Hillary's irrelevent campaign is as irrelevent as she is! I will never cast a vote on her behalf. As far as the rest of the brain dead Democrat[]Party, they can kiss my vote goodbye too.

I went to my son's high school graduation ceremony this week. Almost 400 graduates. Men in blue gowns, women in white. Not one men's cap had any inscription on the top of the mortarboard. 95% of the women had some glitter-based inscription on the top of theirs. It doesn't matter what they said...the point is women are very different than men. This is just one inconsequential example.

A much more consequential one is the Hillary campaign. It's directed almost exclusively at women (and as an added bonus, urban "metrosexual" men) around the country. All strata of women, with a custom-flavored message for every demographic. Although her key political advisers are all men--Mark Penn, her uber-PR and polling guru who happens to run a global PR agency (B-M) that shills for big corporations; Howard Wolfson, her rotweiler PR flack, Harold Ickes, Terry McCauliffe(will we ever get rid of this guy? No), the proto-obnoxious good ol' boy James Carville, and of course her "husband" (my marriage is just like theirs...I see my wife for dinner and a chat once a quarter as I swing through Chappaqua on my way to Davos or London)--
her uber-media guru is a woman, Mandy Grunewald (her resemblance to Dick Butkus notwithstanding).

The whole friggin' campaign discounts men as Hillary-haters based on allegations so obvious and so chewed over this past decade they bear no repetition. However, I'll briefly repeat them. 1) She's really a lesbian, so the marriage thing is just a transparent front for their perpetual political partnership 2) No heterosexual woman with any self respect, especially one in the public eye for 30 years, would've remained married to a serial cheater like Bill, so either she's a lesbian, or a frigid, ruthless, craven political animal whose ambition trumps appearances (a closet lesbian), or it's all just a right-wing conspiracy 3) Men won't elect a woman president unless she gives blow jobs in the Oval instead of getting them, and since Hillary's a lesbian, that ain't happenen' 4)She's got big thighs, a lousy body and a short haircut, like most ordinary women in America--not like Mrs. Romney, the middle-aged prom queen, or Mrs. Guiliani, the former mistress-in-waiting, or Mrs. Bush, the First Stepford Lady--so she must be a lesbian 5)She's cold, unemotional, phony, scripted, rhetorically flat and bland, with a voice like a high school PA announcer, so she must be a lesbian 6) She won't "apologize" for her Iraq vote, step forward "like a man" and admit she was wrong, so she's just proving she's got a lot to hide...like, for instance, she's a lesbian.

Come'on, this is how most macho men feel about HRC. My progressive conscience notwithstanding, this is how I've felt about her at times. But it's not about her sexual orientation--I don't believe anyone back in the day gave a damn what floated Shirley Chisholm's boat, or Barbara Jordan's, or Eleanor Roosevelt's (well, maybe a few in her case), or Barbara Boxer's, or Gloria Steinum's, or Betty Freidan's, or Olympia Snowe's or for that matter Barney Frank's--at least not in the context of campaign strategy or public policy positions. Most rational, intelligent people consider sexual orientation private, not worthy of comment unless it directly affects the public trust (as it did in the case of Barney Frank, or the former governor of NJ, or the Mark Foley debacle).

It's about Hillary's handlers' recognition that many if not most men simply do not trust her! Her behavior, often cited as an inspiration to women around the country, is perceived by men as the exact opposite: a calculated, ruthlessly ambitious paradigm of the high-powered corporate lawyer turned corporate hack politician who will say anything and do anything to achieve her electoral goal, first in New York and now the presidency. It's no accident that several prominent feminists have come out against her, citing their opposition to her apparent war-mongering positions on Iraq and the Middle East, her penchant for platitudes and triangulation, the "branding" of her candidacy like the latest Lexus sedan, and the implicit expectation that simply because she's a "liberal" woman (the liberal part highly debatable), we should all jump on her bandwagon, regardless of her policy positions, backing or voting record.

Frankly, Hillary, I don't give a damn about your BS marriage, your sexual orientation, or your cellulite. I don't care a wit about your theme song or the moronic contest employed to select it, although I agree with Ms. Brooks' analysis of its impact. Although my mouth dropped when I viewed your recent "Sopranos" knockoff, it left a vaporous impression that lasted only until I clicked out of YouTube.

