Maureen Dowd mocks Hillary's experience. "Living in WH between ages of 45 and 53" is not experience

Maureen Dowd's biweekly column is out, and in it she ridiculed Hillary Clinton's experience. Here are some selected quotes:





Finally, regarding the latest Obama/Clinton exchange on experience, Dowd had this to add,


http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/21/opinion/21dowd.html?hp

Maybe that Hillary is married to the Big Dog? Seems MoDo has a bigger crush on the Big Dog than Monica did!

She seems to write about Democrats, Clinton in particular, 75% or more of the time.

:scared:

Maybe Pickles threatened Whoreen with a hit and run.

Imitation is the last refuge of an unflattering scoundrel.

rights -where the hell has Mo been in that battle?

most likely drinking wine and pining after married men.

:-)

anti union with reasonable - but not great - pay scales back then.

There are records of her pushing the role of female executives at Walmart.

Sam was no more than average wage but not a bad boss that tried to screw his workers - not like his kids turned out to be.

Sam died shortly after Hillary left the board for presidential politics.

She has at least the advantage of knowing the players in the game...foreign dignitaries, rulers, movers and shakers. I don't necessarily think her foreign policy "experience" is a beat-all where the other candidates are concerned.

I prefer criticisms to be real and based upon the issues...not this kind of crap.

was how Al Gore's suit looked.

She's mindless fluff and nothing else. She has no guts, no class, no sense, and no brains.

I truly detest DUers posting her drivel

--yes I imagine you do HAVE to agree with her.

made your choices based on your assessment of the candidates.
You really aren't aware of Hillary's accomplishments?
Amazing.

being first lady is not really "experience" unless you are going to make Bill the de facto president.

to point out that Hillary is basically coasting on Bill's coattails, and running on his experience and accomplishments, and his name.

This in itself isn't that objectionable but it becomes so when you harp on your supposed "experience" and criticize those with more actual experience in actual elected office as being "less experienced."

she's not some sort of STEPFORD WIFE like the zoned-out LAURA

why does he have "so much less experience"?

Hillary Rodham (D-NY), you think she would have this much hype around her?

so there

With no official executive experience. It's a short list.

In many ways, she was much more accomplished -- and at an earlier age -- than Bill was and what she focused on actually helped those less fortunate. So, here, learn something:

Clinton co-founded the Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families, a state-level alliance with the Children's Defense Fund, in 1977. In late 1977, President Jimmy Carter (for whom she had done 1976 campaign coordination work in Indiana) appointed her to the board of directors of the Legal Services Corporation, and she served in that capacity from 1978 through the end of 1981. For much of that time she served as the chair of that board, the first woman to do so. During her time as chair, funding for the Corporation was expanded from $90 million to $300 million, and she successfully battled against President Ronald Reagan's initial attempts to reduce the funding and change the nature of the organization.

Following the November 1978 election of her husband as Governor of Arkansas, Clinton became First Lady of Arkansas in January 1979, her title for a total of twelve years. Bill appointed her chair of the Rural Health Advisory Committee the same year, where she successfully obtained federal funds to expand medical facilities in Arkansas' poorest areas without affecting doctors' fees.

Hillary Clinton chaired the Arkansas Educational Standards Committee from 1982 to 1992, where she sought to bring about reform in the state's court-sanctioned public education system. One of the most important initiatives of the entire Clinton governorship, she fought a prolonged but ultimately successful battle against the Arkansas Education Association to put mandatory teacher testing as well as state standards for curriculum and classroom size in place. She introduced Arkansas' Home Instruction Program for Preschool Youth in 1985, a program that helps parents work with their children in preschool preparedness and literacy.

And a bit of stuff from the White House years:

Along with Senator Ted Kennedy, she was the major force behind the State Children's Health Insurance Program in 1997, a federal effort that provided state support for children whose parents were unable to provide them with health coverage. She promoted nationwide immunization against childhood illnesses and encouraged older women to seek a mammogram to detect breast cancer, with coverage provided by Medicare. She successfully sought to increase research funding for prostate cancer and childhood asthma at the National Institutes of Health.

The First Lady worked to investigate reports of an illness that affected veterans of the Gulf War, which became known as the Gulf War syndrome. Together with Attorney General Janet Reno, Clinton helped create the Office on Violence Against Women at the Department of Justice. In 1997, she initiated and shepherded the Adoption and Safe Families Act, which she regarded as her greatest accomplishment as First Lady.

but those accomplishments would not translate into her front runner status without

(1) the Clinton name
(2) the accomplishments of Bill

First Lady is not an office you can get elected to., it depends on the election of someone else.

