Here's the journalist's response to that charge after changing the title:

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"The nice part about being a pessimist is that you are constantly being either proven right or pleasantly surprised.”
- George Will

I figured they would eventually comment on it. Regardless of what he says he meant, it does show very bad judgment and lack of foresight. One should try to anticipate the impact of their words.

Here's a good example of the pundits and their sexism: Feel the Misogyny

Cringeworthy, and I have never been an HRC supporter.

Just to remove any lingering doubt:

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Congratulations President-Elect Obama

Hmm . . . I don't know, maybe it's my paganism, but I didn't see that exchange as misogynistic at all. I realize there was a flirtatious or sexual overtone between Matthews and Clinton, and she made that funny remark about "men who are obsessed with me," but she certainly didn't come off the weaker in that back-and-forth nor did I get the sense that Matthews was trying to put her in that position. (He was being aggressive and a bit of a jerk but he's always like that.) Maybe you were referring to his little pinch on her cheek in the embrace? But how is that worse than the pat and smooch she gave him? The joke quality of both of those was obvious to me.

Here's the thing, between a heterosexual man and a heterosexual woman there will always be a sexual dimension to their interaction. It's usually not acted on, but it's always there. And sexual relations have so long been deeply embedded in the sexism of traditional culture, that they carry a lot of baggage. Women in traditional, sexist culture were the property of men, and when a woman had sex with a man, traditionally, what determined whether it was right or wrong was whether he owned her (i.e. was her husband) and had a right to her body -- not whether she chose to do it and the desire was mutual. And I think it's for this reason that a lot of older feminists (not younger ones so much) confuse sexuality with sexism: for a long time, they were conjoined twins.

Nonetheless, ask yourself this; certainly a candidate's sex appeal isn't a qualifier for the White House and so to a degree any flirtation between the candidate and a media person is whimsical and irrelevant; but would you have the same reaction to a female reporter flirting with Obama? Would that be cringeworthy, or would you just find it amusing (assuming she did her job well on the whole)?

We will not really be free from sexism in this culture until we can liberate sexuality from it, and be able to flirt without it being taken as sexist.

When I asked about sexist media coverage of Hillary Clinton, I was thinking in terms of disparagement of her abilities because she's female, or standards that would not be applied to a male candidate, or suggestions that she is completely riding on her ex-president husband's coattails, or worst of all, disparity in coverage because her candidacy isn't taken as seriously because she's a woman.

Hillary's still quite an attractive woman for her age, and it's obvious not only from old photos but from her attitude that she must have been really hot when young -- she has that "I expect to get male attention" attitude that gets built in the high school and college years and never completely goes away. So for there to be some flirtation happening is normal and to be expected and is not, to me, a sign of sexism.

I'm not saying there wasn't any genuine sexism in the coverage of her because that wouldn't surprise me a bit, I know there's still plenty of it lurking in our culture. I'm just saying I didn't actually see much of it myself, and certainly it can't explain why she lost.

baby's got back...and cankles. And she wears her pants just below her boobs. Have to disagree here.

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American by birth.
Conservative by the grace of God.

My standard for judgment is whether a man would get a similar reaction or treatment. The WaPo article would not have happended if HRC were a man, these pundits would not have made an issue of the after-the-questioning stuff, replayed in slo-mo no less, if she were a man.

W.r.t. a female reporter being flirtatious with BHO, to me that would be even more cringewothy. The reporter diminishes the professionality of her position with that. If she cannot stand alone with professional and thoughtful questions without resorting to a coquettish attitude, I don't like it. Women can be more damaging to the professional and neutral demeanor that should be present by doing this. One's skills in the job are all that matter.

If the subject matter involves something less gender neutral, such as fashion or make-up, then that's allright to remark in that manner. With a political analysis, it's unacceptable as it is not the norm to comment in that manner on a male candidate. That's my standard.

[edit] To add, I agree that there is often a sexual dimension to male/female interactions, be they professional or otherwise. However, until the attitude toward professional women is completely gender neutral and this attitude is well ingrained in the public, we all have to be a bit on eggshells when dealing with a professional woman. When the professional relationship has been established as completely professional, then all parties can relax, be nautral, and joke about it. Until then, and when analyzing a woman in the media, professionalism trumps all. [/edit]

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I am an American. That's the way most of us put it, just matter of factly. They are plain words, those four: you could write them on your thumbnail, or sweep them clear across this bright autumn sky. But remember too, that they are more than just words. They are a way of life. So whenever you speak them; speak them firmly, speak them proudly, speak them gratefully. I am an American. ...a tradition

In order for that standard to properly apply you need to reverse the gender of the media person, too. That exchange wouldn't have happened between Matthews and a male candidate for obvious reasons and so wouldn't have generated the commentary that it did. But it might have happened between a media woman and Obama (or, even more likely, Bill Clinton). It's tricky because there are two equal errors to make w/r/t female pols: one is to reduce her to her gender and nothing else, and the other is to treat her as if her gender didn't exist.

