126 thoughts on “hillary clinton: the psycho ex-girlfriend of the democratic party”

1. Wil,
   I’m sad to do this because I adore all your other writings, but I had to create an account to let you know that by writing this article about Clinton and calling her the “psycho ex-girlfriend of the democratic party” that you are, indeed, being a dick. I’m going to have a hard time respecting anything you say from this point on, honestly, because I don’t tolerate sexism (and if you haven’t figured out by now, that’s clearly what you are touting in this entry, whether you like/believe it or not). Please prove us readers wrong and let us know you still have the class to rise above this crap.

2. Bringing together your politics and your Trek past, Wil, editorial cartoonist Pat Bagley FTW.

3. Unfortunately, the idea of something like superdelegates is actually a very old idea in politics. It is an attempt by the party “elite” to set up a structure that can be used to override (or subvert, if you prefer) the voice of the general public. It is just a party-level expression of the exact same thought that created the Electoral Congress.
   Personally, at the age of 51, I have come to the conclusion that superdelegates are a good idea. We need checks and balances in all things and at all levels. And, as history keeps proving again and again, democracy does all too easily and all too often degenerate into mob rule. Most people are either stupid, careless, lazy, ignorant, or some combination thereof. 50% of the population is below average intelligence, remember? If we allowed political contests to be decided simply by popular vote, we’d wind up with Presidents who are elected *entirely* on their looks and nothing else. We need some kind of counterbalance to prevent our leaders from being chosen by a herd of morons.
   I think both parties should have superdelegates. We need them as a brake on the idiotic and reckless paths that are likely to be chosen by the mob. To paraphrase the words of Chad Mulligan in the novel Stand on Zanzibar, “They say this new computer is as smart as a million people, but that isn’t saying much because when you put a million of us together, look how stupid we act.”

4. “And allow me to just head something off right now that’s already come up on Twitter: I’m not sexist. This isn’t sexist. That’s a stupid straw man, and if you try to make that claim, I will point and laugh at you.”
   Wil, you don’t get to decide what’s sexist and what isn’t. Laugh all you want.

5. Wow. I’m disappointed in you, Wil. I would have thought you’d know better than to say “I’m not being sexist!” after using a misogynist dogwhistle like “psycho ex-girlfriend”.
   You like Obama and want him to win? Hey, that’s great! Let him win by actually, you know, winning. Not because his opponent conceded the race to him. Surely, if Obama is as awesome as so many believe, he’s more than capable of winning the remaining primary races, right?

6. It’s not over. And the continuation of this race has caused thousands upon thousands of new Democrats to register. Obama himself has impressed me by *not* calling for Hillary to drop out, because frankly it’s really, really lame to do so. No Democratic candidate in history – in worse positions – has been asked to step down the way Hillary has. (Source: Media Matters, http://tinyurl.com/6qmazu) At this point, analysts are saying that it’s better for him if she stays in – so as not to become the presumptive nominee and then immediately lose in some remaining primaries. And I don’t hear him offering her the vice presidency, so clearly she must stay in till the end to potentially secure that role.
   Half the Democratic party has voted for her – Millions of Democrats have and continue to vote for her. I voted for her. I admire her. I want her to be the next president of the United States. My vote and my opinion aren’t garbage. My candidate has the right and the strength to run this race through, and it’s good for the Democratic party, and so good for Obama, who’s getting put through some paces he needed to face and learn from.
   I am not an Obama supporter. I also know that despite his gaffs (as they both have gaffed), I will trust that half of the party and vote for him if it comes down to it. I’m sorry that you can’t feel the same way about someone who cares as much as Hillary Clinton does, and who is as strong as Hillary Clinton is. I’m sorry that you don’t respect the half of the party that has voted for her.
   If Obama is going to win the nomination, then let him *win* the nomination. So far, that hasn’t happened. Though he is becoming a stronger candidate for having run this race against a formidable opponent, and he is earning my vote every day that goes by without him saying his opponent should drop out. Because that, to me, would be extremely lame and speak to weakness. Run the race. Fight the fight. Prevail. *That’s* a president.
   And if you think that comparing Hillary Clinton to a “psycho ex-girlfriend” isn’t sexist, then you are an ass.
   You know, I just reread your post, to make sure I really read it before I posted my comment, and I have to be honest with you. I read your post, and I hate Obama. I read the sort of post you linked to, and I hate him. I don’t want to vote for him.
   But I will, because I believe in the Democratic party and the process put in place to get us a nominee. I will, because people I love and respect in my life support him. Meanwhile, I am inspired by watching two strong candidates fight it out all the way and register thousands of new Democrats on the way.
   Even Rush called for an end to his nonsense when he saw the voter registration numbers coming out of North Carolina.

