I am one of those who cannot see the rift healing anytime soon. I was lukewarm about HRC's bid, and was not overcome by emotion over her running other then being profoundly satisfied that "at last" it was happening, a woman was running and had a real chance. That all changed when the attacks on her began. Suddenly, it was OK to attack a woman with code words, claims of men feeling threatened, emasculated, the "nutcracker", the stooges at MSNBC spewing forth, all laughed at and put forth by the same group of people who would spend days and hours and march and protest if even a whiff of anything not politically correct was spoken about their chosen one. That is the real problem here. I cannot imagine ever voting for Obama, for I have been so insulted and so disgusted by the actions of his supporters. I was one of those progressives, I read Kos, and Americablog and all the rest, and my eyes were opened to the hypocrisy and the double standard. I now hope for Obama to lose just like I prayed for Bush to lose, only then will I feel that my vote may be counted the next time. Until then, I am just a second hand citizen who can march for civil rights, be bussed as a child, vote for gay marriage rights, but should never ask for or expect equal rights or expect it as a woman. As a result, it would be OK to demand that a man of color be voted in whether he had experience or not,but it is not OK to want someone of my own sex to be president, and to seek that subjects all women to jokes about castration, focus on wardrobe, the laugh, (or cackle) as well as pious special comments by Keith Olbermann. The democrats have set them selves back so far that it will only be clear well after the election. Until then, if McCain becomes president, so be it, I no longer feel the need to work for the progressive side and the next time someone tells me that Obama is the candidate of "change' I will just smile and agree with them, he has changed me, I am no longer a democrat for the first time in my life.

I cannot imagine ever voting for Obama, for I have been so insulted and so disgusted by the actions of his supporters.

Re-reading and re-reading this until it makes sense...Nope. Not yet.

at Obama like pejoratives for women have been slung at HRC and her supporters, then perhaps you could see. Must be nice to be so insulated from ugliness.

Women have always been second class citizens behind black males. Consider that the suffragette movement only began after women realized through abolition fights that they too were denied rights or that the entire feminist movement began because we were treated as second class citizens within the civil rights movement. This is just more of the same - only it's within the media and the Democratic Party.

Um, no, it still doesn't make any sense. Obama is not responsible for the actions of his supporters, and voting against someone because of unnamed pejoratives against a candidate and her supporters that did not come from Obama makes no sense.

I like country music, and I'm not going to stop just because some idiots rolled over Dixie Chicks CDs with a steamroller.

for the racism of some of her supporters. Why isnt' Obama responsible for the sexism of his supporters. Has he come out and said that it was wrong. Hillary in several speeches spoke up against racism.

You really are working very hard to avoid admitting that you throw mud some of it's going to splash back on your and stick. Keep those blinders on honey. I'm sure they keep you from looking at all sorts of unpleasant facts in life.

true, no healing anytime soon.

I didn't know how BAD the women/HRC bashings were until I saw some of the replays on Jon Stewart show last week. Didn't they come from Obama's supporters? And now they try to talk reconciliation to get votes. Quite ugly!

BTW, my old generation's friends, sisters, and my young kids' generation and their friends and co-workers are all frustrated, and still can't believe the empty promises won.

Exactly. As an early member of the "netroots" I got caught up in the progressive or else movement, we were going to change the world, and we were going to do so by getting past politics as usual and work to elect democrats, and yet, as soon as the democratic race between two democrats became threatening to the progressive of choice, all bets were off, and instead of standing up for democratic ideals, it became attack and attack, no better then what the repugs did. Obama could have stopped it, he could have spoken out, he didn't, and because he tacitly allowed it to happen, I can't vote for him. Mob rule is not my thing, and if that means letting McCain be president, so be it.

First, HRC has not blamed for the racism except for that which came directly from her campaign, namely Geraldine Ferraro and Bill Clinton. In neither instance did HRC take a firm stance against these outrageous statements.

Then, there are comments like these, from an unnamed Clinton advisor:

"If you have a social need, you're with Hillary. If you want Obama to be your imaginary hip black friend and you're young and you have no social needs, then he's cool."

Or the comments from Mario Cuomo:

”It’s not a TV-crazed race. Frankly you can’t buy your way into it. You can’t shuck and jive at a press conference..."

Then there were the Clinton campaigners that were spreading the lie that Obama was schooled in a Madrassa. Later, the Clinton campaigners released a picture of Obama in traditional Somali dress to the Drudge Report.

Even Harold Ickes played the "Jesse Jackson" card with Obama.

HRC also engaged in some pretty despicable attacks on Obama herself, though not all inherently racist.

There was the debate in which she demanded Obama reject Farrakhan after Obama already, unequivically "denounced" Farrakhan's antisemitism as "unacceptable and reprehenisible."

Later, she joined in on the phony controvery surrounding Obama's former pastor and friend, Jeremiah Wright, claiming "he would not be my pastor."

She also piled on Obama over another non-issue--that Obama and former Weather Underground Bill Ayers served on the same board of a Chicago non-profit. (Neglecting the role her own husband played in pardoning convicted Weather Underground members.)

She also openly mocked Obama's speaking style; hinted that, if elected, al Qaeda would strike the U.S.; made comments that seemed to support McCain; said that Obama's support among "hard working Americans, white Americans" is weakening; and much more.

Though Clinton has undoubtedly faced sexism and other attacks, none of them came from Obama or his campaign. In fact, Obama has been very dignified in praising Clinton. In fact, just today he said:

"Before we begin, I just want to take a minute to thank Senator Clinton for the kind and generous support she offered on Saturday. She ran an historic race, a historic campaign that shattered barriers on behalf of my daughters and women everywhere who know now that there are no limits to their dreams. What's more, she inspired millions of women and men with her strength, her courage, and her unyielding commitment to the causes that brought us here today -- the hopes and aspirations of working Americans."

