Women especially better be prepared for those questions. You may hear it from your daughter, from your granddaughter, from woman you mentor at work who sees what you've accomplished and not only thinks she can go that far too, but also that she can go ever further.
Sky is the limit.
Except when it isn't.
Senator Hillary Clinton became the first viable female candidate for one of the two dominant parties in this country.
Post-mortem in the media point to her campaign's mistakes and mis-steps. The media fails to point back at themselves.
But it is very much true that a number of women will face uncomfortable questions in the future when they're asked to explain exactly what happened during Hillary Clinton's presidential bid?
We'll help you with that part. Sexism was deployed daily (hourly?) to destroy Hillary's bid. It never stopped. It was done by the scum at MSNBC (Keith Olbermann, Chris Matthews, et al), it was done by the scum in Real Media (Gail Collins earned herself a special spot in hell, right next to Bob Herbert, for her 'commentary' in The New York Times). It was done by alleged 'independent' media. And, as the Collins reference underscores, it was done by women as well as men.
See, the sexism couldn't have been deployed and utilized constantly without the help of women. Had women stood together and railed against the sexism, it would have stopped. Historically, when women stand together, they move mountains.
But this election cycle proved that not only do so many men dismiss sexism, a large number of women do as well.
To those women, we say, "Get ready for the follow up question."
Because after you've explained the very real war against women that took place in the 2008 Democratic primary, you're going to be asked: "Well, what did you do?"
What did you do?
It's an important question and one that future historians will explore.
Did you call out?
Great. You supported equality. You fought the good fight. Pat yourself on the back.
We're serious about "pat yourself on the back." Many women can't do that.
There are two other groups.
There's the group that stayed silent.
That's not very brave. But bravery really isn't a hallmark of the human condition. If it were, it would be seen, like breathing, as a natural trait and not anything requiring praise.
The women who stayed silent, they can take comfort in the fact that while they did nothing to end the sexism, they didn't contribute to it.
Which brings us to the third group: the women who actively attacked another woman in the midst of a pile-on. The ones who refused to call out the sexism, the ones who refused to say, "It needs to end right now! It is not acceptable!"
This tale has few heroines. There are some, to be sure. But it has plenty of villains.
These women will have a really hard time justifying their behavior in a few years and, in fact, they should have.
What did you do in the war, Mommy?
These women can lie or they can be honest and say, "I did my best to tear apart another woman. I ignored sexism or used it as an opening paragraph and then jumped in and ripped another woman apart and, you want to know what, I got high off it as I did it."
That would be the truth that Katrina vanden Heuvel could tell (if she had any honesty in her system). Betsy Reed could tell that truth. Laura Flanders could tell it. Sharon Smith could tell it. There are a large number of women who allegedly support other women that could confess what a rush it was to rip apart Hillary Clinton. They could brag about how 'honored' they felt when their actions resulted in a temporary pass to the Boys Club. The temporary pass lasts as long they don't really call out sexism. That's how it works. So as long as they hob-knob with the likes of Keith Olbemann, Robert Scheer, Robert Parry, et al.; as long as they refuse to call those pigs and any other 'left' 'friends' out, they can get into the club on their temporary pass for years. Under pressure, they may issue tiny critiques against Tucker Carlson and Chris Matthews, but they know that's allowed. After all, both men have been called out by 'left' males for years.
The gender traitors got into the Boys Club on a pass and they never for a moment forget that. Tomorrow Besty Reed could take offense at a statement by Olbermann, think, "That's just about enough!" and write something up. The result would be all the women in the club would ignore and shun her. They don't want to risk their passes being revoked.
Katrina vanden Heuvel and Betsy Reed are no friends of women. They aren't even pro-woman. Though the publicity director of The Nation magazine loves to brag about how many women are at the 'top' of the magazine, it doesn't mean s**t. In 2007, with vanden Heuvel and Reed in charge, The Nation published (in print), 491 male bylines and 149 female ones. Quit kidding yourself that Queen Bees at the top benefits the sisterhood. Not only were Reed and vanden Heuvel able to have changed that if they gave a damn, in 2008, they could have prevented the sexism so many males under them contributed online at The Nation's website. They did nothing.
Queen Bees at the top benefit only themselves and other women like them -- women who refuse to use their power to put a stop to sexism, women who refuse to use their power to make the work places they control equal. That's how a magazine 'controlled by' women ends up printing 491 men to 149 women in one calender year.
Laura Flanders is a special case because she is a lesbian. When she did radio on the local NPR station in the Bay Area, that wasn't a secret -- big or small. When she moved over to Air America Radio, apparently she went back into the closet with all but the gay press. But Flanders is a lesbian and, as such, she'll have a number of things to answer for. That will include her refusal to call out Barack Obama for his use of homophobia to scare up votes in South Carolina, for putting homophobes on stage at a campaign event and letting them spew their vile hatred. She's in her own personal hell now and we doubt she can get out of it but we're sure historians looking back will wonder about: Why would a lesbian stay silent about a political campaign using homophobia, let alone endorse that campaign?