7. First, let me say to all those who commented that “psycho ex-girlfriend” doesn’t have the same connotation as “psycho ex-boyfriend”– you’ve obviously never had a psycho ex-boyfriend. Yes, they can be just as bad, and creepy, and intrusive, and psychotic. Really, it’s not the “boyfriend” or “girlfriend” part that’s relevant, it’s the psychotic part.
   (Also, it’s really not about Hilary being female. Really. Would you all be less offended if that link had referred to her as the “psycho ex-love interest” or “psycho ex-significant other?” Because that was the emphasis of the analogy in the article.)
   Second, I’d like to thank those of you who disagreed respectfully in Wil’s blog rather than resorting to calling him names. To those of you who weren’t respectful, If you want people to take you seriously, try not calling the person you’re disagreeing with a dick.
   And to whoever said “please convince me why I should vote for Obama”– Wil doesn’t have to convince the people who choose to comment on his blog anything, so please stop acting so entitled.
   All right, I’m going to toss this soapbox in the garbage once and for all…

8. “First, let me say to all those who commented that “psycho ex-girlfriend” doesn’t have the same connotation as “psycho ex-boyfriend”– you’ve obviously never had a psycho ex-boyfriend.”
   “Psycho ex-boyfriend” garners you 665 hits on Google. “Psycho ex-girlfriend” garners you 43,900. Context matters.
   This article doesn’t appear in a vacuum. It appears in the context of a society which really rather likes the stereotype of the hilarious unhinged crazy bunny boiler. Hell, it’s not that long since women could literally be forced to get out of men’s way by locking them up in lunatic asylums. Is that really the kind of cultural baggage Obama supporters want to be carting about?

9. My issues with HRC have nothing to do with her gender. They have to do with her experience. First, her claims of already having 8 years of experience due to the somewhat ignoble administration of her husband are extremely dubious. However, if you charitably accept that she somehow has that experience, it only makes my disagreements with her stronger.
   I don’t believe that there should be a litmus test of “you voted for the Iraq war, you’re out.” I also don’t believe that we should wring HRC until she publicly debases herself over that vote. The problem that I have is that even AFTER she voted to let the smirking chimp play soldier boy in Iraq, even though many said it was a bad idea at the time (Sen. Byrd anyone), she still voted to let him start saber rattling towards Iran by voting to call the Iranian Guard a terrorist organization. That means one of the following:
   1. She thinks that belligerent talk towards Iran will somehow weaken their extremest politicians and strengthen the moderates, despite every indication that it is untrue (see http://www.juancole.com/ for more on this).
   2. Despite Bush’s past behavior, she thinks that he’ll continue to search for a diplomatic solution with Iran (talk about the triumph of hope over experience!)
   3. Despite the fact that Iraq has, to quote Futurama’s Nixon, “gone all quagmire,” she thinks that starting a similar offensive in Iran is a good idea.
   If that’s what her experience has taught her, then it seems to me that she has a learning disability. She’s living proof that simple conditioning (as in Pavlov) might not really work.

10. Oh man, my mom was trying to say that this thing is sexist and she wonders why no one is pointing that out.
    I just thought BAH. I didn’t really know what to say to her. I just shook my head.

11. Wow, Wil. People who like and respect you tried to have a civil discourse with you about a topic they disagreed with you on. You’ve done nothing but be belittling. So much for “Don’t be a dick”. In the future I’ll remember that we can only be worthy of your respect if we agree with you.

12. I heard a hilarious soundbite, from the night of the NC/Indiana primaries… where Hillary said something along the lines of “No matter who gets the nomination, I will work to support this person” – which to me, is basically an admission that she knows she ain’t gonna win. Because she certainly won’t be “working to support” herself if she wins… But I like that Barack (by the way, his name is WAY too close to Brak… who I would TOTALLY vote for for president) has basically ignored the West Virginia primary. I’ve said it for months now, the fact that the dems have remained so divided has just given the republicans time to build up their campaign. They need to get united behind one candidate, and SOON.

13. “People are people and identity politics is stupid.”
    Spoken like a true white man.
    Damn, Wil – and I’m usually a fan. Just…damn.

