The WIVES of the WHITE MEN who voted TRUMP into office had no choice but to vote with their husbands for TRUMP. This was almost always true logically; #1. They consider solidarity of the marriage important, #2. They are not independently thinking about their critical role as women and because of number one, #3. They will not vote against their husbands because they would need to lie to keep the peace. #4. No woman in this spot will find herself in good position with the entire extended family if they find out she voted against TRUMP. #5. Women tend to nurture the family and therefore sacrifice their opinions to win that position.
3
it's the economy, stupid. do people (all people) have a path -- or perceive they have a path -- forward in their lives to achieve their goals, personal, financial, educational, for themselves, and their families/partners? frustration and lack of fulfillment abounds. except for elites, an entire generation has been shut out by the unintended consequences of technology, and the tendency is to demonize the "other" in terms of rights, privileges, entitlements, ideologies, and "isms." the sooner the Dems (and for that matter the GOP - not the Trump-ites) realize this zero sum dynamic must be overcome -- by real development, by real progress, for all, the sooner they will find political success.
3
I consider myself a male feminist on the issues and one that cannot stand feminist ideology. I would vote for the ERA today, I would have companies sued for wage disparity, I want more women in powerful positions in politics and commerce. But I get very alienated from feminism when I see a quote like Gillibrand’s no “gradation” when it comes to sexual violations towards women. There is always gradation in human behavior. As a motor vehicle owner, it is much worse for me to park in a spot I was not supposed to than driving extremely drunk endangering others’ lives. The same goes for sexual violations against women. Grouping does not equal rape. Not even close. A quote like Gillibrand’s is exactly the stuff that turns off sympathetic men and emboldens a backlash. We need these gradations, they are the basis of our laws and our society. I deservedly get a $100 ticket for parking in a spot reserved for others. I deservedly get my license revoked and maybe even jail time for driving hammered. Democrats need to embrace a more nuanced and fair rhetoric on sexual violations against women to keep men like me from tuning out their legitimate complaints.
7
If there is one surefire way for the Democrats to lose the next election, it is to focus their campaign on gender-issues.
3
This article seems to suggest that Democrats need to examine their conscience, one of the first of its kind I have seen in the NY Times.
I would think it's fine that Democrats are going to the mat for illegal migrants, women wronged and alt sexual IDs, IF I were a Republican.
Because for most folks writing up a list of concerns at the kitchen table, none of those will hit the top ten.
So, Republicans win again, unless Dems take the advice of this article and begin thinking about what it might take to actually win.
5
When feminists defend people like Lindy West and others who use lies to suggest women are permanent victims without a mind of their own it becomes very obvious that the feminist movement, if it even exists, is not interested in justice, but rather simply manipulating people for their own benefit.
Most people think that sexual harassment is bad. However, most people also know that not everything is sexual harassment. If a so called movement can't stick with reality they will not last long.
4
Please stop talking about Gillibrand like she might be presidential material. Her history defending tobacco, her railroading of Franken... She is everything you thought you didn't like about Hillary, but with more and bigger lies, and a holier than thou attitude. I voted for Hillary, I won't vote for Gillibrand - she's as deceitful as Trump, has no moral compass, and would not unite the country. At least the economy is doing OK under Trump - what's Gillibrand going to do for us, outlaw flirting?
4
James Carville said "it's the economy stupid". That still holds true.
Women's issues, transgender issues with bathrooms, 'safe spaces' at prestigious universities, DACA, rights for undocumented aliens, TPS for Salvadorans/Haitians are not going to attract mainstream voters' attention. They are much too (and have to be ) focused on the next paycheck.
I am a male (Asian) democrat who voted in 2016 for HRC but if the party comes up with candidates who run fringe issue campaigns or nominates women simply based on gender, I am staying home because this does nothing for the country.
The democratic party has been hijacked by 'fringists' much the same way as the Republicans were by the Tea Party.
4
The test will be in Minnesota in November. Now, thanks to Gilllibrand, BOTH MN senate seats are up for re-election in the same year, a year things are already daunting for Senate Dems with 25 (now 26) seats to defend.
Klobuchar will probably win re-election. But Hillary won MN by a whisker and MN is going the way of Wisconsin, a once reliably progressive, Democratic state turning increasingly red.
If Norm Coleman or Tim Pawlenty enter the race for the Franken seat and the Dems lose it, the name Gillibrand will be mud and the #MeToo movement will go the way of OWS, BLM and "A Better Deal."
4
Be careful that you don´t end up like some fundamental religions, where men and women are separated in public places, places of worship, etc . All to avoid temptation ,because "Evil" is everywhere.
3
This presentation is impeccable, Mr Edsall. A veritable botanical garden of polling numbers fills our senses as we quest the land assessing Chute? or Ladder?
Displaying Alex Castellanos in full bloom does do justice to the 'grandness' of Trump to his beholders, but up close, also imparts his decaying scent. That Republican strategist, like all Trump strategists, encourages and delights in the base visions of a Great White or T-Rex feeding.
The pre- and post-election comments from Mr Al-Gharbi underscore a KEY COMPONENT of Republican strategy: "Analysis shows that the Democrats' swords cut both ways." As designed, life-long Republicans will remember, foremost, WHO is cutting them.
And, now, the ADDITIONAL 2-way swords of #MeToo and women candidates are gaining prominence. Why? The KEY NUMBER is 56 percent. Incredibly, 56 percent of Republican men CAN CONSIDER voting FOR a candidate "accused of sexual harassment by multiple people." The KEY QUESTION is: CAN OVER HALF of male Democrat and Independent voters also consider a serial 'accused' candidate?
No. The masculine Great White is expiring from lack of forward movement. No. The elite-craving T-Rex is reduced to feeding on carcasses from Comet Trump's mass extinction event.
Thomas Edsall is one of the more intellectual opinion writers who appear regularly in the Times, and I usually find his columns to be rewarding. But this column, while interesting on a certain intellectual level, seems to me to lack any practical point.
What would Edsall have us do? - stop talking about sexual harassment because it might not help Democrats? It seems to me that would make us as bad as Republicans who deny that President Trump is a buffoon, because talk like that might be bad for their party - or Republicans who deny that Russians interfered in our elections because talk like that might hurt their party.
We should talk about problems because they are problems, and sexual harassment is clearly a problem. Fear of partisan consequences should never deter us from pursuing justice.
politicsbyeccehomo.wordpress.com
1
I'm a male, I vote democrat. My top issue is and has basically always been the economy. I supported Sanders because Clinton had no economic message that I could discern. Of course, I voted for Clinton in the end, because I'm not insane.
With midterms coming up, we still have no economic plan. Now we have this. I can feel my fellow males slipping away. I would go with them if I could.
The #metoo movement is not a democrat movement. The entertainment industry is hardly a republican stronghold. Al Franken was one of the most effective democrat senators in a generation. Democrats 'inherit' this one only because we have always been more sympathetic to equality and women's rights generally. Therein lies the danger.
#metoo has gone well overboard, for all the reasons already stated: accusation is proof, harassment is equal to rape, etc. But what is worse is that there is no policy goal to rally behind. It is unfocused rage without a solution, and if hung around democrats' necks, we will lose. Notice how quiet repubs have become?
Our only hope is to be the adults in the room. We should not choose sides in the gender wars. Accusations are serious, but need proof. Not all crimes are equal. It is the role of the courts, not the public, to convict. We need to demonstrate how responsible adults act in a lawful society. And start talking again about the economy. Fast.
3
Cultural change comes from grassroots efforts. Law enforcement change comes from local government. What place does a president have in this change, executive orders and memos? You can't solve sexism simply but decree from the top. My preference in politics is to avoid pushing these issues up to the federal level. I hope our current president has reminded people about the risks of the centralization of power.
Democrats have an history of being intellectually lazy and not focussing on broader issues that effect all of us. They need a broader strategy that includes all americans going into 2018 and specially 2020. But it takes hard work and negotiation to come up with this strategy.
"We should not have to be explaining the gradations between sexual assault, harassment and unwelcome groping. And what message do we send to our sons and daughters when we accept gradations of crossing the line? None of it is ok and none of it should be tolerated."
Senator Gillibrand, we should not tolerate murder, and we should not tolerate littering. But if we punish them with the same severity, we are North Korea. That's the message I want to send to our sons and daughters.
1
"Will Women Lead the Democrats to Victory?"
In other words, can the Democrats find some liberal social issue to boost their electoral chances so they don't have to risk angering their oligarchs by abandoning the corporatist centrism that has cost them elections at the local, state and national level?
3
There are different ways to frame the same issues, and everybody from pollsters to trial lawyers to advertising execs will tell you that framing matters. I think a lot of Democratic politicians have been lured in by social media rhetoric, which - for the sake of "Likes," shares, or re-tweets, maximizes controversy while minimizing universal appeal. If you describe gender discrimination in the workplace as a "women's issue," then you will get narrower support than if you describe it as "an issue about fundamental American fairness."
One of the reasons for Obama's enduring popularity (yes, even in 2016 his approval significantly was higher than both Clinton and Trump's) was that he always had a smart way of framing issues to broaden the appeal.
There is a large faction of Democrats and “liberals” that views every issue through a lens of identity.
And and every identity is special, every identity is valued, except for straight white men.
Some voters, like myself, look past that to the underlying policies, and find that Democrats are more to my liking than Republicans.
But as we saw last election, a growing number of white men, and their wives, are unwilling to do so.
While I don’t agree, I get it.
Being the villain in every story gets old, especially when your “privilege” is hidden under stagnating wages, layoffs, and elite contempt.
How hard would it be for Democrats to be a party of the WHOLE working and middle classes?
I watched Clinton call out every demographic group her consultants could dream up- with the exception of white men.
It was certainly noticed.
And she lost white men, and their wives, big time. To one of the worst candidates in American history.
Focus on economics and Democrats win.
Focus on identity and Republicans win.
That doesn’t mean issues of equality have be shelved.
But it does mean that leading with identity is a mistake and that painting every villain as Straight White Men or a tool of the patriarchy is a mistake (and racist and sexist).
Don’t take my word for it. Look at the losses Democrats have suffered in nearly every state over the past decade.
When your only hope of regaining political power is that Donald Trump is president, you should look in the mirror.
7
Women will indeed lead the way, I bet, if women can figure out how not to be a "dog bites man" story. Of course women are energized by certain current issues. Very pressing ones!
But politics is about man bites dog. It is mass media with consequences, one could say.
Women will lead the way if they can solve this rudimentary political puzzle. If not, it's Hillary 2.0.
And we cannot afford that.
The problem that this displays is what happens when advocates try to link different issues because they think that doing so will promote support amongst those who suffer from both. Well sexual harassment and gender inequality are different problems as well as political preferences. Combining them leads to a presumption that male chauvinism is crucial to sexual harassment, gender inequality, and Republican authoritarianism, and that is where it all falls apart. Women who are conservatives are not weak victims of male exploitation, they are just conservatives. Women who are denied equal pay for equal work and are not promoted as rapidly as men usually are not the victims of sexual predators and not any deliberate male chauvinism. Women and men are amongst the victims of sexual harassment and worse, and the perpetrators are enabled by a failure to enforce social standards against such behavior. Trying to over simplify complex issues can have unexpected results.
I am tired of analysts and pundits pointing out what they feel is a politically expedient position at some point in time. The truth is that doing what is right and decent is what matters. It is the right thing to do to support equal rights for all Americans regardless of race, religion, gender, sexual orientation or ethnicity and to take the steps necessary to protect those rights. This obviously extends to the matter of sexual harassment of women or men. Any politician regardless of gender, religion or party affiliation that does not fully support this will not get my vote.
In a sane world this might be fodder for discussion. However, we now living in a television series: Trump, the Presidency. Trump supporters so desperately want him to be the man he was on the Apprentice. And so we create our own TV series, complete with cliffhangers (will there be a government shutdown?), tearful moments (a father sent home to Mexico leaving sobbing children at the gate), villains (those men who dare to destroy our national parks), danger (those bombs in North Korea) and intrigue (the Mueller investigation). We picture Trump as the decisive deal maker we know on TV. Can any women measure up, other than Oprah? The problem? Real life is not TV. In real life, we don't need or want that drama. However, in this day and age, should we not ask: "will it sell on TV?"
"Will Women Lead the Democrats to Victory?"
They better do, after Al Franken was thrown under the bus by the DNC bent on beating the Republicans, making the ultimate sacrifice.
Repeat after me:
Strengthen Healthcare and Reduce income inequality (meaning the 1% vs. the rest of us, not men vs. women)
Stick with those two issues, which have broad appeal across both the Democratic Base and Independents (and even Republicans although they'll never vote a Democrat no matter who he or she is...)
