The most thorough, profound and moving defense of Hillary Clinton I have ever seen.

[niyad]

The most thorough, profound and moving defense of Hillary Clinton I have ever seen.

?1465700114

First of all — this is not my writing. It's a Facebook post by someone I don’t even know, a man named Michael Arnovitz in Portland OR. But as a Facebook post it passes the fair use test and I’m quite certain he would not object that I share it here (he doesn’t). The original Facebook post is here: www.facebook.com/… So without further ado, it’s truly worth the read:

________________________________________________________________________

"In the course of a single conversation, I have been assured that Hillary is cunning and manipulative but also crass, clueless, and stunningly impolitic; that she is a hopelessly woolly-headed do-gooder and, at heart, a hardball litigator; that she is a base opportunist and a zealot convinced that God is on her side. What emerges is a cultural inventory of villainy rather than a plausible depiction of an actual person." —Henry Louis Gates The quote above comes from a fascinating article called “Hating Hillary”, written by Gates for the New Yorker in 1996. Even now, 20 years after it was first published, it’s a fascinating and impressive piece, and if you have a few spare moments I strongly recommend it to you. (www.newyorker.com/...)

And I’m reading pieces like this because now that Hillary has (essentially if not officially) won the Democratic Primary, I have become increasingly fascinated by the way so many people react to her. In truth, I sometimes think that I find that as interesting as Hillary herself. And I can’t help but notice that many of the reactions she receives seem to reflect what Gates referred to as “a cultural inventory of villainy” rather than any realistic assessment of who she really is and what she has really done. To conservatives she is a radical left-wing insurgent who has on multiple occasions been compared to Mikhail Suslov, the Soviet Kremlin’s long-time Chief of Ideology. To many progressives (you know who you are), she is a Republican fox in Democratic sheep’s clothing, a shill for Wall Street who doesn’t give a damn about the working class. The fact that these views could not possibly apply to the same person does not seem to give either side pause. Hillary haters on the right and the left seem perfectly happy to maintain their mutually incompatible delusions about why she is awful. The only thing both teams seem to share is the insistence that Hillary is a Machiavellian conspirator and implacable liar, unworthy of society’s trust.

And this claim of unabated mendacity is particularly interesting, because while it is not the oldest defamation aimed at Hillary, it is the one that most effortlessly glides across partisan lines. Indeed, for a surprisingly large percentage of the electorate, the claim that Hillary is innately dishonest is simply accepted as a given. It is an accusation and conviction so ingrained in the conversation about her that any attempt to even question it is often met with shock. And yet here’s the thing: it’s not actually true. Politifact, the Pulitzer prize-winning fact-checking project, determined for example that Hillary was actually the most truthful candidate (of either Party) in the 2016 election season. And in general Politifact has determined that Hillary is more honest than most (but not all) politicians they have tracked over the years.

. . . . .

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/6/11/1537582/-The-most-thorough-profound-and-moving-defense-of-Hillary-Clinton-I-have-ever-seen?detail=email2&link_id=2&can_id=dbb0d69c584cc3d0a04f63b55f76c85f&source=email-trump-nailed-229-years-ago-by-alexander-hamilton-2&email_referrer=trump-nailed-229-years-ago-by-alexander-hamilton-2&email_subject=trump-nailed-229-years-ago-by-alexander-hamilton

[Sheepshank]

1. I hear the same talking points over and over from those anti Hillary shills

and yet, I have remained unconvinced that there is ample evidence that these labels accurately describe her in the totality of her abilities, desires, platform and motivations.

[niyad]

2. so very true.

[niyad]

3. . . .

[Lil Missy]

4. The Hillary Haters here could find a scandal in Hillary's grade school report card. n/t

[niyad]

5. sadly, you are quite correct.

[ancianita]

9. Stop misrepresenting Berners. They're not Hillary Haters. You're thinking of Republicans.

[Lil Missy]

10. I'm not reading the shit on Republican websites. I'm seeing it here. n/t

[ancianita]

12. I'm read what you're reading. It's nowhere near hate, nevermind the shallow labels Hillers give it.

[niyad]

28. comprehension is everything.

[ancianita]

31. Consciousness and context are everything.

[niyad]

34. they are indeed, for everyone.

[AgadorSparticus]

13. Not sure where you have been, but the Bernie supporters here on DU are insufferable.

[ancianita]

15. Oh, please. I read them all the time. At least they're not tit-for-tat tag teaming on cheap OP hits.

[AgadorSparticus]

20. Yes they are.

[ancianita]

21. Empty, baseless claim. You made it. Prove it.

[moriah]

39. I just searched this thread because I was going to post this and didn't want to dupe. :)

But if you want me to break out Advanced Search, and prove the claim, I will.

I would much rather focus on good things, like even if it wasn't National Nurses United, a union will be helping with the 2016 platform.

[moriah]

37. If you're equating Bernie supporters with Hillary haters, that was you, not Lil Missy.

There are plenty of people that hate Hillary that I sincerely doubt are real Berners. Trolls, the influx of them will start soon...

We will seeit here. It won't be just, or even mostly, Berners who participate. And hate is sucky no matter who is doing the hating.

[eastwestdem]

11. Exactly!! nt

[niyad]

6. . . .

[Stinky The Clown]

7. Let's look at her career highlights

FLOTUS with the temerity to stop being just the first lady and attempt to CONTRIBUTE.

For this, the right wing hate machine set out to destroy her. Increasingly outlandish accusations were made.

She persevered.