14. wow…What a response you get when you punch the politics button. First of all, let me tell you that I consider myself a Libertarian, only because you made affiliations known, and I respect that. I always become suspicious when the DNC or the RNC for that matter begins courting Hollywood, looking for star’s to stump for them. But, having said that, I think here and now, is an opportune time to clean up the process in the Democratic party, which really is running a protection racket with these so called “Super Delegates”, secondly to press every state to reform their primaries, making them strictly closed, open to only people that belong to that party, Democrat or Republican. I believe in karma, now I’ve been telling my Democrat friends here in suburban Detroit for sometime, it’s not fair, and someday you’ll regret having open primaries; They’ve enjoyed raiding Republican primaries here in Michigan for sometime. But I thank Limbaugh for helping to nationally and globally expose the weakness in the system, and it’s one that could easily be fixed. But who am I to talk? Just an ordinary programmer/CG-artist/wannabe writer dork… 🙂
    And that’s where you come in…You see Rush has helped expose the flaw, but I don’t hear anybody talking about fixing it. I’m not in your party, but we’re all countrymen and should have respect for one another beliefs, this whole business with the DNC just seems disenfranchising to potentially millions.
    By the way, have you ever read Tocqueville?

15. Identity politics is stupid because it’s just as idiotic to vote for someone based solely on their race/gender/class as it is to not vote for someone based solely on their race/gender/class.

16. You got that right Wil…

17. Pardon me for being late to the party but I only just now had time to sit down and read the comment stream.
    Wil, I think any intelligent person reading that post will understand that the humor in that post comes from satirizing the behavior of any person who is that clingy even without your update that explains the “humor” to us in minutia. You’re right – it’s funny! I think the rest of the blog is pretty funny, too. But there are aspects of that post that are a little sexist. And for what it’s worth I’m one of the last people to go around the world and look for things that I can rail against for being racist or sexist so I don’t agree that the sexism is in the reader and not the writer. I’m not even saying the author is sexist but there are larger stereotypes that the humor is drawing on and I think the mature response to it is to acknowledge that a small part of the humor comes from the stereotype of a woman being a crazy, clingy b*tch but then move on and laugh at it because, well, Hillary IS kind of acting like a crazy, clingy b*tch. (Obama supporter here.)
    The larger issue of why I’m finally commenting is that I find it a little arresting to see you say that you’ll point and laugh at us if we don’t agree with you that the post isn’t even a little bit sexist. I think just as it’s valid that you don’t think the post is a little sexist it’s valid that others do think it’s a little sexist. Are you perhaps worried that people will think you’re sexist because you linked to a post that can be seen as sexist even when it’s funny? That’s fair but for what it’s worth I don’t think you’re sexist for linking to that. I do think your insistence that it’s NOT sexist and that if any of us find it sexist you’ll just laugh at us (and, ostensibly, reject our opinions)… off-putting. It’s just a bit weird to see such a harsh statement on an otherwise level-headed blog.
    That’s just my two-cents. I agree with you 90 – 95% of the time (of the stuff I’m aware of) but I wanted to weigh in. Thanks for writing and listening.
    Cheers!

18. Are you really saying that there are women who would vote for Clinton solely because she’s a woman, or Obama solely because he’s black, because of “identity politics”? No matter what positions they hold? Even if they killed little puppies with their bare hands on stage? (And what does a black woman who practices “identity politics” in this case do? Vote twice, or not at all?)
    Two words on that strawman: Condi Rice.
    On the other hand, are you saying that it makes no difference at all that we will (hopefully) have the first white female or black male president ever in 2009? Because I can’t believe you’d think that a victory for either one won’t mean anything special to all those little kids who aren’t white boys and who get hurt every time they hear Clinton called a bunny-boiling bitch, or Obama called a “reverse racist” or an evil Muslim. I don’t know about you, but I’ve been waiting my entire life to get a little tangible proof that anyone can become president – even if she has a vagina or he has kinky hair.
    Seriously, Wil, I’m a big fan, but…this whole discussion really bites.

19. @angiek: When you put it that way . . . I’ll agree that the suggestion that I’d point and laugh wasn’t constructive. I guess what I meant was the declaration that I’m any sort of *ist is both ignorant of who I actually am and completely misses the point I was trying to make in this post.
    And with that, I think I’m done with this conversation. It’s gotten exasperating to try and explain to people who are firmly committed to the idea that I’m some kind of monster that they may have misunderstood me.