"Our party and our country are stronger because of the work that Hillary Rodham Clinton has done throughout her life, and I look forward to working with her ... to make sure we lay out the case for change and set a new course for this country."

From Obama TODAY:

"Before we begin, I just want to take a minute to thank Senator Clinton for the kind and generous support she offered on Saturday. She ran an historic race, a historic campaign that shattered barriers on behalf of my daughters and women everywhere who know now that there are no limits to their dreams. What's more, she inspired millions of women and men with her strength, her courage, and her unyielding commitment to the causes that brought us here today -- the hopes and aspirations of working Americans."

"Our party and our country are stronger because of the work that Hillary Rodham Clinton has done throughout her life, and I look forward to working with her ... to make sure we lay out the case for change and set a new course for this country."

Obama didn't tacitly approve of the sexism levied against Clinton. He never engaged in it himself. His worst comment was that the "claws" came out (a comment, incidentally that was directed at Michelle Obama before Obama, himself, made the unfortunate statement).

He has been rather dignified during this race, typically not engaging in personal attacks on Clinton, himself, rather praising her on numerous occasions. For instance, in May, before the primaries were over:

"In her thirty-five years of public service, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton has never given up on her fight for the American people, and tonight I congratulate her on her victory in Kentucky. We have had our disagreements during this campaign, but we all admire her courage, her commitment and her perseverance. No matter how this primary ends, Senator Clinton has shattered myths and broken barriers and changed the America in which my daughters and yours will come of age."

What is most amazing about this, though, is you are willing to elect a man that divorced his first wife after a car accident left her disfigured to marry a younger richer woman; that called his second wife a trollop and c*nt in public; he also claimed that disparities in pay between male and females was not due to discrimination, rather education and training; his own friends have called him a womanizer; then there are the unanswered questions about his relationship with the female lobbyist Vickie Iseman; and McCain actually opposed an equal pay bill for woman.

This doesn't even address his politics that will be anti-woman in many ways.

So, go ahead, blame Obama for something he didn't do and help elect the sexist, anti-woman John McCain.

The bashing of Clinton shown on The Daily Show were not from Obama supporters, those were media pundits, the majority of them from the Republican FOX news.

Other individuals in the clip were the Republican Tucker Carlson (who John Stewart once famously called a "big dick"); the conservative pundit Glenn Beck, former Republican presidential candidate and right wing pundit Pat Buchanan.

In fact, the only non-Republican in the entire montage was Chris Matthews, who is indeed a Barack Obama supporter. (Wolf Blitzer is also shown at the end, but he is not making a sexist comment, he is commenting on the sexist comments).

The video proving this can be seen here.

The majority of the sexist comments in the media levied against Clinton came from FOX news and other Republican and conservative commentators, such as Tucker Carlson, Pat Buchanan, and Glenn Beck.

Chris Matthews, who is indeed an Obama supporter, was also particularly bad.

To blame Obama for this is patently absurd.

Worse yet, McCain would be a terrible president from the perspective of woman's issues:

He supports overturning Roe v. Wade and prosecuting doctors that perform abortions. He is strongly anti-choice, making concessions only for rape and incest.

He opposed a bill for equal pay for women, saying it would not help the rights of women.

McCain voted to suspend the Family and Medical Leave Act.

Has received a 0% rating from Planned Parenthood for the following reasons:

• Opposed program to prevent unintended teen pregnancies
• Opposed legislation that would insure that abstinence only programs are scientifically accurate
• Opposed legislation requiring prescription coverage for birth control
• Associates with blatantly anti-choice organizations

Here's John McCain's voting record in women issues.

McCain has also done some pretty sexist things, himself, such as calling his wife, Cindy, a "trollop" and a "c*nt" in public; leaving his first wife after a car wreck left her disfigured; had questionable associations with a female lobbyist; he has spoken out against women in the military; and, among many other news items, made a horrible, disparaging joke against Chelsea Clinton in 1998 that some said was "too vicious to print;"

Then there are indirect things, such as the woman calling Clinton a "bitch" in a question to McCain at rally in South Carolina. McCain called it an "excellent question" (once the laughter and cheers subsided among other sexist comments about an ex-wife.

So, may I please be the first to welcome you back to the Democratic party?

Thank you. I thought I was going nuts there. I watch the Daily Show religiously, and I couldn't remember any such clip. I did remember the Fox people.

Actually, Hannity had Ted Nugent on saying Obama should be shot and Clinton raped. Limbaugh has been insane, and Malkin has been incredibly sexist and racist in her attacks. Having seen the Fox stuff, I've been wondering why all the complaints are about the Obama supporters and none have been about the really sick stuff coming from Fox and talk radio.

Beautiful posts Spruce. It's amazing how facts really seem to change the nature of the discussion. Well done.

Keith Olbermann had a pathological hatred of Clinton. Randi Rhodes of Air America called her a "fucking whore." Ken Rudin of NPR likened Clinton to Glenn Close's character in "Fatal Attraction."

Fox had people on all through Memorial Day joking about assassinating Clinton AND Obama (using the RFK comment as a justification). I don't think Olberman called for Clinton to be raped or shot.

Last I heard, Randi Rhodes was fired. Hannity, Limbaugh, Malkin etc all still have their jobs AND have far higher numbers of viewers/listeners. They are physically dangerous to Clinton and Obama in their irresponsibility.

The stuff on Fox and talk radio is calling and/or dog whistling violence. Symbolic stupidity versus violence? I'll take Olbermann and his 1+ million viewers over Limbaugh's crazy 20+ million listeners any day.

Why yell at Olbermann and not at Limbaugh? Why does Hannity get a pass?