techPresident - Women online - Comments

Hillary vs. Obama

dr0976 — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 17:07:44 -0500

Pipe piper of the Democratic party with the Youth and the Media? Have you not seen his ratings with individuals that make over $50K, degreed or the elderly? Barack has reached into every demographic possible and it is because he knows where we are going. No one can accurately tell you how we can get there because that time has not come yet and broken promises and bull is what we are served each year! Hillary Clinton has a platform almost identical to Barack's and that is why so many Americans are voting Democratic and why the vote is so split, Barack's uniqueness to this realm is what drives us, he has the ability to inspire and make us believe in him, what he stands for and where we can go because best believe his plans are forthcoming. Barack Obama will be the next President. And have you ever realized that George W. Bush had experience and and look where we are today?

choreographed campaign

malachi7608 — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 12:19:37 -0500

There isn't anything presented in the public view by Clinton's campaign team that isn't prepared in advance. It's often subtle, but maybe it's enough to slip by the largely less-educated electorate which the Clinton campaign attracts (people like myself). As for me, this is the kind of president I want. I think the population needs to be subdued with smoke and mirrors, just as we were during the current Bush years. We're just better off when we're shielded from the truth. Trust me. Is ignorance bliss? I think so. Iraq is a bloody mess and, believe me, we don't want to be occupying our minds with that vulgar reality. Just ignore it! Besides, I like that our country has been carefully governed by only two families for more than 20 years now. Why change? Since the 1980s, we have had Bush, then Clinton, then Bush, and not possibly Clinton again. Bush, Clinton, Bush, Clinton. That's got an awesome ring to it!

Love live the Bush/Clinton dynasty!

Clinton '08

Hillary vs Obama

mary62 — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 10:36:35 -0500

I'm supporting Hillary because I feel that Mr. Obama is the pipe piper of the Democratic party with the Youth and Media following him and never asking where were going and how in the heck are we going to get there?
At lease we know where Hillary has been and can expect what the future will be with her as President.

wow

alicescheshirecat — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 08:15:37 -0400

I can't believe that someone would have the balls to post assumptions like that involving shopping bags.... serious thats insane.

I'm excited to see that the great women bloggers out there are getting some play. I always ask "and how many women are on that site?" to which the answer is always 1 or 2 and its so disappointing. Thanks so much for writing about this!!
Ally

join the Future Majority

I think there are a few

Zephyr Teachout — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 18:11:34 -0400

I think there may be a few additional dynamics going on here--along with those mentioned.

One is simply path dependency. The first groups of political bloggers, men, developed a network with eachother--all of us are inclined to invite more people like us and imagine more people like us doing what we do, so as it grew, the political blogosphere grew male.

I can imagine another world in which the first political bloggers were female--blogging would have been treated differently, different people would have been invited to early polblog conferences, a different network would have developed. We would have talked of blogging as "soft" perhaps--you know, like nursing--and reporters would look to, quote, and therefore build communities around women blogs.

Also, in this country we tend to associate technology and maleness-see the disproportionate ratio of male software developers in this country compared to S. Korea, e.g., where software is apparently coded more as a "language" than a "technology," and therefore a female and male profession. And we all know that people are more likely to "see" people who fit their stereotypes, and support them.

Related to this, I'm troubled that a new part of political campaiging seems to be less diverse, in general, than political campaigning generally. What I've seen repeatedly is women with the same skill set as men being seen as "implementers" when a man in the same role is a "strategist." Our archetypes are deep, and we have to fight to overcome them--if we don't, the "implementers" will just go get "strategic" jobs in industry, where there are strong incentives to overcome these biases.

On a related note, I was wondering the other day why campaigns didn't have more "mens outreach coordinators." It says something wild about the mindset of a campaign that there is a position for outreaching to half of the country. Does that mean that the rest of the campaign is men's outreach, except for that one position?

Many more thoughts, but thanks for raising these issues.

Thanks Mindy!

Morra Aarons — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 19:27:05 -0400

Au contraire- I know lots of kick butt Conservative women. Which is why, when I think that many Conservative platform issues are so regressive towards women, I scratch my head. But that's my particular parochialism.

Thanks for the comment!

Conservative Women Cool ...

Mindy Finn — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 09:24:31 -0400

Morra, I enjoy your posts.

It's nice to see you blowing open the stereotype that smart conservative women either a) don't exist, or b) aren't cool.

Supports the idea that some of the most significant lessons you learn in school aren't taught by the professors ... :-)

Will do Webutante.

Morra Aarons — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 14:17:44 -0400

And if you know conserva-bloggers we're missing, please comment below.

Thanks for mentioning me in

Webutante — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 10:17:27 -0400

Thanks for mentioning me in this post on conservative women bloggers. I recently lost my original blog, as a result of taking a phisherman's bait and can no longer get into Webutante to post or publish comments, as of August 21, 2007.

However, I've started a new blog by the same name, but with a new URL. Please note, if you want to see my latest posts: http://webutante07.blogspot.com

Best wishes, Webutante

Another conservative blogger

Avery Knapp Jr — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 20:28:40 -0400

What, no mention of Karol's alarmingnews.com?
She's a Thompson supporter, but agrees with all other true conservatives and freedom minded individuals that he is DEAD WRONG about his support for federal regulation of political free speech (McCain-Feingold) and is sympathetic to the true conservative Ron Paul.