Mark Penn said it himself:

“Democrats think Bill Clinton did a great job and think she’s ready to be president and ready to manage a tough economy,” Penn said. “Three years ago, Senator Obama was State Senator Obama."

That's what Mark Penn pointed to as to why Hillary was ready to be president - that Bill did a great job.

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/11/20/474800.aspx

first you say she "harps" on her "supposed 'experience' and criticize those with more actual experience in actual elected office as being 'less experienced'."

then, when someone points out her actual experience, you say "those accomplishments would not translate into her front runner status without (1) the Clinton name (2) the accomplishments of Bill"

how did the Clinton name -- before there was a "Clinton name" -- allow her to accomplish what she accomplished before Bill was Governor and then President?

Again, I haven't denigrated Obama's Community Service, but find it interesting that you seem determined to minimize and excuse away as nepotism Hillary's.

White House Civil War
Promised real power as Bill Clinton's vice president, Al Gore found he had a rival for that role: the First Lady. And when Hillary decided to run for the Senate, a tense competition got ugly. In an excerpt from her new book about the Clinton White House years, the author reveals how conflicting agendas—the triangle of a scandal-ridden lame-duck president, the wife he'd betrayed, and his designated successor—sapped Gore's 2000 campaign as the bond between two couples dissolved into distrust, anger, and resentment.
by Sally Bedell Smith November 2007

Excerpted from For Love of Politics—Bill and Hillary Clinton: The White House Years, by Sally Bedell Smith, to be published this month by Random House, Inc.; © 2007 by the author.

During the 1992 campaign, Bill and Hillary Clinton took several successful bus trips with vice-presidential candidate Al Gore and his wife, Tipper, where they bonded to such an extent that Tipper called Hillary her "long-lost sister." "If there is a subject under the sun that we haven't discussed, I don't know what it might be," said Al. So it seemed fitting that the four of them again boarded a bus three days before Bill Clinton's inauguration, this time for a 120-mile ride from Charlottesville, Virginia, to Washington, re-enacting the trip that Thomas Jefferson had made in 1801.

After conducting an interview with Bill and Hillary, NBC Nightly News anchor Tom Brokaw lingered while the two couples sat around a table in the kitchenette in the front of the bus. "It struck me like a college-dorm bull session rather than an incoming administration," Brokaw recalled. "Hillary was not leading, but she was like a junior partner. It was Gore to Bill Clinton, and Hillary was gracefully part of the conversation."

Eight days later, Bill appointed Hillary head of the health-care task force, which was charged with developing a plan to re-structure the health-insurance system. The move took nearly all his top officials by surprise, including Al Gore. Bill had invested Gore with considerable responsibility, but his failure to confide in his vice president was a telling sign of the real pecking order.

http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2007/11/clinton200711

Laura Bush is the typical First Lady, Hillary was not. Shit, even Laura says she has had influence in policy matters.

entertaining foreigh leaders sure does! Visiting those same foreign leaders is quite an asset as well. I'm not an aircraft mechanic either, but because my son is, I know a whole lot more about the problems and how they're fixed than you do! Living in the WH does give you unmatched experience in a lot of areas, and I'm positive that both Bill & Hillary would tell you what a learning experience it was when they first got there.

I'm a Biden supporter, but these foolish slams against Hillary pi**s me off. Having been there really is an asset!

don't think so my friend.

verbal jabs and exposes her true feelings about Sen. Clinton...

Dowd is, undeniably, an updated version of Dorothy Parker who delights in jabbing the best and the brightest...

But she really doesn't like Sen. Clinton...

Perhaps she is on to something when she points out Sen. Clinton has achieved without achieving...

All I know is the race, as we all knew it would, is tightening up as Iowa becomes more real and not just some far off event...

Now is the time all the candidates will be tested...

It's time to see who really is ready to lead out party...

'ol Maureen. I used to HOWL at her diatribes (we Catholic girls are odd), but now she's just so whiney and bitter and I really think she just needs to get laid.

As far as getting laid, I would give it to her but it will have to be dark after a few Black and Tans, she tends to dress a little young for her age.

