Balls and Walnuts
more than you ever wanted to know
The firewall reading room
This morning, I’ve been hanging out at Jurassic Pork’s place, catching up on my New York Times firewalled columns. He has posted a couple of tasty Maureen Dowd columns, and a fine Paul Krugman column, too.
My favorite bit from Maureen Dowd, neatly summarizing why the Repugs got their butts kicked:
Republicans were oddly oblivious to the fact that they had turned into a Thomas Nast cartoon: an unappetizing tableau of bloated, corrupt, dissembling, feckless white hacks who were leaving kids unprotected. Tom DeLay and Bob Ney sneaking out of Congress with dollar bills flying out of their pockets. Denny Hastert playing Cardinal Bernard Law, shielding Mark Foley. Rummy, cocky and obtuse as he presided over an imploding Iraq, while failing to give young men and women in the military the armor, support and strategy they needed to come home safely. Dick Cheney, vowing bullheadedly to move “full speed ahead†on Iraq no matter what the voters decided. W. frantically yelling about how Democrats would let the terrorists win, when his lame-brained policies had spawned more terrorists.
She concludes with ruminations about the victory of estrogen-powered politics over testosterone-fueled blundering:
Because of the power of female consumers, some marketing experts predict we will end up a matriarchy. This year, women also flexed their muscle at the polls, transformed into electoral Furies by the administration’s stubborn course in Iraq.
On Tuesday, 51 percent of the voters were women, and 55 percent of women voted for the Democratic candidate. It was a revival of the style of Bill Clinton, dubbed our first female president, who knitted together a winning coalition of independents, moderates and suburbanites.
According to The Times’s exit polls, women were more likely than men to want some or all of the troops to be withdrawn from Iraq now, and 64 percent of women said that the war in Iraq has not improved U.S. security.
The Senate has a new high of 16 women and the House has a new high of at least 70, with a few races outstanding. Hillary’s big win will strengthen her presidential tentacles.
I’m still nervous about Hillary Clinton. Her “I have bigger balls than the rest of you dorks combined” style rubs me the wrong way. Also, I have the feeling political expediency tops her list of priorities. Why do some people like her so much? I don’t get it.
D.
What I don’t get is when women vote for other women because they are women. What happened to voting for the best candidate? I’m all for having more women in politics, but there are women out there who are jerks. (Just like there are men). Why do we think that women will be inherantly one way or another? Not all women are touchy-feely types that cry at TV commercials, want children, or think that greed is a bad thing.
I don’t have anyone in mind, since I know very little about politics, but I fear sometimes that Hillary will win because she is a woman. I really don’t know what her views are. A woman has to have at least some balls on her when she goes into politics – at least thick skin…
Just thinking
Rella
I have bigger balls than the rest of you dorks combined.
Some people LIKE Hillary’s “I have bigger balls” attitude. But personally, I liked the attitude better on Ann Richards.
Rella: I think a lot of women despise Hillie, too. (My wife, for one.)
Erin: come on over and teabag me anytime, baby.
Nox: Yeah, I miss Ann Richards, too.
i think paul krugman spoke at my brother’s graduation in may. i think i zoned out. woops.
Yeah, well, I like Hilary because she’s smart and she’s not afraid to show it, and she doesn’t act coy or make excuses and when she screws up she apologises and changes what she did wrong. She stuck to her husband, her marriage, her opinions. She tries to be honest and she has good ideas about getting medical coverage to everyone who needs it.
Most people don’t like Hilary because they expect women to be motherly, like Nancy Pelosi, or Uber-ambitious like Condi Rice, or into gossip and tears like Operah. They feel threatened by her. Not me. I admire her.
Go Hilary!!
I liked her until she threw her support behind that war. Gad, I loathe that war.
Benjamin Wallace-Wells has an interesting piece in the Washington Post today about whether America is too racist to elect Barack and/or too sexist to elect Hillary in 08. Also points out that Condi might be the candidate who could maybe get around both problems. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/10/AR2006111001387.html
Since you are a Maureen Dowd fan…did you catch her on Meet the Press this morning?