(I see a diary about this was added while I was composing this one, but I think the quotes and points we’ve selected are significantly different enough to warrant another diary. )
Joan Walsh, National Affairs Correspondent for The Nation, and former Editor in Chief of Salon penned this fantastic endorsement today. If you’ve read any of her pieces over the years, you already know she’s incredibly knowledgeable, very liberal, and is in no way a spokesperson for the oligarchy or Wall Street.
A few highlights: www.thenation.com/...
On being labelled “establishment”
But I’m old enough to remember when feminists were told that our issues—“cultural” issues like abortion and contraception—were costing Democrats elections, so couldn’t we pipe down for a little while? Now we’re the establishment?
Like many old-school lefties, Walsh is conflicted:
This time, I feel a slight twinge of regret that I’m not supporting the socialist in the race.
But she recognizes the historic importance of her candidate:
Still, the larger message to Clinton supporters is that our demand for equal representation at the highest level of government at last, by a supremely qualified woman who is thoroughly progressive if not a socialist, must sadly wait. Again.
On gender equality. (I found this one interesting because I am a stickler for gender neutral language. I hadn’t noticed this before, but no doubt it will become glaringly obvious to me now):
I’ve always admired Sanders, but I happen to think he has more than a tin-ear on gender. He routinely talks about “mothers” needing family leave, and he doesn’t even seem to try to substitute the now-customary (on the left, anyway) “he or she” or “him or her” into his speeches. I noted that Monday night, when he declared “I believe that every kid in this country who has the ability and the desire should be able to get a higher education regardless of the income of his family.”
Her support is not without reservations or based on blind loyalty (emphasis mine):
I’m supporting Clinton, joyfully and without apologies. That’s not the same as without reservations; I continue to wonder whether she’ll be more hawkish on foreign policy than is advised in these dangerous times. I’m concerned that she’s too close to Wall Street; I really wish she hadn’t given those six-figure talks to Goldman Sachs. But I genuinely believe she’ll make the best president.
And on the ever-present misogyny that follows Hillary wherever she goes:
I really don’t want to see her abused again. I’m tired of seeing her confronted by entitled men weighing in on her personal honesty and likability, treating the most admired woman in the world like a woman who’s applying to be his secretary. I’m stunned anew by the misogyny behind the attacks on her, and her female supporters
I’m with Hillary. And Joan Walsh. And the millions of other Americans who know that Hillary Clinton is the most qualified, prepared and vetted Presidential candidate in this election, and perhaps in our lifetimes. She’s ready. The country is ready. Let’s get this done now. Go Hillary!