What I do care about are your bogus credentials as a liberal, let alone progressive candidate. You're a right-leaning corporate animal from head to toe, DLC-endorsed, with a campaign designed to sell you like so much toothpaste, beer or designer drugs, including the insipid music. You represent and even trumpet the status quo ante, when the country was rabidly insane over the dot.com "boom" that boosted your husband's superficial veneer of economic prosperity, but turned out to be an unmitigated disaster for millions of small investors who got clobbered by pipe dreams and looted retirement plans. The rich got richer, and the rest of us took it up the kiester.

You're an empty pants suit of poll-tested, focus-grouped-up-the-wazoo public utterances, that taken all together don't amount to a coherent, inspiring position on any issue. But women just love you. You have no military experience, save for flapping your gums on the Armed Services Committee, in a world drenched in military and security crises. But women just adore you.

You cannot win the 2008 election, no matter how "inevitable" your journalistic sycophants declare you to be. If the Dems nominate you, they're committing ritual suicide. You don't inspire anyone with your leaden rhetoric, your White House baggage (including your "husband"), or your Kerry-esque bloviations. You are to polarization what the KKK is to racism: the sine qua non.

Having said all this, I'd rather see you in the White House than any of the current GOP losers, including Fred. The Lesser of Two Evils, Again. Oy.

My vote would have been for Leonard Cohen's "Everybody Knows". Particularly in view of the veiled references to whoredom.

Everybody knows that the dice are loaded
Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed
Everybody knows that the war is over
Everybody knows the good guys lost
Everybody knows the fight was fixed
The poor stay poor, the rich get rich
That's how it goes
Everybody knows
Everybody knows that the boat is leaking
Everybody knows that the captain lied
Everybody got this broken feeling
Like their father or their dog just died

Everybody talking to their pockets
Everybody wants a box of chocolates
And a long stem rose
Everybody knows

Everybody knows that you love me baby
Everybody knows that you really do
Everybody knows that you've been faithful
Ah give or take a night or two
Everybody knows you've been discreet
But there were so many people you just had to meet
Without your clothes
And everybody knows

And everybody knows that it's now or never
Everybody knows that it's me or you
And everybody knows that you live forever
Ah when you've done a line or two
Everybody knows the deal is rotten
Old Black Joe's still pickin' cotton
For your ribbons and bows
And everybody knows

And everybody knows that the Plague is coming
Everybody knows that it's moving fast
Everybody knows that the naked man and woman
Are just a shining artifact of the past
Everybody knows the scene is dead
But there's gonna be a meter on your bed
That will disclose
What everybody knows

And everybody knows that you're in trouble
Everybody knows what you've been through
From the bloody cross on top of Calvary
To the beach of Malibu
Everybody knows it's coming apart
Take one last look at this Sacred Heart
Before it blows
And everybody knows

If Rosa is correct then it would be time for progressives to vote for someone other than the Hillary ticket of the Democratic party. Not only because of Hillary but that guy she hangs out with being back in the White House. (Yechhh!)

How about as theme song, "Well it's one, two, three... what are we fighting for; don't ask me i don't give a damn." OR "You say you want a revolution, well I know, we all want to change the world." Then again there's "We are stardust, we are golden, and we're born to the devil's bargain... and we've got to get ourselves, back to the gods..." i.e. BETTER choices, Hillary, it's all about choices, right?

Not to mention Dion's hit "The Wanderer"

Oh well I'm the type of guy who will never settle down,
Where pretty girls are well you know that I'm around
I kiss 'em and I love 'em cause to me they're all the same
I hug 'em and I squeeze 'em they don't even know my name
They call me the wanderer, yeah I'm a wanderer,
I go around around around around

Well there's Monica on my left and Paula on my right,
And Juanita is the girl well that I'll be with tonight,
And when she ask me which one I love the best,
I tear open my shirt and I show Hillary on my chest,
'Cause I'm a wanderer, yeah I'm a wanderer
I roam around around around around hmmm

...

(now dat's funny rite dere, I dun' care where u frum...)

wow! democratic involvement! hurray! you get to pick clinton's theme song! yeah! and it still sucks. oops.

another fluff piece from the MSM. who cares about this crap anyway?

Weren't she and Bill "wacked" at the end of the commercial?

"Smashmouth" is Bill's favorite...just ask Monica

And if Hillary becomes President, the rest of the world will choose the theme song "American Woman" (great anti-Vietnam War lyrics) by The Guess Who in 1970.

