Feminist Blow back

There are two important posts I want to share. The first is from the Reclusive Leftist who every feminist must read. The second is from Riverdaughter whose blog is called Confluence. Riverdaughter is using her blog to organize. Riverdaughter's post on her blog is filled with fascinating links I have not copied - go there and read her entire post.

From Reclusive Leftist:

From HillBuzz, the exciting news we’ve all been waiting for!

Apparently, according to FOX News, the Obama campaign has hired 400 bloggers to influence the public discourse and sway Hillary voters to “remember we are all Democrats”, to give up Clinton’s cause, and to become dutiful citizens of the Obama Nation.

Also, it’s been noted by several HillBuzz readers, that Obama volunteers are being told to ratchet down the anti-Hillary hate, because someone in the campaign realizes Hillary Clinton supporters are not very likely to support Obama if he becomes the nominee.
...
What’s that? We’re all Democrats? Oh, that’s nice. Okay, you have a nice day, you hear? Bye-bye! Thanks so much! Bye! Mm, you too! Bye! Thanks again! Okay, bye now! Bye!

Posted on May 16, 2008 by riverdaughter
Friday: Fast II and call to action___

Ok, folks, it looks like this ball is starting to roll. With HCFP doing a haka and Steve Corbett at WILK launching Operation Turndown today, we are seeing thousands of people finally losing patience with the DNC and pushing back against Obama as the inevitable candidate.

We know that Clinton is the stronger, more qualified candidate. We know that the Republicans would like nothing more than to be running against an unvetted, inexperienced weak candidate like Obama. And we know that Obama got to be where he is by suppression of Clinton voters by:

a.) undemocratic caucuses in heavily Republican states,
b.) the active participation of the DNC Rules and Bylaws committee who imposed an unnecessarily harsh penalty on Florida and Michigan
c.) the refusal of the Obama campaign to work towards a solution for those two states before the primary season ends ,
d.) discouraging donors from contributing to Clinton’s campaign or any outside group that might be friendly to her and
e.) the unconscionable media narrative of the past two weeks that Obama is now our nominee with the clear intention of depressing voter turnout. In short, Barack Obama “wins” by suppressing the votes of his opponents.

In this, he is aided and abetted by a corporate media and Republican operatives in that media landscape and the DNC itself. The party has turned against Hillary Clinton in order to expunge the “old coalition” of working class, elderly, ethnic and female constituents for a smaller “new coalition” of affluent liberals and African-Americans.

The purpose of this purge may be to install a more tech............
More to Read on this post here. Posted on May 16, 2008 by riverdaughter
Friday: Fast II and call to action___

I would also recommend the long history of the left tradition thoughtfully done by Anglachel's Journal titled Radical Divergence

I respect Anglachel's scholarship and feminism. I feel her post is instructive and should be read. However, ultimately, I feel the same as I do when people say I should study the Koran to understand Muslims. I don't care what they say they believe, I only care what they actually DO.

All religions including political religions say one thing and often do the opposite. What does what they say they stand for mean when their actions contribute to the enslavement of women? Answer: The Line, (rhetoric) just obscures the reality and covers the cruelty
But see here why she is really hot reading:

"To wrap up, while there is deep hatred of Hillary (even more than of Bill) among the Best & Brightest, something that is an ugly mix of misogyny, class arrogance and loathing of "white trash", I think the stonger political feeling among the Stevensonians is resentment.

I've been chastised (stupidly) for talking about AA identity voting for Obama, even as I've said repeatedly that this is not a pernicious phenomenon even as it may frustrate the livin' bejeezus out of HRC supporters.

What is not so obvious is that the wine-track is doing class identity voting when going for Obama; there are a lot of bitter, resentful "creative class" voters out there, clinging to their overly inflated opinions of their cultural and intellectual superiority.

This is what is oozing out of their diatribes against Hillary supporters as well as against her. The recent posts by Bowers, DDay, and others of that ilk crowing about the triumph of Whole Foods shoppers to rule the world has always been there. It's just been coded and disguised with a lot of hooey."

"Anna mentions something I had not considered, but which rings true on a number of levels - that there is more than a little pattern of the Clarence Thomas hearings in the curent contest. I don't want to push the comparison too far, but her core observation is right on the money: "Any and all criticism of the nominee is discounted as suspect racism and the woman trying to report reality is demonized with glee. "

And then there is this from Ponies, Cows and K Street

"But the other animal in this contest is the Cash Cow, and this is something that The Precious appears to have on a leash. The money issue is fascinating, and may have as much salience as the obsession with driving the Clintons from the party. While I don’t think Obama has managed to create a substantially new voting base, he is clearly trying to control all the money. Whether or not he can do that is another question. It will depend on the outcome of the general election.

The candidate whose appeal is to the big bucks donors (and not always Democratic donors, if the attendees of his Bittergate San Francisco fundraiser is any sign) is now trying to monopolize Democratic cash flow to create the simplest and crudest of political machines, a straightforward cash-exchange patronage system. He’s done some time-honored practices like giving to large sums of money to other politicians’ campaign chests, and handing over donor lists in exchange for endorsements. The new twist (and I have to admit a certain admiration for the sheer chutzpah of it all) is to demand that his donors not provide money to any other outlet than himself so that he can be the Godfather of campaign funds, dispensing it to reward loyalty and punish defections and opposition. You do business with us and only us or else (sound of knuckles cracking). Got it? It does fit well with the bully-boy tactics we’ve seen in everything else this guy has done.

The demand that other modes of political communication and action be denied operating funds is savvy in several ways. It makes Obama the arbiter of political viability. It boosts the power of his message by reducing the number and efficacy of competing voices and alternate views. It enforces loyalty to his agenda, preventing an internal opposition from forming. In its structure, it is the same as the Republican’s K-Street project, a shake-down racket.

Hmm, maybe The Precious should have been a little more specific about exactly which Republican ideas he thought were so good."