 So welcome, I will welcome again. I am Elizabeth Sackler and I'm really happy to welcome you to this panel That has been put together By Courtney Martin and the American hero and the American dream reflections on our contemporary political narrative Courtney, I tend to think of it also as the American shero Yeah The center opened in 2007 and our mission is to raise awareness of feminism's cultural contributions and to educate new generations about the meaning of feminism and feminist art and feminist thinking in addition to being the permanent home of the wonderful dinner party by Judy Chicago We have Created this wonderful space the forum in order to have panel discussions and lectures to have discussions Dialogues and presentations about feminist activism feminist art and all other things current on our social and political landscape and you can imagine as The last few months have been progressing there has been a lot to sink our teeth into and I'm very pleased to be Introducing this panel at this time at at the The time that I invited Courtney to put a panel together So much hadn't happened and so it will be interesting to hear from everybody where things are now and What we're looking forward to perhaps in the coming weeks I met Courtney or saw Courtney speak last April At a panel she was on a panel that was co-sponsored by the Women's Media Center at the Paley Center And it was called from sound bites to solution solutions of bias Punditry and the press in the 2008 elections and of course a lot of what was discussed was the misogyny By the press against Hillary Clinton. We're now looking at a whole different Response to our candidate or a female candidate and that should be very interesting again to hear some feedback on and I I met Courtney and Had an opportunity To hear about all that she is doing and did ask her to put together her wonderful panelist Charlton I'm gonna do this McGillan McGill when McElwain, thank you McElwain, I beg your pardon Gloria felt and remain had a yacht T Had a yacht as you see that as my names are not my forte in April We didn't know what was going to be forthcoming But I do want to tell you about Courtney who is then going to introduce your panel Courtney Martin is the award-winning author of perfect girl starving daughters how the quest for perfection is harming young women it was called a hardcover punch in the gut by Huffington and a smart and spirited rant that makes for thought provoking reading by the New York Times She is also a widely read freelance journalist and regular regular blogger for Feministing the most popular blog for young women on the internet She is a columnist on political and youth culture for the American prospect online and her work has appeared in the New York Times the Washington Post Newsweek and the Christian Science Monitor among others Courtney co-wrote the life story of Marvel and Brown called the naked truth young beautiful and HIV positive Just released in August on her by Harper Collins In addition, she has essays in many anthologies including a 21st century ethical toolbox by Oxford University Press and Declare yourself 50 Americans talk about why Voting matters. She's been on the today show the O'Reilly factor MSNBC and spoken on radio programs And I will tell you that those of us who are twice her age consider ourselves underachievers by comparison She is director of undergraduate programs at the op-ed project and a woodhole fellow and a shining star and that's that's my Description of her of the progressive women's voices project of the women's media center So I'd like to welcome Courtney Martin who will welcome our panelists and welcome you to this discussion. Thank you Thank you so much Elizabeth. Are we buzzing is that too loud or is that good for people? Okay? It actually occurs to me to thank Elizabeth not just for being Elizabeth and creating this home for feminist art that is so needed But also because when we think about political narratives and we think about who's shaping those narratives right now There aren't I can guarantee a lot of women under 30 being asked To be the authors of that narrative to be the shapers of that narrative. So it's incredibly radical I think to have someone like Elizabeth trusting someone like me To create this moment and sort of put my stamp on it. So I really want to thank you deeply This is really an opportunity. It's intended to be an opportunity for all of us to take a big picture Perspective on this totally unprecedented election. So, you know turn off your kind of new media mind shut down the political comm This is less about sort of the daily push and pull that each of us has probably gotten more embroiled in than we would like to be And more about taking a really big picture perspective What's happening right now that is so unprecedented. How are these sort of large narratives being shaped? Those are some of the questions that I really wanted to devote our day to today Just to give you kind of a broad sketch to begin with and then I trust my Brilliant panelists to fill it all in We've got John McCain who as we all know is framed as the American hero, right? A POW who refused to leave his military brothers behind and has dedicated the rest of his life to a maverick style politics One might argue that underneath this mythology of McCain's heroism is a much different story About America's triple addictions sex drugs and money This is a man with an anger problem who left his first family wife and child for a beer Eris who developed a little problem with prescription drugs, right? So you hear how different those two narratives are and how there's a lot of truth in both of them Gloria Felt who is a longtime resident of Arizona and has encountered John McCain on more than one occasion personally Will offer us a very insider perspective on these competing narratives and much more and I'm going to introduce you to Gloria Briefly because Gloria has led such an incredible life that there's we could spend our two hours talking about Gloria She's a nationally acclaimed activist author keynote speaker and commentator on women's rights health leadership and politics From where the personal meets the political. She's been dubbed the voice of experience by People magazine