Hillary in the Media: the Couric Interview [Blogwatching]

Via Shakesville: Katie Couric asks Senator Clinton about being a nerd and being labelled "Frigidaire" by boys in high school. These are only tough questions if you think high school girls shouldn't be studious and ambitous despite the attitudes of high school boys.

Full transcript reads:

Couric: What were you like in high school? Were you the girl in the front row, taking meticulous notes and always raising your hands?

Clinton: Not always raising my hand. Not always raising my hand!

Couric: Someone told me your nickname in school was Miss Frigidaire. Is that true?

Clinton: Only with some boys.

Couric: I don't know if I want to hear the back story on that!

Clinton: Yeah, well, you wouldn't want to know the boys, either. [laughs]

A Measure of Progress: Media Held Accountable for Sexist Remarks About Hillary Clinton

Feministe, the blog of law student (and sometime Ms. JD blogger) Jill Filipovic, has a spot-on summary of recent Hillary-related events. Declaring that "A Bad Day for Sexism is a Good Day for Women," Feministe recaps:

David Shuster at MSNBC asked if Chelsea Clinton was being "pimped out" because she’s making calls on behalf of her mother’s campaign, something that adult children of politicians do to support their fathers’ campaigns with regularity. The Clinton campaign told him how inappropriate his remark was in a private email, but Shuster stood his ground. So Clinton’s communication director, Howard Wolfson, called Shuster out for it publicly and said that Senator Clinton would pull out of the MSNBC debate scheduled for February 26.

Ann at Feministing argues that Shuster's underlying judgment was "bad working mother." Whether vague or specific, sexist remarks are neither novel nor isolated. But something else is novel about this situation--something good. Feministe explains...

[More after the jump]

A Note on the Democratic In-Fighting and the Image of Corporate Counsel

So in the scuffle that was the Democratic Presidential Debate last night Clinton and Obama exchanged a number of accusations including that Clinton served on the board of directors of Wal-Mart; Obama worked for a law firm that represented an inner-city slumlord. Whether or not those barbs are accurate, in good taste, or relevant has generated a lot of media coverage. But the accusations that really caught my attention were the references both Clinton and Obama made to their opponent's service with "corporate law firms."

Have you ever "gotten emotional" making an argument, like Hillary? How did you handle it?

Speaking of Hillary (see jessie's last post), you've almost certainly seen this clip of Senator Clinton speaking on the campaign trail in New Hampshire. It's been everywhere on the inter-webs these past 36 hrs. She chokes up a bit, showing some emotion.

[More after the jump]

Clippings: Steinem on Hillary

Gloria Steinem's NYT column, "Women Are Never Front-Runners" completely blew me away. No matter what your political background I recommend her fresh analysis of the coverage of Obama and Clinton and the role of gender in this election. As Steinem writes,

... what worries me is that he is seen as unifying by his race while she is seen as divisive by her sex. What worries me is that she is accused of “playing the gender card” when citing the old boys’ club, while he is seen as unifying by citing civil rights confrontations. What worries me is that male Iowa voters were seen as gender-free when supporting their own, while female voters were seen as biased if they did and disloyal if they didn’t.