Home
Archive
Columnists
Video
Blogs
Discuss
About
Search
Donate
Advertise
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Register to Vote: Rock the Vote, powered by Working Assets Wireless
Advertisement
  • AlterNetYour turn

Support AlterNet
Do you value the information you're getting from AlterNet? Please show your support with a tax-deductible donation.


Feedback
Tell us how we're doing.

Sorry McCain, 'Angry White Women' Overwhelmingly Support Obama

By Frank Rich, The New York Times. Posted June 16, 2008.


Women favor Obama by 19 points, and the GOP is splintered over McCain. But we don't hear that narrative because it doesn't get the ratings.

Share and save this post:
Digg iconDelicious iconReddit iconFark iconYahoo! iconNewsvine! iconFacebook iconNewsTrust icon

More stories by Frank Rich

Get AlterNet in
your mailbox!

 
Advertisement

Ten years ago John McCain had to apologize for regaling a Republican audience with a crude sexual joke about Hillary and Chelsea Clinton and Janet Reno. Last year he had to explain why he didn’t so much as flinch when a supporter asked him on camera, “How do we beat the bitch?” But these days Mr. McCain just loves the women.

In his televised address on Barack Obama’s victory night of June 3, he dismissed Mr. Obama in a single patronizing line but devoted four fulsome sentences to praising Mrs. Clinton for “inspiring millions of women.” The McCain Web site is showcasing a new blogger who crooned of the “genuine affection” for Mrs. Clinton “here at McCain HQ” after she lost. One of the few visible women in the McCain campaign hierarchy, Carly Fiorina, has declared herself “enormously proud” of Mrs. Clinton and is barnstorming to win over Democratic women to her guy’s cause.

How heartwarming. You’d never guess that Mr. McCain is a fierce foe of abortion rights or that he voted to terminate the federal family-planning program that provides breast-cancer screenings. You’d never know that his new campaign blogger, recruited from The Weekly Standard, had shown his genuine affection for Mrs. Clinton earlier this year by portraying her as a liar and whiner and by piling on with a locker-room jeer after she’d been called a monster. “Tell us something we don’t know,” he wrote.

But while the McCain campaign apparently believes that women are easy marks for its latent feminist cross-dressing, a reality check suggests that most women can instantly identify any man who’s hitting on them for selfish ends. New polls show Mr. Obama opening up a huge lead among female voters — beating Mr. McCain by 13 percentage points in the Gallup and Rasmussen polls and by 19 points in the latest Wall Street Journal-NBC News survey.

How huge is a 13- to 19-percentage-point lead? John Kerry won women by only 3 points, Al Gore by 11.

The real question is how Mr. McCain and his press enablers could seriously assert that he will pick up disaffected female voters in the aftermath of the brutal Obama-Clinton nomination battle. Even among Democrats, Mr. Obama lost only the oldest female voters to Mrs. Clinton.

But as we know from our Groundhog Days of 2008, a fictional campaign narrative, once set in the concrete of Beltway bloviation, must be recited incessantly, especially on cable television, no matter what facts stand in the way. Only an earthquake — the Iowa results, for instance — could shatter such previously immutable story lines as the Clinton campaign’s invincibility and the innate hostility of white voters to a black candidate.

Our new bogus narrative rose from the ashes of Mrs. Clinton’s concession to Mr. Obama, amid the raucous debate over what role misogyny played in her defeat. A few female Clinton supporters — or so they identified themselves — appeared on YouTube and Fox News to say they were so infuriated by sexism that they would vote for Mr. McCain.


Digg!

See more stories tagged with: barack obama, john mccain

Liked this story? Get top stories in your inbox each week from AlterNet! Sign up now »


Advertisement

 

Comments Turn comments off sitewide Give us feedback »
Comments closed.
The comments for this story have been closed. Thank you to everyone who participated.
View:
The NY Times died on 9/11
Posted by: weathered on Jun 16, 2008 7:38 AM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
its spirit got crushed in its own rubble.

They no longer report, they choreograph. When a paper goes through contortions to lie to itself it marginalizes it itself.

