49 Comments
Jul 21, 2021Liked by Eric Boehlert

Racism isn’t the only American made brand: we are champs when it comes to sexism. Shorter: men hate women and want to control them. Look at what’s happening with abortion rights in Texas. Intelligent, strong women are a huge threat to men, men who control everything, including the media. What I am enjoying the most is that women aren’t backing down. They’re running for office, climbing corporate ladders…it’s only a matter of time before they have a huge influence in the media. And yes, they will replace men. #winning

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Check the recent news about the clothing required of the women on Norway's handball team at the Olympics. It is still everywhere. Cripes!

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I read about a woman in the paralympics who was told point blank that the outfit she was wearing, which she has worn throughout her nine years of competition, was “too revealing.”

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Funny how the media does post mortems on its election coverage and then, in the next cycle, ignores whatever the post mortem turned up. I recall the NYT's 2017 mea culpa on obsessing over Hillary's email rather than looking into Trump's obvious corruption and potential conflicts of interest. In the blink of an eye, the Times and WaPo were back at it in the run up to 2020, telling us that Amy Klobuchar was a mean boss, and Kamala Harris was "too ambitious." Not just trivial complaints, but traits that would be praised as an "aggressive take charge attitude" if attributed to a man. We have come a long way, but there's still a long way to go.

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yep, different rules for the women. press not even subtle about it.

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I think another reason the media wanted Hillary to go away, in addition to the fact that she is a woman, is that her presence mades it more likely that the media would finally be taken to task for its biased reporting about her. For example the NY Times and WaPo fell for Steven Bannon’s and Peter Schweitzer’s hit job on the Clinton Foundation. Schweitzer’s book “Clinton Cash” was full of innuendo and blatantly false accusations that the the mainstream media helped spread. It was the Times’s reporting on that book in 2015 which tanked Hillary’s previously high approval ratings. The media then chose “Hillary’s was an unpopular candidate” as a favorite storyline. If they were being honest they would have added “after we helped Steven Bannon unfairly trash her”.

https://washingtonmonthly.com/2017/08/21/how-steve-bannon-played-the-mainstream-media/

In contrast the Trumps were running a scam foundation which the media chose to ignore until very late in the election.

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absolutely, by driving her away meant the press didn't have to address its 2016 sins...which it never really has

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Did anyone expect them to do that considering how they never apologized for their trashing of Al Gore in 2000?

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Eric, this past Monday I heard a brief snip of you on the Stephanie Miller Show, where you asked, rhetorically I assume: "How did journalism get this bad?" I am imploring you - PLEASE write a book addressing exactly that. I have been a Big Fan ever since you wrote for Salon; reading your book Lapdogs solidified you as the most valued voice among all talking/writing heads; your brilliant work has shaped my attitudes more than anyone's. You have long been the only individual (of ANY stripe) I follow on Twitter, and when I've drastically reduced my exposure to political coverage in the last 5-6 years for my own mental health (I live and work as a clinical psychologist less then 2 miles from where George Floyd was killed), I routinely continue to seek you out, thanks to your intelligence, insight and good humor. I don't know how YOU have survived, dealing with all the enormous inequities and how consistently/constantly things are skewed against those with a progressive or open mind. Even the law of averages would predict more diverse outcomes, at least on greater occasion, I believe. If you ever write this book, I will order it the moment it is available to do so; my professional training would suggest that having a clearer understanding of the root causes can bring at least a measure of relief in the coping. I don't know how you do it (daily dealing with such an enormously stacked deck, relentless over such a long time, but I wish all the very best! You so richly deserve it.

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thanks gerald i appreciate it.

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Points taken, but after her defeat HRC did not take over the Democratic party and turn it into a weapon of mass destruction against democracy. Trump continues to be a primal force in the culture and needs to be covered that way.

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good point! but unfortunately I don’t most of the Trump coverage is as honest as you are in terms of what hrs doing to GOO

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The mainstream media has become as dangerous to the fall of our democracy as the Republican Party. If sexism were removed from the equation, Hillary would be viewed as some kind of clairvoyant. Her predictions and warnings regarding Trump and his corrupt entourage were completely accurate. Imagine if the two candidates' sexes were reversed, Trump was the women who defeated Hilary the man. What would the press's narrative had been over the last four plus years? Yes, there are some news outlets that report the corruption of Trump and Hillary's warnings but nowhere near the level and pressure that it truly deserves. Will Trump and his enabling Republican fascists ever face the scrutiny that Hillary still does for being correct? Perhaps in the future, the written history will show the truth, of how a sexist mainstream press, insecure about the size of their penis, protected a madman instead of defending a possible first woman president of the US who's experience made her more prepared than perhaps any man in US history. Of course that history will be written elsewhere, likely in a democracy that actually succeeds.

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GRRRRRRRRRRR. I blame the press (especially the New York Times) for its unbalanced coverage of Hillary and her "scandals." It's like their sexism is on autopilot. They did almost the same with Elizabeth Warren, including stories about how much like Hillary she was (except the part about them both being extremely competent and experienced). Myself, I had an issue with any expectation that she "should" be president because of her pedigree--but she undeniably had more leadership skills, more ability to work with others, and more history of working for the people than Trump ever had.

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and they invented out of thin air this idea that if you lost a WH you had to "go away"

naturally for Trump, they've reversed that rule

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Chuck Todd, Andrea Mitchell & to a lesser extent other MSNBC hosts did their part, too. The first two especially constantly called her unlikable.

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And June, think of Todd and Mitchell calling ANYBODY “unlikeable” ? God, they are both insufferable !

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Yessss!!! And they are the most unlikeable folks. I can't stand either one of them. I just couldn't believe Andrea even asked her to apologize for using her personal email account. I was like wtf Andrea!!! It was all so blatant and so very disappointing.

