By Catherine Durkin Robinson PoHo contributor Catherine Durkin Robinson is a “feminist mother of twins” and a political blogger, working under the title Out in Left Field.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was questioned earlier this week about her views and how they compare/contrast with President Clinton’s views during a visit to the Congo. (The student meant to say President “Obama.” Right.)
Posted by Wayne Garcia on Aug. 11, 2009, at 8:14 am
Somebody’s cranky…
(It turned out that the question was wrongly translated, but wow, is our Secretary of State a little fed up with Bill getting the lion’s share of headlines?)
I don’t normally post sports clips, but for this one I’ll make an exception. From the Pittsburgh-New England game from last weekend, here is Steelers safety Ryan Clark absolutely demolishing Patties wide receiver Wes Welker. (Expect a fine to be handed down by the NFL any second now.) Give Wes some props; he managed to walk off under his own power.
Posted by Wayne Garcia on Dec. 1, 2008, at 11:36 am
It’s CHANGE!! as President-elect Barack Obama is set in a few minutes to announce his national security appointments, led by Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State. I know it’s late notice but if you have it on, too, blog along with me.
I was originally going to go with the hilarious “nobody wants to shake Bush’s hand” video from a few days ago, but then I saw Sarah Palin soon to be infamous Turkey Interview. Warning! This gets kind of gross.
Turns out that President-Elect Barack Obama can still pack ‘em in post-election. His appearance Sunday on 60 Minutes netted the news show its highest ratings in nine years.
Can Bill’s dealings derail Hillary’s appointment as Secretary of State?
Who’s driving that supertanker? Somali pirates, of course.
John Lennon was not a very nice man; he consoled himself on Richard Nixon’s 1972 election night by banging a woman he picked up at Jerry Rubin’s apartment while his friends and wife listened from an adjacent room.
The new James Bond flick Quantum of Solace hits theaters today and it’s said to be action-packed. Check out the CL review here, and get your game face on with the video for the theme song, performed by Alicia Keys and Jack White.
Posted by Wayne Garcia on Jun. 5, 2008, at 4:47 pm
Former Tampa Mayor Sandy Freedman, a Hillary Clinton supporter, is outraged at how she feels her candidate and women in general were portrayed in the Democratic presidential primary, and she’s fired off an open letter to Clinton on the subject:
Hillary,
You might remember me. I’m Sandy Freedman and was the mayor of Tampa. We’ve been together on many occasions since 1992 and I’ve been standing with you and for you all these years.
I’m one of the millions of women who are angry. Angry that you are not our nominee and angry that we as women haven’t made much progress since long before we first met. The blatant sexism and bias that we have seen is far more than any of us could have imagined. And, worst of all, was the silence by those who should have been most vocal about it—Obama, Pelosi, Reid, Dean, Kennedy and all of the others who for years have professed that our party stood taller for women than the Republicans. You have been there for us. THEY HAVE FAILED US.
Much has been written and spoken during this campaign about a dialogue on race. Great oratory has been heard and columns have been read. But, nothing about a dialogue on gender—-a far more insidious and covert action taking place in the workplace, on the playground, in the boardrooms and yes, in our political life.
After you have your much deserved rest, you can lead that national dialogue on gender. Not just with speeches, but with forums and town hall meetings around this country. Really listening (which you do so well) and showcasing the problems of bias towards women. Like-minded colleagues (Barbara Mikulski, Dianne Feinstein, Jennifer Granholm, Debbie Wasserman-Schultz and so many other) could join with you. Just leave Pelosi, Sebelius, McCaskill , et al. at home They don’t get it.
I believe this could be one of your greatest legacies. You have the spirit, tenacity and grit to capture the nation’s attention. Please consider this idea for Chelsea and for my daughter and granddaughters. And for my sons and grandsons. This is a cycle that just has to be broken.
My fondest good wishes to you and Bill. You both have my greatest respect and admiration.
