Clinton bashing

Re “Go away? Why should she?” Opinion, March 9

I find the misogyny directed at Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton loathsome. But I didn’t vote for her. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice or Sen. Elizabeth Dole (R-N.C.) would no doubt have come in for the same unfair treatment had they been in this race. Would I be asked to support either of them based on their plumbing?

Calling me a traitor to the cause of feminism because I voted for Sen. Barack Obama is tantamount to calling me unpatriotic for not supporting the Patriot Act. My friends who do support Clinton have explained to me that she could never apologize for her Iraq authorization vote because, as a woman, she would be called weak. This is pretzel logic. I have no choice but to interpret her failure to apologize as an inability to apologize, similar to President Bush’s. I don’t want to see Clinton bashed because she’s female but because her behavior is appalling.

Cynthia Carle

Los Angeles

I’m a 51-year old woman and former Clinton supporter who finds Leslie Bennetts’ notion that misogyny underlies the clamor for Clinton to step aside troubling. Clinton can’t win the popular vote without resorting to Rovian fear and smear tactics, and she can’t win enough delegates without undemocratic machinations involving the superdelegates. These are the reasons Clinton should step aside. I am thoroughly disgusted with her campaign.

Leslie Karliss

Malibu

The subtle message from the media is that Clinton deserves to lose because she is not young, pretty nor politely invisible. Bennetts so clearly reflects my own despair at the message that a woman who is direct, clear and opinionated deserves to lose. I have seen pictures of the candidates reflect this bias. Obama is shown as saintly and wise; Clinton is shown with a manic edge to her. But I have watched all the debates; I saw a full range of human emotions from both candidates. I have seen Obama look stupid and Clinton look profoundly intelligent and mature.

We are endlessly subjected to information about her husband’s infidelities, how Clinton looks and, worst of all, the subtle sneer that the male and female news presenters wear on their faces when talking about Clinton. If we elect a man with minimal experience, and turn away from a woman who has spent a lifetime creating solutions, then we get what we deserve.

Denise

Neumark-Reimer

Los Angeles

My disdain for Clinton is not about gender, it’s about age. The baby boomers, from the Clintons on the one hand to George W. Bush on the other, have spent their entire adult lives waging the culture war that began in their Vietnam-era youth. They’ve driven the country down a ruinous, partisan path, and this won’t stop until they’re not in power. It’s time for a president who is young enough to see things more broadly than blue states versus red and Perry Como versus the Grateful Dead.

Steve Meister

Sherman Oaks