A question that I haven't seen raised is whether abuse, sexual or otherwise, is an issue for government. Short of national level laws with enforcement mechanisms, federal government doesn't have any leverage here. I remember the ERA fiasco. That was the last and best chance for a government response. Now, as many commenters here say, it may not be an effective issue to run on. It may be best to keep it for the dog whistle. White men are probably wearying of being scolded and on such emotions the 2016 election turned. (And emotions are extremely easy to exploit.) Continuing along that path means that democrats have learned nothing, and as usual, would rather feel good about themselves than win.
We should avoid overestimating the importance of gender issues, including sexual harassment and sexual assault, in the election. There was belief that Clinton would gain an advantage among female voters that would make the election insurmountable for Trump. While Clinton did end up with a clear advantage, Trump still manage to take over 4 out of 10 women votes and had a majority among white women. This is after his infamous "grab 'em" comment and allegations of sexual assault. A candidate can claim to speak for "all women," but the results just don't bear out that level of solidarity.
This doesn't mean the issue won't influence the election, or that a female Democratic candidate can't win. I think it's just too easy to lose perspective by focusing on gender as a decisive issue and lose sight of the fact voters may focus more on other issues or the person of the candidate.
Lots of interesting data points and opinions in this piece. But what really matters?
For a start, campaign strategy for presidential races need to be entirely different than for local races.
If DEMs want to increase their local presence, they need to run LOCAL races, fielding local candidates well known and connected within their respective communities, and they need to tailor their messages to those communities and the issues of concern in those communities. LOCAL candidates addressing LOCAL concerns.
As far as the presidency, as long as the electoral college decides, then the only thing that matters is to win over the swing voters in swing states. There are just a few states and just a few voters that really decide elections. That is where the focus needs to be. Of course, that doesn't mean to neglect everything else. But without the focus there is no hope of winning the presidency.
2
Democrats should continue to support and work for specific, well-crafted laws and regulations that improve and preserve the dignity of women in the work place as well as regulations that promote pay parity with men. Smart Democrats will not join themselves with #MeToo because different people who identity with the movement espouse widely divergent viewpoints and policy proposals. Smart Democrats will also be sure that the main elements of their platforms are proposals that benefit as broad a group as possible, e.g., paid family leave, mandatory minimum wage, et cet.
5
It's wierd the way the harassment scandal is interpreted as a matter of men oppressing women rather than employers oppressing employees. I've heard that it's easier to fire someone in the US than in any other country, and that gives bosses a huge weapon against employees who fail to submit to them.
I once had an incompetent boss who held onto his job for months by threatening the jobs of subordinates who knew how stupid he was. Sexually harassing female employees is just one piece of the problem, but pretending that it is the whole problem weakens the power of "me-too-ism"
21
Democrats are becoming to racial politics and immigration what the Republican are to gun rights. Automatic and reflexive, and in the pockets of the lobby.
9
I'm looking for a pair of women to take the helm for the Democrats...don't even think about another male!
4
Pretty simple, really - Democrats should : 1. back economic populism 2. stop hating on men 3. stop hating on white people.
14
So many comments by men. Not me .
3
Gillibrand is Hillary II. Surely not even the Democratic party is stupid enough to insult voters two elections in a row.
Hill/Gill are creatures of the upper classes when plutocracy is the greatest danger confronting American democracy.
For all their self-idolization as children's champions, the Clintons were the couple who ended Roosevelt's family support program (AFDC) casting millions of children into extreme poverty. And it was the Clintons who broke up millions of black families with their mass incarceration policies.
The problem with the Hill/Gill school of politics is that it is utterly deracinated from the increasingly stark and ugly realities of class in America because they are rooted in the ruling class.
The great victory for women in America is not whether Hill shatters the glass ceiling in her personal quest for power. It is whether or not America heals itself from the extreme household poverty that blights the land.
Unfortunately this is not the priority of the Hill/Gills.
14
MEMO TO DEMOCRATIC LEADERSHIP: It's the economy, Stupid (especially people's personal economy, i.e. each family's job situation and financial circumstances). Didn't the 2016 debacle teach you that identity politics--add gender politics to that--are a road to nowhere?
13
Can Democrats follow #metoo to victory?
Nooooooooo! No more culture wars and neo-liberalism!
Return to your roots Dems!
13
Accusations of "sexism" are used to silence opponents. Democrats hurl such accusations all the time.
Accusations of "racism" are used to silence opponents. Democrats hurl such accusations all the time.
Accusations of "denier" are used to silence opponents. Democrats hurl such accusations all the time.
Perhaps the Millennials have finally figured out that the Ds just vomit unprovable accusations whenever they have no substance to their beliefs.
9
can't win if your platform is basically I hate Trump * Me Too
5
People do not want socialism; that is obviously apparent. The tax and spend crowd (like Cuomo) have people leaving their states. Business and the economy is booming as Apple is paying 38 billion to the U.S. gov't in taxes (which this paper buried); no the public is smarter than the staged performance of Cory Booker and the democrat liars.
3
Cory Booker first term in Washing ton now has his sights set on POTUS. Not so fast Cory. Yelling at people while trying to score points for me was an epic fail.
1
Leave it to Democrats to think they can. If they think they can ride one pony like the #metoo movement to mid term glory, they'll get crushed"
4
Huge error if they try. It’s a legitimate issue, but only one of several. This is a mistake the Dems have made for generations: find an issue, allow it to be co-opted by the most extreme wing of their followers, get trounced in general elections. If they think that “me too”, in all of its many flavors and degrees of intensity is the answer in a general election (with the stock market booming and unemployment at record lows), they deserve to lose. Here’s some philosophy from a prominent (but hardly perfect) Democrat: “it’s the economy, stupid”!!!
4
Can't bother to read this! But my reaction to the headline was, "hasn't worked so far!"
4
Actually, it's worked quite well this year - even in places like Georgia and Oklahoma.
1
Those white men are lost forever. They are never coming back to vote democrat. And it doens't matter. Embrace the people who actually do.
4
Excellent article cautioning against a tunnel vision on the metoo# movement. What is important to recognize is the shift already having taken place when inappropriate behavior can be held accountable 10, 15, 20 years down the line. Big message: behave yourself. 2nd big message: move on knowing the history of the 2017 reckoning on sexual aggression is not a net you want to get caught up in. Read Jon Krakauer's Missoula -- there he lays out just how few men are repeat predators. But unchecked, these few men can do an enormous amount of damage. Democrats risk reelection if they overstate/reach.
4
Don’t get me wrong. Rape and sexual harassment are heinous. The “#MeToo” movement is a step towards acknowledgement of humane truth. But, wait a minute, this smells a bit like: “I’m With Her” which fell short of the goal line. Ever since the defeat of the ERA in the 70’s I was confused and disappointed about the states’ failure to ratify. After all, there are more women voters than men, right? And some men are allies, so what was up with that? Frankly oppression is like inertia: a body at rest tends to stay at rest. Plus manipulation and coercion influence people into voting against their interests (See: Trump, 2016). Further the most vocal and publicized MeToo-ers are celebrities when in fact the bulk of the iceberg are folks (women and men) who are in the anonymous masses. Until perpetrators start getting convicted and going to jail for assault this “movement” has no real claws. Some men of color may go down but the white guys will just get other jobs or be consoled by Alex Jones.
Equality is as equality does! Equal justice, equal economics, equal opportunity for all without being smeared as socialism or communism would be the best start. The Dems are just looking for a catch phrase (Like MAGA) to skate by their obligation to champion real societal change in all spheres. Keep “MeTooing” and “BlackLivesMattering” but put your votes against oligarchical oppression. But the pols would have to come clean about their donors and be exposed to voters as #NotmeToo!
1
Enough, enough, enough of the identity politics. What part of this doesn't the DNC understand?
It's the ECONOMY, stupid!
17
The problem for Democrats is that the economy is in great shape, some of it clearly attributable to steps the Republicans have taken, so identity politics is all Democrats have to offer.
75 cents on the dollar IS the economy for half of America.
Excellent information here. If the Democrats want to champion women's issues, fine. It is long overdue. If they want to win elections, though, it gets more complicated. The problem isn't the righteousness of that cause, it's that the cause isn't universal enough. Both parties slice and dice the electorate into one-issue warrens, then try to win by telling each group what polling says that group wants to hear, often contradicting what they say in appeals to other groups. Lost in all that is the greatness a true leader needs to unify and lead the country.
The Democrats are especially bad about this. Their grab bag of special interests totaling 51% of the electorate isn't the same thing as a unified energized party. Sanders came out of nowhere and exposed this weakness.
So fine Democrats, women issues belong in your bag. But if you don't start with sincerity about universal principles, like equality, and work down to the specifics, like women's issues, you will lose. Again.
9
The numbers and trends in this article are really hard to follow.
I would argue the key is to find a young, charismatic politician who can return us to a forward looking nation, developing technologies and policies that bring us great success in the future.
There are a lot of Millennial women voters. Women Millennial voters are different than their moms and grandmothers. They have different lives, delaying childbearing years, investing large amounts of money in higher education, staying single. They do have some different views on relationships, but most are much less traditional. All this adds up to a group of women who are much less likely to accept the victim shame / blame game, less shocked by modern dating, less likely to think sexual harassment is the price you pay (truthfully, creepy old men did groom a lot of women in the 60s and 70s to put up with creepy men now), less likely to think that women's wages are not supporting the family (they are!) and therefore put up with lesser wages, etc.
The question is how do you get these women out.
And how do you get out the vote, including all the minorities that have been disparaged, the women who have been grabbed, the progressives who have been shocked as to the retrograde and frankly deplorable legislation that has been passed by the GOP?
Millennial men need to realize that the days of one-income huge families is over, mostly because wages just aren't high enough.
1
Just like the media fanned the flames of the fake outrage of the Clintons to help give Trump the win, this year they will do it by beating this years' dead horse.
Yes. There are social issues that need attention but using them as a prime political stick is guaranteeing that nothing will be done and that even more men will vote Republican to keep their man cards in good standing. It's obvious after last year that they vote for their gender first and foremost. I'm beginning to think that is the goal, frankly. It's not like there aren't enough travesties going on in this country that don't need attention.
1
Without a bold plan for the economy, for education, for medical care, the Democrats are toast. The economy is doing very well, but income inequality and the cost of health care is killing the middle class. Instead of addressing this, the Democrats decide what America wants to hear is a lecture on sexual etiquette? That's not a winning strategy, that isn't what we pay taxes to have our government provide.
Women may very well lead the Democrats to victory, but the #MeToo movement is more of a liability than anything else. To win, they will still need the votes of white, male voters, as well as others who would like to think they can be flirtatious without running the risk of being jailed by the PC Police.
10
The MeToo movement is what- four months old? In four months of serious discussions about gender equality and the evils of pervasive sexual harassment in the workplace, it would appear that many liberal men (and NYTimes readers) have already become very, very weary of the conversation and are considering switching sides in upcoming elections because they just can't abide by it any more. I have read the phrase "Sorry, ladies, you've lost me" more than a few times over the last several days. I am more disheartened about this than I have been about nearly anything since Trump was elected. You would move to affiliate with a party that backs up the evil of Trump rather than (at minimum) bear with the women of this country while we attempt to right something that has been wrong for generations?
3
I would never ever even think of voting for a Republican but even as a man of color, I certainly feel the bite of the what the women's movement has become. Any more of this and the women's movement has lost me although I would still vote democrat
Trump , mouthed what voters (men and women ) wanted to hear . Most Americans will resent having issues they disagree with being shoved down their throats , the trend towards overly political correctness also contributed . On the opposite side , the Democrats have latched onto movements that at times get a bit radical , there is no balancing , and they come across as effete . That being said , I will vote for whoever I feel is the most qualified based on experience , and sensible decisions not gender. Both parties are in disarray , doubt very seriously the # me too movement will make much of a dent . Movements become necessary when the abuse becomes unbearable but , there is the threat of a movement being upended by becoming excessive and radical . People in this country are more concerned with economic issues , hence Trump won even though he probably is the most unqualified person to ever sit in the White house.
1
In order to become electable, the Democrats need to stop hating the following groups: white people, men, and cops.
5
I would prefer the GOP stop hating minorities, women, victims of police violence and sexual assault, our environment, income equality, voter rights, fair districting, public education, fair taxation, health care and Sesame Street.
1
If some of the majority of white women who voted for Trump open their eyes, then maybe. But the Dems would do well to focus on more than METOO, as important as it is and continues to be....
HRC dismissed and insulted working-class voters with her "Deplorable and Irredeemable" attitude and comments, thereby losing the . The DNC must avoid a repeat of such narrow, limousine-liberal attitudes....