Warmly,
Sandy Freedman
In a telephone conversation with me this afternoon, Freedman said women are or should be outraged at the kind of things that were directed at Clinton during the campaign — often without any media outrage or censure from Democratic leaders. A McCain supporter asked the Republican, for instance, “How do we beat the bitch?” without much uproar from the Democratic Party or even pundits. A TV commentator quipped that Clinton must be having PMS during one rough stretch of the campaign. The Hartford Courant wrote, “The insults were endless. They criticized her marriage, her daughter, her looks, her clothes, her voice, her laugh and her cry. The superdelegates were no better as they rushed to early endorsements, long before the last American voices were heard.”
“The misogyny is horrible,” Freedman said.
“I know I speak for an awful lot of women. In the last month, men and women have shared those views and there’s anger that she lost but there is an even greater anger at the way she was treated.
“When Howard Dean was here a couple of weeks ago, we had dinner with him, and I got in his face that I was astounded that throughout this whole campaign with all the sexism and all the nasty things that had been written and said at forums … the Democratic hierarchy remained mute, Dean, Pelosi (an Obama supporter), Kennedy who’s always been such a strong supporter of women. Howard Dean has begun speaking out about that now, but it’s a little too late now.
“If anybody had ever used the N-word, the whole world would have come down and rightly so,” Freedman said. “The political cartoons, Pat Oliphant and Luckovich have had a field day, and it’s been sexist attacks. I think that’s why there is so much anger out there, and I think it is going to be very tough to overcome. Obama has got to speak to it, and he hasn’t so far.”
Freedman was mayor in the late 1980s and early ’90s said the media and society’s treatment of women in politics hasn’t changed.
“Its not any different now than it was 30 years ago when I first campaigned,” Freedman said.
Bonus Cut:a good post on Women in the Media and News blog
Posted by Wayne Garcia on Jun. 2, 2008, at 1:39 pm
Here is the Angry Hillary Supporter getting thrown out of the DNC RBC on Saturday. Watch it at the :51-second mark to see AHS question the St. Petersburg Times political reporter about whether he is an undercover agent:
On a related note, we’re taking bets in the office on where in Manhattan Harriet Christian (AHS) is from. Upper East side is just edging out Upper West Side, with one native Long Islander here offering this: “She’s from Queens.” “But she said in the video she was from Manhattan?” “That’s what everybody from Queens says.” I will look up AHS’ residency online later and announce a winner.
Posted by Wayne Garcia on Jun. 2, 2008, at 10:37 am
The nasty, prolonged fight between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama really wasn’t hurting the Democrats’ chances to retake the White House. Until this weekend.
The much-hyped DNC Rules and Bylaws Committee meeting on Saturday was a disaster not only for the party’s chances against John McCain but also showed the complete hypocrisy of a party that has pretended to stand for the big tent and tolerance in the face of openly intolerant Republican leadership.
Consider this amazingly racist quote from a Hillary supporter, reported in an excellent analysis by Adam C. Smith this morning:
“The Democrats are throwing the election away for what? An inadequate black male who would not have been running had it not been a white woman that was running for president!” New Yorker Harriet Christian screamed after being ejected from the meeting room. “They think we won’t turn and vote for McCain? Well, I got news for all of you — McCain will be the next president of the United States!”
The zoo in Washington that Team Hillary whipped up was devastatingly childish and destructive to the party and to her cause. This account from the Miami Herald:
Clinton supporters chanted ”Denver! Denver! Denver!” suggesting some activists are itching for a fight on the convention floor, though most Democratic leaders say such a battle would devastate the party’s chances in November.
Even with the additional delegates from Florida and Michigan, the odds of Clinton overtaking Obama’s lead are long and her supporters in the audience erupted into a chorus of boos and jeers when a motion to fully restore Florida’s votes failed.
”This isn’t unity,” one man shouted from the floor. ”You just took away votes,” one woman yelled.
”Please don’t do what people expect us to do,” committee member Alice Huffman said as protesters shouted and hissed, sometimes drowning out the committee members. “We will leave here more united than when we came. . . .”
”Lipstick on a pig,” came a catcall.