Kivals... you mean the "stay away from me..." part. Hmm. Might be a decent anti-war lyric!

Kivals: I get the intuitive notion you've had some hard knocks from the more "gentle" sex; but alas, dear boy, every mortal as you probably realize contains not just elements of both genders, but the entire panoply of the heavens! Next up for you, a nurturing Demetra, or an intellectually challenging Artemis, or perhaps a sensual Aphrodite. Variation is a feature of the cosmic menu! NOT all women are cruel Athenas who do the bidding of war and show a scant disregard for personal violence, emerging as they believe from their father Zeus' (the patriarchy's) head.

Hillary is a Repug in Democrat clothing. Her popularity is an utter mystery to me. Can the American people be so dense as not to detect so obvious a phony???

Siouxrose,

Thanks for your concern, but you need not worry about me. Actually, all I ever got from American women were hard knocks and then I started dating women from foreign lands and found paradise does exist on earth.

There is nothing feminine about Hillary Clinton. Aside from some physical attributes she doesn't even seem womanly to me. Hillary, like every front runner, is more like a well-oiled machine. There is no room for emotion or feelings at the top in the city on the hill. Our political system rapes women of their femininity and womanliness just as it rapes men of their masculinity and manliness.
Hoa binh

Garbage "music" for a garbage candidate - reasons not to vote for Hillary.

Hey Hillary, how about the sound track from "DEEP THROAT" for your theme song? Are you gonna let Bill and his friends sleep in the Lincoln bedroom? Or maybe, for old time's sake, let them romp around the oval office when you're out of town?

Namvet: Enlightened and legit critique of Hillary and her ilk.
Kivals: Well then, puzzle resolved! May paradise never BE lost.

bakinun- I have felt the exact same way about her.
When she was first lady I thought she was a strong woman. I actually liked her. (I was young though) Now, I do not trust her as far as I can throw her.
She could be the only way to get another Republican back in the WH.
I cannot believe I am saying this, but I will not vote for her. I will vote for a third party candidate if she is the Dems nominee.
Nader is looking better and better

And the question about Americans being that dumb....
Helllooo, are you new?

you hit the nail right on the head, hillary is a lcd person

There is a colloquial phrase in the UK, -do you have it in the USA too?

~ It speaks of someone (such as Hilary 'Rod-em-quick' Clinton) as having, "...more faces than the town hall clock" !

:)

Rosa Brooks,
Where'd you get this piece? Why'd you write it if you don't like H.C.? Don't you lnow you're contributing to her "name recognition" with this fluffy shit?

I'd say this article says Hillary's campaign actually has perfect pitch. The key is to recognize the system by which an American president is chosen and who counts and who doesn't.

The American people don't count. It doesn't matter what Americans think. Some stupid song by Celine Dion is perfect. The campaign gets a little bit of media coverage from the celebrity worshipers. And the music itself is so bland that no can object to it. Remember the Clintons blasting Fleetwood Mac at everyone in 1992?

But later in the article you can see a key element of the campaign. The bit where Howard Kurtz is really pushing the "Hillary is inevitable" message. There you see the key message of the campaign. That and 'vote for me because I'm a woman' are the two key themes of this campaign. The latter will come in the form of women political hacks spreading that message on a narrower beam broadcast that Hurtz and the fascist Washington Post trying to tell everyone long before the election "Hillary is Inevitable". Carve that in stone next to "War in Peace" as one of the key corporate messages you'll be blasted with for the next year.

The MSM count. Convincing the MSM to broadcast your message and to constantly be favorable to you and constantly sniping at your opponents, now that is a key element of any early 21st Century presidential campaign. Heck, for all I know Celine Dion got picked precisely because Howard Kurtz likes her.

The key to all of this is when the American people finally just tune all of this out. When the American people finally realize that its safer to disbelieve what the MSM says rather than believe it. When the MSM says Iraq has WMDs, its safer to disbelieve that than to believe it. When eventually the track record of being constantly lied to and manipulated finally sinks into enough people that when Howard Kurtz proclaims from his throne at the WaPo that "Hillary is Inevitable" there just a mass silence because no one is listening any more.

Stick with a woman singer for a theme song.

Patty Smith ... People have the Power.

Hmmm, there's got to be a good UTube video to be made using Guest Who's 'American Woman' and some Hillary footage. ;]

GEEZUS! HILLARY? This country needs a REAL SECOND PARTY.

