anghraine

Turns out there's a reason that the Venn diagram of the "our left would be center-right AT BEST in Europe!!!" brigade and the "that's just identity politics, socioeconomics are what really matter" Bernie types is pretty much a circle.

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A follower just responded to my reblog of the Vox article about white supremacist celebrations with WELL TRUMP SUPPORTERS HAVE BEEN ATTACKED TOO AND THIS ISN'T EVEN REAL VIOLENCE!!!! THO VANDALISM IS ILLEGAL

They're not a Trump supporter, just apparently that offended that an article somewhere didn't Tell Both Sides. Because if there's one thing we haven't gotten enough of, it's that.

I already posted it on Tumblr, but some things cannot be confined to one platform.

Elect me, and you get “two for the price of one,” Mr Clinton says of his lawyer-spouse. And what—and what does Hillary believe?

[…]Friends—friends, this—this, my friends—this is radical feminism. The agenda that Clinton & Clinton would impose on America: abortion on demand, a litmus test for the Supreme Court, homosexual rights, discrimination against religious schools, women in combat units. That’s change, all right. But that’s not the kind of change America needs. It’s not the kind of change America wants. And it’s not the kind of change we can abide in a nation we still call “God’s country.”

—Republican National Convention, 1992

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

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[he] was assigned a young lawyer named Hillary Clinton to help defend him in court

No, actually, a lawyer named Hillary RODHAM. 

She used her maiden name, alone, for years after her marriage and Bill's first term as governor, then gave in at the realization that it was probably contributing to the wreckage of their political prospects. For a Rodham -> Rodham Clinton value of "gave in." Even this year, the tax returns she revealed list them as "Clinton, William" and "Rodham Clinton, Hillary." She'll be President Rodham Clinton to me.

*phew*

So, for some unknown and unknowable reason, I had enormous anxiety about reminding a prof of the letter of recommendation that she had offered—offered, I might add, without my even asking her for it. I knew she had some sort of thing going on in the autumn, so by mid-September, I'd probably put it off too long. But it was then that I finally screwed myself up to sending off a "hi, hope you're doing well, hope the letter's still on, I'll be applying for my PhD programs in two months—no pressure, just a heads-up" e-mail.

Then, I got an automated message from the department that she was on sabbatical for THREE MONTHS and would be inaccessible until January. I'd worried she might be, but hadn't quite figured something that drastic. So I, you know, withered into a ball of anxiety and desperately tried to figure out other options, but didn't quite give up hope.

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There are much greater concerns with coverage of the election, but...

- Paul Ryan = Speaker Ryan
- Bill Clinton = (former) President Clinton
- Ted Cruz = Senator Cruz
- Barack Obama = President Obama
- John Kasich = Governor Kasich
- Bernie Sanders = Senator Sanders
- Lindsey Graham = Senator Graham
- Hillary Clinton = Secretary Clinton

Secretary, y'all. 

I've already had to hear people going on about how Hillary's a DINO, despite being more liberal than 70% of Senate Democrats and "hardcore liberal" according to On The Issues. Maybe y'all don't know what is actually typical of Democratic politicians, or subsuming Hillary into her husband, or infected by the miasma of relentless right-wing scandalmongering, or reducing her to the single issues where she is centrist and ignoring that she's firmly in the left wing of the party the other 93% of the time. 

But all of that said? Nothing can ruin my happiness right now. I'm over the moon about HRC, happy with Bernie, happy with Bill (two men who are not my favourite people), happy with Michelle (a woman who is one of my favourite people), with Secretary Albright, with Nancy Pelosi, with President Obama, Senator Kaine, Barney Frank, completely charmed by Jerry Emmett, and awed by Sybrina Fulton, Lucia McBath, and Geneva Reed-Veal. What a day. 

...is that I find myself feeling sorry for lifelong establishment Republicans on a regular basis.

And yes, I know that many of them are horrible in their own right, and there are people more deserving of sympathy, they brought this on themselves, and and and—but still, my first thought when I looked at the news today was "poor Comey." If the far left and far right have anything in common, it's eating their own.

He seems honestly so bewildered. He's like "I hope I'm a normal person...?" and "poor decisions =/= criminally poor decisions???" and "you're questioning my integrity? for real? wtf tinhat conspiracy are you talking about" and "we didn't go witch hunting BECAUSE we're trying to be impartial" and "no, I was a Republican all my life, but......not now."

(Not that I'm above thinking that when he was up to his ears in pushing Whitewater, he probably never imagined that twenty years later, he'd be the one getting shredded by the GOP over Hillary Clinton.)

More than usual, even! But John Lewis is even more of a hero than he was already.

Meanwhile, this reblog brightened my day. 

I've never thought of myself as particularly empathetic, or even kind-hearted—I know I can be very aggressive and I'm a stereotypical struggles-with-theory-of-mind type—but if I come off that way despite all the wank I get involved in ... well, it's comforting.

I watched the nomination get called last night and was happy enough, but now I'm like ... istg I feel like I might cry. HRC is the earliest First Lady I can recall and I remember all the shit she got back then, whether it was her hairbands or belatedly taking her husband's name or waging war on the insurance industry (and losing) or getting cheated on or not being elegant and demure enough. And she's too loud, or too boring and pedantic, or too artificial or needs to build up a persona, or won't it be too distracting for a grandmother to run, or she's a corrupt money-hungry party ruining bitch. Or whatever.

And - you know? I disagree with her about plenty of things. Most of the same things I disagree with President Obama about, but some different ones. I also agree very intensely with her on more things, in the ways that liberal Democrats generally agree with each other about most things. But after literal decades of absolutely ceaseless torrents of misogyny—yes, there are legit criticisms of her, but also there are ceaseless torrents of misogyny—yeah, I'm not "well, not really what I want, but I'll take what I can get." I'm glad it's her. And I'm happy and proud to be a dedicated Democrat today.