That said, METOO is a godsend to silent victims. I am one, and remained silent after my aunt molested me throughout my very young years as a small child. I wish I had not felt so alone, fearful, and ashamed. METOO can save others from that.
1
As a a feminist man, I can imagine how many Americans, including women, feel that women are demanding special rights or treatment. On college campuses, when a young man and woman are inebriated and have sex, she is help not responsible for her decisions, while he is. Recent Times op-ed pieces, too, demand equality but also insist that women aren't responsible for "not saying no", blaming patriarchy instead. I understand the argument being made here, but most Americans will see only hypocrisy and credit strong women only with being obnoxious man-haters. The culture of victimization is not a winner for Democrats.
11
and not all victims are female, nor attackers male. 1/3 of child victims are boys, with many the victims of females. My aunt molested me for years when I was very small.
3
I can only wonder how many of those white women, Trump voters experienced sexual harassment. Some of them must have, and I guess they accepted it as living in America. How would those women have felt if their daughters were harassed? How many men would accept being sexually harassed by another man? It happens in prison. I can't imagine many of us men would put up with sexual harassment. When will mistreatment of other humans no longer be tolerated by a majority of Americans?
4
I think Edsall is missing the main point. Embracing the #MeToo movement would be a mistake for Democrats because it is a regressive far Leftist overreaction (similar to BLM) to a real social issue. And most importantly both movements share an anti free speech and anti democratic ideology that is anathema to any decent thinking American. I say to Democrats- stay away with a ten foot pole.
10
I voted for Hillary not because she's a woman, but because she was qualified and her opponent is among the most detestable humans on earth. But I got really tired of the campaign messages about why it's so important to elect a woman to the presidency... this is an historic opportunity... if you don't vote for her it means you think women aren't as good as men... blah blah. It turned a lot of voters off, including me. It was just another of her mistaken strategies of overweighting "identity politics." In my humble opinion, that whole approach was a big factor in her defeat. Please don't repeat it.
11
The Dems should find a viable platform focusing on pocket-book issues and offer their plan for continuing the economic miracle happening under Trump administration. If the Dems continue to deny that our economy is the strongest it has been in a while, they risk being seen as head-in-sand Ostrich.
NHS in Britain in in deep deep trouble, and even bluest of blue states such as California have determined that single payer model is not financially viable. If the progressive wing of the party pushes the moderates to adopt extreme positions, then the Dems will be in for another rude shock.
#MeToo is beginning to look more and more silly as Brigitte Bardot said yesterday. She even said that some of these actresses crying foul now "played the tease to get the roles" and when they became passe, cried sexual harassment. Phony as three dollar bill.
7
Remember Obama saved t he country from the Bush recession. Trump was not involved; he just built on Obama's success. Hilary did not bring this accomplishment up in her campaign.
Sad to say that #MeToo will go the way of every Women’s Rights activist moment: get lost in outrage fatigue, and likely spark a backlash, especially if #MeToo winds up being a witch hunt that takes down minions of men without due process, with equal punishment for those who make a crude remark or gesture to those who systematically extort sex, assault or rape. Last year, the Women’s March drew largest protest in history was quickly overshadowed – and its issues ignored – by Travel Ban, Paris Climate Accord, Repeal & Replace, gun massacres, North Korea, DACA. One can argue that each one of these also falls under the Women’s Rights Agenda, but women are ignored. The only “issue” that is definitive is sexual assault and reproductive rights, and the patriarchy is adept at pushing these way, way down their totem pole, except when it is convenient to bring out the rabid Christian Right who want to kill abortion rights (tantamount to killing women's right to self-determination) altogether.
3
Furthering the #MeToo cause is necessary but insufficient in terms of ensuring Democratic victories in upcoming midterms.
2
As of right now, Trump is ruling the narrative. He certainly will not be 'promoting' gender issues or sexual behavior issues. Since the Democrats have so far been unable to take away Trump's power in directing our and the media's national discourse, it is hard to predict what will be the defining issue of the 2018 and 2020 elections. It is simply a sad fact that Trump is running the show.
The Democrats need to field candidates at all levels of government who are well informed and not tainted like a Roy Moore. Their gender should not matter.
On the issues that Democrats should support, Trump got to the Oval Office because he is a bully who hates almost everybody and he had no record.
In 2018 and 2020, he will have a record to run against. Democrats need to steer clear of identity politics and gender. Democrats need to point out how Trump's lies have hurt America regarding the economy, public health, public education, pollution due to deregulation. Sexual misconduct will not win seats as an important issue. Trump and the GOP will make sure of that.
3
Politicizing the metoo movement is a mistake. For the most part anyway. Metoo has been assumed to be about morals or criminality or how to integrate romantic love into a society that devalues platonic love particularly for men. But at it's very base it's much more visceral. Metoo is asking "are women people?" This is why the gender divide is so severe and why 'family women' are going so far as to denounce feminism. Obviously most women think they're people and they know what happened to them and whether or not it hurt their career or their family. But men don't always agree. This is why men are retreating on this issue. Some realize that women aren't some dark chaotic force of mostly bad and possibly seduction, but a lot of men are more willing to empathize with whatever man is in the story than the woman telling her story. The men ranting and raving about how metoo is going to ruin their lives are probably right, but not - as they claim - because all women are liars and sneaky social/career climbers, but because those men do not think of women as people and have probably ruined a woman's life or career at some point. Casting the opponent as a sexual predator won't help because even if it's true, predatory men are everywhere. Such a strategy will immediately backfire. However, if the Democratic party starts treating women like people (and candidates) and takes THAT aspect of metoo to the polls, they'll have a bit more luck.
1
As a woman who has been seriously sexually harassed and who has always considered myself a Progressive (I always feel the need to 'qualify' myself as having a 'right' to speak about this) I am completely turned off by Gillibrand and her willingness to throw people under the bus for a political agenda (and/or her political aspirations.) I see the conflation of serious sexual harassment or rape with mild so-called groping, or bad judgment, etc as extremely problematic for two reasons: the watering down of what sexual harassment means which makes it MORE difficult to address serious problems, and the inevitable backlash as a result of a lynch mob mentality. Additionally, when looking into her past and seeing that she chose to defend Big Tobacco and participated in such a momentous societal fraud and coverup as an attorney; it causes me to question how she could possibly be coming from any meaningful moral stance.
33
Gillibrand was happy to have accused rapist Bill Clinton --for whom i voted twice, and now question my support--campaign for her, yet was opportunistic and hypocritical enough to say Franken had to go right now, without the ethics investigation he requested and deserved.
5
I agree with you, a misjudged word, or a pat on the knee, while unwelcome, is not the same as a sexual assault.
4
I think backlash against the Me Too movement has already started. Kristen Gillibrand went too far when she said all cases of sexual harassment deserved the same response, and let the charge to force Frankin from office. Now we have the whiney story about "harassment" by Aziz Ansari that maybe wasn't harassment after all.
No question, sexual harassment is wrong. But the Democrats aren't going to win using it as their main issue.
And they are not going to win back control over the country by veering further left. Look at why Trump won: promises of prosperity and safety.
30
Go to a left-learning publication and read the comments on the Ansari episode. Calculate the proportion who are not supporting 'Grace.' It's not just conservative men who have become wary of #MeToo.
Taking this a step further, why not have all the Democratic candidates support legislation for a "Mother may I?" consent law?
6
The power structure in the United States consists primarily of white men and you can feel their panic as women seriously begin to question their ability to lead. They are right to be scared, because not only are we more level headed, more compassionate, and more thoughtful, we are now educated and angry. We are no longer willing to stand by while men make short sighted decisions about the future of our planet and our people.
Women understand the difficulties of human existence and we are sickened by the way the male power structure has given huge benefits to powerful corporations like Walmart allowing them to rape and pillage our small towns and economies. We know that focusing on short term profits is a sure way to use up our resources now, leaving nothing for the future. We know how hard it is to create a human life and would do anything to see one is not wasted on a battlefield.
Women also know that we have let the men run things for a long time, and things keep getting worse. Our planet is literally dying while the white male sitting in the White House cozies up to coal companies. Our women are dying in childbirth at an alarming rate while he also kills our ability to receive proper healthcare. Our people are killing themselves with guns and opiods and money keeps getting poured into the NRA and big Pharma. The list could go on.
So, yes women will lead us out of this dark chapter in human history. I must believe that, because the status quo is a dead end.
There's a gravestone in Rochester that probably still has adhesive residue on it, and a few yarn shops with unsold hot-pink worsted. Enough with the feel-good symbolism. If everyone had simply, you know, voted in 2010, 2014, and 2016, we wouldn't need this drama now. I've reached the age when the Left's penchant for thinking that right thinking can replace real work is too embarrassing to ignore.
1
When is the last time we have heard anything about Occupy Wall Street?
A few years ago it was the idea that was going to "transform the country."
When is the last time we have heard anything about Black Lives Matter?
Two years go it was the idea that was going to "transform the country."
Now it is the #MeToo idea that will "transform the country."
And in a year it, too, will be ancient history, as liberals move on to some other hot issue that actually only a small number of people care about in a passionate manner.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, what captures peoples' passions, and keeps it, are such mundane matters as whether they have a job, their healthcare, their safety, and mostly their children's welfare. They sit and watch a lot of liberal screaming and wonder what it's all about.
A lot of even liberally-inclined men are not going to respond well, emotionally, to Gillibrand's take-down of Al Franken, who never got a chance to defend himself or apologize or go through the process of an ethics committee investigation. #MeToo is a broadside against all men, not just against the few who commit sexual assaults. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, a lot of women are more concerned with those "mundane" matters than whether a comedian acted in a piggish manner on one occasion.
Liberals have no stable message that people can grab hold of. Instead, they are being blown by whatever wind is created by the latest group of victims that makes the news.
So we get Trump.
9
Not enough Democratic women will ever come to a consensus, on any issues, to be able to provide leadership. Just look at the fiasco "me too" is becoming.
4
It is a fact passing strange for me that any woman in her right mind could have voted for Trump. I grew up believing that women were better-looking, smarter and stronger than men. No more.
4
I watch TV news shows frequently and am astounded by the bare arms, plunging necklines, and displays of upper, upper parts of legs by many (probably most) women on these shows. Some of them are journalists whose views and reporting I greatly respect. But why do they dress like this? I assume it is because networks have found that scantily dressed sexy looking women newscasters attract more viewers than women in "business attire." Typical TV news dress for women today would not be allowed in many business offices in the "real" world.
My concern is that voters view female candidates in the same way that networks and their viewers view female journalists. Many men (and many women, sad to say) will not vote for a woman who does not look (or dress) like a TV news journalist. Angela Merkel, Margaret Thatcher, Golda Meir---would never stand a chance in America.
If only Hillary had had thinner ankles.
7
I voted for HRC, but can understand why working class voters might be a tad bothered by HRC having so dismissed and insulted them with her "Deplorable and Irredeemable" comments, as well as her Limousine-Liberal outlook.
4
Let's hope so. It's about time we looked at social issues. Certainly the erratic Trump doesn't even understand what a social issue is. He being a flagrant abuser of women. Democrats are also leaders in racial issues, health care, affordable education for all Americans and better governance. The arrogant Republicans with their ignorant leaders just passed this tax bill. Another sweeping victory for the very rich and corporations. Whoops, I forgot, corporations are people and many very rich don't pay taxes. So with this new tax law will they get a refund? Anyway, didn't Reagan do enough damage with his 'trickle-down economy'?
Decisions in a family should be made together. Men should take part in all the child rearing and domestic tasks. If a woman wants to stay home she has the right to. If a woman wants to work she also has the right to do so and be treated with respect by her co-workers. Not be sexually harassed by people in power like Trump always in fear of their job. They shouldn't be threatened by the people over them. Religion should not be a part of the work place in general any more than it has a place in government. No person should be threatened at his/her work place.
It may be highly volatile for Democrats in 2018 but I'm going to hang in there as I have for my past 65 years of voting. Yes I'm 83 and still a progressive or liberal or advanced thinker (or whatever you name callers want to call me) and don't expect to change now. Go women! Go Progressives! #MeTo
1
All these surveys and stats Edsall loves so much are insignificant. Essentially, women and minorities have been "woke" by this dreadful administration, and they are voting Democratic.
2
I write as a strong supporter of Hillary Clinton and a lifelong Democrat. I will not vote for Kirsten Gillibrand as long as she stands by her statement (quoted in the article) that she refuses to recognize gradations of offenses. Al Franken admitted he had committed offenses and requested an ethics review. Gillibrand led a campaign to destroy his career. The punishment does not fit the offense.