Now this is interesting to me because what you say here implies a double standard and the sort of ingrained cultural sexism that I was talking about. If a female reporter exhibits flirtatiousness or a coquettish attitude, it's assumed apparently that she "cannot stand alone with professional and thoughtful questions." I would certainly agree with that assessment if such behavior were all she ever did, and if she didn't offer professional and thoughtful questions, or if such questions didn't make up the overwhelming majority of her work, but to me a little flirting on the side isn't anything wrong. Certainly it's not purely professional, and doing too much of it would cross the line into UNprofessional behavior, but again we see a situation where women are expected to behave as if their sexuality did not exist.

I suppose what you're saying here is that the battle is still being fought and this is not the time to stand down the guns. You may be right, although I'm not sure. I can also see that, if certain reporters have a sexist attitude this may color their reporting in ways that are not overt. It's an interesting conundrum, but I wonder how it would have been possible to treat the Clinton campaign in a way that avoided all accusations of sexism while at the same time giving it the scrutiny that is the job of the press.

I think that the Constitution needs to be changed.

Out of self-preservation the wording should be changed to:

"....must have lived in the United States for no less then 35 years, and have no terrorist associations foreign or domestic. A Top Secret background investigation must be completed before the primaries and the findings of these investigations must be made known to the voters before a candidate's name can be placed on any state ballots. Membership in any group or organizations that openly preach the overthrow of the US government are deemed a disqualification for the office of POTUS"

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"We can't screw it up any worse than they have." - Barack Obama

Wanna bet?



"You never want a serious crisis to go to waste...." - Rahm Emmanuel

I completely agree that all elected officials must pass the same investigation that feds do. Top secret may be difficult for a politician; I'll settle for even just the minimum at this point.

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I am an American. That's the way most of us put it, just matter of factly. They are plain words, those four: you could write them on your thumbnail, or sweep them clear across this bright autumn sky. But remember too, that they are more than just words. They are a way of life. So whenever you speak them; speak them firmly, speak them proudly, speak them gratefully. I am an American. ...a tradition

How can an investigation be top secret when it is written in law and the findings are made known to the voters?

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Terrornoia: how the propa-ugandists used the omni-territorialization of terror for the fundamen-talismanization of criminal law in a multi-cultus-ritualistic society

A Top Secret investigation is conducted by the FBI on those who need to hold a TS security clearance. The rule of thumb is that investigators must go back into your past and question friends and associations 15 yrs back. A Secret investigation only goes back 5 years. I think a candidate needs to have his entire history investigated.

Some of the things that disqualify you from getting a TS clearance is lying about facts you provided on your investigation application to include drug use, financial difficulties, criminal activity, etc.

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"We can't screw it up any worse than they have." - Barack Obama

Wanna bet?



"You never want a serious crisis to go to waste...." - Rahm Emmanuel

I won't. I think our President must be clean. He has too much power to let just anyone in that position.

I wouldn't run for the office myself. I don't want my history to be splashed all over the headlines and anyone who doesn't want that need not apply.

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"We can't screw it up any worse than they have." - Barack Obama

Wanna bet?



"You never want a serious crisis to go to waste...." - Rahm Emmanuel

True. But baby steps are better than nothing. Nothing is what we have.

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I am an American. That's the way most of us put it, just matter of factly. They are plain words, those four: you could write them on your thumbnail, or sweep them clear across this bright autumn sky. But remember too, that they are more than just words. They are a way of life. So whenever you speak them; speak them firmly, speak them proudly, speak them gratefully. I am an American. ...a tradition

If you want to get rid of corruption get rid of the corrupt first.

If you are in a flood the best way to stop it is at it's entry point.

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"We can't screw it up any worse than they have." - Barack Obama

Wanna bet?



"You never want a serious crisis to go to waste...." - Rahm Emmanuel

Wow, a reason, if accurate, to keep him out of office.