Rotten Little Girls

Tag: Presidential Campaign

Mondays are a Bitch and So is She: Cindy McCain

by Harlequin

With the election just a day away, people are getting anxious.  I have a lot of confidence in Obama, but what will happen if McCain becomes the next President of the United States?

Well, for one thing, Laura Bush will be replaced by Cindy McCain.  I didn’t think the Stepford Wife thing could go any further.

Don’t get me wrong, Mrs. McCain has a fair amount of accomplishments hidden under her brightly colored pantsuits.  She is a philanthropist, most notably through her founding of the American Voluntary Medical Team, which sends people out to areas hurt by disasters or war.  After receiving a master’s degree in special education, she even turned down a role in her father’s company in order to work with mentally challenged kids.  Even though that lasted for only one year, she was an important part of developing a new approach to movement therapy for severely disabled children.  She also has four children of her own, one of whom was adopted from Bangladesh, in addition to the three kids from John’s first marriage.  Still, my mother raised four children on her own while running a home daycare; and this was without a cushion of cash or prescription drugs to fall back on.  Cindy’s addiction to Percocet and Vicodin is certainly not something to be taken lightly, but addiction can get the best of any of us.  Her actions, however, led to the demise of the American Voluntary Medical Team after it was discovered that she was illegally obtaining prescriptions by using the names of its employees without their knowledge.  While I respect her for overcoming her addiction, I feel that even her “nonprofit” organizations are very profitable to her in ways that most people wouldn’t even expect.  If all I had to do was pay restitution with my father’s money to get off of drug charges, I would fraudulently obtain some sedatives myself.

Cindy McCain is one woman I know I wouldn’t be able to stand if I came face to face with her.  Born Cindy Lou Hensley, she’s a rich girl who has benefited profusely off of family money (beer from Anheuser-Busch is completely ruined for me) — not to mention the fact that she uses this money to fund her husband’s political campaigns.  She has funds from a $300 million dollar company, and she is bitching about Obama’s campaign money?  And if you thought John McCain’s seven houses were bad, his wife owns ten, in addition to parts of 3 office complexes.  I thought women married older men for money — so why did 25 year-old Cindy go for McCain at 42?  I mean he is 72 now…an old 72.  Not to mention he already had children and, oh yeah, a wife.  During his courtship with Cindy, John pushed for a divorce from his wife Carol McCain. He remarried a month after their divorce was finalized.  While her husband went on with his political life, Cindy followed him to Washington — where she was ostracized because of Carol McCain’s popularity and spent her time writing over 4000 Christmas cards in 1983.

Writing Christmas cards is a pain in the ass, and I am sure I will end up doing it when I am a “wife.”  But I can hardly stomach the fact that this is a fact listed in Cindy McCain’s life story.  I firmly believe that a First Lady should be a woman who uses her intelligence for more than domestic niceties.  The contrast could not be any more apparent — Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama both act like ladies, but they are also able to articulately voice their opinions.  Cindy McCain can voice her opinions too, but she sounds less like an intelligent woman and more like that bitchy girl from high school.  Still, the Republican Party praises her for “her elegance at coffee shops and other small campaign settings, where she frequently refers to her children, carpooling, and charity work.”  I agree that raising children is more than a career, but I don’t think women fully convey their intelligence by talking about chauffering their children around.  Talk about your children, talk about teaching kids with special needs, but please, don’t relive every detail of getting your kids and their friends to pee-wee football practice.  Cindy herself emphasizes the idea that she would be a “traditional” First Lady — which seems to mean she will not stick her nose into her husband’s business…you know, his business of governing the country.

I can’t imagine that John was a young and lively man when he met Cindy.  As hard as it is to believe, this ice queen was the epitome of the vivacious girl-next-door in her younger years, and she definitely started early.  At the age of 14, she was named the Junior Rodeo Queen of Arizona, followed up by the even better accomplishment of being voted “Best Dressed” at her affluent Phoenix high school — well, at least now we know how she came to be so diluted in her fashion sense.  At college in California she was a cheerleader as well as a sorority sister (is anyone else seeing the stereotype come to life?).  She was not as dumb as one might think, however, and she was heavily involved with Charles Keating’s financial affairs.  Cindy and her father invested nearly $400,000 in a project with Keating, and she also acted as a bookkeeper — although not a very good one, seeing as how she simply “couldn’t find” several receipts when shit hit the fan in the Keating scandal.

