Angry white men's votes count too!

It's unfortunate that faux-maverick McCain wrapped up the GOP nomination so early, because it gives millions of AWM the opportunity to register as democrats during upcoming state primaries for the sole purpose of ensuring that a woman never becomes president of the US. (Of course, not that they're sexist or anything. As they love to constantly remind us, their hatred for Hillary is not at all related to the fact that she is a woman. And I'm sure they'll find many other thinly-veiled excuses to hate the next woman that tries to run for president in twenty years.)

But what really saddens me is how much the deck was stacked against Hillary from the start, and how little public discussion of these double standards was allowed in the media, or with my fellow "liberals" at bars. (Hillary herself was shouted down by the press when she said that she was treated unfairly.)

I only wish that the media/society would discuss the numerous ways that Hillary was handicapped by political double-standards:

1. Women's minority status was muted! While every major news pundit and columnist was lining up to pen eloquent editorials on how rise of Barak Obama was a victory against racism, the major news outlets avoided mentioning Hillary's rise as a victory for women. And they almost never mentioned women as a legitimate minority group. Since both sides of the democratic ticket were minorities this time around, it was interesting to see how a female candidate even had to take a back-seat to being in the back seat already!
2. There was some restraint from racism, but none from misogyny. From the outset, slinging the word "nigger" at Obama was thankfully off-limits in the mainstream media. (I guess they were having too much fun calling him an Arab to have to stoop to using "nigger" against him, but I digress.) On the other hand, calling Hillary a "bitch" was par for the course. And since calling a woman a bitch isn't even bleeped out on the air (as the word "nigger" thankfully is), let alone seen as bigotry, there was no way for people to call attention to it without getting shouted down my the mainstream media.
3. Women aren't allowed to be seen as inspirational. A few women reporters mentioned the fact that Obama would have been completely dismissed by the media for running a campaign of hope if he was a black woman, and also how Hillary only had the bitch/irrelevant dichotomy to choose from as a female presidential nominee, but their articles were largely ignored. Perhaps NPR will run an hour-long special on the topic of sexism and the campaign, but I won't hold my breath.
4. Our society refuses to see women as charismatic leaders. No one says it, but think of the charismatic figures on TV. Think of the "faces you can trust" that you see in the TV news anchor char every night: Stone Phillips, Tom Brokaw, Mike Wallace, Ed Bradley, Anderson Cooper, Walter Cronkite, Peter Jennings, Ted Koppel, Jim Lehrer, Dan Rather, Brian Williams, and an endless array of other tall, square-jawed, mostly white men. People love their deep voices, the cut of their jib, etc. These are the kinds of faces that millions of Americans can recognize and will trust by default. Now think of their female counterparts: Katie Couric, Paula Zahn, Barbara Walters, and a handful of others. They are charismatic too, but in a cute/sexy/grandmother way. No one would believe you if you placed them in a governor's seat, or a CEO chair, or the white house. Because what do you know: the qualities that typically make someone charismatic and a leader (a sonorous voice, being very tall, a penetrating gaze, a solid stature, solid jaw, swept-back graying hair, ruggedness, clean cut, etc.) just happen to be the same ones that are physically correlated to the Y chromosome!
5. No one in the mainstream will ever point out this blatant sexism against women! The Onion refers to Hillary as a murdering, face-hugging, stomach-egg-laying Alien. The Daily Show has Samatha Bee constantly on the attack against Hillary by making lots of sexist remarks (which are OK because when a woman is saying them, it's FUNNY!), and those are the "liberals"! (It just goes to show that 'liberal' doesn't necessarily mean non-misogynist, as our liberal comedians prove every day.) The conservatives are even worse, but were addressed above. Then again, if the "Hillary Iron My Shirt" bumper stickers and t-shits weren't blatant enough for people to complain, they won't notice anything.
6. Now that Obama will likely win the nomination, all the calls by Democrats for the two of them to form a "minority ticket" or "dream ticket" will stop. Because what do you know, the only minority they wanted on the ticket was a man. Don't worry though, democrats aren't sexist. And I'm sure they'll have a thinly-veiled excuse as to why Hillary can't be the VP within a week or two.

And I could go on, but I'm too depressed. Someone should probably take this AWM crap up and do a story on it though. The presidential campaign gives us a good idea of how thick the glass ceiling is at the top. This would make a good story for the fall/winter issue of Bitch when the US elects its next white male. :-(

~Jonathan

PS. Hothead '08

"If people cannot imagine alternatives, they won't seek them, and that's more conducive to the authoritarian agenda than walls and barbed wire."

Everything that has been said here is all too true. The way the mainstream media cover Hillary is so sexist I can barely contain my rage. I really want to leap to her defense.
But...
I could never vote for her (well, I take that back: if it's between her and whatever jingoistic autocrat the GOP has running, I'll vote for her). Her voting record on the war is dismal. I have heard nothing from her indicating she'll get us out of this bloody, wasteful, immoral, illegal war we're in. So I just can't say I support her as a candidate. I only support her as a woman, and wish the media would treat her equally.
BTW - I find it rather insulting that the media are calling her the first "serious" female candidate...we've had *several* women run for president, and all of them were serious. Hey, that might make an interesting story, esp. Victoria Woodhull Claflin... (hint, hint).