Today's edition of Hillary News & Views begins with Clinton's centralization of gun control as a core issue of her presidential campaign.
Using social media, Clinton is both showcasing her own stances on gun control and contrasting those positions with the GOP extremists:
Clinton's Twitter feed has also been celebrating the 20th anniversary of her landmark Women's Rights speech in Beijing, with videos detailing the pressure she faced to stay home and some of the reaction that the speech received:
The Beijing speech, along with Women's Equality Day, have Clinton doing the same thing regarding women's rights as she's doing with gun control: proudly declaring her support while contrasting it with the extremist retrograde opposition on the right:
And going for the heartstrings, here she quotes the late, great Ann Richards...
...and here, she showcases a 101-year-old Hillary supporter, born ten years before women had the right to vote:
Also on Twitter, Clinton showcased a clip of a young future voter asking her a very tough question about how she'll keep her campaign promises, especially if Republicans still control Congress. (I especially love her commitment to electing more Democrats so she doesn't have to work with so many Republicans!)
Howard Dean penned an op-ed for the Washington Post reaffirming his support of Clinton's candidacy:
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton remains the best hope for Americans who are counting on strong and experienced leadership to deal with the economic injustice, educational crises, and foreign instability, which have plagued our country in the early part of the 21st century.
Clinton’s three most compelling characteristics continue to be her vast experience in foreign and domestic policy; her tenacity and history of getting things done across the political aisle, particularly as a senator; and the ferocious enthusiasm of her followers, particularly among young women working for true political gender equity that is long overdue.
Clinton is not only the smartest and the toughest person in the race, she is also the person who has put forward specific policy proposals on issues ranging from profit sharing for workers, revitalizing rural America, criminal justice reform, universal automatic voter registration, to an economic plan that recognizes equal pay, paid family leave and childcare are essential to competitiveness and growth.
It's a beautiful endorsement, but not nearly as touching as
this one from the granddaughter of Henrietta Caroline Credo, one of the matriarchs of the suffrage movement:
My grandmother was a nurse, Henrietta Caroline Credo. She marched in the suffragette parades in New York prior to women being granted the right to vote. I can remember her telling the story of the march. How the men lined the streets and called out insults and threw whatever they could find at the women who walked. She said that the woman in front of her was hit in the head with a slat from an orange crate that still had the nails in it. Grandmother said she caught her before she hit the ground and helped her walk the last part of their march arm in arm.
I have always been thankful to the sacrifice and perseverance of those women. Because of them I have never taken my right to vote lightly. I have watched Hillary Clinton serve this country and I have been impressed by they way she has tackled every difficulty and adversity placed before her. I believe she has the experience, knowledge and courage to carry the office of President and lead this country into a new era. I don’t think this will be an easy race but I will do what I can to support her. Period.
One can only wonder what Credo would say today, with women not only having the vote but even serving in an office as high as Secretary of State...and still dealing with misogyny.
The Huffington Post reports on another Clinton e-mail reveal: that she confronted sexism on her own staff while Secretary of State, though even being in that position doesn't get through to the "ogres":
Even Hillary Clinton, one of the world's most visible advocates for women and girls, sometimes has to make sure that the men who work for her aren't dismissive of women's issues.
In late May of 2010, Clinton's longtime aide Philippe Reines wrote the secretary of state an email congratulating her for having "called out the ogrish males on your staff who roll their eyes at womens issues and events."
It is unclear from Reines' email who exactly the "ogrish" men were, but it's clear that Clinton was tackling the issue of sexism within her own staff.
Yet even though Clinton is among the most powerful political figures in the world of either gender, her message that day may not have gotten through to its intended recipient. "FYI I'm pretty sure I saw [REDACTED] roll their eyes at the very moment that you were obviously referring to them," Reines wrote the secretary. "They just don't get it."
And ending again on a fun note,
Vox observes that Clinton's e-mails show a Washington that is more
Veep than
House of Cards:
I like politics and I like watching television, so naturally I love TV shows about Washington. The sentimental favorite, of course, is The West Wing, a show in which politics is about the Big Ideas and Big Issues that brought most of us to DC in the first place. The most exciting is House of Cards, where plots and intrigues keep you bingeing to the end. But the most realistic, by far, is HBO's Veep, which, though broad in its satirical arcs, correctly catches the absurdity and triviality that dominates the daily lives of the most important people in government.
The treasure trove of Hillary Clinton emails that have been dribbling out this summer show just how profoundly right Armando Iannucci's show gets Washington.
For more on Hillary Clinton's campaign for the presidency, check out…
The Hillary 2016 Platform Series
Part 1: Criminal Justice Reform
Part 2: Immigration Reform
Part 3: Voting Rights
Unfiltered Hillary: The Transcripts
August 14, 2015: Iowa Wing Ding Dinner
July 31, 2015: National Urban League
July 20, 2015: Facebook Q&A
July 17, 2015: Iowa State Democratic Party Hall of Fame Dinner
April 23, 2015: Women in the World Summit
Crossposted at Hillary HQ.com, an independent, progressive blog committed to electing Hillary Clinton as the next President of the United States.