By refusing to see gradations, and by refusing to accept due process, Gillibrand has done more to harm the #metoo movement's outreach to men and skeptical women than any other person. As Mr. Edsall implies, #metoo is at risk for being a vote loser for Democrats. Democrats have a long and ugly history of caving in to loudmouth radicals who cannot see gradations and who shun due process. They (not we) have done it again.
55
David N., I agree. I am also a life long Democrat and Sanders supporter who ended up voting for Hillary Clinton. To me, Kirsten Gillibrand will forever be the self serving and self righteous politician who ruined the career of one of the smartest and most articulate progressive voices on the American political stage, Al Franken, over a stupid stunt. The Republicans would have seated Roy Moore in a heartbeat. I wrote the DNC over this. Kirsten Gillibrand needn't send me a contributions request. I begin to wonder if the Democrats really want to win.
3
This is a sure win. Men behaving badly, will resonate through out the Universe. Republicans, conservatives and Trump enablers will pay the price for their dirty jokes, over the top innuendo, rushing hands and roaming fingers. And, worse.
As long as there are some Democrat men and male MSM talkers still around, in November. Don't believe me. Ask Oprah.
Men will be left out of the message entirely, and Democrats will lose.
8
Democrats can win in 2018 and beyond, but not by running on #MeToo. The movement classifies all women as victims and all men as perps or potential perps. It is not a winning strategy; look at the backlash from the #MeToo story about Aziz Ansari. Run on economics and jobs, not wedge issues.
15
The impression I get is that the me-too-ists care little about due process when people are accused of bad behavior, nor can they make distinctions between criminals and jerks. I certainly don't want the criminal justice system run that way, though I suppose anything would be an improvement over Trump.
3
Due process is a criminal law concept that tries to ensure fairness in court proceedings. In the court of public opinion free speech is thought to ensure fairness. Look at Azari's pushback against his anonymous accuser's account of a "bad" date.
Democrats need to speak to all of America. They need to win back Wisconsin, Ohio and Pennsylvania. If this liberal, life-long Democrat is finding the metoo movement to be morphing into a with hunt (think Ansari) then how is this platform going to move middle America?
26
The Me Too movement is not morphing into a witch hunt. One woman ("Grace") complained about a bad date with Ansari, and an article was published in a fringe publication about that date. The discussion went mainstream, and got a lot of people talking.
There was a very wide range of opinions among women (including feminists) about the article. Most women seemed to feel that Grace should have simply spoken up on the date, said no, and left. And most of us also think she should not have named Ansari, even if she did want to spark a conversation about dating behavior.
So don't claim that Grace represents the views of all women, or even a significant minority of women, or the Me Too movement. Grace spoke only for herself. The fact that you are attributing her views to a much broader movement of women says more about you than about the movement.
4
Not unless they denounce Bill Clinton.
3
The answer to the question you pose is “no”. The Dems cannot and should not try to run on #MeToo. They should run on the growing inequality in our economy and they should get back in touch with their working class routes.
Please, please stop talking about Kristin Gillibrand as a presidential candidate. Here in Minnesota there are thousands of feminists like me who bitterly resent her throwing Al Franken under a bus ... and we are not going to forget it.
45
I view Gillibrand's urging the resignation of Al Franken without due process by the Senate Ethics Committee to have been in her own interest. She has her eye on a presidential run and Al was a potentially viable opponent. Even as a strong feminist, I could not ever vote for her. She lumped Franken in with Weinstein (not a fair comparison) and over-reacted. She made her own determination of the extent of his guilt, which doesn't bode well for how she would make decisions in the White House.
3
I'm a man who's only ever voted for Democrats (besides one regretful vote for Ralph Nader), but #metoo has shut me up in a way that I've never experienced before. I think I have balanced views on the subject (Harvey Weinstein is evil, Al Franken was railroaded by opportunists), but I will never again try to have a balanced discussion on the subject. My usual liberal, female conversation partners aren't interested at all in hearing me process my feelings out loud.
I don't know if this will change any of my votes in 2018, but I'm glad Tammy Baldwin isn't on the ballot this year. Her participation in Franken's outrageously sexist ouster was a tipping point in my attitude about the Wisconsin Democrats; if the Dems double down on #metoo this year then they may lose me, but they'll certainly lose other men.
Take a lesson from 2016. People who are afraid to speak their views in public will find catharsis in the anonymity of the voting booth.
57
#metoo started out with clear noble goals but has devolved into almost a witch hunt against men.
Bari Weiss in her opinion piece gives a good example where Abby Nierman's accusation of Aziz Ansari open the door to every bad date or unsatisfying sexual encounter to be later considered assault.
6
No, they cannot. Male candidates can be subjected to trivial gotcha! techniques, as the anonymous “exposé” of Aziz Ansari reveals.
Write in candidate Al Franken for US Senator from New York in 2018!
6
The #MeToo “movement” attracts attention from journalists because it focuses on celebrities. However, that hashtag is not key to American women’s growing disillusionment with Trump and his macho GOP allies.
Women aren’t silly. Many are single mothers tasked to find food, shelter, and daycare for their children. They may well have parents dependent on Social Security, sisters with disabled children who need Medicaid, addicted grown brothers who require treatment. Such women appreciate the importance of Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, sturdy social safety nets. They don’t obsess over Louis CK or NYT debates swirling around Aziz Ansari.
Donald Trump’s crude, erratic, dishonest behavior, and his destructive cabinet, coupled with Paul Ryan’s heartless Tea Party plans to gut Medicare and Medicaid, and Mitch McConnell’s allegiance to the rich, all help explain recent, surprising electoral victories for Democratic candidates.
Women actually don’t spend much time writing #MeToo Tweets or gathering in shrill groups to complain about men. Yes, it’s true they do NOT enjoy domestic or workplace injustices that render them subject to randy bullies and/or reduce their salaries. Fair?
Millions of white women supported Donald Trump. Many still do. Lots of other women are watching and thinking.
Note: women are not a precious “identity politics” “Minority” highlighted by impractical Democrats. We constitute the majority of American citizens.
3
The winning issue is right in front of Democrats. No need to go looking for it.
What a pity Wall Street objects.
So back to identify politics, proclamations of personal virtue and now #MeToo....
Absent a national crisis, you don't win elections this way, but it's great for the funders and the permanent Democratic party leadership.
Barack Obama! Barack Obama! Works great!
3
Unless and until Progressive activists can join together on issues of class, the Republicans will keep winning the hearts and minds of working people. Those independents who would hold favorable views towards transgender issues asked, "Why are we talking about bathrooms more and jobs less?" Look at the history of the Women's movement and civil rights for people of color. Their balkanization of interests gives joy to conservatives and keeps them in power. Ask yourself why the current energy towards issues of gender are not taking on, say, Rap music. It's about the jobs, stupid. It is important to see that while issues of gender and sexuality are perhaps our number one issue culturally, electorally it is about the economy.
3
"Can Democrats Follow #MeToo to Victory?"
Only in their dreams.
9
If having a moral stance will win you fewer voters so be it. I wouldn't ride the #metoo nor would I stop or mitigate that movement. Young white males are always going to have a "problem" with gender equality. Some grow out of it, some end up being the "old white man" with a mentality of the 1950s.
I want the Democratic party to represent liberal ideas of equality and to back ideas that will bring us to that ideal.
2
While the narrative that that Republican are anti-women, the Democrats lack a clean bill of health on a professional workplace.
Of the great purge of a few hundred powerful men and one woman that is the #MeToo movement, I would like to see how many of the accused classify themselves as Democrats or Republicans. Hollywood tends to lean very liberal, and Hollywood has been the greatest sandbox for workplace sexual harassment. Look-up "casting couch". Don't do it on a work computer.
2
Glad to see you back Mr. Edsall!
This article confirms my gut feelings on the issue. The next part of this story will be how women are as vicious as men. While they are not so much the sexual predators that men are now being shown to be, there are predatory women, some of them incredibly so and in ways that confound like the facts of this article relate. They can be counted on to back up a profoundly unsupportable man with the most absurd justifications on one hand as well as counted to police their own kind that are as invisible to men as it is deadly for the women they take down.
I say this as a woman who has seen what women are capable of. They are no less vicious than men. Not all men or women mind you, but just because you are a woman is no cover for some of the most heinous behavior imaginable.
5
In short, women are largely helpless in the face of the alpha-est monkey. Men admire that as well. Women are jealous and spiteful in the face of a dominant woman. Men are fearful.
When Gillibrand says "...we should not have to explain the gradations of sexual assault...", I am not sure exactly which group I just mentioned mentioned that she is trying to make hay with.
Good luck with that. What percent of white women preferred Trump? Why? Will anyone among the Dems care to figure that out?
3
Do white people vote Democratic? No. Do white women vote Democratic? No.
So the answer is no because white people are not Democrats.
4
Whites, especially white women and whites with a college degree, are defecting from Trump in substantial numbers.
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/01/the-voters-abandoni...
His support among millennials was always rather weak, but it has declined even further:
"Trump in 2016 narrowly won younger whites. But he now faces crushing disapproval ratings ranging from 62 percent to 76 percent among three big groups of white Millennials: women with and without a college degree, and men with a degree. Even among white Millennial men without a degree, his most natural supporters, Trump only scores a 49-49 split."
1
No! MeToo is not going to lead the Dems to victory. And they are stepping into a trap if they think it will. I don't think Ms. Gillibrand/the Dems realize how deep the anger is regarding the whole Al Franken debacle. (And if MeToo is associated with any more "Aziz Ansari" type finger-pointing, it's only going to get worse.)
5
Focus too much on #MeToo without tempering it’s excesses and we will end up with another bathroom like debacle.
Remember the majority of whites women voted for Trump instead of the first female President knowing he’s vulgar and a braggart.
Let’s focus on healthcare and the economy and helping unprotected America workers and taxpayers.
3
Discrimination and harassment should not be tolerated anywhere, anytime. That said, making the fight against these the central platform will not win elections. In the end, elections are won as they usually are: by whomever sells their ideas for economic prosperity. As Bill Clinton succinctly put it: "It's the economy, stupid!" True then, and perhaps even more true now.
The surest path to equality and respect is through the pocketbook. The Dems seem to have forgotten this basic truth and it has cost them. Until they get back to the formula of helping to raise the working and middle class first and foremost they'll be stirring up a lot of emotion, but not winning enough elections.
2
Those graphs are concerning, especially the one that depicts a trend since '93 of a majority of young people believing the man should be the primary household financial achiever. I think a lot of this stems from what teenagers watch on TV and social media where women are almost always depicted as objects, and not to be taken seriously. For example, try to find a positive female role model on MTV.
And it is great that women's issues are getting more of a spotlight, especially treatment of women in the workplace. That can't be the primary focus of a campaign. "It's the economy stupid!" Trump was such a horrible candidate. If Hillary spent 20% of the time focusing on the economy as she did social issues, she would have won in a landslide.
5
Women should be leading the way in defeating Trump
But sadly the majority of white women voters selected Trump, and shockingly also voted for Moore
White women without college degrees vote with Trump’s core
It is shocking, disturbing and unaccountable
All one needs to do is read the comments on the "Aziz, we tried to warn you" article in today's NY Times to see that, using the #MeToo issue in the next election will not be smooth sailing for Democrats.
6
Another factor to consider beyond the #MeToo movement. It was the Women's March in January of last year. And this weekend we'll be seeing another one.
Thousands upon thousands of women have been and continue to run for public office, and it started well before #MeToo. And their winning. It just happened again in Wisconsin. Democrat Patty Schachtner beat out a candidate for State Senator in a GOP stronghold.
Run for office if you want change.
1
In a word-YES
The Dems need to have a laser like focus on only 2 issues to win and then throw in as an asterisk another comment.
The economy for the middle and working folks and healthcare. And btw we actually like, woman, minorities and the preservation of the planet!!
3
Most people do not associate the 'gender war's (however they come out, or whoever is winning today) with their economic betterment or their physical security. Most people perceive gender and gender relations in terms of their immediate personal relationships, not in terms of some broad and vaguely-defined social goals by any one group. It is the error of elite theorists to think that most people are perceiving these issues as either - I'm for the feminists - or I'm for the anti-feminists - and that's how I'm voting. They aren't going to be voting that way in large numbers on any gender issues, no matter what Hollywood or #metoo says. There are over 300 million people in America. Most people haven't committed serious sexual assault or been a victim of it (I raised three daughters) - most people are not seeking jobs from Hollywood producers or media figures, and don't live on either coast. But everyone is affected by jobs, by wages, by health care, by the costs of education, by the opioid crisis, by threats from North Korea or Isis, by immigration, by the economic cycle, by crime, etc. The 'bonfires' are not where Mr. Edsall thinks.
