Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Politics / Woods Why Isn't McMillan's Candidacy Exciting Women Voters?
Posted by Jeff Woods on Wed, May 6, 2009 at 11:39 AM
"What's really important is about moving Tennessee up in the rankings of political participation of women. I would like to see more political participation by women. You need to run. When women run, women win. Part of the reason women don't win is because they don't run. Many women don't run because they are afraid of the challenges they face. They're afraid to raise money, they are afraid of balancing family life. They don't think it's possible."So here is Pith's question: Why haven't more women come out for McMillan, especially given the field of dull dweebs running in the Democratic primary? What are they waiting for? To raise money, McMillan desperately needs to establish herself as a credible candidate now. Where are the liberal women bloggers like Aunt B and Southern Beale? Unless we missed it, they haven't had much to say about McMillan. Another question: Could McMillan manage to win a crowded primary race based on the votes of women alone?
Comments (58)
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Could McMillan manage to win a crowded primary race based on the votes of women alone?
If women voted en mass for McMillan? Yes, she'd win in a landslide.
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Why haven't more women come out for McMillan, especially given the field of dull dweebs running in the Democratic primary?
Because we don't make our decisions based solely on genitalia. We leave that to you guys.
She should also get labor and at least better than a fourth of African American voters. I fully expect to vote for her, though could change my mind.
To answer your question, many women aren't anal enough to start focusing on a primary over a year away; there just not as OC about it as most men and journalists.
"OMG...16 months before the primary and I haven't picked a candidate! All is lost for the woman candidate! Only the guy with his own fortune can possibly win at this point!
On the other hand, several politically involved women I know have already come out for McMillan. We'll see if younger women are as wowed by Cammack as goldni and a few other bloggers seem to be.
I don't think anyone (and that includes women voters) is excited about any of the gubernatorial candidates because the election is not for another 18 months.
Missed this:
It's obviously her main selling point.
Uhm, she was majority leader of the state house but the main selling point is that she's a woman? How simple minded is that?
Two reasons. 1. So she's got a cooter and I have a cooter. Marsha Blackburn has a cooter, too, and that doesn't get her my vote. Throwing your support behind a woman just because she's a woman can make you look pretty damn stupid. See Emily's List's support of Nikki Tinker. I mean, damn, they wanted women to give money to a seeming crazy woman whose campaign seemed to consist of "You may not know this, but Steve Cohen is a Jew!!!!!!" Choose her over Steve Cohen? Like Tinker was a better choice for women than Cohen?
No. Blind gender allegiance does no one any good.
2. I'm burnt out on the motherfucking State Democrats and can't bring myself to give a shit about who's running for governor.
And, let's be honest, 3. In this state, is the endorsement of a candidate by the likes of me actually going to help her? I doubt it.
That block quote was printed on ink and paper for real? Yikes. It reads like a lazy 6th grader's attempt to reach a word count.
In other news, that lady looks like '80s sitcom sister, former anorexic, and sometimes drunk driver Tracey Gold.
Hey, Ashley, what's wrong with spewing out a bunch of mumbo-jumbo just to reach a word count? I do it here at work all the time.
Why haven't more women come out for McMillan, especially given the field of dull dweebs running in the Democratic primary? Because we don't make our decisions based solely on genitalia. We leave that to you guys.
Maybe that's why women don't win or even run statewide in Tennessee. You guys need to raise your damn consciousness.
To answer your question, many women aren't anal enough to start focusing on a primary over a year away; there just not as OC about it as most men and journalists.
First of all, that's a sexist comment and it's not true either. Secondly now's the time to get behind her if you're going to do it at all. She needs to raise money.
Well Jack, I am a woman who likes to read. Reading is one of my favorite hobbies, as is being a woman. As a reading woman (and many reading women will agree), superfluous redundancies and unnecessary reiterations tend to grate.
Could it be that female voters have also heard about her (non-lobbyist) revolving door appointment to Governor Bredesen's office?