One of America's top 200 women leaders legends and trailblazers by Vanity Fair woman of the year by glamour and a practical Visionary by her colleagues and knowing Gloria probably the last one is the one. She's most proud of which is why I love her as She was a teen mom whose life's passion for reproductive justice led her to a 30-year career with the world's largest reproductive health care provider and advocacy organization She served as president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Federation of America from 1996 until she left to stake out her independent voice in 2005 well versed in red state politics of her native, Texas and adopted Arizona from the ground up long before assuming her national leadership role and Settling into New York's Upper West Side Gloria turned Planned Parenthood into a political powerhouse and led the creation of its bold vision for 2025 She's the author of three books the most recent co-author with actress Kathleen Turner I was with Gloria recently speaking at a college and a young woman said to her whose Kathleen Turner and I thought oh We have really changed generations Which was in New York Times bestseller it's called send yourself roses thoughts on my life love and leading roles Previous books are the war on choice the right-wing attack on women's rights and how to fight back and behind every choice is a story Her commentary has appeared widely at you know every major newspaper She's you know incredibly well-read on the internet She has her own very popular blog on politics called heartfelt politics, which you can find at Gloria felt calm She serves on the boards of the Women's Media Center and the Jewish Women's Archive that our bodies ourselves advisory board and as a fellow of the International Leadership Forum She and her husband Alex have a combined family of six children You're not gonna believe this nine grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. I know that's very hard to leave looking at her On a personal note Gloria is a tireless activist and mentor for me and my favorite source of obscure Texan Proverbs which I'm hoping she might pull out at some point during our discussion together So we're gonna hear from Gloria first then we're gonna we're gonna sort of switch our minds to talk more about Barack Obama Who as we all know is the American dream, right? That's the mythology we have around Obama He actually authored his own mythology in his landmark 2004 DNC speech in which he declared tonight is a particular honor to me Because let's face it. My presence on this stage is pretty unlikely He went on to tell the story which we all know by heart at this point of his father a Kenyan sheep herder Who had made it to school in America? It was there in that magical place that his father met his mother a Kansan white woman from a working-class family They would give me an African name. He said Barack meaning blessing believing that in a tolerant America Your name is no barrier to success So that's one of the mythologies the other one which of course the GOP has attempted to sort of rewrite In their version Obama is an elite Harvard boy trying to charm his way into the most powerful position on earth without paying His dues or even more damning an undercover racist with a militant American hating wife Just waiting to paint the White House black. I'm sure our second panelist Charlton McElwain will have a lot to say on these competing narratives And Charlton is an assistant professor of culture and communications at NYU His current research focuses on the use of racial appeals and political communications He's the author of the forthcoming book race appeal the prevalence purposes and political implications of racial discourse in American politics and Co-editor of the forthcoming Rutledge companion to race and ethnicity He's been published in many journals, which I am not going to tell you because I can't pronounce some of them They involve words words like semi-autica Which you'll have to tell me exactly what that means Prior to being at NYU McElwain worked as the communications director for congressional and gubatorial Campaigns in Oklahoma and spent one year as the communications director of the Oklahoma Democratic Party He and Stephen Maynard Caliendo had the project on race and political communications I met Charlton about six months ago while reporting a story about Obama and trying to really find someone who had a fresh voice had a new angle and I was totally struck by the clarity of his vision and sort of the originality that he brings to this conversation because I know we've all heard a lot about these things so I assure you you'll hear something new from him and Finally We've got these new Mythologies which Elizabeth was referencing right these VP wild cards one of them in particularly a wild card, right? Joe Biden as portrayed as a mr. Smith goes to Washington figure a family man who has overcome great tragedy and avoided the black hole of insider politics By taking the train home each day, right? That's the sort of visual trope that we get over and over with Joe Biden God forbid a politician be on the train, right? And then there's the wild card of them all Sarah Palin Depending on your perspective. She's a B movie actress called in at the last minute to replace leading lady Hillary Clinton The infinitely qualified first choice to the advertisers worried was a little too strident and had a few too many wrinkles Or she's the populist Annie Oakley who wrote in on her white horse to save the day Her subpar performance on the nation's news shows not to mention her short and checkered history in office has made for some of the richest Comedy so far in an election season flush with amazing comedic moments We were just talking about did anyone see Saturday Night Live last night Faye was on again as Palin in the Katie Couric interview I'm wondering if Faye is gonna be on Saturday Night Live every single weekend from here to the election I hope she is Ramin Hedyati an associate producer at the Daily Show will share some clips with us and talk a bit about the ways in which the political season has Offered narratives ripe for ripping on Ramin Hedyati is currently an associate producer at the Emmy award-winning Daily