5
This piece is replete with poll results, and therefore of zero predictive value.
We should have learned by now that polls are hit-and-miss. Like a stopped clock (right twice-a-day), sometimes a poll actually can get it right, but usually not.
1
The fact is that sexual harassment is a reality that is as universal as air and water in American women's experience, and American men don't see it. Women learn at a very early age that 'boys will be boys' is an accepted excuse for males imposing themselves on females, and that the female who objects will be labelled "too sensitive", "can't take a joke", "frigid" or "out to get an advantage." "He didn't really mean it" or "she wasn't really hurt" or "it was no big deal" will always be used to minimize the importance of harassment and undermine a girl's/woman's experience.
Unless there is physical assault - and even if there is - men, and some women, will reflexively seek to deny the action. "She asked for it" is much easier to decide than is risking confrontation with a harasser.
#MeToo is therefore both polarizing and limiting. Women say 'of course', men say 'not really'. It's not a source of some upsurge of political power.
Democrats need to stop playing this zero-sum game and think more broadly. The economy, national security, healthcare, education, infrastructure and political ethics affect every American and the GOP has done their best to set the language of debate on all of these, with the exception of ethics.
Democrats should innovate with radical new ethics laws, particularly in light of Russian electoral interference. It would provide a significant boost to their credibility, appeal to most and support positions in other key areas.
1
The issue is always "Who is running?". If the Democrats run good, strong people, black, white, yellow, brown, red and men, women, and every flavor of sexuality, they will do really well if the Republicans do not do so. Look to 2016 - Trump won don't because he was good, but because so much of America felt Hillary was worse - or completely unacceptable. it would be great if Party Platforms were the basis of elections, but it is really the people who matter and who are selected.
2
I think the gender issue hurt Clinton among women almost as much as it did among men. I would vote for someone who shared my political view, regardless of gender, race, creed.
3
The Dems dilemma: how to support working class folks and not be threatened by Wall Street pulling out its support.
Sad to say, the Dem leadership is very close to Wall Street as well as Silicon Valley. These folks don’t support higher wages, unions, end to inequality, etc.
5
Women can tip the election to the democrats just by voting en masse. While the #MeToo movement is important, it has no place as a theme in the 2018 elections. It's all about the economy, jobs with benefits, permanent tax cuts for the middle class, closing corporate loop holes, and preserving social security, medicare, and medicaid. These are the topic that the poor and the middle class care about. Democrats can also capitalize on a theme that is never discussed which is rampant age discrimination in the work place that has gone on for decades without ever being addressed by congress.
3
The new Democrats have very little to offer other than strong moral positions because supporting the middle class would require Democrats to actually stand up against corporate money. That’s a much harder task and something that new Democrats have been reluctant to do. It’s much easier to continue to sell out the middle class and distract the public by piling on to the latest viral shaming.
3
Will Women Lead the Democrats to Victory?
Maybe, only as long as they don't try to promulgate 'women' candidates who were born and raised as males.
The UK Labour party is leading the way in attempting to seat males as females; it was set to allow self-identified 'women' (men who declared themselves to be women without official recognition by the state) onto the All-Women (candidate) Shortlist.
Only a fundraising campaign that netted more than 900 donors in one day was sufficient to change their policy to allow only people with state-recognized gender changes on the AWS, and even that change is anathema to many women aligned with Labour.
The AWS and any other carve-outs for female representation should not give women's seats to men who feel they are women. They have not experienced the same issues, and their needs are different and sometimes in conflict with women's needs. (Females need to not be constrained by the expectation to perform femininity but to have our biology and reproductive ability accommodated, while trans identified males often revel in femininity and experience this as womanhood while telling women to be silent about their reproductive needs.)
1
Interesting column. Important to note that the name "Trump" appears many times, but we don't see Franken or Weinstein. I believe the Dems shot themselves in the foot by throwing Al under the bus, and Harvey will be the GOP's Exhibit A if the left attempt to leverage this issue. A clear majority of the biggest names brought down by bad behavior identify as progressives. I'm not buying that #MeToo will have much positive impact for Dems on election day.
The metoo movement lost its credibility for many people-- including this feminist liberal-- when a handful of senators decided to cannibalize a good guy and a strong senator-- on the flimsiest of evidence. Franken = Moore seems like a GOP strategy, not one that will help US win elections.
Democrats need to focus on matters that matter to the most of us:decent jobs; social security forever; affordable college; medical care on par with the rest of the civilized world; a healthy environment; universally good public schools. The macro stragic theme should be the preamble to the constitution-- "promoting the general welfare." Reminding us of the importance of the comity of the town square-- the value of our national parks and public lands, public libraries, safe places for children to play, caring for our mentally ill and disabled, etc. That's strategy. The tactical program needs to be: getting people registered in time for November; getting voters to the polls as was done successfully in AL; exposing unfair voting practices early on; and when it comes to the presidency-- educating people on the destructive nature of supporting third party candidates. (twice in 16 years they wrecked it for the dems!!) Dems will win if decent people run for office and if people vote. Demographics are on our side-- but only if we use the power of our numbers.
5
A columnist who uses any study produced by the Cato Institute has discredited his own argument. The Cato Institute was founded and funded by the Koch Bros as a so-called think tank to support its Orwellian "libertarian" creed. Before you consider anything Cato produces, go to their website and carefully read their mission statement -- or whatever they call it. You'll understand that far from being anything like a "think" tank, they openly declare themselves as aggressively hostile to democracy and to our system of governance.
2
The emergence of a larger-than-normal field of women candidates is not a reflection of "identity politics." It is a long overdue awareness of and attempt to correct a demographic imbalance. Women legislators are needed simply to balance our representational democracy.
1
So long as Democrats are known for identity politics, and not the content of their positions on issues after issue that affect ALL Americans, they will continue to lose and rightly so. I very much wanted to see Hillary as president but to vote for her I had to overcome my antipathy to her feminist spokes-people, who seem as obtuse and naive about human nature as the anti-abortionists they are shouting at on the other side.
5
Republicans are known for white identity politics.
Seriously, we're doing this again??? Despite everything we knew about Trump in 2016, 53% of white women voted for him for President. Despite everything we knew about Ray Moore, 65% of white women still voted for him in the last senate election. It was the votes of black women that made the difference and looking at how they vote, Black and White women have opposite voting records. if the question was, can Black women lead to victory, YES, if there were a lot more of them, But to conflate this too all women is what led to the Democratic delusion in 2016.
5
Democrats need men, and women who care about men in their lives, too. If the Democratic Party embraces a movement that advocates and facilitates ending men's careers at the point of a finger, where accusation is taken to equal guilt, I don't think the Party will, or should, do very well.
36
God, this article is picture perfect for my friend's husband in small-town Western Pennsylvania. This is a man who's voted Democratic for years until he turned around and voted Trump. He's a tool-and-die maker, they have no children, and they both work. He longed for the good old days like with his father, also a tool and die maker, who got out before automation and before the stagnation in wages, and was able to raise a family on one income.
He's been railing against feminism for years, but in recent years he became much more susceptible to right wing conspiracy theorists like Alex Jones and other right wing broadcasts, after starting out as a moderate. I think it was feminism that pushed him over the edge.
14
Well, too bad. I do not propose using the Metoo movement as a strategy by any means. But "feminism pushed him over the edge?" Give me a break. I guess women should go put on their aprons and get back in the kitchen to get some votes. Don't forget that women outnumber men in this country and it is their activism and passion that will take the country back from the abyss of Trump.
2
I couldn't bring myself to work through all the verbiage in this piece, but it seems to be saying that womens' issues are not all that important to the people who voted for Trump. No big surprise there.
I suggest that analyses like these need to focus on comparative turnout and not the differential opinions of all Americans or even registered or likely voters. The most significant political influence of #MeToo and the Womens' March is its likely effects on voter turnout next fall.
My $.02 is that by the time there is an election this movement will have been disgraced itself and been written off by the majority of voters because of its descent into witch hunting. Trial by accusation has a long history and a simple pattern- Salem and the European 17th century witch hunts, the French Revolution, the Russian Revolution, the Chinese Communist Revolution, McCarthyism. In all cases it has ended up discrediting itself.
5
The #MeToo movement in America?
I would like to see a chart, in fact entire report, on every extreme movement in the U.S., from #MeToo to the nastiest Alt-right leanings. Reading in the NYTimes about this or that group tendency, usually race or problems between men and women or economic matters, it often seems there is little basis in actual learning and thinking and just a lot of animosity, petty resentment, views formed by angry people conversing with each other than formed by any other means. I'd like to see if this pattern exists with respect to all extreme movements in the U.S.
On the left these days it seems any little thing can be construed as a racial or sexual or economic or what have you slight which will get you ostracized. I don't feel I'm reading much reason there at all. I'd like to say the same about right wing movements, or rather the extreme forms, but they get no voice at all--you have to go looking for them. And truthfully, perhaps you don't have to look far at all for the irrationality and emotional extremism of the right when you have Trump in office.
People just seem totally cracked up to me today. No matter what group you examine it seems totally divorced from any deep learning, it just appears mob thinking and behavior. I honestly don't know what to make of women these days, as far as the #MeToo movement--I didn't foresee it. Interesting for all sense we are constantly told women have over men how the entire thing seems to have become a witch hunt.
3
The problem with the current Democratic Party is that they focus too transparently on things like whether "The issue of sexual harassment is a useful tool to mobilize Democratic voters in liberal states and districts", and not actually on the issues of labor and the American middle class. Their concerns are only optics and political return on investment. This is why they continue to fail in contests that should be easy.......google HRC.
Democrats who actually focus on the needs of labor and the middle class, like Sanders and Warren, are immensely popular, but are kept out of the center of the party and unable to define the platform because they would be disturbing to the party's current handlers in tech and finance. It is easy to pick out these promising politicians from the crowd: just look for the ones being branded Socialist, naive, and impractical by the Republican spin machine.
What the party needs more than anything is a complete purge of the now old "new democrats"; the remnants of the triangulating Clinton years.
25
As i stated in a reply to a recent article from Ross Douthat, Democrats must abandon pandering to identity politics if they wish to regain power. Indeed, if Democrats campaign on "women" issues to the exclusion of all others as demonstrated through " Me too" or black issues to exclusion of all other through " BLM", some group will become alienated. At some point, Democrats have to ascertain that representing and speaking loudly for groups who often quarrel over whom most qualifies for "minority" status is a waste of time.
Again, Trump's fluke victory in 2016 didn't derive from his ability to represent the culture of so called angry white males---and indeed he did that---but by Hillary's inability to connect to many blue collar white males who bought into Trump as a false savior. Given that the charade of Trump as a champion of the common person has been exposed as balderdash, it behooves the Democrats to espouse a message more akin to what Bernie Sanders articulated two years ago.
6
The theory "we all have to get back together and work as one is - nice." But that is supposing republicans want to compromise. Have you seen any of that from head GOP? Ryan? McConnell? Ever? Lately? With the bills hidden and released shortly before votes. They could have come out of this year looking great. Instead they will be known for ruining environment, healthcare, education and generally setting this country back decades. Their main,primary, numero uno goal"make donors happy" Women can have a substantial impact .Dont doubt our strength in unity.
1
Great article. The #MeToo movement is important, but when democrats embrace it, they embrace its looming excesses, and they do so at their peril.
5
On average, men die in this country five years earlier than women. Men go to prison ten times more often than women. Men commit suicide four times more than women. A man is about fifteen times more likely than a woman to be killed on the job. An unarmed man is about ten times more likely than an unarmed woman to be killed by the police. Men are now less likely than women to graduate from college. The list goes on and on. Unless Democrats start addressing some of these issues that affect men with the same gusto they address women's issues, I won't be voting Democrat.
3
If they want to do that, they will need to silence Pelosi, Waters, and Warren.
1
53% of men voted for Trump compared to 41% of women that voted for Clinton. If #MeToo become a democratic platform position it is likely that more men will vote for Trump in the next election. The reason is not that most men have in some way harassed women, but that most men will feel that this is an attack on men in general for behaviors that most men don't commit. Just as no one that is white likes to be told that they are implicitly racist because their forefathers owned slaves, men in general don't like being told that male privilege or worse, some natural compulsion to dominate women, is an implicit flaw that all men have. The danger to men is that the current (justified) position that women have to out the worse offenders will quickly (if politicized) morph into a situation that any women for any reason can accuse any man not only of sexual harassment but also of a broader range of unacceptable behavior from something as innocuous as "not taking a hint" or reading the implicit "no" that a women "signals" on a date, to the use of "male dominant mic-aggression" that keep a women from succeeding in her profession. The fact that currently accusers are given full credibility while the accused is summarily fired from his position with the minimum of due process only make this matter worse. The politically correctness that shields the the #MeToo movement from accountability or debate, will have men running to the "safe space" that the republicans offer to all men.