That they resent her half-baked excuse that she was working (as a "citizen/legislator") for a law firm "firewalled" off from the Government Lobbying division?
That she sponsored and passed ethics law exempting lawyers (her profession), from client consultation and lobbying practices that other legislators and lobbyists must adhere too?
Or, is that too esoteric for women?
If so, there are plenty of positions she has taken that would keep men from rallying support for her too.
First of all, that's a sexist comment
So's the premise of your entire post- what's your point, black pot?
In my mind, it's a matter of issues, not of gender. The political junkies, who are the only people paying attention at this point, don't think McMillan is a serious contender because they don't think she can overcome her vote for a state income tax. No one will invest time or money in a candidate that they don't believe can win.
On other issues, JohnnyC, writes, "She should also get labor." Only if labor en masse forgets that McMillan sponsored the 2004 worker's compensation overhaul that screwed working people. I don't think that's going to happen.
I might support her. I like the idea of having more women at the top of Tennessee politics. However, it's still so far out from the election and I honestly don't know all that much about any of the candidates.
Sometimes it has nothing to do with gender and more to do with "For the love of God, we're just coming off one of the most divisive elections in years, can we take a breather for five minutes before worrying about the next one?"
Women are smart enough to realize that if we don't have a strong democratic candidate at the top of the ballot, Tony Gottlieb and his merry band of lunatics with their half-baked ideas are much more likely to successfully influence a republican controlled state house and senate. Women are much more likely to lose rights in proposed legislation that we have diligently fought for years from reproductive freedom to the right for a judge to determine custody of children based on the individual circumstances.
If that candidate is Kim McMillan, great. And if not, know that many "thinking women" will unite behind whomever the democratic cndidate is in an effort to regain a democratic majority in the state house and preserve our remaining rights.
And Tony, Kim got where she is by learning to play with the big boys and often beat them at their own game. That must be why you and your DADs seem so angry.
OK, I am admitting up front that I am a crazy person, but that quote is still really bothering me. Was that written down on purpose as in she wrote an article, or was it pulled from an interview she gave to the publication? I hope it's the latter. Lack of eloquence I can handle. Straight-up printed dumbness and zero self-editing, not so much.
Pretty simple. It's because Kim doesn't make a very good candidate. Not a great record, not a strong speaker, not a lot of nifty new ideas, no base, no following, no angle or message of interest. She was a competent legislator of no great distinction. Would be a decent governor, I'm sure, and I'll voter for her over any Republican, but she's not going to inspire gender solidarity without more there there.
She's been on the hustings for a year with no traction. There's a reason for that. Have you ever actually seen her on the stump, Jeff? If so, you have your answer.
It's obviously her main selling point.
It is?
For whom?
C'mon, Jeff. Enough with the asinine gender assumptions.
Maybe she needs more guns in her ads! Guns at her speeches! Guns in her car and in her home and at the restuarant and the playground.....maybe she's just not speaking to the "right" topics these days.
And then there's this: Many women don't run because they are afraid of the challenges they face. They're afraid to raise money, they are afraid of balancing family life. They don't think it's possible."
Oh bullshit. We do it every damn day - if this is the best she's got to offer then I say Aunt B for guv!
If I win the governorship, I promise to retire the term "cooter" and refer to my genitals and the genitals of other women as "vulvas," but until that day, when Woods is making reductive statements, I will be being reduced to my cooter.
Unless, of course, the turtle lobby is going to give me grief about it.
Women should work to elect politicians, regardless of the configuration of their genitals, who serve the best interests of the people of Tennessee.
Assuming that women should support women just because they're women is insulting. And, frankly, kind of weird.
If some guy named Jeff were running for governor, would you be pushing for him to win, regardless of his strength as a candidate?
Her support for an income tax is yet another reason to vote for the candidate with the cooter.
Well, I guess that answers my question, Auntie. McMillan's not exciting women voters because women don't give a rat's ass whether women hold elected office in Tennessee.
Dear Thinking woman:
Perhaps obtaining a spine, adequate to sign your own name, might enable you to feel somewhat less intimidated.
Meanwhile, an axiom about....when you can't argue the issue you attack the messenger, comes to mind.
But Woods, you forget--women do hold elected office in Tennessee. Do I feel like my interests are well represented as a woman by Ophelia Ford? Or Representative Lynn? Or Mae Beavers or Diane Black? No.
McMillan can have my vote if she turns out to be a good candidate. She doesn't get it automatically because we're women.
Do you vote for men just because they're men? I hope not.
Um, Woods, WTF?
Women vote based on a candidate's position on issues they care about, just like men do. If a male candidate is a better feminist than a female candidate, then he's getting my vote. Dude, remember Sarah Palin? Remember PUMAs? That kind of thinking and voting is myopic at best.
Should there be more female politicians in office? Of course. There should also be more people in elected office (especially on a national level) who are black, gay, or what the fuck ever. But I would never vote for a black lesbian if I thought she had shitty politics! That doesn't mean I don't give if shit if women hold elected office or not. It means I'm an informed voter. Just like dudes are!
I cannot even believe this is a discussion.
I have been assuming you agree with the woman on the issues. If you did, then wouldn't you feel more inclined to help her campaign because she's a woman? Isn't it important for women to hold elected office, just as it is for blacks or Hispaniels or the yellow man?
I know, Ashley. I thought Woods was my age, but this whole conversation makes me speculate that he's really 136 and still confused about the intentions of those Suffragettes and Bluestockings.
I can't speak for all women (though dear God I'd love to), but I am not inclined to help anyone campaign because I am lazy.
Unless, of course, they advocate a day off the workweek for shoe shopping, amirite? LOL!
We're the same as the chicks of yesteryear, except we are terrified of yellow wallpaper.
yellow wallpaper
Isn't that story over 100 years old? The chicks of yesteryear were the ones afraid of yellow wallpaper because they were supposed to be neither seen nor heard in society- the confinement in her wallpapered home made the narrator crazy. Have we not moved beyond that? McMillan could conceivably be the next governor, after all.
I vote for more women bloggers on Pith - your contributors seem to be all male. What's up with that?
BTW - would you vote for Mae Beavers because her last name is Beavers? Just wondering....
We've tried to get women to write, but they make "demands" outside our usual payment plans based on liquor and cigs. But we do have Caleb Hannan, who wears pink shirts, and Brantley Hargrove, who uses hairspray. And I once took my grandpa golfing. Does that make us part girl?
But we do have Caleb Hannan, who wears pink shirts, and Brantley Hargrove, who uses hairspray. And I once took my grandpa golfing. Does that make us part girl?
No, but it explains a lot.
I was trying to make some point about how we're afraid to go back to that place, but I lost it. I should have gone with my original ending which was "more prone to public intoxication."
Ashley- How about "We're more likely to shoot creepy guys in parking lots" for a nice Thelma and Louise allusion?
I do, in fact, put product in my hair, rendering me more than capable of representing the ladies on this blog. Caleb, do you still have my cute wedges?
I'm sure that whatever woman you'd ask to write for Pith would only make eminently reasonable requests which could so easily be answered that even a half-drunk staff writer could tackle them. And I bet she's unbelievably cute, too.
even a half-drunk staff writer could tackle them
I'm betting she'd have to get there pretty early.
This discussion reminds me of how it was supposedly so pathetic that Al Gore lost his home state in 2000. This was/is a largely Republican state and I never understood why Republican Tennesseans were apparently expected to abandon their beliefs and vote for a guy simply because he was also a Tennessean.
If Fred Thompson had won the 2008 GOP nomination, would I have been expected to vote for him? Me vote for Fred? The thought is laughable.
This thread and the thread linked to it at Post Politics illustrate the problem for McMillan and why she hasn't gained any traction. The discussion about her is always about either why she can't win because she's a woman candidate or why she can't win because she voted for an income tax.