So all in all, I am obviously not impressed with Mrs. McCain, volume 2.  She may have accomplishments, but like Sarah Palin, I can only wonder where her ambition comes from and, more importantly, where this ambition is headed.  Everyone makes mistakes, but her demeanor serves only to emphasize the idea that she doesn’t seem to learn from them…just as with her anger towards the Obama campaign, her problems and misdeeds seem to be on everyone else’s shoulders.

***Explore the many faces of Cindy – this made me laugh, but be warned, it is offensive.

***Read this satirically heartwarming look at the McCain marriage.

***Who does Mrs. McCain most closely resemble?  This look-alike website has reached a consensus…

Photo Credits Found Here.

End of the Week Links — 11/2/08

by Harlequin

-> Sarah Palin has done it again – she never ceases to be in the center of a not-so-flattering spotlight.  Apparently she received a prank phone call from a radio personality posing as the French President.  Below is a clip of the 6-minute phone interview.


–> I love Joe Biden – if for anything, simply for the fact that he can be so deadpan with his responses.  This interview has been all over the place, but if you haven’t seen it, watch Joe own this reporter.

–> So is voting for McCain anyways?  Apparently the GOP is struggling to understand the demise of their party.  And after the disaster of the McCain/Palin ticket, they are fighting to keep a foot in the door of the White House.

–> Sick of hearing about the Bradley effect?  Well read this article about white Americans who are really voting for Obama.

–> Here is a relatively short video piece by Time Magazine’s Joe Klein on his interview with Barack Obama. This is not only thought-provoking but really worth viewing. Watch the 3 minute video here.

–> As Dollface recently mentioned, an awesome blog that’s developed during this Presidential election is Yes We Can (Hold Babies). It’s a series of photographs of Obama with children or babies (and sometimes Michelle or Biden). Seriously, each picture on this site is cuter than the last. Highly recommended.

–>Hope you all had a great weekend – and please…

DON’T FORGET TO VOTE!!!


yours

truly

-

HARLEQUIN

End of the Week Links — 10/19/08

by Kelly

In a major coup for the Obama campaign, Colin Powell endorsed Barack Obama as his candidate for President. Check out his reasoning in this video clip (I really recommend it, he is well-spoken and brings up a lot of good points):

We’ll have to see how this affects the campaign in its final days, as it is being heralded as Obama’s “October Surprise.” Though some say that this will only give Obama a minor boost in ratings, it is making quite a splash in the media.

–> Check out this post on Racialicious entitled, “An Open Letter to White Voters, Or What McCain Really Thinks of You”. The post challenges some of the negative attitudes coming from the McCain campaign and the stereotypes being made about the “typical white voter” (are we really all just xenophobic assholes who drink six-packs every day with our hockey-mom wives?). I urge you all to check this out.

–> A really cute video about President Clinton’s final days in office. I think it’s been around for a while but I hadn’t seen it until recently. It’s pretty hilarious (and I know Harlequin will die when she sees it — she has a bit of a crush on Bill).

Hope you all had a great weekend! I still haven’t received my absentee ballot and I’m getting nervous! They better send it to me sooooon. (Maybe that’s why all these links have been political…I can’t get the election out of my head!)

McCain and Obama are Funny: Presidential Comedy Routines

by Kelly

These are possibly the most funny and endearing videos pertaining to this election that I’ve seen. McCain and Barack take the gloves off for the Alfred E. Smith memorial dinner and poke some fun at themselves for a change. I must say, I am quite impressed by McCain’s bit — the fact that he made Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton laugh so hard was priceless.

Is it just me or does McCain seem to know that Obama is going to win?

Of course, Obama was hilarious as well:

Best line ever?

Obama: My greatest strength? My humility. My greatest weakness: That I am a little too awesome.

Racism and Dirty Politics in the 2008 Presidential Campaign

by Kelly

We’ve been covering the 2008 Presidential Campaign for some time here at Rotten Little Girls. I’ve written about McCain’s negative ads, Sarah Palin’s unsuitability to be Vice President, but for the first time in this rollercoaster of an election period, I am fed up and disgusted. I was able (somehow) to stomach Palin’s “getchas” and “betchas” and McCain’s painfully boring speeches, but I am not able to condone racism.

Let’s be clear — other than referring to Obama as “That one” and releasing an ad associating Obama with a “terrorist”, I do not believe McCain has said overtly racist statements towards Obama (yet, there is such a thing as coded language).