5
Moral absolutism is the issue here. Broad swathes of the population deeply resent the kind of moral absolutism expressed by Sen. Gillibrand. To avoid a backlash that snatches defeat from almost certain victory in November, Dems need to steer a cautious course on social issues.
Specifically, they need to embrace due process and proportionality on the sexual harassment issue, and also frame it in the context of broad, institutional changes needed to combat it, if they are to avoid accusations of a witch hunt. Such accusations can only alienate the swing voters they’ll need to take back the House, and possibly the Senate.
11
The two most important countries in Europe, the UK and Germany, are run by women.
Is there something peculiar about American culture that it still needs to analyze and debate "Can a woman become President" ?
This is a fine article, and one that avoids either the helplessness or the smugness that is often expressed in the public prints. Much as in the recent football playoffs, the political landscape is full of participants who do not know how to avoid blowing a lead in the late going.
1
Issues important to women are important, but if they are in effect the only issues, or the ones that receive all the attention ... dems will lose again.
This country needs men supporting women and women supporting men, for the mutual benefit of individuals, families and society. Women alone can't lead progressive people to victory anymore than men alone can.
The focus should be on both genders working together for what is in the best interest of the collective, but also with a focus on issues that will actually result in winning congressional seats and the presidency.
All of us want to be both right on the issues and effective in implementing them. Sometimes what is "right" in the ideal is decades away, and we have to focus on incremental changes that are achievable now. Over time what is "right" will hopefully fully manifest.
The democratic party better hone a message that resonates and appeals to a lot of mental dispositions, ages and economic percentiles.
Some obvious concerns many voters have: do they have a job, health care, is social security and medicare secure, a good school for their kids, a safe neighborhood, a clean environment and reasonable opportunities for retraining or college for those who need or desire it.
The list is endless of course, the key is to narrow it to the crucial concerns that will get a majority to vote for you. Winning is the goal, not trying to perfectly please every potential voter.
The dems better wise up or they'll lose again.
7
No. No one group can win it. Getting more of one group by driving away those in other groups is even worse, and the abusive name calling aimed to voters who disagree is exactly that error.
9
Trump is viewed as a vision of male strength? If that isn't the most preposterous nonsense. He's sexist blowhard who takes advantage of his celebrity to inflict himself on women. Trump is a political eye sore. H. Clinton was defeated because of her inability to excite the electorate though, she did win the popular vote by 2.8 million. Trump's victory shows how dangerously misconceived such issues of male strength is. Instead of looking at leadership qualities needed by a president his supporters liked his militant xenophobia. Clinton could not effectively campaign on social issues, that should have been strength because of her obsession with battling Trump tit for tat with the name calling. Calling most Trump's supporters "deplorables.' And the coup de grace was the foolish effort to claim that Trump had a treasonous relationship with Putin.
Mr Edsall: Again, thank you for a wonderful thought provoking column. Your analyses of the turmoil in voter perceptions are extremely perceptive and provide valuable insights to all your readers no matter what team they are batting for.
1
The Democrats could ride universal health care to victory, or reducing income inequality to victory, or educational system improvements to victory, but they can't ride identity politics to victory. Not #MeToo, not DACA, not CHIP, not transgender bathrooms. The Republicans know this and are more than happy to encourage the debate, as they will be able to ride the unemployment rate and the stock market to uncontested victory.
Bernie Sanders may seem a little too crazy to be the president, but he is the only person out there who has any idea what the Democratic party ought to be fighting for. Who, among the Democratic candidates for 2020, dares say the words "socialized medicine?" A clear majority of Americans favor it, where is the candidate to represent us? Trump's willingness to at least try and do something is a large part of his appeal.
36
No, a clear majority of Americans don’t favor socialized medicine. Didn’t you read the NYTimes article on Britain’s failing health care system?
Yes, I did. That's Britain. Have you seen the polls in the US? 60% still favor universal single payer. Most of us think we ought to be able to do better than Great Britain, maybe even as good as Japan, or France, Norway, Denmark.... We're doing much worse than Britain right now, unless you are wealthy. If your company doesn't provide health care, and you're not a government employee, you are paying more and getting less than the Brits.
2
The #metoo movement is a facet of the “stronger together” idea supporting equality and dignity for all. These are worthy objectives.
But the Dems are tempted to focus too much upon these matters because a focus on the Sanders-Warren topics: expanding the middle class and putting democracy up front instead of corporations, puts the Dems at odds with their big donors. “Stronger together” is motherhood and apple pie - no opposition expected.
But voters want meaningful jobs at a living wage, a future for their families. The decline of jobs in the private sector due to automation and outsourcing means the private sector is going the way of agriculture: becoming a minor employer. And also the private sector has become a me-me-only-me voice making important public problems insoluble.
The Dems have to concentrate on solving the middle class problems of affordable housing, rehabilitation, addiction, education, health care, child & elder care, infrastructure, environmental preservation, and much more. These are government activities and are where the jobs needed by the middle class are to be found.
There is where the votes are.
17
This is a super-charged issue among Democrats and progressives, not just the country at large. Too many women--and I'm sorry to say Sen. Gillibrand was one-- seem to want to throw due process to the wind based on allegations alone, i.e. Al Franken, who never should have been forced to resign prior to a conclusion by the Ethics Committee. This country has a terrible tendency towards hysterical reactiveness. Any Democratic candidate who takes an extreme position on this issue is not getting very far when even other Dems are so sharply divided.
117
As a new mother, as a teacher, and as a woman, looking at the backwards slippage in these numbers makes me tired. So, so tired.
9
Whatever ever you might think of the #Me Too movement the Democrats would be illl advised to rely on its overnight celebrity to win the midterms. Democrats better stop wishing on a star and start being Democrats again! Workers rights, human rights, clean house of corporatists....that's what the Democratic Party should be focusing on.
22
We are in a existential war. Forces embodied in the current GOP seek to undermine any impediments to the Plutocracy they desire.
One could rationally argue without being repugnant that a Plutocracy could be a good thing. As one could argue Martial Law is what we need today (19% of us think so), or that rule by some sort of privileged stable Aristocracy has advantages.
I do not argue for such but one could.
But the GOP's Plutocracy lacks NON-repugnant "for" arguments.
GOP's Plutocracy will be tinged with the most regressive, reactionary, bigoted, racist, fundamentalist, anti-science, anti-feminist elements of our society.
Foundational Plutocratic objectives but governance by an oligarchy of demagogues socially.
No shred of it will be benevolent or egalitarian economically/socially.
We must fight and resist their march effectively!
But if we seem to demonize men and turn women into caricatures of helpless children - and if we prudishly out Taliban the Taliban - we WILL lose many votes of men AND women who ACTUALLY support all the right essential causes intellectually and would vote progressive otherwise.
If we run candidates that deny human nature and an adult's ability to enjoy or to reject aspects of it FOR THEMSELVES PRIVATELY we definitely will lose to the darker forces - 100% sure we will.
Ds make obvious you are the adult Party. Address consequential things individuals/localities cannot adequately/fairly address. Convince us you have better solutions!
6
If the Democrats want to get back into power they need to focus on what brings Americans together not what tears them apart. How do we go forward confidently into an increasingly confusing and frightening world. How do we provide jobs and security for our people in an economy undermined by automation, outsourcing and yes, illegal immigration? How do we provide healthcare to every American? How do we provide affordable education so that the American workforce is the best trained in the world? How do we provide affordable energy so that Americans can still have a comfortable lifestyle in the face of global warming, which threatens our civilization's existence
My fear is that the Democrats may see embracing the "Me Too" movement as a substitute for developing a strong, coherent, approach to solving the problems that ordinary Americans face. Sexual harassment is an important issue and the Harvey Weinsteins of the world deserve to be brought crashing to the ground but if the Democrats once again make divisive social issues the centerpiece of their message, as they are prone to do, we may see a repeat of 2016.
130
Excellent comment. The essential word is "divisive." The last Presidential candidate committed to exciting her base who would vote for her anyway, and antagonizing the rest. Think how different a campaign it would have been with Sanders and/or Warren and/or Biden at the head of the ticket. They are people who would have roused the electorate for the right reasons.
Let us hear no more of Gillebrand. Her irrational analysis of degrees of harassment has disqualified her. She is Hillary again no-so-light.
2
I support #metoo but it's already being distorted. Even NYT editorials focus on fringe events & present #metoo as nutty, weird & unfair. Backlash!
Doubling down on gender will leave us with the same problems Hillary had in 2016. Voters Democrats would have won by doing this - young women, feminists, working women, progressives - are already with us.
Trump's divided & polarized this country like no other politician. His staff's despicable & divisive, his cabinet's mean, arrogant & divisive. GOP thrown in with Trump are mean, arrogant, cynical, happily shredding our democracy for their own gain. We see evidence they despise us. Voting to throw millions off their healthcare? They hate us!
Why don't we try to win by being for everybody? Everybody who treasures democracy & doesn't want our country further damaged by this administration. Let's be for the spirit of America, inclusive & strong & say we're fighting for the best for all of our communities - healthcare, schools, neighborhoods, jobs, children, the elderly, our young people's future, respect, fairness.
We want our institutions to work again. We want our government to listen to us, not arrogantly ignore our concerns. We all want to live in a society that respects everyone.
Trump & Co. care nothing for the people.
The farther away from normal people this wicked administration moves, the more loudly Democrats should insist we're for everyone.
No division.
No one left out.
Everyone.
27
Thank you for this. The witch hunt has gone too far. It's impossible for a man to speak up publicly now against it. But we will get a chance to vote.
24
The quoted academic, Musa Al-Gharbi, seems to say that the human struggle for justice, equality and freedom is nothing more than a loser argument from "liberal elites."
Well, there were no such things as "liberal elites" among hunter-gatherers who tossed selfish, bully-boy leaders into exile for violating egalitarian balance, but we can be sure the bully boys claimed there were.
It's telling that Musa Al-Gharbi's (not the only one in Edsall's analysis) is the very same as that used to pat Martin Luther King Jr. on the head while telling him to be patient, the time is not right, he'll anger all the white people, just hush up and don't poke the sleeping giant.
A much bigger problem than Democratic message or strategy is the fact that a great number of Americans have abandoned democracy, justice, freedom and equality as values. The last thing we should do is pander to such ignorance, bigotry, and authoritarianism.
1
The problem is that so many male Democrats are among the accused. So many famous liberal supporters are among the accused. Unfortunately, so many women, Democrat, Republican and unaffiliated, are among the victims.
5
If that's the really the main "platform", #metoo, then we will continue to have a Republican administration and possibly legislative majority. That is irresponsible. Women must be heard of course and the gender biased workplace, etc., must be corrected. Must be. Tired of it, ridiculous that it persists. But also the "politically unwashed" working people (of all races) in this country must be re-approached by Democrats. "Deplorable", "rural", all those awful othering and counterproductive memes pointed at at least half the country must be walked back by Democrats. Or, sorry, lose and for good reason. We wouldn't be able to govern anyway.
65
Protecting women from sexual harassment and abuse is not a 'platform.' It's a moral imperative.
1
If the 2018 and 2020 elections are defined as "us" against "them" (as they probably will be), then the question is how are the two sides defined.
We know how the GOP will structure this - the "true Americans" (White, Christian, male or male supportive, non-immigrant) against the "Others." In short, the Republicans see the world as a zero-sum game, of each country, each ethnic/religious/sexual group, and even each person fighting for survival against everyone else.
If the Democrats want to lose, they can define themselves as a bunch of special groups - women, LBGTQs, Latinos, Blacks, immigrants, etc. (no working class White men need apply).
If the Democrats want to win, they need to come forward with an inclusive program for all Americans, and they need to explain to each and every person how their program will help that person. And the need to show that (hard as it may be) that only by working in cooperation can we as a country succeed for everyone.
Had any one of many things (the Goldman Sachs speeches, the e-mail non-issue, the failure to respond to Russian interference, the poor choice of where to make campaign appearances, etc.) gone differently, Hillary would have won the electoral vote as she did the popular vote. Those errors will (hopefully) not occur again.
70
I guess working class white women need not apply either.
Mr. Graubard, I was preparing to hit "recommend" until I read your last paragraph. Hillary Clinton's email server, speeches, etc. hurt her, but would they have similarly hurt a male candidate? Nearly everything that Trump did or said from the day he announced should have been his undoing, and yet... here we are. Hillary's negatives and the vitriol about her were so high, and so disproportionate to her statements, actions, and record of public service that I have finally concluded they were at least rooted in sexism and misogyny. She made errors, yes -- all of which paled in comparison to Trump's. I hope I'm wrong, but I fear that in too many voters' minds, her biggest error was being a woman.