That's far from Flanders' only problems. Long after the general consensus in the MSM was that "cackle" was sexist when used to describe Hillary's laugh, Flanders showed up on KPFA for an 'analysis' of the Texas debate and, yes, used "cackle" to describe Hillary's laugh.
Medea I-Need-Attention Benjamin wants you to believe CODEPINK is woman friendly and women controlled. She only keeps the rumor mill churning with her own actions. As the pile-on gathered more and more force, I-Need-Attention decided that the thing to do, the 'womanly' thing to do, was to attack Hillary. So she showed up at a DC event for Hillary and began her usual stamp the feet for attention antics. If you're looking back over the campaign season and wondering when Medea fed her hunger for attention by showing up at a Barack event, stop wondering. It never took place.
CODESTINK's public figurehead decided the perfect way to defend women was to attack one. She tried to pass it off as "sisterhood" but it's the same sexist crap from last century.
A lot of non-Democratic women went to town on Hillary (and never said a peep about Barack). That includes professional joke Eve Ensler who endorsed, with another pathetic, Barack. That would be the same Ensler who tries to flog her tired act (The Vagina Monologues) as a 'political event' (one she receives royalties on) and tries to lecture about the power of women. There was Eve, Eve, Evil endorsing Barack, from beneath the bangs of that ridiculous dye job that she pretends makes her come off like Louise Brooks but really makes her look like Emo Phillips' fat sister.
Remember that when they come rushing out from their political closets next time begging for attention and speaking of the power of women. The easiest way to deal with those traitors is to ignore them and Ensler's still fuming about the media blackout on her little self-love soiree in April. She should get used to the silence. (And anticipate the booing should she try to 'write' another 'play.' As a playwright, she's as much a failure as she was as an actress.)
If these women try to tell historians in the future that they were opposed to Hillary because of her 2002 vote on Iraq, historians should then ask, "So you also called out John Edwards? You also called out Joe Biden? And Chris Dodd?"
No, they didn't. They never did.
They went to town on Hillary and joined the pile on. Katrina vanden Heuvel helped manipulate it from behind the scenes.
They scorned and dismissed the few women who stood up publicly. Women like Gloria Steinem and Robin Morgan were alternately ridiculed and falsely called "racists."
Recently Gloria Feldt felt the need to say that Hillary did little to distinguish herself as a woman in the campaign because she never noted women's issues. Feldt obviously missed Hillary's proposal on research for breast cancer.
Find the Hillary Hating woman who ever praised Hillary for that proposal. You won't. You won't find an article praising it at the "woman controlled" Nation magazine.
These woman, and many more, went out of their way to lie about Hillary. Over and over. They went out of their way to join the pile on. They wanted to prove to men that they weren't like 'those feminists.' And, success, ladies, you proved just that. Men know they can say whatever sexist remark they want and you'll never call them out. But, guess what, women now know you are the last to ever be trusted.
As vile as Medea Benjamin was, Sharon Smith wanted to get in on the act. Last week, she 'wrote' "Clinton's Wreckage" and if you ever wanted to see how pathetic Panhandle Media has become, you only had to read that trash filled with one lie after another. But what do you expect when someone's utilizing Matt Drudge (while crediting Insight 'magazine') as a source?
You'd be hard pressed to find any written or spoken commentary attacking Hillary in 2008 with more lies in it. Sharon Smith proves women can be pigs too. Even when they think they are feminists. They can be pigs by having one standard for men and another for women. They can be pigs by 'writing' garbage that is so inaccurate they should be sued. Sharon Smith came off as insane as the actress in the bad wig who can't figure out that the entertainment industry is done with her and she needs to catch a flight out of LAX back to her own home. Pronto.
Sharon Smith's an interesting case and not just because she knows attacking women gets her attention. (She previously tried this stunt on Naomi Klein.) Smith is also publicly a Socialist. It's really interesting how many non-Democratic women have felt the need to weigh in on the Democratic primary -- put Green Kimberly Wilder in this category as well -- and issue hugs and kisses for Barack, decry real or imagined racism and never say one damn word about the blatant and undeniable sexism.
To write about that, they'd have to honestly believe that women mattered and what 2008 telegraphed throughout the primaries was that women don't matter to many men and they don't matter to a lot of women.
In a world where women mattered, the sexism that never ended would have led to all women and men calling it out. Instead, a large number of women (including those named as villains in this article) engaged in it. They have a lot to answer for and they should all fear being asked, "What did you do in the war, Mommy?" The only answer is, "Sided with the enemy."
No feminist 'owed' Hillary their vote. But what they did owe Hillary, what they owed all women, was to call out rampant sexism. Instead, they laughed about it, giggled about it, encouraged it and took part in it. When the next Backlash is written, a lot of women will appear in the pages as the enemies they revealed themselves to be this primary season. Congratulations, 'girls,' you proved you could be as much of a pig as any man.