Avery J. Knapp Jr., M.D.

Jane Hamsher: "Yearly Kos and the Myth of the White Male"

Morra Aarons — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 22:15:17 -0400

Firedoglake's Jane Hamsher wrote a very reasonable post defending the diversity of the political blogosphere. She writes:

The biggest blogger by far is Arianna Huffington, with 70 million page views per month. Markos is #2, and no amount of willingness to turn him into a white male is going to do that. Markos is Hispanic and that’s just a straight fact. John Amato and Duncan Black are straight white men, but John Aravosis is gay (and so are many of his contributors). FDL rounds out the list of top blogs on the left, headed by two women, although Pach — a Hispanic gay man — is also one of our primary voices. Digby is probably the most quoted and sharpest thinker around, and she’s a woman. I just had to roll my eyes when I heard people who don’t actually, you know, blog (and I’m sorry, but putting up an occasional post on the web site of your think tank/interest group/consulting firm’s website does not de facto make you familiar with the ins and outs of blogging or the blog world) talk about some cabal of straight white males who sit around a table and decide who does and does not get linked to.

Fine, good points. It's what Jane writes next that's more telling.

...I knew that with regard to the top bloggers, they wanted to encourage diversity. They wanted to be supportive and were anxious to find people who did what needed to be done in order to regularly link to them and give them traffic and exposure. That means several things, which Pach outlines in this post, but among them you have to post regularly about the topics that news junkies are interested in and you have to find a way to write your issues into those. It is difficult to get people to care about pro-choice, my personal signature issue.....Women and people of color have important perspectives to add to any conversation. We need more of both in the progressive blogosphere, it makes it richer and the insights deeper and more comprehensive. But Yearly Kos was prohibitively expensive (my hotel bill was $910) and that just isn’t a cost that bloggers who by and large do what they do as a labor of love can afford.

I interpret Jane's point as this: if you want to make it into the high ranks of the political blogosphere, you need to play by the rules. Write what "news junkies" want...write your issues into those." Jane's a star blogger and she's infinitely more influential and famous than I, but I still think this interpretation is narrow. Perhaps, to be a much linked-to political blogger one must play by the rules of the original (male) bloggers, but many bloggers don't want to cover such beats, and that's fine. They still have influence, and they can still be powerful voices for the netroots. They still vote, and they still cover politics. Online political citizens live and thrive beyond the small faction of uber-political blogs.

Only if we leave the comfort zones of the popular progressive blogrolls will online political action become truly effective. I think this is what sites like OpenLeft and Off the Bus at the HuffingtonPost are trying out...

Women's Voices. Women Vote

OverCaffein8d — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 09:19:46 -0400

You are right -- all talk and no action isn't going to make changes. The unmarried women conundrum was talked about in 2000, which is why Women's Voices. Women Vote (WVWV) was formed in 2003.

During 2004, WVWV ran extensive voter registration and get-out-the-vote (GOTV) for unmarried women in 16 states. The results? In 2004, unmarried women accounted for 22.4 percent of the total votes cast, compared to only 19 percent in 2000.

In 2006, in addition to traditional voter registration and GOTV, WVWV sent birthday card voter registration reminders close to the 18th birthdays of young women. And the "First Time ... Voting" public service announcements (www.wvwv.org/mediaroom) reached a broad audience on TV, radio, and YouTube.

In 2007, WVWV published the "100 Hour Agenda for Unmarried Women" to coincide with Nancy Pelosi's "100 Hour Agenda" for the new congressional session. And, WVWV just released the "State of Unmarried America" report to help policy makers better understand the demographics and issues for unmarried women.

WVWV also created several video questions for the CNN / YouTube presidential debates. Out of the first 200 videos submitted, only 34 were from women! I am really encouraging women to submit video questions for these debates so that women’s voices are heard (www.youtube.com/debates). The deadline for the Democratic debate is July 22, but you have until mid-September to submit a video question for the Republican debate on September 17.

Women of the Poli-Tech behind the scenes, show yourselves!

Morra Aarons — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 23:43:50 -0400

Hi Sarah-

Yeah...well, I think there are a lot of us working away. Especially in state politics now...check out the women behind Michigan Liberal, for example.

I'd love to look at data and see if gender roles in political work mirrors say, TV or, I don't know, real estate speculation. I have no idea...

I could not agree more

Morra Aarons — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 23:35:10 -0400

But wasn't the unmarried women conundrum also a big talking point in 2000 and 2004? What's Women's Voices, Women's Vote got planned for this cycle to increase unmarried women's poll turnout?

Blogging is a great outlet to reach these women, but candidates have to do something about it too...

All great points

Sarah Granger — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 21:09:06 -0400

Thanks for writing about this, Morra. I look forward to the next installment. The only question I have is - where are the other women like us who work behind the scenes? I've met very few. I'd be curious to know whether the ratio mirrors that of similar fields.