Most disturbing, however, is the recent McCain and Palin rallies in which people have called Obama a “terrorist” and “Obama Bin Laden” and have even been heard shouting “Treason!” and “Kill him!” Check out the following video for one example:

Not only is it terrifying to hear someone threatening violence to a Presidential candidate, but considering Barack Obama is the first African-American Presidential candidate, you cannot ignore the racial undertones. In this country, you must keep in mind our history of slavery and Jim Crowism. Less than a century ago it was customary for extremist groups and mobs such as the Ku Klux Klan to terrorize and murder black people. That is one of the first things that comes to mind when I hear someone shout “Kill him!” in reference to Obama.

Racism, both overt and aversive, is systematic and pervasive in our society. Racism and hatred towards black people — Obama in particular — is not “out of the ordinary”. Here are two clips from Youtube that show McCain supporters calling Obama a terrorist, among other things. While I do not find these two videos to have journalistic integrity, they give you a glimpse of what some McCain supporters are willing to say publicly, on camera. Most disturbing to me (and the main reason I post these videos) is the part when a child of one supporter says about Obama: “You need gloves to touch him” (This can be seen from around 3:00 to 3:10 in the second video):

There have also been some troubling incidents that have come to my attention:

- An Obama supporter in London was shot by a BB-gun at close range because he was wearing an Obama t-shirt and because he was black.

- A man in Georgia tried to sell t-shirts that depict Barack Obama as Curious George (the monkey starring in beloved children’s books).

- There is talk of the Bradley Effect, which is when people, afraid to seem racist, tell the polls that they are voting for a black candidate but then change their mind in the privacy of the voting booth.

- In a speech given by John Ashcroft, he (deliberately?) referred to Barack Obama as “Osama”. Politically leanings aside, that’s fucked up.

The racism and personal attacks must stop. By calling him a Muslim and a terrorist, people are associating Barack Obama with “otherness” (nevermind that a) he’s not Muslim b) being Muslim isn’t a bad thing). People seriously think: He’s Muslim — don’t trust him. He’s a “pal” of terrorists — don’t trust him. He’s black — don’t trust him. It’s about time people looked at the facts: Obama is a United States Senator with extensive credentials and a strong educational background. He is an upstanding citizen and a loyal father and husband. Quite frankly, I’ve had enough of ignorant people’s bullshit.

What are your thoughts on racism and its effect on this election? Have you heard of any other incidences of racism in the campaign? Please share your thoughts and stories.

Further reading:
How Racism Works – a telling post about racism in this election (pay special attention to Palin’s educational record…did you know she attended 5 different colleges before getting her degree?)
“Pseudo Controversies” Hide Racism

America’s Facebook Newsfeed

by Kelly

If you click any link on our site, it should be this one. I’m still laughing:

America’s Facebook Newsfeed

(Obama says “lol”)

Who Are You Fooling, John McCain?

by Kelly

Amidst terrible Katic Couric interviews and misstatements about Pakistan, I am very excited for the potential Vice Presidents to face off. The debate is scheduled for this Thursday and I will be watching from my living room couch, beer in hand. Biden is an excellent debater, with many years of foreign policy under his belt. Palin is excellent at being vague and her foreign policy experience rests on Alaska’s proximity to Russia. All in all, a fair match-up, wouldn’t you agree?

However, then I read this article over at CNN’s Political Ticker. In it, they mention that the Vice Presidential debates won’t be the same as usual:

The vice presidential debate will resemble the traditional presidential event. However, the New York Times reported last Sunday that the McCain campaign sought to limit the time for freewheeling discussion in the vice presidential debate.

Advisers to Palin were reportedly worried that format could put the Alaska governor — a relatively inexperienced debater — on the defensive most of the evening.

The agreed-upon format for that debate now includes an abbreviated two-minute discussion period during which the candidates can engage each other.

Is anybody else sick of McCain coddling Palin?? If she is so “ready” for the Vice Presidency as McCain claims, why the reduced debate time? Why is McCain’s campaign hiding Sarah Palin from the press? The article mentions that Biden, “has done nearly 100 interviews since being picked as Obama’s VP on August 23. Palin, on the other hand, did her third interview with a national television network last week.”

