Why people like this actually get book deals is beyond me.

That question is always the one that gets to me in cases like this--that some schmuck wrote the book teaches me that there is one misogynist prick in the world. That it got accepted for publication, edited, published, promoted, etc, teaches me that there are so many. Depressing.

Fuck him.

Fuck everyone who buys it, too.

this sadly doesn't surprise me. In reverse, if she happened to look like a supermodel, he'd be commenting on her possible eating disorder and calling her a slut. Just figures. I hate shit like this.

Once again, constructing Hillary Clinton as bad at being a woman, or "masculine" ironically makes her unfit for the good ole boys club that is politics in the US today in so many ways. Its sad but true. Kudos to her for being able to grin and bear it.
Sidenote: I have to say though, I am not such a big fan of the use of the word prick in the heading of this post. If we want to change the use of women and women´s bodies as negative symbols, I think we have to do the same with male bodies as well.

Wait a minute, wait just a minute. I haven't read the book yet, though I do intend to, but I have to ask based on the comments you quote:

Do they imply misogyny on Bernstein's part, or is he accurately reporting its presence in her colleagues, etc?

Neither this entry or the Think Progress post gives enough context.

It seems to me that it would be impossible to write about her without describing the sexism in the way she is perceived.

A perception she has played into when it suits her-remember the chocolate chip cookie recipe?

Oh my God. Someone bash that man in the face.

Wow. Nice way to take down Hillary Clinton. Take THAT, Hillary! Screw your education, intelligence and political aspirations. Take your cankles elsewhere!

This story reminds me of the paradoxal world in which women have to live:
Be sexy, but not a slut.
Be intelligent, but not too much of an independent thinker.
Be kind, but not a pushover.
Be strong, but not assertive or agressive.
Be thin, but not too thin.
Have a career, but don't be more driven or make more money than your husband.

And the list goes on!

Poor Hillary - no matter what she does it will never be right.

Popular opinion where I live is that Hilary is a lesbian and Bill's just her beard. He gets a wife to parade around for the cameras when he's campaigning but doesn't have to give up his womanizing habits and she gets a husband so she can campaign as straight. Most of my neighbors also cast a suspicious eye on Condi Rice. And people ask why I went to college somewhere far far away.

i haven't read most of the biographies of the clinton's, but "first in his class: a biography of bill clinton" by david maraniss paints a fairly positive picture of hillary. maraniss pretty much wrote about her as bill's political partner and intellectual equal.

i'm not surprised that this book has come out now as she's campaigning. i don't know that there's anything really special about it. these sexist comments have been made about her for years and years and this is just another attempt to discredit her. not to mention that the *real* mudslinging hasn't even started yet and i'm sure *all* of the candidates will have some skeletons trotted out by the opposition. (not that it makes the kind of criticism that hillary receives any less sexist, just that it's a part of the political "process" now. blegh.)

Again: some these are quotes from other people, and the rest, devoid of any context (4-word excerpts) can hardly be considered 'commentary' from Carl Bernstein. If the ellipses are removed and the words don't look any better, then certainly he is propagating sexist garbage about her.

I'm not surprised that the little toe-sucking pervert (Dick Morris) got a few digs in, though, but one can't realistically discuss her career apart from her eight years as First Lady. Unfortunately, it's to Bill's discredit that he had that wormy future Fox News contributor in his confidence for all those years.

And he got a book deal because he was an ace reporter for 35 years and brought down a President. It will be regrettable if he used that goodwill, like his partner Woodward, to cash in and write a sexist political hit-piece. Unfortunately, I can't tell jack from the material provided.

I'm sure he only got the book deal because he is Carl Bernstein. Period.

Okay, it was not clear from the post that some of these were quotes from other people. Point granted. However, that does not excuse the fact that her 'FAT' ANKLES have absolutely nothing to do with her leadership ability and therefore do not belong anywhere in a book that claims to be serious political analysis.

"friend" is a past-tense verb?

Dick Morris rarely gives his own feelings or opinion about a person. Most of the time, he presents a view on what will help or hurt a person in a political campaign. That is what he is paid to do.

Bill and Hillary were and are always mainly concerned about presenting themselves for the cameras and the mainstream media. If image is your leading thought, then conversations of how you look will be plenty.

Dick Morris is not always politically correct. But he is always brutally honest on how things will impact in the polls.

"toe-sucking pervert"

When we insult people, can we please base it on their immoral actions, not their harmless sexual practice?

Jessi: Sorry I didn't provide more context myself; I should have said "toe-sucking hypocrite," given his post-Clinton Administration living made at expressing moral outrage about our former President and Senator Clinton and their real and perceived sexual practices.

But didn't you know that Republicans are allowed to cheat on their wives? It's only immoral for a Democrat to LIE about it. Just ask Newt Gingrich.

Wasn't Newt Gingrich's wife dying of cancer at the time?
Yeah, party of family values.

"fat ankles"?!
She could have no ankles & she'd still be an intelligent and competent woman.

But didn't you know that Republicans are allowed to cheat on their wives? It's only immoral for a Democrat to LIE about it. Just ask Newt Gingrich.

True, BUT you cannot judge the entire movement by one person. Trust me, the Right is very disappointed with this year's line-up of presidential candidates. Mitt Romney, at least, is married to his first wife - and stays by her side and helps her with her MS.

...and I thought that an insult to someone's intelligence was their fat headedness, clearly they have inverted it!

Do people take this sort of stuff seriously.

Its like saying "Not only is XYZ of poor character, but XYZ cannot make origami cranes either" what the ...

Love the "origami cranes" simile, Allytude. I'm going to have to remember that one.

@ Ben and Norbiz: Fair point. However. Unless Bernstein explicitly characterizes these quotes as examples of misogyny, he's just as culpable as the men who made the remarks.

Don't tell me it's just "reporting." I feel sure there's plenty of editorializing in the book. More importantly, there's nothing non-objective about observing that patriarchy exists and that disapproval of a woman's failure to conform to her prescribed gender role is a manifestation of same.

And Ben, I really don't give a damn whether Clinton "plays into sexist perceptions." Every woman has to strike some kind of bargain with patriarchy to survive. We're all doing the best we can, without having much to work with.

Clinton's campaign has also shown how sexist "progressives" are. Recently I heard the owner of the bar that hosts the liberal happy hour in town say that Hillary "isn't really a woman." On the other hand, Jon Stewart made a joke about how three of the candidates on stage at a debate had vaginas (and Clinton was the only woman). Because it's not women they are opposed to, it's vaginas. I find it all depressing.

I'm not entirely sure that Stewart's quote was sexist. I was watching last night. I immediately found it a little off but then thought about the comment. I don't think it meant anything. He said that three of the candidates had vaginas." So whom would he be insulting? I don't think that part made sense at all. The part that I think could be construed as sexist was that he then added something like "I'm not saying who had vaginas." I think that was meant as an insult to Hillary because he's implying that he's not sure she is feminine. I've never heard Stewart say anything sexist before though so I'm not sure what to think.

"Why people like this actually get book deals is beyond me."

the answer should be because there's freedom of speech, but sadly we all know it is just because of political agendas.

those lines from the book are pretty bad, regardless of any context they might have been used in.

what an idiot.