Arrest Silverstein/Bushcon and heal or stay stuck in the Lie.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» RE: The NY Times died on 9/11 Posted by: collins101
I beg to differ
Posted by: JibreelRiley on Jun 16, 2008 7:53 AM   
Current rating: 1    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I know the moonbat press wants to slime out John McCain all the way to November while protection Sen Obama aka Bambi however the left is not the rest of the nation (like the polls make you believe). Go ahead and keep dragging John McCain in the mud on horsecrap. These are the same people crying for the "issues" when Rev Wright is brought up, so bring the issues and drop the sound bites however you know the nation is either too dumb or will just rejected the socialists light Liberal Coastal policies knowing that they seen this before time and time again. Even I'll say John McCain is the best Democrat running...
You New York Press types need to get outside the Hudson, then you might learn that this nation is not buying what you guys are selling. Well I'm not buying at least.

I declare War
jibreelkriley@gmail.com

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Sorry, this comment has been removed from the system.
» I love that very subtle satire! Posted by: chaoslegs
» RE: I beg to differ Posted by: Dboy
AOL Screwing the Pootch?
Posted by: anambrose on Jun 16, 2008 2:10 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
When I sign out of my email account I get bounced to a page that says: "vote in our straw poll" and out of morbid curiosity I sometimes do just to see what happens. Since the end of the Democratic primary the numbers all of a sudden show McCain getting 49% to 56% with Obama getting in the mid 40% range: i.e.,always less. Reading the comments I saw many right wing trolls who only hate McCain slightly less than Obama. The voters number in the 250,000 area and I don't know if that' a representative sample or just trolls stuffing the ballot box. Is this more of what media, AOL and others are doing or is this just psyops by the rethug trolls who have too much time on their hands?

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» RE: AOL Screwing the Pootch? Posted by: drmimi94954
Not inspired
Posted by: Maryanne on Jun 16, 2008 2:16 PM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I am one of those New York women who is not inspired by Mrs. Clinton. When Al Gore was running for the presidency, the Gores and Clintons came to Buffalo where they were met by an overflowing crowd of cheering supporters. We were among the enthusiastic crowd. But times change and more information comes out.

Bill Clinton achieved the presidency largely through his skills and his personality. Unfortunately, he was "Republican light" which became increasingly clear these past years as so many of his projects have not produced the promised results but in fact have been disastrous. (NAFTA, deregulation of media, for example)

Mrs. Clinton kept insisiting that she had no intention of running for office, but shortly after being reelected to the Senate, announced her candidacy- and we, for all practical purposes, have not had a full time senator as a result.

Her critical attitude toward Obama really turned a great many women away from her who had been pro during the primaries. Her beligerent stance on Iran and the Iraq war do not bode well for diplomacy and peace.

She has presented a side of herself that is not presidential. In addition, many in this area are aware of the disastrous past Bush years and will not vote Republican.

There are so many problems for a new president to face and to undo. It is necessary to have someone with calm, good judgement, intelligence , ability to select good people to head offices, as well as the ability to tell people that miracles will not happen, that it will take time to undo the mess we have created, that we must all engage in this. Mrs. Clinton has not given the impression that her goal is straightening out the mess, but in gaining the office.

White women are not stupid. Give us the facts about McCain, let Mrs. Clinton redeem herself by supporting the Democratic candidate- and we will support Obama wholeheartedly.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» RE: Not inspired Posted by: Moira61
» RE: Not inspired Posted by: sabrina
Angry
Posted by: Jeanne on Jun 16, 2008 6:11 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Not stupid. I think women are smart enough to know not to cut off their nose to spite their face. Please, give us more credit than that.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Too early to poll
Posted by: Left of center on Jun 16, 2008 9:28 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Try using an updated poll AFTER Obama picks a VP who is not Hillary Clinton, THEN you can gauge the political environment among women voters. Many women are going to be very disappointed after Clinton is completely out of the picture.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» RE: Too early to poll Posted by: Sissy
Why Kerry Lost
Posted by: Arlene on Jun 17, 2008 8:36 AM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
His attempt to accomodate the Catholic bishops and the anti-abortion lobby by telling them how much he "respected" them for their goal to criminalize abortion cost him votes among women. They didn't vote for Bush, they just used the time they would have spent going to the polls to do another chore on their list for that day.

I voted for Hillary, but I am fine with Obama. As in 2004, the alternative to the Democrat is None of the Above. I am 67 years old.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

marie in Tx
Posted by: marie.vorrath on Jun 20, 2008 7:01 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Sorry Frank Rich, who is it you think you are??
We know you love OBAMA but don't try to convince people white women are voting for him
because YOU ARE WRONG!!!!

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]