Women, has been getting lots of play and addresses Best Actress winner Cate Blanchett calling out studio heads and filmmakers for keeping women’s stories sidelined — although many play big at the box office. Jerry and I share our thoughts about the ceremonies, discuss Best Documentary winner “20 Feet from Stardom” and the realities of...
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Women represent 53% of the voting electorate. Vital as it is for Republicans to gain female votes in 2014, their need will reach critical mass in the 2016 Presidential election. Despite a 100-page RNC post-mortem prescribing greater outreach, rather than heed that advice, today’s Republican Party continues to shoot itself in the foot with offensive remarks and legislative actions that flout their aims. Continued male...
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Republicans fearful of Secretary Clinton contesting for the Presidency in 2016 are falling over themselves to define her early, trotting out tired ageist, sexist attacks while screaming “Benghazi” 24/7. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is their best hope to defeat her. While he works overtime to tamp down the “Bridge-gate” scandal that threatens his presidential hopes, RNC Chair Reince Priebus and others shout “she’s inauthentic”, she represents the...
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Starting at GM as a teenaged intern and rising to global product development chief, Mary Barra, now 51, has been made the company’s first female CEO. According to the LA Times, she is now the country’s most powerful woman executive. While Ms. Barra’s appointment may seem to represent a trend toward female leadership, echoing that of Marissa Mayer at Yahoo and the likely confirmation of Janet Yellen...
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Neera Tanden offered a lovely testimonial on Hillary Clinton in Politico entitled “Hillary Is No Quitter.” Most striking is her discussion of Hillary Clinton’s dedication, kindness to her staff and ability to rebound after difficult setbacks. Clearly, those who have worked with her, and supporters who researched her record, were already well aware of qualities that millions have only just discovered during her tenure as Secretary of State. ...
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While there is no guarantee that women in Congress would bring the government shutdown to an end, historically women have a better record of cutting across party lines to forge compromise. As this picture illustrates, far from having a 19% representation of women at the table — their current average number in the House and Senate — there are 0% at the table. Hmmm. Makes a girl think… Per the...
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The Washington Post reported that both CNN and NBC have cancelled plans to produce films about the life of Hillary Clinton. Charles Ferguson, the CNN film’s director, complained that he was frozen out and neither Democrat nor Republican nor anyone in the Clinton camp would offer him access or help, yet despite his frustration, scrapping these films is the correct decision. It is the right of each candidate to define themselves to...
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The Washington Times’ Wesley Pruden just derided Hillary Clinton for her “occasional” visits to the hairdresser and wrote that while a man of 69 is not out of his prime, a woman being inaugurated at that age is well past her “sell-by” date. However one feels about Hillary, do Pruden or Republicans like Mitch McConnell, with his recent “Golden Girls” jibes think ageism is a...
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