The Political Voices of Women

Blog Roundup: Florida Recount and Sexism Sells — by Catherine Morgan (cross-posted at The Care2 Election Blog)

Have you wondered What Actually Happened in Florida?

“…For the millionth time, Florida Democrats had no power to block the moving of Florida’s primary election. Thus, the DNC should not have “punished” Florida Democrats.Our state legislature moved the primary dates, an entity on which the DNC’s rules are not legally binding. Our State House has about 77 Republicans to 43 Democrats. Republicans constitute about 60% of our State Senate.

In short, Florida Republicans can unilaterally pass or block any legislation they want. They could have moved the primary date without a single Dem vote.

This is from a post at BlogHer by PunditMom…

Interestingly, while the Democratic National Committee, as well as Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, are still trying to figure out what to do with the votes case in the Florida primary, Obama is pushing ahead in the Sunshine State with his own GOTV efforts. It strikes me as a little funny that the Obama campaign is pushing hard in Florida when he doesn’t want the primary votes to count, but wants them to matter in the November general election. That could leave Florida voters scratching their heads

From Faye at Anderson@Large…

I missed the drama of Election Night 2000. After NBC called Florida for Al Gore shortly before 8 p.m., I turned off the TV and zonked out. So you can imagine my surprise when I woke up and discovered that the election was too close to call.I hoped to atone by researching, writing and producing a film about the recount debacle. The documentary, “Counting on Democracy,” aired on PBS stations nationwide. I’ve also screened it at countless colleges and community organizations.

In a primary season full of twists and turns, we’ve come full circle. In voting-challenged Broward County, they’re chanting “count every vote” like it’s 2000. And the head cheerleader is Hillary Clinton — read full post

This is by Jill from Brilliant at breakfast…

This weekend, John McCain has invited some prospective running mates to one of his eight homes, presumably for barbecue. Specifically, those being interviewed are the closeted governor of Florida, a card-carrying member of the Christofascist Zombie brigade who thinks joking about bombing Iran and about assassinating a black presidential nominee constitute humor, and Paulie Walnuts.

The Obama running mate hunt is just beginning, despite the Clinton campaign’s attempt to rewrite history and spin the Florida/Michigan situation as being (pick one) Zimbabwe, Florida 2000, or Jim Crow, even though it was HER VERY OWN PEOPLE who helped put together, and voted for, the rules that put us into this mess.

I haven’t got a freaking clue who Obama should pick, but I’m emphatically opposed to the so-called “dream ticket.” It’s clear that Barack Obama can’t trust Hillary Clinton one bit, and there’s something Shakespearean about the idea of a young president with the wife of a former president as his #2, with said former president lurking around the hallways. — read full post

This is from Kay at Covering Florida…

Sen. Barack Obama is spending time in Florida, venturing here now that dust has settled over national party leaders’ decision to make outcasts of Democratic voters in the state. I’ve said it before and I’ve had it said to me many times: media loves Barack Obama. Another media triumph in the Obama arena is a contributing editor from ‘National Journal’—Linda Douglass officially moves into a new role as Obama strategist and spokesperson, according to Politico blogger Ben Smith. Douglass interviewed the senator’s campaign manager in April. My, how she must have struggled with her “objectivity.”

I’ve pointed out figures before, from a study done by the Committee for Concerned Journalists. In early campaign coverage, here’s a breakdown on stories about the current candidates, with each statistic reflecting a percentage of positive or negative stories about the candidate. Of Hillary Clinton stories, 26.9 percent were positive; 37.8 percent were negative. Of Barack Obama stories, 46.7 percent were positive; 15.8 percent were negative. And coming as no surprise when it comes to media and conservatives, of John McCain stories, 12.4 percent were positive and 47.9 were negative. — read full post

Check out Florida Speaks, for more links to Florida bloggers.

From Pandagon…

Wow, talk about hardball. This was on CNN this AM, and it looks like the Clinton camp is tossing out some kind of not-so-veiled convention chaos blackmail card for the VP slot, and/or a way for the New York senator to have a face-saving exit strategy. The report from Suzanne Malveaux describes three scenarios being floated by people “inside Hillary’s innner circle.”

From The Women’s Media Center…

From PunditMom…

When someone calls Hillary Clinton a bitch, it’s not just about her.

It’s about me and my fellow MOMocrats and my sister. It’s about my mother and my aunts and my daughter. It’s about mothers and friends and women who haven’t even become the next generation of leaders, yet.

Of course, as the Women’s Media Center rightly points out in its new video called Sexism Sells, But We’re Not Buying It Anymore, we’ve been focusing on the wrong thing. The MSM doesn’t limit its use of terms like “soppy,” “bitchy,” “castrating,” “nagging,” or “Wicked Witch of the West” to Hillary.

The most famous and infamous TV pundits aren’t reserving their ‘looks are everything’ moments to talk of Hillary’s cleavage or wrinkles. There are no limits. We are all fair game. — read full post