GOP has been an "us" against them party since Nixon.
"They" only complain about it when "they" fear it might work against "them".
Ekins is spot on. Some 30 million women voted for Donald Trump. The revolution is not going to be built on this issue.
7
As long as Democrat's only listen to wealthy donors, corporations and overpaid consultant con artists they will never win again.
9
I think the bottom line, in terms of political calculus only, is that reliance on identity politics is a "gimme" to the Republicans. They will clobber that issue like an MLB hitter mashing a meatball of a pitch over the fence.
15
#MeToo is about women not giving their power away to abusers and users. Reclaiming our power will include voting and it won't be checking a republican box when the candidate is anti woman. There will be young men stepping up and having the backs of their sisters friends and moms/grandmothers. It is good to be having these conversations and people would be wise to be a positive force in keeping it alive. That doesn't mean that mistakes aren't made but this is how change happens.
18
As an outsider, a lot of this looks like a purity movement within the ranks of the left. Outraged that they couldn’t stop Trump, they targeted people they could roll over, like Al Franken, Aziz Ansari and prominent journalists, academics, and entertainment industry leaders. And maybe there’s literally a “me too” element to this, too. Maybe white female progressives saw the LGBT, black, Muslim, and undocumented immigrant segments of the coalition getting a lot of attention, and they wanted some too.
Prior to Trump, perhaps feminists tolerated the boorish behavior in their own ranks because they didn’t want to rock the boat. But without a rudder, and as it takes on water, what else are the survivors on the life boat of progressivism going to do but start eating their own and throwing some of their fellow travelers overboard?
Given this perspective, these statistics and poll results aren’t a surprise. For folks on the figurative beaches of Trump Resort Island, enjoying our paradise of tax cuts, immigration enforcement, decimation of ISIS, and a booming economy, we look out at the progressives’ life boat and watch them throwing their own overboard, and hear faint wailing about various self centered grievances, and not too many of us are going to want to swim out there and get on board. And if anything, some of those thrown overboard might even wind up making it to the beach.
So I’m not sure how #MeToo is a winning electoral strategy. But it sure is fun to watch!
7
Some may be able to use it as a path to victory, but the Democrats must not become too narrow in their appeal. They must not forget other interests, other plights. It was the ignoring and demeaning of 25% of the electorate with "deplorable and irredeemable" that cost HRC the election........
That said, Metoo has been a godsend to many silent victims. We should thank those speaking up now........
I was/am such a victim. My aunt repeatedly molested me when I was a little boy, and I remained silent, feeling ashamed, alone, and guilty. Had Metoo existed then, I might well have been able speak up as I grew a little older, saving decades of pain.
Boys are about 1/3 of child victims, and they are often attacked by older females. These victims and predators must not be ignored.
3
The Democrats are, Mr. Edsall, nowhere to be found. Perhaps the most visible Democrat on the national stage is Ellen Warren, the Massachusetts senator. Who else is there? I haven't seen a headline or read stories of substance about anyone else on the other side of the aisle who would stand a chance against Donald Trump in 2020. And this year's mid-terms don't presage great Democratic gains, either. Again, I ask, who is there?
Alex Castellanos perfectly describes the Trump voter:
"unalloyed masculine strength."
"His supporters do not care if he is predatory, insulting, or offensive as long as he is never in doubt."
his "instinct-driven behavior confirms that he is the archetypal alpha-male, the unfiltered reptilian brain, concerned only with sustenance, survival or sex. If anything enters his world, they know he must either eat it, kill it, or mate with it. That’s why they like him. For about half of America, that is terrifying."
Yet, Mr. Edsall, "half of America," while keenly attuned to #MeToo, don't consider it an issue that's personal and politics is personal if nothing else.
America is a country that is divided by race and sex, yet the negative elements that drive racism and sexism find favor not only with Trump's base but also with enough women and Hispanics that angry reaction to his tweets and policies are largely ignored. Many Americans demeaning women and "the other" simply because it's a throwback to when "men were men" and others knew their place.
2
Liberals seem to have forgotten about Roe vs Wade. With Trump's new judicial appointments, It's likely to be overturned within a few years and feminists will have their hands full trying to block abortion restrictions without being able to appeal to the courts as they do now. They will soon lose interest in me-too-ism.
1
The question of whether #MeToo offers Democrats a past to victory in 2018 and 2020 is really a variant of the question of whether a commitment to women's issues offers a path to victory. The Democratic Party has championed women's issues for almost 50 years. Democrats don't win without the support of women.
#MeToo motivates women because almost every woman has had to deal with unwanted sexual advances in the workplace, in school and even in church. That, in combination with over the top media coverage, has made grabbed the attention of Democrats. Unfortunately, #MeToo, alone, does not offer a path to victory for the reasons you have presented.
The crucial issue is the economy. Nobody has stated the issue better than the Trump supporters featured in today's editorial. Steven Sanabria says, "The economy is up, foreign tyrants are afraid, ISIS has lost most of its territory, our embassy will be moved to Jerusalem and tax reform is accomplished. More than that, Mr. Trump is learning, adapting and getting savvier every day. Entitlement reform is next! ... Who knew that all it would take to make progress was vision, chutzpah and some testosterone?"
He's clearly not a Democrat but when he says entitlement reform is next, he's trumpeting the agenda of the Republican President and his Republican Party. Preserving Social Security and Medicare are women's issues that offer the path to victory in 2018 and 2020. Women are concerned about their mothers as well as their daughters.
48
Democrats already HAVE winning ideas - we just need to articulate them clearly! Universal healthcare, free college tuition, a strong social safety net, higher minimum wage, corporations and billionaires paying their fair share, etc., etc., etc.
That's why Democrats do not need to latch on to a new movement. Yes, support #metoo. Stand up for women. But standing up for women and equality is ALREADY a Democratic ideal. Just make all this clear and be sincere and confident about it (that's the key, I think). That will win us elections!
6
Sadly, movements like Black Lives Matter or the MeToo movement bring to the surface real societal problems that should be addressed in a meaningful way. But I would agree with comments in the article, that point out, that all of these movements generate a backlash from those, who in effect, kill messenger, rather than address the message.
3
May I suggest that Democrats keep it simple, going forward. Focus on the economy, infrastructure (including education) and climate change. There are many issues that divide us and unite us.
2
As a lifelong liberal, I am disgusted and dismayed by the victim mentality of this generation of millennial "feminists". If the Democrats continue to ignore the Republican assault on the environment and ignore the issues affecting all Americans, I can see no reason to continue voting for them.
14
If Democrats want to retake the House and Senate, they've got to make sure their supporters vote. #MeToo, laudable though it is, has been unfortunately hijacked by wingnuts and turned into one those wedge issues Republicans love. Focusing on the obscene tax reform law, Trump's assault on the environment and health care, and his dangerous foreign policy makes a lot more sense.
10
@MeToo is definitely a mess which comes against both justice and common sense. Whether it's normal to ruine once's carrier on things which were done decades ago, and was completely appropriate at the time, they were commited? Now almost everyone who ever passed just in vicinity of any celebrity person, may ruine its carrier, just making false claims, which no one even cares to check, whether they true or false
Welcome to 1984, dear friends, it's already here
2
Read the letters from Trump supporters in today's NYTimes, and you will understand the following: Donald Trump was elected by people who were sick of identity politics, sick of politicians who tip-toed around afraid to offend women, immigrants, China, North Korea, (anyplace, actually). His supporters understand he is less than a perfect spokesperson for their ideas, they also so see the economy doing great, unemployment down, Isis on the run, and somebody at least trying to grapple with problems in our immigration system. Democrats will follow #meToo to defeat, which makes me crazy, because I absolutely do not support Trump. Can't we do better?
10
Specific candidates will benefit from #MeToo and this could include a presidential candidate. However, they must utilize #MeToo to establish a base of support without alienating other voters. This means focussing on issues of harassment and gender discrimination in the work place, rather than issues of consent, etc. Their message needs to be empowerment, not victimization.
1
Saving Social Security & Medicare from the Republican plans to destroy them, expanding access to healthcare, guaranteeing a living wage, getting bribery out of politics & government--any one of these things would do 100 times more to empower women than getting a few celebrities fired for sexual harrassment.
5
As the father of two grown daughters, I could not be more in favor of the #metoo movement and the fight for women's rights and equality in every respect.
But I am firmly in the camp of Leonie Huddy's conclusion that "a singular focus on harassment and gender issues" is the wrong stance for the Democrats.
Instead, I believe a better lead focus - without losing sight of the #metoo movement - is on the trio of 1) income inequality ripping the country apart, 2) the education needs that will see our nation fall behind in the 21st Century and beyond if we don't do something to solve our horrible education system and ensure more people have some type of post-secondary education, and 3) our insane health care system that spends more and provides less care than any other developed nation. We look down on the European nations, while they must be laughing at us. These 3 issues are fundamental to the future prosperity of our nation. And, within that prosperity, women must not only not be left behind, but must be propelled to the forefront of the challenges we face, where they belong and where they will undoubtedly make tremendous contributions. Let's solve this social issue, and make it an intrinsic element of what the Democratic Party stands for. But we need to focus on policy, and the need there is income equality, education and health care!
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Democrats should not attempt to "follow" anything to victory. They should lead by standing for the issues that matter to everyone in this country: jobs, health care, an economy that works more fairly for everyone, etc. It shouldn't be too hard since the GOP is in full smash-and-grab mode on all these things, but the Democrats have proven time and again that they can snatch defeat from the jaws of almost certain victory.
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Not a very enlightening piece; select a bit of extracts from various viewpoints and no conclusions reached.
I'd be interested to learn how Democrat control of one branch in Congress would "maximize the benefits and minimize the costs of gender polarization." Or even what that means.
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#metoo can never be a winning issue for the simple reason that there is no consensus about it even among left-leaning, liberal women. Many of us were uneasy about the forced resignation of Senator Franken. Many of us agreed with the French women’s letter denouncing the #metoo movement. Many of us think that there are more important issues facing feminism, such as the reproductive rights, opposition to religious fundamentalism, and international solidarity with female victims of war crimes and disenfranchisement. I am sure that conservative women have their own list of important issues based on their worldview. Being a female is not a political ideology. If the Democrats will try to make it into one, they’ll fail.
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I'm glad to see 62 readers (so far) agree with me.
Gilibrand's attack on Al Franken was the most craven opportunism I've seen outside of Trump himself.
Zephyr Teachout gave a good defense of Franken, arguing for due process and proportionality. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/11/opinion/franken-resignation-harassmen...
Franken won his seat by only 335 votes. In a close race, the Minnesota seat could go Republican. That could cost the Democrats their majority in the Senate. That could cost them a Supreme Court justice. That could cost them the right to abortion.
Thanks, Sen. Gilibrand.
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My hunch is that following Me Too seems far more likely to diminish the allure of turning out Republican incumbents in 2018.
Me Too has indeed served to out some nasty predators, but in allowing itself to become a panic, it has demonstrated the basic process by which good policy ideas can be executed very badly.
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Any candidate, that concentrates on any cultural meme, and not the more important economic issues facing us, does not have my vote.
Moreover, I am willing to actively campaign against such candidates, as they usually tie themselves to such memes to disguise their skeletons.
E.g. of such a person: Kirsten Gillibrand.
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Democrats have inherited the lead on gender issues, just as they have on other civil rights and victimization issues. Nobody's going to think Republicans can help them there. The strategy for the Dems in my opinion is to stay mainstream and talk about the economy, meaningful job creation, infrastructure and foreign policy, and trust that voters know who's got their back on gender and other personal issues. In recent years, Dems have been getting killed on social media for being all about these things and nothing else. It's a distortion, yes, but it's easy to do in an uncensored medium. This is how Democrats lose elections even when they best represent the public interest.
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So lets not discuss immigration and racism either, because they are social issues as well. You do not ignore what is right and just, it needs to be part of the platform. I guarantee if we were discussing equality for men you would be in the front of the line. Shame on all of you. Equality is also a very strong economic issue, and all of you men who have commented it has no place, disgraceful.
I am a (Hispanic) man in my early forties with a job I am terrified of losing. I think Trump is hotheaded, crass, and bad for the country. I voted against him in the last election and generally support national healthcare, aggressive action in global warming, transgender rights, etc. But if Democrats spearhead 'gender equality' legislation, I may lose the only bulwark I have against the large negative changes ahead for the country and world. (Certainly a more expansive welfare state would allay some of this...but we never get one of those and yes, I know it's the GOP's and in particular their donors' fault.) I am still making up my mind about what to do in November 2018 and 2020.