20. Welcome to American politics. Like you, I would like for Obama to effortlessly sail into the nomination without trouble. But we are no more destined or prophesized to gain the presidency than she is. There’s also a lot of Clinton supporters that we have to prepare to reconcile with before or after the convention. Don’t despair; a pivotal campaign such as this is expected to be hard. And if you think this is difficult, consider it to be easy roadwork in preparation for the real kicks, punches, hammers and ear-biting lining up for us in the fall.
    After hearing a restaurant manager stare at CNN primary results on a bar screen and murmur, “God, I hate that b*tch”, I believe Clinton to be the Unavoidable Ex-Wife of the Democratic Party.

21. Of course you don’t see race or gender, Wil! You are a white, heterosexual man! You share possibly the best combination of characteristics for privilege in American society, why should you even think about the prejudices against people who aren’t white, or straight, or a man, like you?

22. Wee willy here is one major sexist. In denial, like all fauxgressive dudes, but the stench is the same.
    It’s hilarious when privileged, clueless white boys pretend *THEY* get to decide what constitutes racism, sexism, etc. Nothing says “I’m clueless” louder than “It. Is. Not. About. The. Gender. It. Is. About. The. Behavior. The Behavior. The Behavior.”
    here, we willie sexist – read this. Written by people a hell of lot smarter than you.
    http://shakespearessister.blogspot.com/2008/05/get-your-bingo-cards-ready.html

23. Hi Wil,
    I’ve been reading your blog for several months now and I like you, or at least the persona I know from your blog and work. I don’t think you’re a horrible sexist monster, and from what I’ve read the majority of commenters who objected to this post don’t either.
    It’s a sexist post, Wil. If you’d posted it in another context, maybe the funny would outweigh the sexist. But while I don’t support Hillary, as a woman I’m horrified at the huge wave of anger at and belittlement of women that’s accompanied her campaign. That’s the context in which you’re posting. Sorry. Context matters.
    Look, I don’t think you hate women– I think you mean well and want to be an ally. But that means you need to listen. If you don’t think something is sexist, but people who have to deal with sexism every day are telling you that it is, maybe you should take another look. Personal example: I’m a white activist who’s been doing antiracist work for many years, and every once in a while, I mess up. I say something wrong, and I’m that clueless well-meaning white activist. When that happens, normally somebody says something, schools me, explains why what I said was not cool. And then I can do one of two things: I can get defensive and insist that I’m not a racist and therefore what I said was totally OK. Or I can look at my statement again from that person’s point of view, accept that I didn’t get it, apologize and move on. Guess which one builds trust and respect?
    This was not you at your best. You knew something was off, because you felt the need to tack on a disclaimer even before you posted it. You can’t have been all that surprised at the reaction you got. OK, so you messed up. You didn’t get it. It’s OK. No need to get defensive. Just acknowledge that sometimes, as a guy, you don’t look at sexism the way women do, and try harder next time. That’s all.
    And I for one plan to keep reading.

24. Gender, race, sexual orientation, things that make us different that we don’t choose . . . they just don’t matter to me. At all. People are people and identity politics is stupid.
    Unfortunately, they matter a lot to people who are hurt by the social hierarchy that places women, non-whites, GLBT people, and other such “identity” groups in marginalized positions.
    Dude, you don’t get to decide whether or not such things matter. Assuming you can is a massive exercise of white male privilege, and you should really rethink this.

25. Regarding your update: Yeah. And that dude who made Obama shirts with a chimp on them thought they were HI-larious. And he probably has black friends too. Neither of those facts makes the shirt any less racist.
    Just pointing out the reality that your “you have no sense of humor, and I have lady friends” argument truly isn’t that substantial.

26. Well, I’m just going to throw up my hands here. I’ve made it as abundantly clear as I possibly can that I don’t care about Clinton’s gender, and I don’t have a problem with women. What I *do* care about is watching a woman I once respected degenerate into a Republicanesque Karl Rove monstrosity in a Quixotic effort to destroy a candidate I believe in. What I care about is beating John McCain in November so we can start to put our country back together.
    If you want to boycott me, go nuts. As a life-long activist, I understand and totally support the concept of voting with your pocketbook and voting with your feet.
    But stop telling me who I am and what I think and feel. I know what I was thinking when I wrote this, and it’s not what many of you have accused me of.
    I’m not going to waste any more time on this, and I’m locking comments on this post. May I suggest that you take whatever energy you’d use to tell me what a terrible person I am and use it to put some good into the world instead.
    Writing to your congresscritter and demanding an end to the war would probably be a good place to start.

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