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The XX Factor: Slate women blog about politics, etc...
March 2008 - Posts
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When law firms institute family-friendly policies (flex hours, reasonable work loads), who benefits? That depends how you measure it. Mothers at these firms are neither more nor less productive than mothers at other firms, as measured by billable hours, Read More...
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Anybody else read the NYT Magazine piece on Harvard's intentional virgins? It was in many ways right off-the-rack: Not all young people who are virgins on purpose are dum-dum religious nuts. Some of them—brace yourselves—have even infiltrated Harvard. Read More...
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Judith, I agree that the right messenger (at the right moment) could deliver most of your speech on gender. But maybe it would be easier for a woman to achieve liftoff. Anybody else remember Nicole Hollander 's Sylvia cartoon on the wage gap? From her Read More...
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Rachael, Melinda, 1. I agree that Hillary would have a hard time getting away with the speech I want her to make . As Rachael says , abortion and workplace policies and matters of that ilk remain white-hot and divisive among women, not to mention in the Read More...
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If Dahlia can stand one more conversation about the conversation , I thought the grace note of Barack Obama's March 17 epic conversation starter were his few words about his grandmother’s quiet bigotry. He was, as pundit Jon Stewart said the next evening, Read More...
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Ouch . I think I just got my hair pulled. Guess it wasn't so memorable, but here is Kerry on the wage gap, which he spoke about on many occasions. Here he is on his plan to subsidize day care, which he tried to make a big deal of, though the press mostly Read More...
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One of Hillary Clinton's rationales for staying in the race when she was getting battered in a string of defeats was that she was so much more experienced than Barack Obama, that over time his inexperience would cause him to stumble. That would leave Read More...
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Christie's New York will be auctioning a naked portrait of the French first lady, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, on April 10. I'm no prude, I'm certainly not a Victorian , and I commend the French for turning a blind eye to their politicians' private lives, but Read More...
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Hey Melinda , when you get off your fainting couch, John Kerry did NOT give that speech—not in the memorable, reimagining-family-values way that Judith is imagining . And yes you're right, Rachael , these issues are divisive, and I guess I have to reluctantly Read More...
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Sorry for the delay; I was on the fainting couch, indisposed and hoping I'd remember to tell Chantal that while I appreciate her efforts, overlacing cuts off oxygen to the brain. Judith , John Kerry did give that speech, point for point—until he was hoarse, Read More...
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Judith, I think you make a great point that we can get a little too caught up talking about politicians' sexual peccadilloes when there are larger issues at stake. But I can't see even an imaginary speech by Hillary tackling some of the topics you address. Read More...
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When did infidelity on the part of politicians become such an urgent feminist issue? From the outrage on the XX Factor over Eliot’s misdeeds, Bill’s affairs and Hillary’s toleration thereof, and, most of all, from the speech on gender that Melinda and Read More...
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Here's one thing George W. and Hillary have in common: She never was a big consumer of news. In fact, according to Carl Bernstein's book , during her Little Rock years "Hillary didn't read newspapers or watch television news. Instead, she listened to Read More...
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This link is to the utterly bizarre video tribute by Hillary Clinton to Heather Mills—the mentally unbalanced newly ex-wife of Beatle Paul McCartney. Hillary, in a kind of zombie mode, gives a unified field theory tribute to Heather. In this four-minute Read More...
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Dahlia , I definitely agree that these "conversations'' on race and gender are no fun. Still, maybe the only thing worse than having them is not having them; we've been trying it that way more or less forever and where did it ever get us? Yesterday I Read More...
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Interesting post by Andrew Sullivan in response to Hitchens' current piece in Slate about Obama and cynicism. I have to say I'm with Sullivan on this one. I think if the mask were going to come off Obama and reveal some foul, calculating monster within, Read More...
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Gerry Ferraro thinks Obama's " base is African-Americans "? Noted campaign expert Obama Girl begs to differ. (Me, too, but I have nothing whatsoever to add to the tortured discussion of race vs. sex, so let's stick with Obama Girl for now.) Anyway: Obama Read More...
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I thought I was onboard with Emily about all the benefits of openly airing this buried anger and rage about race and gender. I’d been arguing for months that it was past time to lance this boil and just have it out in the streets about how mad everyone Read More...
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Here is Geraldine Ferraro defending herself against Barack Obama's accusations. His base is African-Americans? What is it with this generation of American feminists? All she left out was "articulate." Overall, Ferraro said, she thought the speech was Read More...
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I am curious about what all those people who think immigrants have such a fabulous free ride in this country think about this New York Times story about a 22-year-old Colombian woman, married to an American citizen, who was informed by a U.S. immigration Read More...
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From the beginning, Spitzer's downfall has aroused the conspiracy theorist in me. A friend who had been skeptical of my take alerted me to this story in the Miami Herald , picked up today in the New York Post , and writes: "Not sure that it changes my Read More...
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I was glad to see the New York Times raise questions about the aggressiveness and anomalous nature of the Spitzer investigation and prosecution, but I was very taken aback by the answers, especially those given by the federal prosecutors. They sounded Read More...
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The Republican race for the White House turned out to be something of a snoozefest compared with the drama of the Barack Obama-Hillary Clinton contest. I've waffled among envy , relief , and worry that the lack of excitement actually means a lack of enthusiasm Read More...
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Rosa, I'm glad to know that Rev. Wright made it to the Clinton White House, but no, I don't think it's time to stop talking about him. Obama and the country are better off for his amazing and moving race speech, which Wright popping up on YouTube forced Read More...
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Noooo... it wasn't Monica. It was the Rev. Jeremiah Wright , of course, joining Bill and Hillary for a breakfast with "religious leaders" on Sept. 11, 1998. There is a lovely photo , too. Q. Does this mean Bill & Hillary are closet Wright parishioners Read More...
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Rachael , I don't think your sympathy for Hillary is misplaced. But I think perhaps you are not cynical enough. I've always assumed that the Clintons had a purely political marriage. So when you ask, "Wouldn't it be easy for Hillary to pop down to the Read More...
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Hillary Clinton released her " public schedules " from her days as first lady, and Ann Althouse has a good riff on how Hillary was a very "First Lady-y First Lady." But—and I suppose it was bound to happen—the AP went through Mrs. Clinton's schedules Read More...
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I love that Woolf quote, Judith , and it's sadly apt, lo this century later. And I think you're right that's both Hillary's own doing and a product of how she's been treated. But I wonder about your claim that she has weathered horrors and Obama's hasn't. Read More...
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In "A Room of One's Own," Virginia Woolf talks about how the struggle to be heard and taken seriously by a dismissive and mocking world leaves ugly traces in a writer's work-- how it distorts reasoning, undermines arguments, sharpens the tone. Woolf is Read More...
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Good for Huckabee. Here's what he had to say yesterday on MSNBC : On Obama's speech: ... I think that, you know, Obama has handled this about as well as anybody could. And I agree, it’s a very historic speech. ... And I thought he handled it very, very Read More...
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In a newsroom, you see right away that a high percentage of people who would like you to write about them — people with serious grievances of all kinds, against the cops or the city or the hospital or whatever — are at least a little bit crazy. Unfortunately, Read More...
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Judith your In Treatment post calls to mind another dim cultural memory — of Clarence Thomas’ stunning autobiography (I reviewed it here ) and the ways in which Justice Thomas both worships the grandfather who raised him and is scarred by him. Thomas Read More...
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Does anyone at XX Factor watch "In Treatment"? I watched last night's episode immediately after watching Obama's magnificent speech on YouTube, and was struck an echo of the speech in the show. It had me thinking about something like the point you made, Read More...
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Sorry to be late to Obamapalooza, but I didn’t get to watch his speech until late last night. Isn’t it fascinating to hear Obama apologizing for Rev. Wright in almost the same terms we at XX have used to apologize/make excuses for Gloria Steinem, Robin Read More...
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While we're on the topic of race, I happened onto something quite difficult to watch on MSNBC this morning, something my husband saw as "a wake-up call for white guys everywhere.'' Right there in front of God and all of America, Chris Matthews was trying Read More...
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I'm with Maureen Dowd today: The Obama who talks of grays and of complicated legacies and long evolutions, not just of high hopes and change, is my kind of guy. See, there's a reason the campaign isn't over yet — we need to see this man dealing with more Read More...
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However Obama's speech plays out, Hillary Clinton's No. 1 surrogate, Bill, has weighed in again on race. He said the idea that he has said anything racially insensitive during the campaign (particularly comparing Obama's win in South Carolina to Jesse Read More...
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Thank you, Ellen. I remember sitting in front of the television in 1998, during the first few days of the Lewinsky scandal, listening to television commentators all but demand Clinton's resignation, and shivering, and saying to my husband, "Wait a minute! Read More...
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Truly. I was all set to write that we had given Obama a free pass, that we had allowed him to slip away from something the we'd pin on anyone else. Every one-word slip in this campaign— bitch and monster and Jesse Jackson— has been endlessly scrutinized. Read More...
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I watched Ben Stein’s commentary on CBS News Sunday Morning this past weekend, and I’m troubled. Have I been blinded by the salacious nature of the Spitzer story and am I not focusing on the important issues here? Have I been too seduced by the sex and Read More...
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Do three saps make a trend? What I like best about Obama is that he does not play dumb and keep moving, or shout, Hey, look over there ! So that instead of either rushing by this outcry over his preacher's remarks, or attempting to minimize what's happened, Read More...
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That was the flat-out best political speech I have heard in my lifetime. No, nothing messianic about Obama: It's just that he's the rare politician who doesn't insult the American public by pretending that our complicated world is simple. And, damn it, Read More...
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Meghan , I am also a sap, but I don't think you needed to be one to be moved by this speech. Obama has often tried to transcend race. Wright's remarks reminded us all that sometimes you just can't. And so Obama got out there and owned the specific injustices Read More...
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I've been more and more impressed with Obama's speeches — especially since I saw him at a rally in San Antonio . But I still wasn't entirely prepared for today's speech — inspired by the criticism of his pastor, Jeremiah Wright. In it, Obama tackled racism Read More...
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What I liked about the Times article about the Patersons' affairs was this censorious observation by reporter Danny Hakim: "The admission is likely to be a distraction for the new governor at a difficult time." It's a classic instance of what I call the Read More...
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This morning is a flashback to 1998, toward the end of Lewinsky hell, when Bob Livingston decided not to run for speaker because someone had figured out he'd had an affair. And then came all sorts of rumors about who else Larry Flynt was going to out. Read More...
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And a new record, isn't it, for time elapsed between the swearing in and the swearing at? That's quick work, when right under the New York Times headline "New Governor for New York, Pledging Unity" is this second offering: "Patersons Acknowledge Extramarital Read More...
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I am so ready to read the long magazine take-out story (Hanna?) about Obama and his church and its pastor: What Trinity United Church of Christ and the Rev. Jeremiah Wright mean to Chicago, what it means that Obama and his family joined this church and Read More...
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Melinda H. posts for me, except I'd take her argument a step further. It is actually a politician's job to have nutty acquaintances, because a politician needs to foster alliances with a wide range of different groups. That's how he or she acquires enough Read More...
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The answer, my fellow Americans, is yes. Hillary Clinton, just for instance, has spent years cozying up to Nixon's old friend the Rev. Billy Graham. And yet what are the chances that she seconds Graham's feeling, caught on Nixon's tapes, that Jews are Read More...
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In regard to Eliot Spitzer, I keep thinking about Bill Clinton and Halle Berry's ex-husband, and I'm wondering which actions are forgivable/excusable and which are not. If someone is a sex addict, as Halle Berry's ex-husband supposedly is, we treat it |
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