With Hillary’s I’m-not-getting-out-despite-the-math approach and President Bill’s increasingly off-the-reservation remarks, the Clintons have lost both her shot at the presidency and his reputation as president. Quite the two-fer.
On top of that, Bill Clinton’s fast-lane lifestyle is starting to raise the bubba issue again. Here’s how former Clinton press secretary Dee Dee Myers’ hubby, who should be a Bill lover, portrayed the former pres in Vanity Fair. Here’s the tease:
Old friends and longtime aides are wringing their hands over Bill Clinton’s post–White House escapades, from the dubious (and secretive) business associations to the media blowups that have bruised his wife’s campaign, to the private-jetting around with a skirt-chasing, scandal-tinged posse. Some point to Clinton’s medical traumas; others blame sheer selfishness, and the absence of anyone who can say “no.” Exploring Clintonworld, the author asks if the former president will be consumed by his own worst self.
And this excerpt about his new, swinging entourage:
Also in attendance was Ron Burkle, the California supermarket billionaire and investor who is Clinton’s bachelor buddy, fund-raiser, and business partner. Burkle had come with an attractive blonde, described by a fellow guest as “not much older than 19, if she was that.”
Burkle’s usual means of transport is the custom-converted Boeing 757 that Clinton calls “Ron Air” and that Burkle’s own circle of young aides privately refer to as “Air Fuck One.” Clinton himself had arrived on the private plane of another California friend, the real-estate heir, Democratic donor, liberal activist, and sometime movie and music producer Steve Bing, whose colorful private life includes fathering a child out of wedlock with the actress Elizabeth Hurley and suing the billionaire investor Kirk Kerkorian for invasion of privacy, alleging that private investigators for Kerkorian swiped Bing’s dental floss out of his trash in a successful effort to prove that Bing’s DNA matched that of a child delivered by Kerkorian’s ex-wife, the former tennis pro Lisa Bonder. (The suit was later settled out of court.)
In fairness, it should be said that Clinton’s entourage that weekend also included his daughter, Chelsea, and her boyfriend, Marc Mezvinsky, and no one who was there has adduced the slightest evidence that Clinton’s behavior was anything other than proper. Nor, indeed, is there any proof of post-presidential sexual indiscretions on Clinton’s part, despite a steady stream of tabloid speculation and Internet intimations that the Big Dog might be up to his old tricks. On any given visit to London, for example, Clinton is as apt to dine with Tony Blair or Kevin Spacey as with anyone who might raise an eyebrow.
But among the not-so-small cadre of Clinton friends and former aides, concern about the company the boss keeps is persistent, palpable, and pained. No former president of the United States has ever traveled with such a fast crowd, and most 61-year-old American men of Clinton’s generation don’t, either. “I just think those guys are radioactive,” one former aide to Clinton who is still in occasional affectionate touch with him told me recently, referring to Burkle and (to a lesser extent) Bing. “I stay far away from them.”
Posted by Wayne Garcia on Mar. 3, 2008, at 10:56 am
… is a crushing win tomorrow by Barack Obama, since that would effectively end the contest with Hillary Clinton and pave the way for the Florida convention delegates to be seated at the national soiree. (Help me, Obi Wan Obama, you’re my only hope.)
How likely is that?
In Ohio, Hillary hangs onto a 6 point consensus lead, but Obama’s trendlines are strong and it looks like it is anybody’s race by Election Day tomorrow. Here’s the way Pollster.com puts it:
In Texas, Obama has caught Clinton and the race is a statistical dead heat. Again, here is the Pollster.com consensus:
Clinton has a nearly 9 point lead in the all-important Rhode Island primary (which apparently hasn’t had enough polling to even generate a regression trendline on Pollster.com), so she has that going for her. Which is nice.
Finally, sticking with my cultural reference theme today and the Star Wars quote earlier, we have to say that beyond the hope of Obama sweeping Tuesday handily for Florida Democrats, “There is another.” And that is the lawsuit filed by Tampa Democratic consultant Victor DiMaio and his lawyer, Hillsborough Democratic Chairman Michael Steinberg. Dismissed almost out of hand at the federal district level, the DiMaio lawsuit seeking a clarification of whether the party can actually strip the state of its convention delegates seems to have a second life. The full 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has agreed to hear the case in oral arguments two weeks from today in Atlanta rather than affirm the district judge without a hearing, which would be the more common scenario.
