July 12, 2016

China's Boys Club Holds Their Noses & Takes Clinton Over Trump

July 12, 2016/ Anne Enke

Hillary Clinton, as Seen Through a Chinese Prism New York Times

What a refreshing article about Hillary Clinton. No bloody emails. No trust issues. We have a serious article on Hillary and the attitudes of the Chinese hierarchy towards her. They apparently aren't any more thrilled than the BernieBots, but at least it's a change of script.

"Hillary Clinton is blunt, negative on China, friendly toward homosexuals, and female — all reasons some Chinese give for not wanting to see her as the next president of the United States.

She is highly qualified, visionary, caring, and will support women and children and development around the world – reasons others give for wanting her to win the November election.

As China looks ahead to a new American administration, opinions on the front-running Mrs. Clinton veer from admiration, mostly among women and civil libertarians, to distaste, mostly among male policy makers and an often nationalistic public.

Understanding Hillary

Why the Clinton America Sees Isn't the Clinton Colleagues Know: Why We Keep Missing Hillary Clinton's Greatest Strength VOX

Ezra Klein does a terrific job of laying-out one of the singular differences, generally, between the way male and female politicians campaign and govern. As he notes, men talk more; women listen more and seek to build relationships (or in politics, coalitions - as Hillary has done her entire career). Yet, in spite of how important and useful it is in politics to listen, this skill set isn't one that is rewarded. And why is that? Ezra has some thoughts on this, as well as insight into the ways this mostly female view of leading may be exactly what is needed in our current divided country. From our perspective, this signals a revolutionary shift in our politics, toward the so-called female skills: listening and relationship/coalition-building, both of which Hillary excels in. ~ Laura

Modern presidential campaigns are built to reward people who are really, really good at talking. So imagine what a campaign feels like if you’re not entirely natural in front of big crowds. Imagine that you are constantly compared to your husband, one of the greatest campaign orators of all time; that you’ve been burned again and again after saying the wrong thing in public; that you’ve been told, for decades, that you come across as calculated and inauthentic on the stump. What would you do?

(...)

Let’s stop and state the obvious: There are gender dynamics at play here.

We ran a lot of elections in the United States before we let women vote in them. You do not need to assert any grand patriarchal conspiracy to suggest that a process developed by men, dominated by men, and, until relatively late in American life, limited to men might subtly favor traits that are particularly prevalent in men.

Talking over listening, perhaps.

(...)

Talking is a way of changing your status: If you make a great point, or set the terms of the discussion, you win the conversation. Listening, on the other hand, is a way of establishing rapport, of bringing people closer together; showing you’ve heard what’s been said so far may not win you the conversation, but it does win you allies. And winning allies is how Hillary Clinton won the Democratic nomination.

Gays Powering Up As Elected Officials

Gay Political Power Reaching Record as US Attitudes Shift Bloomberg Politics

"Now, according to Maloney (Representative Sean Patrick Maloney, the first openly gay congressman chosen by New Yorkers in 2012), the biggest priority is electing more Democrats and gay politicians to win support for a sweeping federal law, the Equality Act, that would give LGBT residents in the U.S. the same civil protections afforded for race, age and religion.

“It’s very clearly shifted from an outside game to an inside game,” said Jeff Trammell, a Washington lobbyist, who has been active in political campaigns stretching back to Al Gore’s 2000 presidential run. “We have definitely reached a tipping point within the Democratic party. Acceptance has changed so much faster than expected. We’re in bit of a sorting out process.”

Trammell, who was married to his longtime partner in 2013 by former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, estimates that as many as 20 percent of his fellow fundraisers for presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton are members of the LGBT community. An increasing number of key campaign personnel, including the treasurer of the Democratic National Committee, Andrew Tobias, are also openly gay."

Hillary Clinton Headlines July 12, 2016

Obama Tries to Mend Tattered Ties With Police Politico

Hillary Clinton knows polarization is here to stay. Here's how she hopes to deal with it. VOX

Lynch refuses to answer questions on Clinton email probe Politico

Poll: Clinton leads Trump in Nevada Politico

Evan Bayh readying Indiana Senate comeback run Politico

Clinton's new friend -- and maybe VP Politico

How Trump's wall will hurt US energy companies Politico

A lot of holes in GOP presidential ground game in key states Washington Post

Hillary Clinton could run on strongest climate change platform The Guardian

What Drives Trump? His Towering Fear of Shame The Daily Beast

How Hitler's Rise to Power Explains Why Republicans Accept Donald Trump New York Magazine

May 31, 2016

If Bernie Wants To Be the Spoiler, Thousands of Progressive Leaders Will Tallk To His Supporters

May 31, 2016/ Anne Enke

Bernie Has To Unite the Party Behind Clinton -- or Someone Will Do It for Him Hillary HQ

Bernie says it's Hillary's job to unite Democrats behind her. There's only one thing wrong with Bernie's assumption that this is a party of two -- with him being the rogue opportunist. He can play the spoiler, dragging Hillary down at every opportunity, denying the math and threatening a floor fight at the convention because he is the real WINNER here. He can promise to overturn the popular vote, overturn the pledged delegates because he's going to win California by a landslide,

Bernie is a big talker and we're on record saying he has balls the size of Texas. Brass ones, too. Hardball.