If this isn’t a reality check for voters, I don’t know what else is. The woman cannot hold her own in an interview, and her own campaign doesn’t trust her to speak freely for 5 minutes with Biden. Palin seems to be more and more a puppet for the McCain campaign…and a crappy one at that.

I am still looking forward to the debate between Biden and Palin, but I am disappointed in the campaign McCain and Palin are running.

Obama/Biden ’08!

End of the Week Links — 9/28

by Harlequin

–> I have never been a big fan of the advertising industry, but looking at these 12 Vintage Cigarette Ads They Would Never Get Away with Now, it seems like we have come a long way…it’s just too bad we started so low.  Do these remind you of any ads today – I personally prefer ads like these.  My personal favorite is probably the Santa Claus – I mean, who doesn’t have a jolly old grandpa with a hacking cough?

–> I am a total animal lover, but these guys definitely don’t make me want to cuddle with them.  I will stick to becoming a cat lady, thank you very much.

–>I know we are all pretty sick of the trivial nature of politics lately, but after watching the debate on Friday I was more annoyed than ever with John McCain.  Not only was there some nonsense talk about wearing bracelets, but I realized I can not spend 4 years watching that turtle-headed man speak on behalf of our country.  Not to mention i was not impressed by anything he said, especially after reading some of his comments over.  I can not wait for the Biden-Palin debate.  Also, check out this article on Obama’s “lipstick on a pig” comment.

–>I really enjoyed reading this random letter mocking the role of Biblical traditions in our legal system.  It’s a very clever way of seeing the blatant hypocrisy of the religious rite; and it is just pretty funny.

So I hope you all had a great weekend full of anonymous sex and drunken debauchery; that’s what I was aiming for, but like most of my plans it failed to come to fruition…

Photo Credits

And The Crown Goes To…

by Harlequin

I am sure there are a trillion posts about John McCain’s pick for VP. But come on, Sarah Palin is just a goldmine for words; I am excited just thinking about the state of our nation’s politics today – black guys with afros, beauty queens, and body builders! The world is a crazy place, and this election perfectly exemplifies the changing nature of our society. I don’t know much about her, but from what I have been reading there is only one thing in my mind: confusion.

Ok McCain, we know Barack Obama had to pick an old white guy to hedge his bets. Apparently you had to hedge yours by choosing a woman – one who is certainly not bad to look at, given her status as a beauty pageant contestant. She looks like a former model dressed up in executive clothes, but much less of a tight-ass than your wife Cindy McCain.

I am frustrated. Frustrated because I would love to hear a woman’s voice in the presidency, but really more frustrated because this is apparently the kind of woman we need to start off with. I admire her tenacity and her success, but then I read about her background and her stance on certain issues and I just want to send her back to Alaska. She may be a financial whiz, but then you look at her opinions on social issues. She was obviously picked because she is a woman who shares many of McCain’s viewpoints. She is a woman who is against abortion, a friend of gay people who is against gay marriage, and a mother of an 18-year-old son in the military who spends her spare time shooting rifles. McCain says she is perfect for the job, but he puts a big hole through his inexperience angle. If Obama is inexperienced, then what the hell would you call Miss Congeniality? She ain’t no Hillary, but sadly she may just have the right genitals to sway a few female voters.

So be sure to check back here for more about Sarah Palin – there is so much more to say about her, so she has won the honor of being the next bitch on the burning block!

The Photo Credits

Mondays are a Bitch, and So is She: Hillary Rodham Clinton

by Harlequin

So she is far out of the race.  But with the approaching election and Barack Obama‘s announcement of his running mate Joe Biden, I felt the need to address the swarming sea of negative opinions that have seemed to drown this former presidential candidate.  I am often the leper in the room who supports her.  But I just need to ask: What is with all the Hillary-Hate?

Sure, I have my doubts when I look at her personal life.  While I have to admit that I totally admire Bill Clinton (I think to the point of having a crush on him), let’s just get it out of the way that he is a cheating womanizer.  I would like to say I would respect Hillary more if she dumped the guy, maybe hired a hot younger campaign assistant who became her boyfriend (sort of like Demi and Ashton), or if she aged gracefully without a partner by her side – but who am I to comment?  I, and many women, have stayed with cheating men, and it is not a clear-cut issue.  I don’t advocate adultery, but I also don’t advocate sticking your nose into people’s personal lives.  When she did feel compelled to explain, Hillary stated that she stayed married because of love: “No one understands me better and no one can make me laugh the way Bill does…even after all these years, he is still the most interesting, energizing and fully alive person I have ever met.”  Cliche or not, I don’t care who it is – Clinton, Spitzer, Edwards – the women who have married these men can make their own decisions regardless of society’s opinions of the wrongdoers.