Unable to go after Hillary on legitimate issues these nonsensical attacks go on instead.

Blahblahblahblah and blah.

... but have to say I agree with her on this one ! Hillary is the WRONG candidate for our time.

was "just a First Lady" obviously doesn't know the woman. Bill and Hillary are policy wonks who have always worked in tandem. Many people who worked closely with them in the WH have said that she had more influence in policy making than Gore. Years ago when Bill was asked who was his most trusted adviser, he responded: Hillary. Don't make the mistake of underestimating the woman's mental prowess and her actual influence in her WH years. She is no Laura Bush or Pat Nixon.

I do think that in some of Maureen's column's on Hillary she does sound like she envies her. The resentment is palpable.

Hillary's experience is a faux construct - a political Potemkin village - which is easy to see through
once voters take a reasoned look at her rather thin resumé of actual accomplishments apart from
being Bill's wife. Being married to the boss man doesn't make you qualified in any profession that
I know of.

And the only thing she oversaw as First Lady (healthcare reform, when she pushed Al Gore aside and
played President For A Day) was an unmitigated disaster. As a 1.25 term senator, her voting record
is bracketed by by her IWR vote and now her Kyl-Lieberman vote with nothing much to show for it
in between besides a few pieces of determinedly uncontroversial vanity legislation.

Obama got it dead center right and if Hillary keeps it up with her belittling of his lack of experience,
then he will keep opening people's eyes until voters see she's got no clothes on.

Of the top three candidates, Hillary still has the most "experience", so technically it's not a faux construct.

But her record on the issues is another thing. Beat her up on that, not on her "experience" or lack of it.

Guess who?

Hint: It's the same candidate who has the same level of experience as Abraham Lincoln did before Lincoln became president.

That's right, it's Barack Obama.

"Obama was elected to the Illinois State Senate in 1996 from the state's 13th District in the south-side Chicago neighborhood of Hyde Park... He
was reelected to the Illinois Senate in 1998 and 2002, officially resigning in November 2004 following his election to the U.S. Senate. As a state legislator,
Obama worked with both Democrats and Republicans in drafting successful legislation on ethics and health care reform. He sponsored a law enhancing
tax credits for low-income workers, negotiated welfare reform, and promoted increased subsidies for child care. Obama also led the passage of legislation
mandating videotaping of homicide interrogations, and a law to monitor racial profiling by requiring police to record the race of drivers they stopped.
During his 2004 general election campaign for U.S. Senate, Obama won the endorsement of the Illinois Fraternal Order of Police, whose president credited
him with having been "immensely helpful in working with police organizations" on death penalty reform."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barack_Obama

So yes, it's a faux construct to claim Clinton has the most experience unless you consider nepotism a legitimate resumé builder.

executive experience because he was mayor.

Richardson and Dodd have executive experience too.

Of course, both Kucinich and Obama -- out of all the candidates -- had the good judgment to oppose the Iraq war BEFOREHAND.

while I in no way denigrate Obama's experience before becoming Senator two years ago, to accuse Hillary of having no experience and, in essence, solely riding her husband's coattails is only achieving one thing: showing how uneducated about the facts you are.

So, here, learn something today:

Clinton co-founded the Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families, a state-level alliance with the Children's Defense Fund, in 1977. In late 1977, President Jimmy Carter (for whom she had done 1976 campaign coordination work in Indiana) appointed her to the board of directors of the Legal Services Corporation, and she served in that capacity from 1978 through the end of 1981. For much of that time she served as the chair of that board, the first woman to do so. During her time as chair, funding for the Corporation was expanded from $90 million to $300 million, and she successfully battled against President Ronald Reagan's initial attempts to reduce the funding and change the nature of the organization.

Following the November 1978 election of her husband as Governor of Arkansas, Clinton became First Lady of Arkansas in January 1979, her title for a total of twelve years. Bill appointed her chair of the Rural Health Advisory Committee the same year, where she successfully obtained federal funds to expand medical facilities in Arkansas' poorest areas without affecting doctors' fees.

Hillary Clinton chaired the Arkansas Educational Standards Committee from 1982 to 1992, where she sought to bring about reform in the state's court-sanctioned public education system. One of the most important initiatives of the entire Clinton governorship, she fought a prolonged but ultimately successful battle against the Arkansas Education Association to put mandatory teacher testing as well as state standards for curriculum and classroom size in place. She introduced Arkansas' Home Instruction Program for Preschool Youth in 1985, a program that helps parents work with their children in preschool preparedness and literacy.

