Despite the belief held by many Hillary Clinton supporters that her campaign for the Democratic nomination for U.S. president was scuttled by sexism in the media, Gil Troy, writing in the History News Network, shifts the blame elsewhere. In Clintonism, not Sexism Defeated Hillary , he agrees that the media were rougher on Clinton than on Barack Obama, but he also argues that "from the start of the campaign, Hillary Clinton's problems had far more to do with the baggage she carried from the 1990s than the baggage she shares with her sisters in arms.
"What really defeated Hillary Clinton was Clintonism. Her arrogant air of presumption, her preference for staffers better known for loyalty than competence, and her and her husband's aggressive tactics backfired this year. Americans, it seems, are not just fed up with George W. Bush, but with politics in general. And the two Clintons represent the polarizing, do-or-die, hyper-partisan, exceedingly personal politics of the baby boomers, both right and left — that both Barack Obama and John McCain repudiate by their respective ages and by the message each generates."
The anorexic right-wing loose canon Ann Coulter's columns are usually best left unanswered, but the Huffington Post's Jeffrey Feldman couldn't resist commenting on her latest syndicated column in the Patriot Post Bush's America: 100 per cent al-Qaeda Free Since 2001 . In it, Coulter indulged in her usual over-the-top anti-Democrat rhetoric in her defence of still-President George W. Bush.
"There is not a liberal in this country worthy of kissing Bush's rear end, but the weakest members of the herd run from Bush. Compared to the lickspittles denying and attacking him, Bush is a moral giant — if that's not damning with faint praise. John McCain should be so lucky as to be running for Bush's third term. Then he might have a chance."
Feldman, writing in an article called Coulter: McCain a 'Lickspittle' Unworthy of 'Kissing Bush's Behind' wrung his hands. "Since 2001, right-wing pundits have increasingly used offensive and violent rhetoric to humiliate Democratic Party candidates and politicians and to undermine political debate of important issues," he writes. "Coulter's attack on Sen. McCain confirms a rising trend of right-wing pundits using this tactic of humiliation and violent language to brand Sen. McCain a danger to the safety and well-being of the country.
"Only time will tell if this full scenario is in the cards, but for now Americans can look forward to plenty more 'John-McCain-is-a-Liberal' tirades from the likes of Ann Coulter, Rush Limbaugh, and all the right-wing pundits trying to emulate them."
American playwright and critic George S. Kaufman once famously said that "satire is what closes on Saturday night." To make sure his screed was regarded as one, Mark Schannon, writing in Blog Critics magazine, was careful to title his rant about the intelligence of the average American Satire: Iraqi-Mania ... And What Do Americans/Iraqis Want? .
"What the hell are we doing to the world, even more importantly, to ourselves — and, most important of all, to me?" he asks querulously. "Ever feel like you were watching the world through one of those fun-house mirrors?"
Although he doesn't quite say it outright, he thinks his fellow Americans are, well, stupid. He offers his own spurious survey of American attitudes to prove it:
