Depravity: David Letterman Announces He’s Aroused by Sarah Palin

Thanks in part to the failure of Howard Dean and other Democratic and Republican party leaders during the 2008 presidential race, our culture continues to give tacit permission for depraved minds in the media to freely attack women who run for office. Just yesterday, I received this email message (shown in red below) from Team Sarah, a Web site that supports Sarah Palin:

Such hypocrites!

Two nights ago, David Letterman, in interviewing Katie Couric, described Gov. Palin as "the first vice presidential candidate that I found myself being aroused about."

It is ghastly that this kind of discourteous, indecent talk should pass for conversational fodder - even on late night TV.

This violates CBS's own "Program Practices," {which} specifically states that: "The Program Practices editors review material for excessive or gratuitous violence, sexuality, nudity and inappropriate language. They ensure that character portrayals are sensitive to current ethnic, religious, sexual and other significant social concerns."

http://www.cbspressexpress.com/div.php/cbs_network/page/program_practices

A violation? What do *you* think?

Well, don't just think it! Make your voice heard.

Email the Federal Communications Commission!

Email fccinfo@fcc.gov, tell them your name, where you are from, and EXACTLY how you feel about Letterman taking indecent liberties with a dignified lady, mom, and governor on his show!

-- Emily
teamsarah08@gmail.com

As a long-time progressive in the tradition of the late U.S. Senator Paul Wellstone (D. Minn.), I disagree with Gov. Palin on many issues, but I stand with her against the sexist treatment she continues to receive.

As for Howard Dean and company, he recently appeared on a panel of six men where he loudly protested the sexism against Hillary Clinton in 2008 (see video). Howard's gesture was obviously too little too late, and we can only hope that he’s finally gotten the message. Wonder of wonders, he even noticed that Sarah Palin has been verbally assaulted, too. Howard said:

"This is the most underwritten story of this campaign… by the press… by the media. . Nobody understood the agony that women, particularly of my generation, were undergoing about this…issue…and to this day, it has been swept under the rug and been forgotten because she didn’t win. . We did not examine the fact that we didn’t get, we haven’t gotten nearly as far ahead as we thought we were about equality between the sexes. And that ought to be revisited as a result of what happened, and it happened to Sarah Palin too."

If nothing else, the 2008 campaign made clear that the left is just as sexist as the right, and it’s way past time for women across the political spectrum to unite in our efforts to drain the cesspool of sexism and misogyny in our culture fed daily by the pathological mind set of the national media.

Ethical Questions Posed by a Hillary Supporter Encamped in Denver

Heidi Li Feldman, a law professor at Georgetown University, is probably one of the more knowledgeable Democrats when it comes to party rules and procedures. She’s also unafraid to call Dr. Dean and members of the DNC to account. She posted from Denver this morning to Heidi Li’s Potpourri:

“The DNC, Dr. Dean, Speaker Pelosi, et al. are learning, the hard way, that faux unity is no unity; that when you try to create your own reality, real reality tends to get in the way.

“So now here we are in Denver and Dr. Dean's and Speaker Pelosi's preferred candidate is dead even with John McCain in the polls; it is quite clear that delegates to the convention understand their rights and responsibilities and want to have to opportunity to elect Senator Clinton as the Party's nominee; the DNC seems to be in a panic over its decision to enter Senator Clinton's name in nomination; the DNC and DNCC still will not confirm that they will hold a straightforward, transparent, regular roll call vote as specified in the Call for The 2008 Democratic National Convention, the Party's own official convention governance document.

“Forget about making it seem like the Party is unified. At the moment, Dr. Dean and Speaker Pelosis cannot even make it seem like the Party - or at least its top officials - are honest.”

The New Agenda Takes Up Where Democrats and Old-Line Feminist Organizations Failed

We’re finally getting to the real issue fueling the resistance of Hillary Clinton’s supporters to get in line behind Barack Obama in the general election. As Froma Harrop points out at RCP, It’s No Longer Just About Hillary. Mature women who have lived through decades of ugly gender discrimination are still outraged by the sexism and misogyny Clinton endured during the Democratic primary.

Harrop explains:

“After hearing her name placed in nomination at the Democrats' convention next week, Hillary Clinton will no doubt urge her followers to support Barack Obama. What good that gesture will do for the Obama candidacy remains to be seen. Clinton has already made it several times, but a new Pew Research Center poll shows that 28 percent of her primary voters do not intend to vote for Obama, a number virtually unchanged from June.

“Of special concern are women, particularly older ones, whom in the past could be counted on to vote for whatever Democrat was running for president. Many remain scandalized by the sexist attacks on Clinton during the recent campaign. A stubborn 18 percent of Clinton's female voters vow to back McCain, according to a poll for Lifetime television networks. Another 6 percent plan to support neither major-party candidate.”

Harrop suggests:

‘“Perhaps Clinton does not possess the magic wand to move her troops. The storyline goes that many women disappointed by Clinton's loss or angry at the nasty campaign just needed time ‘to heal.’ Once Hillary gave them the nudge, they'd get with the program.

“Thing is, it's no longer about Hillary for many of them. I sat in on a group of high-powered Clinton supporters gathering in New York last week to create a nonpartisan group called The New Agenda. There was little discussion of the current campaign.

“The New Agenda's agenda is to look out for women's political interests where the Democratic Party and old-line feminist organizations had failed. The attendees reserved special fury for the Democratic National Committee and its passivity before the misogynistic carnival. One of their specifics is getting MSNBC jester Chris Matthews fired -- and if he intends to run for the Senate from Pennsylvania, to end that idea.

‘“Every member has her own plans for November, including for a few, voting for Obama. Co-founder Amy Siskind, a former Wall Street exec and Clinton fundraiser, told me, ‘I won't vote for Obama, but I'm not sure what I'll do.’ Cynthia Ruccia, a Democratic activist from Columbus, Ohio, who twice ran against Republican John Kasich, is supporting McCain -- and organizing other Democrats in her swing state to do likewise.

“The McCain camp has noticed. Carly Fiorina, former CEO of Hewlett-Packard and McCain's adviser, met with Siskind in New York. She flew to Columbus to confer with Ruccia, Nancy Hopkins, another New Agenda founder, and 75 other miffed Democratic women. (Hopkins is the MIT biologist who famously protested a suggestion by then-Harvard University President Lawrence Summers that boys might be innately better at science than girls.)

‘“DNC chairman Howard Dean has called Ruccia twice. ‘He was just waking up to the thought that women around the country were upset over the treatment of Hillary,’ she told me. Ruccia tends to doubt that putting Clinton's name to a roll-call vote will mollify many of the female holdouts. ‘The train left the station a long time ago,’ she said.

‘“The New Agenda wants to become a women's-voice alternative for the National Organization for Women and NARAL, which they see as moribund and appendages of the Democratic leadership. Members note that when rapper Ludacris sang a pro-Obama ballad calling Hillary ‘an irrelevant b-,’ the president of NOW didn't get out of bed to complain.

“For many of these women, whatever nice things Clinton says about Obama in Denver won't matter much. They have decided that they can live with McCain, and they're already inoculated against the crude anatomical references that left-wing bloggers will send their way. (There's not one they haven't heard.) Hillary can't do much to change their feelings -- even if she wanted to.”

While Others Slack Off, Hillary Clinton Works

Hillary Clinton campaigns for Obama in Henderson, NV. Photo credits: AP

As a member of the US Senate, representing the state of New York, Hillary Clinton has long maintained a reputation for dedication, knowledge of the issues, wisdom, compassion, an ability to work across the aisle, and a passion for hard work.

Heidi Li Feldman observes that in the midst of the general election campaign, “Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton keeps on working while those around her take vacations, lay low on bus tours, or spend time laying out the melodramas of their lives on national television.

"Meanwhile, here's where everybody else is.
Senator Obama: on vacation (Hawaii)
Speaker Pelosi: on vacation
DNC Chair Howard Dean: on a bus tour to register voters (most recent stop Pittsburgh)
John Edwards: on television (proclaiming his own narcissism)"

Feldman suggests the Democratic Party’s presumptive nominee, Barack Obama, is having a problem generating enthusiasm for his election to the presidency and that Hillary Clinton is apparently the only person attempting to do anything about it.

Read more:

Is the DNC Still Paying Howard Dean $100,000 per Year?

Posting at Heidi Li’s Potpourri this morning, Heidi Li wants to know whether or not DNC Chair Howard Dean (see above) is still getting paid $100,000 per year, since it appears Dean has turned over many of his responsibilities to Barack Obama’s aides.

Read more here.

Denver Group’s Ads Hit a Nerve with Howard Dean

Photo credits: Evan Vucci/AP

Chris Bowers at Open Left yesterday, July 17, 2008, summarized a 20-minute interview with Howard Dean. Evidently Dean attempted to smear the Denver Group, founded by Heidi Li Feldman and Marc Rubin, for running ads recently in the Chicago Tribune and Congressional Quarterly demanding that Hillary Clinton’s name be on the ballot at the Democratic convention in August.

In response to Dean’s reported remarks, Feldman and Rubin, on behalf of the Denver Group, have published an open letter to Dr. Dean, which begins:

“Dear Dr. Dean,

Through the wonders of the internet The Denver Group has learned that you have reportedly discussed us in an interview today. Since the purpose of our ads has been to make our points partly to you as well as the rest of the DNC and Democrats as a whole, normally we'd be pleased to know they are getting through to you. But based on the interviewer's characterization of your comments, we don't think you actually know much about The Denver Group, its founders, and its goals. The interviewer writes:

“When asked about the ads criticizing him and Speaker Pelosi for Clinton supposedly not being on the ballot at the convention, he [Howard Dean] scoffed. Clinton will be on the ballot at the convention, and will be speaking there. Dean indicated that the rules were so clear on this matter, that the groups running these ads and spreading these rumors must be associated with the other internet rumors going around, such as Obama being a Muslim. He also speculated that McCain supporters might be behind these rumors.”

Read the Denver Group’s entire open letter here.

The DNC and Dr. Dean Blowing It in Denver, Too!

Well, what else could one expect from the crew that ignored the sexism and misogyny throughout the Democratic primary, did its best to force Hillary Clinton out of the race after the Iowa caucus, and handed the nomination to Obama on a silver platter even though Clinton won the popular vote?

It stands to reason the DNC, led by Dr. Dean, would overspend on renting plush offices for themselves in Denver, mandate the colors of the organic food to be served, and otherwise screw up the planning and blow the budget for the Democratic convention.

To read the gruesome details of the DNC’s mismanagement in Denver published in today’s NY Times, go here.

In the meantime, as the party elite continues to dither about whether or not to abide by democratic procedures with an open convention guaranteeing Clinton’s name on the ballot, fair-minded people can take heart: The Denver Group, led by Heidi Li Feldman and Marc Rubin is dedicated to keeping the Democratic convention democratic; check out the Denver Group here.

Letter to Howard Dean: Count All the Votes!

One of my readers, Sara Mabry, has asked Katalusis to post a letter she faxed to Howard Dean, Chair of the Democratic Party, on behalf of disenfranchised Florida and Michigan Democrats. Below is Sara’s letter:

Chairman Howard Dean:

Since my posted request was so completely ignored, I am going to try again and possibly I will not be spammed with solicitations in its place. It is one thing to take the time to compose a message, but another when it is discarded, but worst of all when my information is used to channel your opinion.

Right now that opinion is very low in my eyes. When you are making or influencing the decision for so many to not count votes, and therefore turning loyal Democrats to independent selections because they will be ashamed to show dedication to this party, one that is not respecting them. If you remember what happened to the FL voters in 2002 and Ohio in 2004, we are sorely tired of those who claim to serve the people.

I have not forgotten and it is something that those in your position seem to forget, and I think you need to consider this. If you want Obama in the White House, remember you may need our votes, and I am speaking of those who passionately support Hillary Clinton. If you think all will honor the Democratic Party after what you decide and not count the votes of the two states in question, then you will lose loyalty over your arrogance.

Choose the rights of the people over the rule that will punish the people not those who made this decision, and it will happen. You, Chairman Dean, will be the one who will influence those who will divide the people. Who do you think will win then? The Republicans love this, and if you don't think you need our votes, then do the math!

I am requesting that you become aware of the pending consequences and that the Super Delegates who have recently filed complaints to the Democratic Party Rule's Committee be honored in their petition and complaint that has been presented or filed before this committee.

Sincerely Wavering Democrat,

S R Mabry, Registered Democrat and Educated

PS I am faxing, as I have learned not to send anything through email to your office.