Meet The Women Who Say There’s a BETTER FEMINIST In The Race Than Hillary Clinton

[Segami]

"...Morgan Dudley, Dudley’s daughter, says she thought she’d support Clinton — until she heard Sanders’ ideas on making college affordable. The younger Dudley, who is in her 50s and works in university development, is disappointed with what she sees as Clinton’s flip-flopping...."

"...It’s not about gender. It’s about empathy...".........BEAUTIFUL!.........



In 2008, Jetta Darrow cast her vote for Hillary Clinton in the New Hampshire Democratic primary. She worried that Barack Obama wasn’t experienced enough to be President, she thought Clinton had the right qualifications for the job, and the prospect of a woman in the White House excited her. But this time around, Darrow, a 63-year-old office administrator for a civil-engineering company, has changed her mind. Since 2008, she says, she has buried her husband — a Vietnam veteran — but received only a quarter of his pension, her health care costs have risen, and she hasn’t seen a pay raise. All while struggling to help take care of her sick 11-year-old grandson. She doesn’t blame Obama or Clinton for her woes. But breaking “that highest, hardest glass ceiling” — as Clinton once described it — suddenly doesn’t seem as urgent as fighting for struggling families like hers. So she’s going with Bernie Sanders, the insurgent, self-identified socialist Senator from Vermont whose surprisingly strong challenge from Clinton’s left flank has bedeviled the front-runner for much of this year.

“He spoke exactly to my concerns, as if he were living in my house, or my neighbor’s house, or my sister’s house,” Darrow says as she spreads out snacks in the sunny kitchen of her Nashua home, which she shares with her daughter, son-in-law, grandson and a poodle mix named Sugar. “He is the most sincere candidate.”

As Clinton has rebounded from a sluggish summer thanks partly to a widely praised showing in the first Democratic debate, Darrow represents a tiny but intriguing slice of the electorate: post-middle-age, Democratic women who are supporting Sanders despite the possibility that Clinton may represent the best chance in their lifetimes to see a woman in the White House. Interviews with dozens of these women in recent weeks, mostly in New Hampshire but also in states from Pennsylvania to California, reveal a wide range of reasons for supporting Sanders over Clinton. Some reject the premise that Clinton is the only woman likely to reach the presidency in their lifetime, citing other possibilities like Elizabeth Warren, the Massachusetts Senator who decided not to run this year. Most take pains to say they are not rejecting Clinton, but are just excited by Sanders and his more liberal policy agenda. And almost all say the fact that Clinton is a woman simply doesn’t matter to them as much as they thought it would.

“It’s not about gender,” Darrow says. “It’s about empathy.”

None of this is to say Clinton has a problem with female Democratic voters. She doesn’t. Clinton — who will face off with Sanders again in the second debate on Saturday — generally gets favorable ratings from about 80% of the demographic in national and early-state public-opinion polls. Her support among women has, for the most part, risen and fallen in ways that track her support with Democratic voters at large. Her debate performance and her steady testimony before a GOP-led congressional committee investigating the Benghazi attack has solidified her status as the Democratic front-runner, with large leads in national polls. And recent polls show Clinton erasing Sanders’ lead in New Hampshire, even gaining a small edge in the first-in-the-nation primary state where the Vermont Senator is strongest. Almost nobody expects that women will abandon Clinton for Sanders in large numbers. But even though they’re in the minority, the women who support Bernie Sanders are important. Women’s votes could mean the difference between Sanders winning or losing New Hampshire; Clinton’s advantage among women is slightly smaller in the state than it is nationwide. And Sanders almost certainly needs a victory in New Hampshire to stay viable for the rest of the primary. That’s why he’s starting to move his campaign from large rallies to more intimate settings where he can target pro-Clinton constituencies like women and African Americans.




~snip~

Even Clinton herself says women shouldn’t vote for a candidate merely because she’s a woman. “I’m always in favor of women running,” she told TIME in a recent interview when asked about the appeal of Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina, the only woman in the GOP field. “But people need to hold women’s policies up to light and determine what their answers to problems would be before deciding to support them.” For some Sanders supporters in New Hampshire, that’s exactly their reasoning. “Hillary is that polyester pant-suited lady from the ’70s who lip-speaks feminism, but doesn’t grapple with the issue of poverty,” says Sylvia Gale, a 66-year-old former state legislator and Sanders volunteer. “The best feminist for the job is Bernie Sanders.” ‘There will be another Hillary Clinton’ Dudley Dudley is as surprised as anyone by her support for Sanders. The 79-year-old broke barriers in New Hampshire as one of few female lawmakers in the 1970s, and most of her friends are backing Clinton. “I expected to support her, until I heard Bernie Sanders speak,” she says over popovers at a café in Portsmouth, N.H. “I will work very hard for her if she gets the nomination, but I’m hoping that Bernie Sanders becomes President.” Dudley, who made headlines in New Hampshire when she prevented shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis from building an oil refinery off the coast in the 1970s, is from the generation that made the first push to get women elected to office in large numbers. Her unusual name — her first name plus her married last name — became her political tagline when she ran for Congress with the slogan “Dudley Dudley, Congress Congress” (she lost).