Hillary's theme song is the least of her problems. She's a neo-liberal who believes in globalization and big money in politics. She should have worked harder to stop the war in Iraq. I don't believe her spin now, and, as a progressive, I will not support her. The YouTube game of choosing a theme song is indicative of the modern political strategy of distracting people from the real issues. Perhaps she should remember her husband's old campaign song: "Don't Stop Thinking About Tomorrow." That tomorrow brought him shame, and not just for his sexual excesses. Kosovo was a dangerous and cynical distraction that has tainted his legacy. I doubt Hillary will do any better.

howard kurtz is an idiot. 4 years ago he and all the other moron talking heads were saying howard dean was inevitable. hillary clinton is not inevitable. she is just the current frontrunner. frontrunners often falter...remember also ed muskie, gary hart

speaking of the other moron talking heads...the ones on fox news are still pushing the agenda that hillary is a member of the far left. i think fox news should have some common dreams readers on.

That's all part of the framing that was discussed in another article here. The corporate-right frames the spectrum, and Hillary is out in far-left field according to them. Anything Green, progressive, social democratic, etc. is not even acknowledged. There's no hope for Fox. Let it die in its own irrelevance as it increasingly departs from reality.

Celine Dion's songs all do this thing where she sings the chorus over and over and then modulates up by a tone and sings a bit louder. When a song does this - when a song has no other way to create tension and interest other than the up-a-tone and louder thing - this is *the* hallmark of a boring song. Find other pop songs that do the same thing, you'll find I'm right. It's an infallible tell-tale, a certain indicator, that a song is essentially boring.

Chicks love it, on account of - with exceptions - they are basically unmusical.

Paul M - where do you get this 'chicks' idea?
We have another saying in the UK that I'm sure you could relate to:
"Women are called birds (chicks) because of the worms they pickup"

Celine Dion? Pathetic. 'And You And I' by Yes would have gone a long way towards making me a believer.

Paul M: This "chic" likes Miles Davis and intense jazz, so please, dispense with the gender stereotyping. Have you ever heard Flora Purim sing, or tried to follow the range of notes uttered by the likes of Phoebe Snow?

THE ONLY THING THAT MAKES A HILLARY NOMINATION A DONE DEAL IS THE DECISION OF THE BLATHERING IDIOTS OF THE Washington elite (and I put the LA Times in that group) to make it so. I am sick to death of a bunch of people who never did a day of honest work in their bleepin lives telling me what is possible, what is pragmatic and what is doable. The MSM and the professional yammerers have all proven themselves incompetent to pass judgement on anything. They are the same people who brought us unquestioned Tennet's slam dunk and Cheney's claim to know exactly where Iraq's nonexistent WMD were. On and On and ON. To hell with them all. There is NO reason why ANYONE should pay ANY ATTENTION to these buttmunches AT ALL!!!

Hilary publically blames the Bush appointed Iraqi government for all the problems in Iraq, as if it were truly their fault. With such a view, she's just as sick as Bush.

Hilary is part of the arrogant, conceited, & power drunk - USA establishment. Their filthy hands are soaked with the blood of hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis.

Dennis Kucinich is the only candidate who stands unwavering - for peace.

Since we are discussing music, I thought I'd share a band you might not know about. They're called System of a Down.

This is the evolution of the politically active music of the 1960s. It's harsh sounding, but the singer has major talent (used to sing opera) and the lyrics are probably the most relevant of any you'd find today.

Here are a few recommended songs:

From the album Toxicity (their 2nd and my favorite):
Deer Dance and Jet Pilot, smashing critiques of American militaryt idealism.
Aerials: A warning against what I call "television sickness"
ATWA and Toxicity: struggle against the apathy and angst that tears into my (our?) heart.
Souixrose, I think you'll especially like the songs Science and Forest, as they are strongly against the spiritual entropy that's been growing recently.

All those from 1 album. I'm a little rushed right now, so I'll only mention a few more songs, one from each album (there are many more worth listening to):

Innervision, from the album 'Steal this Album' is inspirational to me, and helps me recenter when I'm feeling all hopeless and angered at the world.

Suggestions, from the self titled album 'System of a Down' is a dead-nuts-on assessment of what I feel like searching for any kind of truth in the world. Also, from the same album, the song 'War' is worth giving a listen to as a critique of violent thought. (okay that's 2 from that album, but I love these guys)

BYOB from the album 'Mezmerize' is a traditional anti-war song with modern music applied, in fact the 'twin' albums Hypnotize and Mezmerize are both full of little anti-authoritarian tidbits.