Before someone jumps in on me, let me be clear that I'm not arguing for or against either women candidates or an income tax. I'm pointing out the problem for Kim McMillan. I'm also not arguing whether this is fair or not. I'm simply making a statement of fact that conversations about McMillan invariably move toward her gender and her vote for an income tax. The discussion then becomes about why she can't win for either reason or for both reasons.
And another thing: Aunt B, you're always complaining because men are making laws governing the behavior of women. So what are you doing about that?
Ben, that's just a cop out on your part. "I'm not judging," "I'm not arguing," "I'm just saying that other people are sayin that she's got this problem that may or may not be fair. I'm not sayin on that." Geez
Kim McMillan is one of the best leaders our state has had in the last decade. Yes, a "good 'ol boy" Democratic Party elected her to be their majority leader, she kept foolish abortion laws at bay, even though she worked for Jimmy Naifeh, she kept a clean, ethical reputation, enough that when she left the house, the politically cautious Bredesen (who has no love for the legislature) was quite comfortable giving her a key advisor role. I don't see that the Dems in the house are standing up to the hard right with the same force and success that Kim McMillan did as majority leader. I don’t remember that the legislature was nearly as awash in divisive culture war bills when Kim McMillan was majority leader.
And yes, at one point seven years ago, when a Republican governor was calling for tax reform, and tax reform that would benefit those at the bottom of the economic scale, she helped put it up for a vote. It failed, Tennessee clearly doesn't want it, so she's no longer for an income tax as would be most obvious to any politican. Tell me, what tough votes have Mike McWherter and Ward Cammack had to take? Oh, right, they haven't put their reputations on the line for any kind of legislative vote. When have they stood up for choice? When have they had to try and make the budget of this state work?
People, and I say this to Democrats and progressives and not to Ben, we've got a handful of people in this legislature who will stand up to the hard right likes of those cretons that Pith lists as morons every week. If we allow the public to kill the political careers of people who make one progressive vote on taxation, we might as well just shut ourselves up as we wonder why this state is so willing to let the likes of Stacey Campfield and Ron Ramsey run the government.
McMillan stood up against those folks. To say that makes her damaged goods is indeed a cop out. If that's the best we can do, expect the Dems to play even more defense than they already are. If we want people to stick up for Democratic values, we'd better stick up for them when they do.
Um, Woods, I'm a blogger. What I'm doing about it is sitting around and bitching. Isn't that self-evident? My god, man. When will you regular media guys ever get how this online stuff works?
Anyway, I think you misunderstand me. I'm complaining when stupid-ass men make laws governing the behavior of women. I don't believe that I'd automatically be better off with stupid-ass women making laws governing the behavior of of women. That wouldn't make the bitter pill of treating women like minor league citizens easier to stomach. I want legislators who are not stupid-asses, regardless of gender.
It could be that McMillan is not a stupid-ass, but I don't know. I just know that throwing my support behind a candidate I don't know anything about just because she's a woman does nothing to advance my goal of being a regular citizen. In fact, it seems to do the opposite.
It could be that McMillan is not a stupid-ass, but I don't know. I just know that throwing my support behind a candidate I don't know anything about just because she's a woman does nothing to advance my goal of being a regular citizen.
It's not as though she's an unknown. Former House majority leader, candidate for governor for months, and known to be pondering a run for governor for something like two years. If someone writing or blogging about political doings in TN doesn't know anything about her, then the fault is the writer's, or perhaps it's the candidates for campaign execution so far.
This thread has devolved into a largely pointless excursion into hypotheticals and counterfactuals about female political candidates. Woods posted initially with a legitimate question: "Why haven't more women come out for McMillan, especially given the field of dull dweebs running in the Democratic primary?" This is a concrete question about the reality of McMillan's actual ongoing candidacy, not a theoretical inquiry about kneejerk gender-based support for candidates in general.
