About Smart Women for Hillary

Campaign ’08 News
+ Media Watch + Sexism Watch + Reality Check

¶ We began this site in early 2008 out of our impassioned support for Hillary Clinton as the strongest and most electable candidate in the 2008 campaign.

¶ We are smart and progressive voters in (more or less) middle America who believed (and continue to believe) that Hillary is richly qualified, she’s inspiring, she has a complex grasp of the world, she clearly claims a solid and winning coalition (broad electoral base, carries swing states), and she’s more than likely to make a truly excellent president.

¶ We also have deplored the shallow, stupid, and often flagrantly biased media coverage of Hillary’s campaign. We know the media pile-ons against Hillary aren’t good journalism (and we’re not amused at the "iron my shirts" hecklers, Hillary nutcrackers, and "bros before hos" shirts).

¶ And we're also wise to, and angered by, the shameless gaming of party rules (those low-turnout caucuses, often in Republican states … the Florida debacle) to deliver the Democratic Party nomination to Sen. Obama … even as Clinton was winning a majority of high-turnout primaries, aceing the big battleground states, and building an astoundingly broad coalition of voters (with the obvious exception of African American base and voters under 25). It also represents a solid majority of registered Democrats … all of which would seem a good thing for any would-be standard-bearer of the Democratic Party.

¶ We don't claim to be in lockstep with one another (or maybe even with Hillary) on every single issue or twist and turn of the campaign. And we don’t claim to be the only smart people in the living room; we’re not specifically out to diss friends and family who’re with Sen. Obama.

¶ But here’s who we are: We’re politically aware and passionately thoughtful people across America who for one reason or a hundred or a thousand have had Hillary’s back. Many of us are of a fundamentally feminist bent, keenly aware of how Hillary’s candidacy has been a supercharged lightning rod for deeply ingrained sexism in our media and culture. There are a lot more of us than the media seem to realize … and we’ve been getting more frustrated and furious by the minute.

¶ We are devastated that Hillary Clinton was forced to abandon the race in June … even as she continued to win and even as polls showed she would be the strongest candidate in the general election. (Visit our The Case for Hillary page).

¶ So … what now that Hillary has suspended her campaign? Since June, we held out a shred of hope that the superdelegates would come to their senses at the Democratic National Convention in August and back Hillary as the best and strongest possible candidate for November. That didn't happen.

¶ But we’re still in Hillary’s corner. And our Smart Woman for Hillary site continues. Hillary was and is remarkable. Her candidacy was something seismic. It was history-making, inspiring, amazing. It also opened a window onto our politics, culture, and society. We continue to feature news & commentary on Hillary …news on her involvement in the Democratic bid for the White House … and reflections by and for all who have passionately supported Hillary.

¶ First, we will continue to celebrate Hillary’s historic candidacy and feature regularly updated news, commentary, and reflections about Hillary and her campaign. We continue to admire Hillary as an extraordinary public figure, an inspiring leader, and a champion for women, children, and progressive values (check out her recent principled stands against Bush’s right-wing bills on abortion and national security [the latter of which Obama voted for … belying the enduring myth that Obama has better progressive bonda fides than Hillary]).

¶ Second, he may not be the horse we rode in on, but we are trying to be OK with Barack Obama. We do intend to do our bit to hold Sen. Obama’s feet to the fire—to make him accountable to Hillary's huge base. With her 18 million votes, 18 months of indefatiguable campaigning, deep commitment to our country, and broad electoral appeal, Hillary deserves far better than the boos of Obama supporters at recent rallies. We expect respect both for Hillary and for her remarkably broad coalition of voters, including majorities of bread-and-butter voters, Latinos, seniors, women, rural voters … and the list goes on, as broad as America itself.

Finally, we’ll do our bit to highlight John McCain’s truly deplorable record on—well, just about everything. John McCain is no "moderate." He’s a pro-war, pro-gun, pro-corporate, anti-woman extremist. We believe it would be an affront to Hillary and everything she stands for to actively support McCain, no matter how angry or heartbroken we feel about Hillary not being on the ballot.

So that’s what we’re all about! Welcome to Smart Women for Hillary, equal parts news hub, media watch, and reality check … a gathering of as many smart, sane, empowering voices as we can find.

Go to the Smart Women for Hillary Home Page

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Thank you for visiting our news and media-watch site in support of Hillary Clinton!

Smart Women For Hillary reflects the passionate commitment of a few smart women for Hillary in America’s heartland. Our site is a work in progress. Please check back soon to see what’s new.

We’re an indy & all-volunteer effort—not linked to the Hillary Clinton campaign.

We hope you’ll let others know about Smart Women for Hillary as a news hub, media watch website, and a support and resource website for supporters of Hillary Clinton, for all those who want to hold Barack Obama accountable to Hillary’s 18 million voters, and for all those who want updated info on why John McCain is NOT a good option.

Smart Women For Hillary hopes to be one more front against dumbed-down media coverage, gotcha! journalism, media bias, sexism, and outright Hillary hating (Hillary nutcracker, anyone?). We hope our site is a useful and empowering resource for the thoughtful, the feminist, the flabbergasted, and the furious.

Please support Hillary as she works to pay off the huge debts from her historic campaign. Click HERE to donate $10 to Hillary now on the campaign’s secure web site.

Click HERE to support this site by ordering our cool Hillary signature t-shirt—a Smart Women for Hillary exclusive!

And yes, please do link to us! http://www.smartwomenforhillary.com

©2008 SmartWomenForHillary.Com