“When information about their competence was equivocal, 86 percent of participants deemed the male candidate more competent. When there was strong evidence of both candidates’ competence, 83 percent of people judged the man more likable. The female candidate was regarded, moreover, as ‘interpersonally hostile” – as conniving, pushy, selfish, abrasive, manipulative and untrustworthy – even though the study participants had the same information, on average, about the two people to be evaluated …”
—Kate Manne, The Washington Post
“You can understand why Warren seems to think Sanders’s disavowals ring a bit hollow. Sanders sat down for an interview with Chapo Trap House, the ‘dirtbag left’ podcast whose hosts repeatedly serve up some of the most vicious and personal attacks on Warren. Sanders speechwriter David Sirota has appeared on their show while working on the campaign, as has national press secretary Briahna Joy Gray. From Warren’s point of view, it might seem like Sanders is speaking out of both sides of his mouth: Vaguely disavowing online anger in public statements while his campaign reaches out and appeals directly to the people purveying it.”
—Zack Beauchamp, Vox
See also: Joe Rogan.
I mean, Imagine being a candidate for president and taking anything called “Chapo Trap House” seriously.
We could have had this. But no.
Men do not understand what the smart, hard working, ambitious, hopeful women of this country are going through right now, and many are unwilling to even try. Most don’t care, either.
Elizabeth Warren, the absolute best person for president who ran this year, dropped out of the presidential race this week. And she should – she performed terribly on Super Tuesday, came in third in her home state of Massachusetts, and came in fourth in California behind Biden and Bloomberg.
California, that bastion of progressivism. I am so disappointed in you, my home, my golden state, my birthright.
Now we are left with a bunch of old white men.
We get to watch them argue and wag fingers and get confused and duke it out over the next nine months. That is, if we so choose. It doesn’t have to be painful. Ladies, we can just not pay attention anymore. One way or another, it’ll shake out however it’s going to shake out, and then in November we will check that box.
And we will wait. And then we will probably cry. So maybe spend this time doing something more meaningful and fulfilling. We earned it.
Bernie ain’t looking good, people. He hunches over and leans on things whenever he gets the chance. He *does* sound like your rambling old uncle who restarts his sentences five, six times and whose brain goes off in every direction. Add to that the fact that he’s using a campaign video touting his relationship with Obama, which is just utterly gobsmacking considering he’s built his brand on tearing down “the establishment” and Obama falls firmly within that designation.
He also came out and told his supporters the attacks on Warren are awful and need to stop.
Cool, thanks gramps! It’s a little late for that. This means about as much as when I spent two hours washing my grandfather’s car and he gave me two quarters. They were shiny though! So I had that going for me.
Frankly, he can fuck off and so can Biden. I’ll vote for whichever one “wins.” But right now, there are no winners, and America has lost.
They shouldn’t have tried to hold an election AND teach Americans how to wash their hands, all in the same week. It was too much. We were overwhelmed.
— ditch pony (@molly7anne) March 4, 2020
Oh and I want to say one other thing.
Growing up, I was encouraged to study hard and get straight As so I could go to college, get a degree, get a ‘good’ job, and make my way in the world.
Getting a college education was also framed as “being well rounded” and “being exposed to a variety of subjects and viewpoints.”
I went $15K into debt to get that degree (a paltry amount compared to many, but it’s still debt) and I finally paid off that loan last November.
I am a college educated white woman with a Bachelor’s Degree in America.
My demographic is where Elizabeth Warren got the majority of her support. And I know, after doing everything I was told to do, I am vilified for being “her only support.”
People said, “she only has the college educated people” like it was a bad thing. It WAS a bad thing that her support was largely limited to us, but that’s not how it was meant when it was said by the people who said it to me and others.
It was meant as an insult – an implication that college educated people are elitist and out of touch with “real Americans” and so is Warren. That she doesn’t have policies for “working people.” (I work 40 hours a week, but apparently “working people.” only means blue collar jobs.) That we can’t possibly know what’s right for America and make decisions accordingly. We are the establishment. We are the enemy.
Progressives don’t realize this but they have started using the same talking points as the far right. Intellectualism and higher education is scorned and people with degrees are vilified. Manual labor, working gigs, and living paycheck to paycheck is deceptively glamorized and twisted to make people feel they are more deserving, more knowledgeable, more in touch.
They forget that many people – myself included – came from blue collar families in rural, depressed areas. And they do all this while simultaneously arguing for free access to obtain the same education I have, without a whiff of irony.
I played by the rules and did everything I was supposed to do and I’m proud my accomplishments and where I’m at in life. I certainly didn’t do it alone. It was harder for me than it should have been and it shouldn’t be hard for anyone.
But I am fucking HAUNTED by this utter lack of perspective and self awareness. This attack on my identity and the identity of many women (and men) who fought their way to a better life and were able to identify someone who would help more people to have that, too.
This country has turned into a bucket of crabs. If you don’t know the metaphor, look it up.
—emily duchaine
Flommist Emily Duchaine lives in the Pacific Northwest. She likes to drink mead, learn about sharks, and listen to the Talking Heads. She pretends to be a professional businesswoman most days. Copyright © 2020 Emily Duchaine. Pictured up top: Emily’s “She’s electable if you fucking vote for her” shirt (cropped), with this pin, courtesy of her very good friend Mr. Robert Berry.
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