The first time we saw Bernie take off his jacket and throw it into the crowd of adoring college supporters, we said "Oh no!" The second time, we knew the Cult of Bernie was building, and he was taking his rockstar status very seriously.

However, Sen. Sanders is about to get a reality check, because all these progressive groups AREN'T going to appreciate him willing to throw the nation to Trump and a Republican Congress. Sanders can say that Hillary must fly solo in an attempt to convince his supporters to vote for her.

Hillary Clinton will not be flying solo making her case to Berners.

He will find that even his adoring college women will get the Planned Parenthood message that they are one vote away from having their civil rights declared equal to that of a zygote. They are one vote away from Personhood Bills, and this has nothing to do with corporations and big money. The male majority Bernie Bros don't even know about Personhood bills, because they don't get pregnant and their Trump guy is on record saying men are not culpable in dealing with the legal problems around unplanned zygotes and unplanned pregnancies.

It's not only Planned Parenthood who will go to work on these young women, HWN will be deeply involved in giving them a real life education on what is about to go down.

Note that about 80% of those young women have already said they will vote for Hillary. And this is one result of a Trump victory -- having women's civil rights under the constitution no different than those of a 24-hr. old fertilized egg.

Senator Brass Balls is not the sole cult figure in this debate.

On the subject of unity . . .

"Bernie may think he’s a vital piece of the puzzle, but he’s not as important as he thinks. The number of people backing Bernie who will come to November and look at Hillary’s progressive campaign platform, who will hear the words of Barack Obama, Elizabeth Warren, Sherrod Brown, Tammy Baldwin, and every other progressive in Congress and in state governments advocating for Hillary and stay home or vote for a third party candidate is an insignificantly tiny sliver of a shred of a fraction of a measly minority. The number of voters who are going to hear organized labor, environmental groups, groups and individuals dedicated to fighting for racial justice, women’s rights, LGBTQ rights, disabled rights, voting rights, campaign finance reform all speaking with one voice in favor of Hillary Clinton and still believe that she’s no better than Trump are a meaningless pool of dead end voters who Bernie himself couldn’t have brought along anyways. Bernie is not the only voice in the progressive choir, and he’s not the loveliest voice in that choir either. His options are to be a leader or to let someone else lead."

That person will be President Obama for starters, a leader not willing to sell women down the proverbial toilet -- because he has two daughters, a great wife, and -- unlike Sanders -- this REALLY YUUGE Democrat rockstar would not consider selling women (and unions, and people of color, and voting rights and, and, and . . . ) into a big, black hole because he lost the Democratic primary fair and square.

It's a lot of big talk. But the Rock Star's true character is on the line. And he owns his actions fair and square. We are so over BS intimidation! The rally for Hillary will be breathtaking. ~ Anne writing for HillaryWomen News FB

Do Superdelegates Have A Purpose?

Why We Need Those 'Anti-Democratic' Superdelegates Politico

We're startled that Bernie supporter Jeff Greenfield is making a solid case for the superdelegates. To critics of the process, supporters have a one-word answer: Trump.

We could add the caucus system that is highly discriminatory in favor of passionate people with a lot of time on their hands. The recent non-delegate-awarding major win for Hillary in the popular vote primary in Washington vs Bernie crushing her in the caucus with 25% of the primary turnout. That's not the 'will of the people' in action in Washington state.

Contradictory to how his buddy Bernie frames the issue of 'superdeleates' as the establishment elite over-ruling the people (which they have never done and Hillary wins under every scenario including eliminating the superdelegates), Greenfield sees them as a final brake on a process careening out of control. This is a major evolution for Greenfield -- based on his TV appearances -- in the last two months.

"There are some circumstances where the “will of the voters”—often the will of a plurality of voters—may well put the party on the road to a massive political defeat. Further, it may result in the nomination of a candidate who violates the most fundamental beliefs of that party. Or whose temperament and character might put a dangerous, unfit person into the Oval Office. Under those circumstances, the existence of a bloc of superdelegates means the presence of an “emergency brake,” a last chance to avoid disaster. And while it may be “undemocratic” in the narrowest sense of that term, our political system is replete with “undemocratic” elements that have served us very well."