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February 05, 2008
Hillary avoids using the "G word"
Posted by: Andoni
It's been noted by many commentators how Barack Obama uses the "G word" in speeches to diverse audiences and Hillary Clinton does not.
I just finished watching an interview that Senator Clinton did with Jason Bellini of CBS/LOGO. The interview covered a variety of topics and in almost every question Jason uses the words gay, lesbian or transgendered. What stands out during the interview is that Senator Clinton avoids repeating those words when she answers the question.
Here's the interview:
Bellini uses the "G word" almost a dozen times in his questions. Clinton answers his questions and when she gets to the point in the sentence where the next logical word should be a "G word," she pauses and comes up with a different construct. After the pause, she alters the focus of the question by switching to more general terms such as "all Americans" or protect "every person," instead of repeating the words used in the question. This gets very transparent as the interview goes along, and culminates in her answer to the transgendered question, where she manages to go on and on never using the "T word."
The one time she uses the "G word" in the entire interview is when she mentions "gay rights organizations," but never when she is talking about gays and lesbians as people.
Why she can't seem to make our community part of her vocabulary is beyond me. Is it an internal block? Is she afraid someone will use snippets of her saying the "G word" in an ad out of context and put her on the defensive?
I wish I knew the reason. All I know is that I don't like it and that it can't be a good omen.
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Comments
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This is incredibly important. Yesterday, gay voters bizarrely chose Hillary 2 to 1 over Obama, despite the fact--the fact--that she has shown virtually no interest in gay rights. She can't even say the word. While Obama talks about gays all the time and in places, like Black churches, where it is a difficult topic. Like her husband, she will throw us under the bus the moment we become a liability. Wake up, people.
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Amen, Ted.
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Ted,
HAHAHA. What do you mean "when" we become a liability.
The fact she will not utter the "G" word shows that she sure as hell doesn't think we're an ASSET!!!!
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I agree with most of what you all have said. However, I'd like to throw in my own 2 cents.
As always, Hillary Clinton's silence on gay issues is totally calculated. A key aspect of her campaign strategy is "reinventing" herself as a middle-of-the-road Democrat and shedding her liberal, feminist "I don't bake brownies" image. To that end, she became more hawkish in foreign policy(e.g. voted for Iraq and also the Kyl-Lieberman amendment) and is generally trying to appeal to the more conservative elements in the Democratic south. Much of her support comes from older, pro-union Democrats. As you might imagine, these guys are not always socially progressive. Mrs. Clinton is also "fishing" for disaffected Republicans. So basically she trying to avoid offending her conservative supporters by advocating for gay issues. This is very sad and shows a lack of leadership on her part.
Barack Obama has done exactly what Mrs. Clinton has failed to do -- challenge his base on gay rights issues. He did just that at the Ebenzer Church and, I predict, he will continue addressing our issues going forward.
On the issue of gay support for Hillary, I think this is attributable to low-information gay voters. They are not studying the issues or the candidates' positions. A lot of gay Hillary supporters I've talked to cannot articulate a single reason for supporting her. They just have some vague notion that Bill Clinton was progressive on gay issues and that it would be great to have the 90's all over again...but with Hillary instead of Bill. This type of reasoning escapes me, but that's what I hear.
The comments to this entry are closed.
Ben on Feb 6, 2008 10:39:35 AM:
I'll tell you the reason. She just wants our money and ensuing silence.