Clinton Supporters, Now Take Aim At The MSM: "Misogynistic Sexist Media"

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S THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY TRIES TO CLOSE RANKS AROUND ITS HISTORY-BREAKING CANDIDATE, Hillary Clinton supporters try to make sense of why her candidacy was undermined so overwhelmingly by men in the media.

Salon's Joan Walsh tackled sexism's role during the primary season and linked to this call to arms by a group calling itself "Shut The Freud Up. In her article she pointed out how Jesse Jackson continued his fight for his candidacy up the way up to the Democratic convention in 1988 with little resistance from the party.

In her column today, Walsh argues that it is Obama who needs to woo Hillary's 18 million voters. "Winning without overwhelming support from white Democratic women wouldn't be easy for Obama.'' she writes. "I have no doubt Obama and his supporters can reach these women, but first he has to try. I'll start with a few simple pointers for how to do it: Don't call them racist. Or old and irrelevant. And don't say Hillary Clinton has to do all the work to heal the breach; Obama has plenty he can do himself."

Thank God there is one high-profile woman journalist who can counter the poison pen of the New York Times' Maureen Dowd.

Here's what I suggest to Hillary supporters: let's not make it easy for the mainstream media to rewrite their role in this campaign so quickly. Already missing from the postmortems on Clinton's campaign is the hidden wire the media used to trip her up. Geraldine Ferraro is right to ask for an investigation. But the bitter white women who largely supported Hillary don't need further evidence. Just activate the YouTube button above and even listen a few minutes and you'll get a taste of the invective against Hillary specifically and women generally.

Clinton's candidacy may be vanquished, but women can still vote, call and write. So I say let's work actively to shudder the voices of the men -- and women -- whose misogyny dripped every time they opened their mouths. Obama promises "change." How about a clean sweeping of the media when the new administration takes office? The regimes of Glenn Beck, Maureen Dowd, Chris Matthews, Keith Olbermann, Tim Russert, Jonathan Alter and Howard Fineman have lasted too long and have a vested interest in making the future president look good. After all, they'll have had a large hand in putting him in office. And if they don't go away, turn off your TVs and cancel your subscriptions.

Posted June 5, 2008




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