And a bit of stuff from the White House years:

Along with Senator Ted Kennedy, she was the major force behind the State Children's Health Insurance Program in 1997, a federal effort that provided state support for children whose parents were unable to provide them with health coverage. She promoted nationwide immunization against childhood illnesses and encouraged older women to seek a mammogram to detect breast cancer, with coverage provided by Medicare. She successfully sought to increase research funding for prostate cancer and childhood asthma at the National Institutes of Health.

The First Lady worked to investigate reports of an illness that affected veterans of the Gulf War, which became known as the Gulf War syndrome. Together with Attorney General Janet Reno, Clinton helped create the Office on Violence Against Women at the Department of Justice. In 1997, she initiated and shepherded the Adoption and Safe Families Act, which she regarded as her greatest accomplishment as First Lady.

...

isn't quite the thin resume you were hoping for, was it?

So her meme that he's "inexperienced" is total BS, given her length of time in the Senate.

See link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barack_Obama

Isn't quite the thin resumé Hillaryworld is framing, is it?

I'd trust Clinton before Dowd. Mo lost me in the past couple of years.

Don't underestimate how much knowledge a wife picks up.

I put my hubby through law school. On a whim I decided to take the law school admission test. Hubby studied for months and scored mediocre. When I went to sign up, I found out there was an LSAT test the next day. I ignored all advice saying one couldn't possibly score well without studying and taking prep courses, and took the test anyhow. I figured I'd picked up enough info on the law from quizzing hubby for his classes and listening to all that legal talk to have at least a chance of doing okay and save money on the prep class and books.

I scored in the top 3% nationwide--high enough to have gone to Harvard, if life circumstances hadn't intervened.

While I disagree with Hilary on the war and her corporatism, the woman has visited something like a hundred countries and met with most foreign leaders, also sitting in on cabinet sessions and other meetings. Lack of foreign policy smarts is simply not one of her faults.

also that is why I can only give MODO a partial on the last point. Hillary would have to be a complete moron lacking all curiousity (George W Bush) not to pick up some things during the eight years in the WH.

I hope you got back to your law degree, it is never too late.

as a political activist and writer exposing corruption.

Because Hillary traveled abroad, met foreign leaders and worked to understand many of the issues that were important to people in these countries. Dowd is just a bitter, single, hack who never gets to go anywhere but the backyard of her lonely Georgetown mansion to sip tea.

You expected that to change when the topic is Hillary Clinton? Pullease Louise!

nt

nt

nt

Fuck off. You stopped being relevant when Turducken was chosen for Prez.

It very much depends on the lady, but if you're a political person, such as Eleanor Roosevelt, Dolly Madison, Hillary Clinton - being first lady is political experience because of the political job you make of it.

I actually find this whole experience argument one of the lamer of the primary season, just sayin.

A big fucking YAWN.

Even when she praises Obama, I can't stand her.

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

Not ALL Democrats are as far to the left as Kucinich is. Some are quite conservative and even Hawkish in their beliefs.

:eyes:

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

another Republican becoming President.

You'll change your tune when she writes one about Obama.

All the guys need to do is pay more attention to the little girl.

Bush senior did that extensively when MO was based in his W.H. press corp. Bill didn't bother, Gore didn't bother, Kerry didn't bother and Hillary hasn't bothered. If Obama gives her a lick she won't go after him.

Maureen Dowd helps Republicans win elections.

She wouldn't have depended on Bill for that.

While she was First Lady, she had some sort of post invented for her, since they wanted to avoid the MSM bludgeoning they would take for appointing her to a cabinet job. It's not certain she would not have qualified for it had some other president wanted to appoint her to it.

I wouldn't say the job of First Lady itself is so irrelevant now, either. It's not just a hostess anymore. It might give a person all sorts of insight no one else would get.

This is a weak way to attack Hillary.

and snorting coke and drinking excessively ARE qualifications to be in the white house? The idiot now in the white house had only traveled to Mexico before being appointed as president!

if her last name weren't Clinton. Dowd, for all her flaws, was dead-on re HRC.

I graduated San Jose State with a B.A. in English.

The first lesson I learned as a man with a B.A. in English?

Doesn't mean shit until you do something significant with it.

MoDo can kiss my royal English Major ASS.