Give them a try, don't run if it sounds too fast or too busy, just look up the lyrics online and read along with the song. Let me know what you think.

:-D

Elavator music - going down

Re my last post: I had the song Aerials mixed up with the song Suggestions, just reverse the descriptions.

Thank you for the nice article Rosa.

Bakunin- Yes, Americans are that blind, and their brains are apparently used only for changing the channel, shopping and wishing for a bigger house, bigger TV, and a bigger paycheck.

Yet it wouldn't be so bad if to see the US flush themselves down the toilet, the problem is, they seem to think it's ok to go outside their country to murder children, women and men, steal their oil and destroy their houses. And as a bonus, they are doing a bang-up job of polluting the environment for good of the entire planet and other living creatures.

In any case, I've had enough of this steady stream of sin and shit and opt to do something constructive- like go spy on my neighbors. Asta!

PS- What is the difference between Hitler's regime and the current US regime? Hitlter's regime was more efficient and had better uniforms.

LET'S ALL PANIC AND VOTE FOR HILLARY!!!

I vote for "Drop the Big One" --can't think of anything more appropriate than Newman's spoof--- but let us remind the rest of our countrymen THAT IT WAS ONLY A SPoof!

by Randy Newman

No one likes us-I don't know why
We may not be perfect, but heaven knows we try
But all around, even our old friends put us down
Let's drop the big one and see what happens

We give them money-but are they grateful?
No, they're spiteful and they're hateful
They don't respect us-so let's surprise them
We'll drop the big one and pulverize them

Asia's crowded and Europe's too old
Africa is far too hot
And Canada's too cold
And South America stole our name
Let's drop the big one
There'll be no one left to blame us

We'll save Australia
Don't wanna hurt no kangaroo
We'll build an All American amusement park there
They got surfin', too

Boom goes London and boom Paree
More room for you and more room for me
And every city the whole world round
Will just be another American town
Oh, how peaceful it will be
We'll set everybody free
You'll wear a Japanese kimono
And there'll be Italian shoes for me

They all hate us anyhow
So let's drop the big one now
Let's drop the big one now

excuse me: spoof!

Neomonk: What KIND of music does that band play? I appreciate your recommending a song... but in what genre?

Siouxrose:
Sorry about the ambiguity... SoaD is Rock. Very modern, very fast, very hard rock. It can sound like a cacophony at times, but can be smooth and beautiful as well. I highly recommend at the very least checking out some of the lyrics, especially those of the song I mentioned.

I'm just glad that you took enough of an interest to ask, and specifically for you Siouxrose I recommend Science, Forest, and Aerials. It might not be something you'd listen to on a regualar basis, but I think you'd at least appreciate it. I mean, I think you would based on what I've read of your posts here.

And to everyone who ever feels very very angry at the oppression and subjugation of the weak, I recommend Deer Dance, as it helps me to vent.

Stonecutter: OUCH! What a heavy indictment of women! And THIS woman can see through the PR and feels NO connection to Hillary. It's about principle not gender as I stated in an earlier posting; but if the backroom boys' club locker room "insights" into Hillary hold water, then misogyny is doing far too well in this land of blighted retrograde enlightenment!
WMC: Thanks for posting those lyrics, albeit VERY depressing. It should be remembered that reality, consensual reality, plays on a diverse number of channels. Cohen depicts ONE outcome, ONE possible future of many...
Neomonk: Thanks again for the musical recommendation. I like the spirit of comraderie sometimes found on this site. I don't think I just speak for myself when I say that finding a community of likeminded spirits with whom to engage in evocative conversation about the many ills our nation is suffering is itself a form of catharsis. Hopefully action follows thought, but I also recognize due to years of metaphysical study, that THOUGHT itself moves matter and thus IS activity.

Black is Black I want my country back It's gray it's gray
since it went away. (Funeral dirge)

Yes, Clinton is an old guard Democrat. She voted for the war and is now trying to back peddle. Bill Clinton and Gore endorsed NAFTA and are now trying act like leaders of global-warming consciousness. NAFATA is considered a total flop in many circles. It's no surprise that old guard Democrats like Hillary are no different that Republicans. Can you say Demicans, Republicats?