But even among some women of this barrier-breaking generation, the idea of seeing a female President doesn’t carry the urgency one might expect.


cont'

http://time.com/4107286/hillary-clinton-bernie-sanders-women-new-hampshire-2016/

[PatrickforO]

1. I think Bernie may surprise pundits, pollsters and Third Way establishment types

when the voting starts.

[Betty Karlson]

2. Oh yes. Why do you think pollsters consistently underpoll the millennials?

(Or: why DWS, via the caucuses, tries to keep millennials out?)

[SunSeeker]

3. Not buying it.

Indeed, the article you cite doesn't buy it either:

Almost nobody expects that women will abandon Clinton for Sanders in large numbers.

http://time.com/4107286/hillary-clinton-bernie-sanders-women-new-hampshire-2016/

That article is just another bullshit attempt by the MSM trying to make a horse race out of this thing.

[Scootaloo]

4. That's okay

No one ever expects you to "buy" anything other than hatred against Sanders, sunseeker.

[SunSeeker]

5. You shouldn't presume to speak for everyone, Scootaloo.

Especially me.

I don't hate Sanders. I hate the GOP. Which is why I want our strongest candidate, Hillary, running against the GOP nominee.

[Scootaloo]

6. Not buying it

[Hortensis]

13. This thread is based on a very silly article. Bernie's feminist enough for me.

One thing he cannot do, however, and it's absolutely HUGE feminism-wise, is become our first woman president.

I did not vote for Obama because he was black, but being able to help elect our first black president was an important plus to me.

I will not vote for Hillary because she's a woman, but IMO electing our first woman president will be an even bigger advance than electing our first black one. Half of all Americans are women, after all.

[artislife]

40. So lets imagine we elect Hillary and we get our first woman president

Then the first few weeks of her term pass and we see that as far as policy went, it doesn't matter one whit.

We are still in centerist country, nothing of great merit or courage is done.

In fact, the most courageous thing will be done by the voters and not the administration.

And we will slide further and faster towards a hotter, dying planet.

But we would have elected a woman president to the United States.


whoopie.

[Hortensis]

41. Imagining a hideous HRC presidency doesn't

somehow turn Bernie into a better feminist. They are what they are.

[George II]

29. She will be, SS, she will be.

[bravenak]

7. Using women to bash women is just peachy. If Hillary even mentions her Gender, it's the Gender card.

[Segami]

9. Another empty post.

but, thanks for the kick! To all you Hillary supporters, its much appreciated.

[bravenak]

10. Empty op, empty post, fair is fair.

[Segami]

11. Such bitterness....

take a breather and relax.

[bravenak]

14. I wish it was bitterness. Too young. It is called ability to see through nonsense.

[Skidmore]

16. She right.

Divisive as hell.

[JustAnotherGen]

12. I'm a Womanist

I made the jump this summer after the "pool party" and Sandra Bland. Locked me down with the trial of the cop that raped all of those women who happen to be black. So who is and is not a Feminist is a non starter for me. No Democratic Candidate should go down this path with me. Stick to the fundamentals Democratic Party. Don't place a label on it or a lot of Womanists are going to be smirking.

[bravenak]

15. I know I smirk.

I find this to be a silly tactic. I know what you mean about womanist. After the Arquette affair, I moved on to Womanism. I find my old self cute.

[Skidmore]

17. I find the preoccupation with labels

amazing. If people spent less time labelling perhaps we could all have a conversation and get the work done. I'm happy being a feminist, a suffragette, or any other label that has at its core feminist values.

[PotatoChip]

18. Me too.

But I still understand and agree with the Womanist movement.

For those unfamiliar with the term, Womanism (or Womanist) came about in the 70's and 80's as a legitimate response to upper class white feminists who were unwilling or unable to see how seriously the oppression of racism (and to some degree- classism) afflicted our sisters of color.

[CoffeeCat]

26. I am a woman...

...and I am thrilled to see Bernie Sanders being recognized for his policies that truly do something to help women.

He's consistently been for equal pay and for doing something about income inequality. He's held these beliefs and fought for years, not just during election season when he's trying to convince voters to vote for him.

Women could not have a better candidate in their corner than Bernie Sanders. Elizabeth Warren too! Both Warren and Bernie have publicly fought for the middle class and for the economic issues that impact middle-class women and their families.

[bravenak]

42. That has nothing to do with my comment.

[George II]

30. Bravenak, it's known as "divide and conquer".

[bravenak]

44. It's ugly.

[Lilith Rising]

31. I've been waiting for this...

Certainly any (white) man is a better feminist than Hillary. Certainly #berniesofemale

What's next? Is he gonna be better at being gay than gay people?

[bravenak]

43. That's how I see it.

[beam me up scottie]

8. K & R!

I don't want someone who panders and makes speeches and then forgets about us once they get the nomination.