DiMaio said in a written statement:
“Our lawsuit was filed when there were many more candidates running for president. I believe it would be a travesty if the millions of Floridians who went to the polls on January 29, more than Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina combined, and voted for their choice for President would have their votes not count. This Saturday, March 1, Democrats all over Florida in 25 Congressional Districts will begin the process of running for and electing delegates to the Democratic National Convention based on the results of the January 29th Presidential Preference Primary Election. Florida is the fourth largest state in the nation and we deserve to have our votes count and have a voice in deciding who the next President of the United States should be.”
If I were a betting man, I’d put my money on Obama.
Couric Raw: Katie bitches about a bad mic, compares Cindy McCain to a dog and says “shit” a few times in this video shot during the breaks on the 1/8/08 CBS Evening News.
What’s hot for Christmas 2008? A rundown of the must-have digital goodies from last week’s Consumer Electronics Show.
Posted by Wayne Garcia on Jul. 2, 2007, at 12:18 pm
I spent Saturday at Walt Disney World with seven leading Democratic presidential candidates as they made a play for the hearts and minds of Latino public officials gathered there. Here’s my report, which will run in print in our CL issue being published Wednesday:
LAKE BUENA VISTA — They call this “the nation’s Latino political convention.†But if U.S. demographics continue their current trends, in two decades both parties’ presidential conventions could look at lot like the 24th annual conference of the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials.
The gathering drew more than 1,000 NALEO members to Walt Disney World’s Contemporary Hotel, where members listened to the seven leading Democratic presidential candidates on Saturday. They heard from just one Republican — dark horse Duncan Hunter, on Friday. The major GOP candidates cited scheduling conflicts; more likely, they feared fallout from the recent immigration reform battle and the fact that the nonpartisan organization’s membership is strongly Democratic.
The conference was significant beyond the presidential forum. Hispanics make up the largest minority group in this country, and are its fastest-growing bloc, too. Latinos make up more than 20 percent of the voting public in Florida.
“Whoever will be the next president will need to work with this constituency to move our country forward,†NALEO President John Bueno said.
Posted by Wayne Garcia on Jul. 1, 2007, at 3:20 pm
Frank Sanchez, an adviser and local fundraising chairman for the Barack Obama campaign, tells PoHo that Obama is reporting $32.5 million in campaign contributions for the quarter ending June 30 (that was Saturday). That’s a record for a Democratic presidential candidate.
Of that money, an impressive $31 million is in primary dollars. (A quick primer in federal campaign rules; you can give up to $2,300 each for the primary and general elections, both on one check if you like. Some candidates use those double contributions to pump up their fundraising reports in the primary, even though they can’t legally spend the money unless they win the nomination.)
Sanchez estimated that $260,000 of that total came out of Tampa Bay, mostly from two fund raisers held in April, including a 2,000-person event in Ybor City.
More than 154,000 new donors gave to the Obama campaign between April and the end of June.
No word yet on Hillary Clinton’s quarter. The buzz (damn, hate using that word) at the Tampa Democrats For America training academy and in Orlando at the NALEO conference was it would be in the $25 million-$30 million range.
John Edwards just cracked the $9 million mark for the quarter, according to fundraising appeals from his campaign on Saturday.
With Hillary’s I’m-not-getting-out-despite-the-math approach and President Bill’s 
The gathering drew more than 1,000 NALEO members to Walt Disney World’s Contemporary Hotel, where members listened to the seven leading Democratic presidential candidates on Saturday. They heard from just one Republican — dark horse Duncan Hunter, on Friday. The major GOP candidates cited scheduling conflicts; more likely, they feared fallout from the recent immigration reform battle and the fact that the nonpartisan organization’s membership is strongly Democratic.