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I hold them personally accountable for convincing people that she was unlikable. The truth is, she's a warm, caring & compassionate person.

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Sexism is also a key to understanding the right, especially right wing “Christians”. There is a new book out “Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation” by Kristin Kobes Du Mez about right wing conservative Christianity’s worship of abusive machismo.

https://www.npr.org/2020/06/23/881992622/jesus-and-john-wayne-explores-christian-manhood-and-how-belief-can-bolster-trump

I think the worship of toxic masculinity has infected our media too. They not only deride women, they mock men they deem as “not manly enough”. Maureen Dowd literally said that Gore was “practically lactating” because he was concerned about our environment. Even the war heroes GHW Bush and John Kerry were seen as wimpy and effete. In contrast those combat-averse chicken hawks Dubya and Cheney were clearly admired as “manly men”. Ditto for Trump.

Toxic masculinity and the people who admire it are killing our democracy.

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Check out Right Wing Watch where they post videos of right wing Pulpit Pimps who still insist that The Big G is going to put Trump back on the throne!

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Remember how St. MoDo, Patron Saint of Perpetual Petulance referred to Obama as "Obami"?

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I had forgotten that so I googled it. The first result was a column by the odious Dowd “Will Hillzilla Crush Obambi”. That headline implies that Hillary is too aggressive/ masculine and Obama is a girly man, sexist insults both. She really is a sick puppy. Too bad the Times hasn’t figured that out.

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She is sick. NYT is sick too which is why they haven't figured it out LOL!

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Well, that is appallingly sexist, innit?

(I have a vague memory of someone at Vanity Fair recording a light-hearted video telling Hillary Clinton to take up knitting, and for me that will always be the zenith/nadir of the sexist abuse.)

I think also we cannot understate that some of that bile is also directed towards anyone with the last name “Clinton.” It does not excuse the sexism, but I think adds to it.

A lot of today’s Failed Political Press ™ cut their teeth on Clinton hatred and it must be like a shot of pure adrenaline to the heart to take another pot shot at either of them.

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The GOP started this war on Hillary when her husband was Governor of Arkansas - and the media has eagerly run with it from that moment on.

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The orange capo di tutti frutti is practiced in the art of mesmerization. Many have never fallen for it but for a press that's already proven a willingness for stenography, he was/is just the ticket. Politico et al, please just go away.

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They are excitement junkies. Sane, competent candidates who focus on substance bore them to tears.

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Eg Biden, Kamala

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Sorry to be glib, but it’s always Mom’s fault. Calling Dr. Freud. I remember being furious about the mean spirited, belittling press Hillary consistently got after her loss. Millions of her bereft voters wanted to hear from her despite the bitchiness with which she was received in msm. Be reminded that it was Hillary who first publicly told Americans about FG’s character, lack of competence, integrity, but she was pooh poohed for that ‘failed’ message. Indeed, today’s press seems addicted to keeping the FG front and center. Clicks? $$$? Time to get over HIS loss people. Every time his name comes up in the msm, I ask again, WHY???? The power he is still given, I believe, is in large part the fault of the msm for keeping him there, still doing all kinds of damage to our country. Move on press people, FG is his own pandemic and you’re not wearing your masks 😷.

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totally agree abt the Freud/Mom part. it was so creepy and clear in 2016.

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When it was finally revealed that Bill Clinton did have an affair with Monica Lewinsky, the press reacted as if they found out that Mommy cheated on Daddy!!! (h/t Mike Nichols) and then proceeded to blame her for the affair. Dick Morris said she was a lesbian and perhaps Bill was forced to cheat on her. Hillary has been a threat to msm since the beginning. She is a convenient “Mom” to put the blame on.

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There is a lot of evidence that people see Democrats as the “Mommy Party” and Republicans as the strong, patriarchal “Daddy Party”. I think that is why the media always blames Democrats for things that Republicans are responsible for. Mommy is supposed to be able to fix any problem, even the ones Daddy caused.

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I characterize media coverage of her in 2016 election thus: Hillary didn't ask America how its day went in the right tone of voice so America threw the dinner plate at her.

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Every day and constantly. Never ending… and Hillary didn’t try and center herself. It seemed like a game of bait and switch…

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But they aren't sexist! They just don't like "that" woman. She is too shrill. She should smile more. What is she wearing? (repeat for every single woman candidate)

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Thanks for the musical memories from high school. I can remember hearing those songs on the radio on the way to and from my summer jobs.

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The media are incredibly sexist, including a substantial number of women who are allegedly reporters and commentators (hiya, MoDodo, who doubles as the Grand Wizard of The Times's Op-Ed page). And the ones involved in that political coverage actually deserve the disasters befalling journalism. The rest of us, and their far abler colleagues, do not. To put it another way, anybody notice that when The Times and The Post do great investigative pieces on political figures, they don't involve the people who cover politics?

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The political beat reporters are like 6 year old soccer players....all they know how to do is run after the ball. For the last 5 years, it has been the Former Guy throwing the ball. It was either Eric or Dan Froomkin (possibly both) who early on asked why the major media outlets were not assigning health and/or science reporters to the CV-19 briefings instead of the political beat folks. The Former Guy would have grown bored even quicker than he did if every day he was greeted with substantive questions about science, medicine and disease.

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You do realize that you just denigrated six-year-old soccer players, right? :)

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As Neil Sedaka wrote...breaking up is hard to do...

The Press Corpse misses their #1 cash cow!

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I was in O.B. during that time and it was a blast. Also, if you haven’t heard Lilly Winwood sing Higher Love, it’s worth the listen.

https://youtu.be/CsS4xlHKnpw

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Ditto OB in the day ....

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