[Skidmore]

19. While the Sanders "movement" is busy trying to divide women,

this is happening.

http://news.groopspeak.com/gop-trying-to-pass-a-law-making-it-legal-to-fire-single-pregnant-women/

It’s trendy among some liberals to say there’s no difference between Republicans and Democrats. While in some areas the difference might be more subtle than we’d like, on the issue of civil rights, one party is literally decades if not centuries beyond the other.

Over the last several years, Republicans have been fighting hard to eliminate the civil rights advances made over the previous few generations. No group (except rich white men) is immune from the GOP effort to divide and conquer the nation. Poor people are vilified to the point where Republicans want to take away their autonomy at the grocery store. Minorities, especially African-Americans, are forced to live in fear of those who were hired to protect all of us. They want to pretend LGBT people don’t exist at best and are serial predators at worst. Voting rights are being snatched away. The most vocal efforts, though, have been against women.

We know they’re trying to take women’s reproductive rights, but in an ironic turn of events, if a woman does choose to give birth, as Republicans want to force, she could be fired from her job, also thanks to Republicans.

In wake of the U.S. Supreme Court decision in favor of same-sex marriage, Republicans are pushing legislation that aims to protect Americans who oppose these unions on religious grounds. But critics say the language is so broad, the bill creates a license to discriminate that would let employers fire women for getting pregnant outside of wedlock.

The bill specifically protects those who believe that marriage is between “one man and one woman” or that “sexual relations are properly reserved to such a marriage.” Ian Thompson, a legislative representative at the American Civil Liberties Union, said that in addition to targeting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, the bill “clearly encompasses discrimination against single mothers” and would hobble the ability of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the federal body that protects women from sex-based discrimination, to act.

[PotatoChip]

20. Bernie is not trying to divide anyone.

In fact, he frequently speaks out against "those who would try to divide us".

[FlatBaroque]

21. Bravo. I hope Bernie continues to divide women between

those who vote for the presence of female body parts, and those who vote based on the issues that affect their lives.

[Fawke Em]

46. I'm not divided.

I would never support Clinton because of her right-shift policies. Her gender is of no consequence to me, although she talks about it enough.

[Skidmore]

47. I'm not divided either and

I will proudly caucus for her on February 1.

[JaneyVee]

22. Feminists don't write rape fantasy essay's.

[beam me up scottie]

23. They do write about gender stereotypes but nice try.

Anyone who's not an idiot understands the difference.

Do feminists support bans on late term abortions?

[in_cog_ni_to]

24. Bernie = EMPATHY and most voters know it.

Last edited Thu Nov 12, 2015, 11:35 AM - Edit history (1)

Whereas, The Hillary (and her supporters), supporter of welfare reform, The Iraq War and Prisons for Profits is/are void of that moral virtue.

PEACE
LOVE
BERNIE

[Segami]

25. Can't you see

they're starting to crack at the seams........pretty soon, we'll have nothing but small, manageable pieces.

[in_cog_ni_to]

32. We'll

be here to pick up their pieces - out of the kindness of our hearts, of course.

PEACE
LOVE
BERNIE

[earthside]

27. * Hillary Clinton

* Wife of President William Jefferson Clinton 1993-2001.

The asterisk will always be there. It is reality: Hillary Clinton, if she gets elected, will always and forever be seen by history as a successor to her husband. She would never, ever be seen as a woman who made it all on her own.

Why this fact makes certain political feminists very angry perplexes me. I think it might have something to do with age and the generation of feminism that arose out of the counterculture of the 1960s of which Hillary Clinton was sort of associated -- once again a kind of "It's my turn" feeling.

No one can know what is in a person's real heart and mind, but I suspect that Bernie Sanders is more of a true feminist, more about what it means for all people and less about what it means for personal ambition.

[SunSeeker]

34. Hillary did not "succeed" Bill, Bush did.

Hillary went on to be Senator and Secretary of State. She is a formidable candidate in her own right. Your suggestion that she is nothing more than Bill's wife is incredibly sexist.

[Thinkingabout]

36. Good post, this sexism needs to find a hole and jump into it, it sure does not help Sanders in

proving he is a feminists.

[earthside]

37. Linear thinking.

'Successor' doesn't have to mean 'immediately following'.


And ... once again ... SEXIST is the scream whenever uncomfortable realities are mentioned about Mrs. Clinton.

So predictable; so shallow; so callow; so boring.


OMG! ... I used the word 'scream'.
SEXIST!!!



So amusing.

[SunSeeker]

48. You are not professing "uncomfortable realities," you're spouting sexist bullshit.

There will be no "asterisk" by Hillary's name. She will not have gotten the seat unelected as a widow. She will have won it by her own merit, elected by the vote of the people.

It is disgusting to read such sexist drivel on a progressive site.

[UglyGreed]

28. K/R

[KittyWampus]

33. Bernie Marched With Margaret Sanger!

[ismnotwasm]

39. ...

[George II]

35. And for every one of those women who think Sanders is a "better feminist", there are probably five..

...who think Clinton is a better feminist.

[ismnotwasm]

38. Yawn.

[Fawke Em]

45. Awwww..

That little girl reminds me of my own a couple of years ago.

[ljm2002]

49. Interesting article...

...and fair, I thought.

K&R