Not only that, but people have been critical of Hillary and Bill’s marriage for long before any cheating came to light.  Opponents claim she is a power-hungry bitch just using marriage to gain a political stronghold.  I am personally impressed by the relationship between these two professional people, especially looking at how their daughter Chelsea turned out (here’s Jenna and others of the Bush clan for comparison).  Never mind that they have dated since college, when Bill gave up his plans to join Hillary when she was interning in California, and Hillary stayed at Yale an extra year so she could graduate with Bill.  She did decline his early proposals – explaining that she “harbored doubts about marriage, concerned that her separate identity would be lost and that her accomplishments would be viewed in the light of someone else’s – and that seems like a responsible move that many young women could learn from.  I mean let’s face it, after the marriage, Hillary ended up supporting her husband through her high-paying job as a lawyer, a job she eventually gave up to work on his political campaigns.  After years of keeping her own last name, which reportedly made her mother cry, she started using the name Clinton in order to appease Arkansas voters (for more about last names in marriage, read this post).

No matter what insults you do have for her, there is no doubt that she is intelligent.  A graduate of Wellesley College and Yale Law School, she has twice been named one of the top 100 lawyers in America.  Her work as First Lady was a lot more work than she got credit for; it wasn’t all about drinking tea and planning parties.  If anything, I agree with Elizabeth Wurtzel‘s commentary in her book “Bitch” that the biggest flaw in Hillary’s career is that she did all this damn work without demanding a cent.  She worked for her husband’s cause – for instance, she developed the idea for a universal health plan that has been both applauded and bashed – and she did it all for free.  Simply because she was the First Lady…his wife.  Even Bill Clinton referred to presidential ticket as a “two for the price of one” deal because of the woman he would be toting with him to the White House.

Because she does have experience.  I think that is what people fear in a woman like Hillary Clinton.  She has been involved in politics since the age of thirteen, when she studied electoral fraud against Richard Nixon in the 1960 presidential election.  When I was thirteen, I was sitting in front of the mirror picking food out of my braces.  She continued to be active in politics, but was also the first First Lady to hold a post-graduate degree and to have her own professional career up to the time of her husband’s election.  It was quite obvious that she was involved in public policy, a fact that many people deemed “inappropriate.”  She is labeled a ballbuster, a feminazi, and a bitch – but one of my close friends likes to point out that in reality she seems like a “dude in a skirt.”  Sure, she criticizes women like Tammy Wynette for staying home and baking cookies.  Because baking cookies isn’t going to get you respect.  But guess what?  Apparently neither is having intelligence, independence, or strong opinions.  I don’t think Hillary Clinton could be a good president, not because of her ideas, but because she just has too much going against her.  The most popularly sold books about the woman have titles like, “Madame Hillary: The Dark Road to the White House”, “Hillary’s Scheme: Inside the Next Clinton’s Ruthless Agenda to Take the White House”, and “Can She Be Stopped? : Hillary Clinton Will Be the Next President of the United States Unless…”.  When she ran for Senate in 2000, organizations with names like “Save Our Senate” and the “Emergency Committee to Stop Hillary Rodham Clinton” were established – does anyone else think these titles and names are akin to something 14-year-old boys would come up with because they are afraid of the girls getting into the clubhouse?  And she got reelected in spite of all this…but then again, so did George Bush (both of them!).

In spite of all her “ball-busting” opinions, Hillary is just a dude with a skirt.  She is trying to conform to the role of a politician so that she can play with the big boys.  I wish it could go another way, but can you picture someone overflowing with Jennifer Lopez-esque femininity running the White House?  Still, as much as she tries, Hillary can’t escape her womanhood.  She has been the subject of many misogynistic comments, and the Internet is rampant with sites that sexually degrade her (just try looking up some groups on Facebook).  It’s sad, but the way our country is today, I can’t see a woman or a black man being elected to office, no matter their qualifications.  As much as I support Joe Biden, sometimes I feel his best asset in this race is his status as a white male.

Studies show that most people have a very strong opinion of Hillary; relatively few are neutral.  So what’s the consensus – love or hate?

The Photo Credits

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