Also, a lot of the 'women are wonderful' rhetoric out of the media, while intended as a reaction against male-supremacist rhetoric existing earlier up through the 80s, simply makes younger men resentful, as they have been told all their lives they are defective women for their lack of empathy, etc., , are always at fault and potentially charged with rape in any sexual encounter gone wrong, and who were not around for the earlier era when women couldn't take certain jobs, etc.
This may be a reason for part of what you are discussing.
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Remember that in a society which believes African Americans play the "race card" and well educated elites disdain the working man, Barack Obama was elected president twice. And in Alabama, black women were instrumental in turning out the vote to defeat Roy Moore. The issue here is that working white men feel they are being discriminated against when the words "equal opportunity" are used, and they blame everyone who is different, from women, to African Americans, to Latinos, to Jews. Obama sold hope and the need for a rising tide of economic and social opportunity for everyone. He roused a public eager for some positive thinking and committed to the American values of hard work. He didn't complain, he inspired. Hillary, on the other hand, seemed angry at white men - perhaps the MO for disadvantaged women - and although she campaigned on a platform of inclusion, she didn't reach out to white men. Trump advocated the return to power of white men. He ran on anger, over and over and over, as did Bernie. If women hope to succeed, they need to look at Angela Merkel or someone like Margaret Thatcher, who was never cowed and always strong. But I really do think the Democrats need to find another white man, someone like Bernie but younger, if they want to win the next presidential election. In the meantime, women and minorities are doing better in local elections, where someone who is sensible and qualified has some chance of defeating a know-nothing white male.
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It's hilarious that Trumpite Alex Castellanos (and, presumably, others) believe Trump to represent "strength." I look at Trump's conduct and language and see nothing but weakness. His narcissism, impulsivity and toddler-like behavior and school-yard bullying show debility and frailty, the opposite of strength.
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I am not surprised that young, white men resist the Democratic Party's focus on identity politics. They are constantly told that white men are the problem - we need more "diverse" candidates, employees, etc. And "diverse" is just a code word for "anyone-other-than-a-straight-white-man."
Why would young white men support such policies? How is it fair to them to say, "sorry, but your fathers, uncles, grandfathers, etc. had it too good. So to create more equity in society, we are going to exclude you. But don't worry, society overall will be better for it."
The answer to fighting past discrimination is NOT to implement new discrimination. The answer is to invest public resources to create opportunities open to all and to then let people compete in a free market. Immutable characteristics unrelated to performance - race, gender, etc. - should never be taken into account by the government or an employer. Period.
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With income inequality at an all-time high and increasing, and with Trump's harsh moves against non-whites, the last thing those desiring reforms is to see these issues pushed off the table by the feminists. There is already a litmus test placed on candidates by Emily's list that they must be pro-choice. This stance alienates the Midwest.
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Statistics, statistics.... The only thing that matters, really, is that more liberal-leaning Americans, especially younger ones, vote than did in 2016. There are more than enough of them to overwhelm the Trump supporters.
Democrats can follow the economic needs of all working and middle class people —black,white, male, female, gay, straight, educated, less educated— to victory while quietly and humbly supporting what’s right from a social justice perspective. Or we can continue to hector and lecture and lose.
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I'm going to add my voice to the current stream of comments here--the wise politician (clearly NOT Kirsten Gillibrand) will play down #MeToo in favour of economic issues. It is interesting to see another article in the NYT about "moving left" which then describes Booker and Harris talking overtly about Black Lives Matter and racism. This is NOT moving left--this is merely creating separation and division.
It isn't that these important conversations about racism and sexism shouldn't happen, or that policies shouldn't be adopted; but rather that these to happen at the individual or organizational level. Democrats running for national office need to get white men and black women to the polls in high numbers by talking about and taking action on what they share--the experience of income inequality.
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The economy is going to be the biggest factor. If unemployment drops so low that everyone can get a job, and wages rise significantly, the voters are going to think that the GOP has good economic policies that benefit them.
The last time there was a huge economic boom, back in the 90s, that scalawag Bill Clinton was president. Nobody cared much what he did, just as long as the money was flowing in and everyone was getting rich.
Already, black men without college degrees are peeling off from the Democratic coalition. They are finally finding jobs and getting ahead.
If the Democrats become the Feminist Party, more millennial men and more low-skill minority men will leave them. They can't afford losses like that.
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Except Bill C was impeached
This metoo moral panic, and in particular our U.S. Senator and her scolding position, has led me, an eduated upper middle class white male and lifelong democrat, to seriously reconsider changing my politcal affiliation.
Democrats cannot win national elections on social issues, the vast middle of this county abhors this stuff.
Sorry NY Times readers, but the way to victory for the Dems is finding a strong, politically moderate male. Catering to the edges doesn't win over the voters needed to win national elections-educated, suburban swing voters. Cities will go for Dems, rural areas go for Repubs-that's not changing anytime soon.
Elections are won in the suburbs by people like me, and we're sick and tired of the injustices of these social movements that consistently tell us how terrible we are.
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I agree with much of what you say, except that the candidate needs to be male, viz many of the Democratic victories lately, including the most recent for a Wisconsin statehouse seat, were women, and that was in a very rural district. The message is more important.
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I disagree with the need for a male to win.
People like Condoleezza Rice and Janet Yellen have qualities, as have had foreign leaders like Thatcher, Meier, Merkel, Bhutto, etc., who illustrate that women can be regarded as being as credible leaders as men. To argue otherwise is to argue that the US culture is particularly misogynistic among the world's countries. Indeed, the notion of a US culture is misleading--the US is one of the most diverse countries in the world in terms of races, religions and ethnicities. You have to disaggregate the US to find embedded misogyny and it will be concentrated in certain fundamentalist religions and certain races and traditional cultures that hardly would be regarded as the generic American.
Sorry, Jason, but women are not the "edge." They are the majority. And they are flocking to the Dems, especially in the suburbs. By the way, elections ARE won with social issues - that's exactly how the GOP has won in the past. Abortion, guns, gays, family 'values,' the made-up 'war on Christmas." They mastered wedge issues and identity politics.
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I hope so. It will finally put Bill Clinton in the rear view mirror.
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Democrats will pursue this issue at their own peril. Even though it is being widely publicized at this point, it is a niche issue, not something that will effect the wide swath of voters. In addition, the backlash regarding the absence of due process in these accusations and the range of severity in the harassment complaints give the subject nuances that will only play out over time; not a good place to hand your hat.
What both they and the Republicans should do is vet proposed mid term and the next general election candidates to make as certain as they can, that said candidate is as clean as possible in many ways.
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Before Democrats seek to gain electoral victory on the back of #MeToo, they should pause and consider how to credibly explain the abundance of loudly self-righteous Democrats who have been laid low by #MeToo – Harvey Weinstein comes to mind before any other.
Sexual predation clearly is an abomination practiced by men of ALL ideological persuasions, and Tom hasn’t demonstrated how and why Republicans aren’t equally open to punishing the guilty. Indeed, as positions taken by Catherine Deneuve and Brigitte Bardot make plain, and by plenty of Americans as well, the movement is becoming arguably excessive with a lot of unjust collateral damage, and all the excessives seem to be liberal Democrats.
Tom answers his own question: maybe, but it’s not a slam-dunk and Democrats need to be careful. I can’t even go that far. Any such attempt will appear to be transparently exploitive and is likely to backfire badly because the message is wrong and is far too easily countered.
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Perhaps it was Republican backing especially by our Republican president of a man such as Ray Moore. Regardless of party, we need to do the right thing. Both parties need to step up to the line.
What is striking about the Democrats search for a winning issue is that they continue to ignore the one that worked so well for so many decades and destroyed them when it was abandoned. That issue is to aggressively and consistently support candidates and policies that provide good paying jobs with strong benefits for working people. The Democrats abandoned that issue and in turn large numbers of working people abandoned the Democrats. Quite simple.
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Tom, I don't think that we can ride #MeToo to victory - or at least to a consistent, lasting victory.
One election, in 2018, maybe. Two, including 2020, possibly.
But if Democrats nominate another blue dog who refuses to get serious on the economic issues that plague ordinary Americans, regardless of gender, it's going to be November 2010 all over again in November 2022 and beyond.
Democrats will enjoy an enormous advantage going into the 2018 and 2020 elections merely due to the Trump awfulness and GOP incompetence factors. But unless they appear to be delivering meaningful economic gains for the American people, a class that includes women, wives, daughters, grand daughters, etc., they're going to as vulnerable as ever by 2022 and 2024.
The Democrats need to reinvent themselves as the party of blue and white collar workers - of both the highly educated and modestly educated. They need to stop carrying water for corporations and high net worth campaign contributors - as were many Democrats in the Senate in 2009 when they refused to allow even a vote on Public Option; or in 2005, when they supported the change in the bankruptcy laws that made it much harder for individuals and families (but not corporate con artists like Trump) to get out from under crushing, accumulated debts.
If the Democrats want to establish a long-term governing majority, they're going to need to deliver the economic goods to Americans, regardless of gender.
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You mean, they need to do exactly what Bernie has been doing and saying?
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@EtTu, Edsall.
Liberal need to get off their high horse and start thinking of the average person. There are millions more Americans suffering from no health care, bad jobs, and no education.
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Ironic isn't it. I agree 100% that millions are suffering from no health care, bad jobs and no education and yet the party that is against health care, crushing labor and is now anti education has control of the government and hence social policy. All because voters had to have a "strong man" as leader and blame all the "others" for their problems. Those voters can't see the forest for the trees.
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Too bad those "average" people don't have more money to make large campaign contributions and the people who want to deny them health care, good jobs and education do. It is all pay for play now and it has been since the 1970's.
“If you put your politicians up for sale, as the US does (alone in this among industrialized democracies), then someone will buy them--and it won't be you; you can't afford them.” - Juan Cole
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Are you kidding me. Liberals are the only ones who consistently show concern for those very issues. Conservatives idea of progress is to keep us "uneducated" and poor so we will work cheap to compete with the immigrants while enriching their donors and solving the immigration issue.
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#MeToo can be a determinant factor but for America's sake - that means for women's sake - it should not be the only factor.
Back when John Kerry taking a job as SoS for the Obama Administration, his senate seat was up for grab. State AG Martha Coakley v. State senator Scott Brown. The former, a Democrat and a woman, thought she had it in the bag but lost. She lost again to the current Mass governor, Gov Baker.
While I have been half seriously joking returning to matriarchy is the only way for a better world, it is important for politicians to return to the basics, representing their constituents with decency and fairness to all, not to punish the rich or the poor, men or women, old-timers or new immigrants. There is plenty for everyone. Besides, what has identity politics gotten the Democrats thus far? Only to be outflanked by the Tea Party and Donald Trump. True, their supporters are actually the minority but they are less apathetic in going to the polls. The lesson of Mrs Clinton defeat is that taking polls and going to the poll booth can be two different things, never mind she had 3 million more votes.
So, Democrats should think they have found the silver bullet, especially when they have poor aim. The new DNC Chair, Mr Perez is right about the need to rebuild trust at every level. Hope Rep Pelosi has gotten the memo
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correction: "Democrats shouldn't think" in the last paragraph
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Exactly. I'm female, but the only way the me too thing will affect my vote is that i won't vote for a candidate with credible harassment allegations. (And, i'd still like to see that list of congresscritters who had settlements paid off to accusers, so i can make a fully informed decision.) It's not going to make me vote female or Democratic by default, the economics still comes first. Jobs, healthcare, housing, inequality, etc. As our Senator happens to be Warren, i can't see any reason she won't get my vote. I also can't see any reason not to vote for our male Republican governor again either.
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Be concerned about people, not polls. Win by advocating for and doing what is right for your constituents. That is the way to rebuild trust.
As you correctly point out, that is a key to being relevant in a future America - not the calculus of electoral politics. HRC came across as very Machiavellian, whether warranted or not. When the 'liberal elite' epithet is used, you know a lack of trust is driving it.
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A lot of people are going to think about Gilibrand spearheading Franken's ouster as 2020 approaches. To many, it looked like a hasty, self-serving action that threw a valued Senator under the bus. And a willingness to destroy someone to advance her own career.
The Democrats need to be very careful about this.
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And those other elected Democrats who joined the anti-Franken lynch mob don't look too good either.
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Amen, Talbot. And should Franken's seat (now occupied by Tina Smith) somehow flip Repbublican in the 2018 special election, Gillibrand will have an even steeper uphill climb.
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Agreed. While I applaud her willingness to stand up for women in general, Franken was run out on a rail without so much as an investigation after an obvious Roger Stone hatchet-job.
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