US Senator from a state not her original home. She worked her ass off touring the state to learn everything there was to know about it. She won election and was widely praised by her constituents - including those of the R persuasion. Her fellow senators saw her as a hard worker and straight shooter and she served with their respect - including those of the R persuasion.

Throughout this period, the right wing hate machine kept the pressure on. The outlandish accusations of the past were morphed into new ones.

She persevered.



US Presidential candidate in the Democratic Party primary, she stayed competitive throughout, before losing to fellow senator, Barack Obama.

For the entirety of the primary, the right wing hate machine kept churning out their primary product: hate.

She persevered.




US Secretary of State to her former rival, Obama. Her record was, based on actual facts, stellar.

For the entirety of her tenure, the right wing hate machine was cranked up to eleven. Their new Mark II/Mod C Acme Fact Twister was placed in service during this time.

And yet, she persevered.





All of that was done while being what the haters hate - a woman acting as her own whole person.

After years - decades - of hate directed at her she continues to persevere. But as we are seeing now, all that hate spewed at her has taken a toll. Her unfavorables are undeservedly high. More disturbing still, at least to me, is how the left is vilifying her.

She will, as she has since the beginning, persevere.

[niyad]

24. thank you so much for that excellent post.

would you consider cross-posting in women's rights and issues, please? and making it its own OP here so we can rec it?

[joshcryer]

8. Long, but very much worth the read.

I've made practically every single one of those points here on DU.

[Vattel]

14. Lol, Hillary is obviously dishonest. Only the willfully blind can't see that.

[Arazi]

16. Obvious omission of the biggest issue - global warming

Where HRC utterly fails.

Electing her is as effective as electing a climate change denier since her proposals are just insufficient.

Fawn all you want. Doesn't change one damn thing on the coming disasters. Y'all HRC supporters will bear the blame for that

[Live and Learn]

19. Not to mention the IWR. And the sections explaining away the inluence and corruption

that money and Wall Street bring didn't make me feel any better either. There was no mention of her Welfare Reform or Crime Bill support either.

All in all, the blog didn't do a thing for me.

[betsuni]

17. K&R

[eastwestdem]

18. This is a great article. Thanks for posting. nt

[niyad]

33. you are most welcome. sadly, the people who most need to read it never will.

[justiceischeap]

22. This was a great analysis of how people have bought into the right-wing

propaganda machine. It goes across party lines because it's true, if you repeat the same lie enough, people will believe it.

[niyad]

25. and yet, when you point this out to the haters here, they swear up and down that

30 years of endless reichwing propaganda has NOTHING to do with their views.

[justiceischeap]

35. It can't help but make up their views

I'm a Clinton supporter (always have been) and I still catch myself at times questioning her honesty and then I remind myself that it's 30 years of smears that are informing that knee-jerk reaction. Anyone that claims otherwise is fooling themselves based solely on the fact that there has never been any proof brought forward to accompany the accusations.

[niyad]

36. exactly.

[JTFrog]

23. "Of course accusations of sexism always bump up against several serious impediments:"

Of course accusations of sexism always bump up against several serious impediments:

1) Almost nobody will admit to it. Conservatives decided long ago that all such accusations (sexism, racism, homophobia, etc) are standard liberal bullshit whose only real intent is to shut down debate, and liberals tend to possess a sense of moral entitlement which leads them to consider themselves automatically exempt from all such accusations. (Side note: if you did roll your eyes above, there’s a good chance I’m describing you here. Sorry.)

2) Overt sexism is significantly more likely to be tolerated in our society than overt racism. It is a low-risk form of bigotry and discrimination that rarely damages professional or political careers. Because of this, far fewer people worry about crossing that line.

3) We have formed a sort of collective blindness to sexism that allows us to pretend that we are on top of the issue while simultaneously ignoring the many ways in which it actually permeates our society. (Side note 2: There’s a reason it’s called a “glass” ceiling.)

4) Unlike men, women who make demands are still often seen as unfeminine and inappropriately aggressive, bordering on deviant. And if the people most aggressively pushing against the glass ceiling are “broken” or “deviant”, it’s easier to justify dismissing both them and their concerns.

[niyad]

26. exactly

[niyad]

27. . . .

[tonyt53]

30. All the Sanders supporters dreaming of an FBI indictment over the emails.

All of the GOP talking about Benghazi. Trump talking about crooked Hillary. All of this nonsense has been said before going back to Whitewater. She has been absolved of any wrongdoings every time. She has been the target of ridicule and outright lies for many years, but she still wins. Sanders supporters have been just as guilty as Trump and the rest of the GOP about repeating those same lies, all the while dreaming that she will be charged over the emails so Bernie can win. Pretty pitiful to want Bernie to win if even by default after getting stomped in the primary. Bernie would never be given the nomination either.

Bernie has had the luxury of being left alone by the GOP and the press - given a free pass. On the only issue he was pressed on, those tax returns, he failed to do what everybody but Trump has done. it pissed him off when he was even asked about it a second time. Imagine his outrage when the entire press started on him about his past. Then toss the GOP on top of that and Bernie would have imploded.

But Hillary Clinton has fought back with facts and clarity. That is Presidential.

[niyad]

32. exactly, and thank you.

[moriah]

38. That.post could have been lovely without attacking Bernie.

Since the media didn't take him seriously, we don't know HOW he would have responded.

But Hillary has definitely demonstrated her ability to deal with the vilest slander as just another day.

[wyldwolf]

40. Amazing piece. Thanks.

[niyad]

41. you are most welcome.

[niyad]

42. . . .

[niyad]

43. . . .