Show with John Stewart He and I met while attending Columbia University from which we both graduated in 2002 Since then he's worked on a startup online financial news service counsel juvenile delinquents in East LA Wrote and researched for real time with Bill Maher and twenty three six the news comedy sister site to the Huffington Post He's a Staten Island native a pro at throwing themed house parties and one of my closest friends The clip he will show us today, which he produced has had four million views to date on the Daily Show website And he just threw he co-produced an Obama fundraiser at a bar that raised was at fifteen thousand dollars So really exciting To have his perspective on things and I always think a little bit of comedic sort of Break here does us all good. So without be funny today. Yeah, he's not gonna be funny at all Without further ado, I'm gonna hand it over to Gloria to give you a sense of of the plan Gloria Charlton and Ramin are each gonna speak a little bit, you know, maybe around ten minutes We'll see how long they feel like talking and then I'm gonna ask a couple of questions And then we really want it to be a conversation. So please be taking notes about anything you're curious about that We're saying we want it to be as interactive as possible. So Gloria take it away Thank You Courtney and And thank you Elizabeth for this dish of ice cream, which is a little metaphor Which I'll explain later if anybody wants to know but that's sort of how I feel about the Sackler Center here. It's so fantastic How many of you watched the debate by the way Friday just out of curiosity I figured and how many of you watched the afterspin Maybe that's even more important. Yeah, okay Because sometimes what we see on the debate and what we see on the spin afterward are not exactly precisely the same in terms of the Narrative Well, okay, so Courtney, I'm gonna start by giving you one of those little Okay, so my daddy always told me that everybody puts his pants on one leg at a time Mm-hmm Consequently, I've never been too much for heroes and I always have a hard time when people ask me Well, who's your hero trying to think about who I would put into that category and Since I've had the good fortune in my in my life to meet many individuals who have been referred to as heroes or Heroines including McCain Obama and Biden though not Palin so far so far I've come to realize just how right my father was and And also because I know Ramin will will do the you know give us some entertainment here And because actually Charlton actually knows what he's talking about as compared to me on this light I just get to pontificate on this subject I am going to try to Really zero in on just some some three rather practical aspects of the story here First is what I know about John McCain From in terms of what we have seen or heard as his narrative versus the reality that I know personally Secondly why it was inevitable that Hillary Clinton would lead to Sarah Palin and Third how I a mirror voter who has to keep one foot on the ground at all times actually thinks of the American dream And I'm going to start with the third because it sets the framework for the other two When I think of the American dream I think of my four grandparents all part of the wave of Eastern European Jewish immigration in the early part of the 20th century in my mind their journey was Always seemed to be kind of heroic Because they always talked about it as being a quest like the the hero's quest or the heroine's journey a Quest for freedom and justice for themselves for me They made sure that I thought it was for me and also for some mythical little guy They always talked about I never quite knew who that was but it was always something about somebody has to stand up for the little guy You know, that's what they talked about Now as it turns out my grandparents were among to use Stephen Birmingham's term the poor cousins They were the ones who were sent to the south by the rich German Jews who had become semi elite here in New York But we're still insecure enough that they fretted of that their poor tired Careworn brethren yearning to breathe free might reflect badly on them That's how I came to grow up in Texas But both of these groups were on a quest for the American dream as they perceived it and As divergent I think there are two points of view or as divergent in some ways as the differing views of liberal Democrats And conservative Republicans are today For example, while it makes my feminist heart sing to know that even the Republican right Understands that women are the key to the 2008 elections To my mind Sarah Palin is to to the women's movement and feminism What Ward Connerly and Clarence Thomas are to civil rights? The absolute antithesis of the quest for social justice and equality and To me Palin's election would be a giant leap backward from the aspirations of the American dream that my grandparents came here for And away from real hope and true change But as Emerson said and this is so relevant to the drama of this campaign as a whole and and to the debate that most of us Did watch on Friday night He said there are only two parties the party of the past and the party of the future The establishment and the movement Now I think it remains to be seen actually which well, let me put this a different way Which candidate legitimately holds the ground of the movement is is pretty clear But which candidate will be seen by the American public as the movement is Astonishingly still up for grabs So let me tell you about the McCain. I know I won't go back through his narrative which Courtney has already Absolutely accurately reflected I should add I did not make any effort for political diversity But there are so many things that people who know him from Arizona and people who have worked With him in Washington absolutely know to be true that are so totally Different from this this hero this very powerful hero narrative that his campaign puts forth that he puts forth and that What I really don't understand is how the media has allowed him to sort of sweet talk them into thinking he is a Moderate a maverick a really good tempered nice old guy Mm-hmm. I've known him since his first race for Congress in 1982 He he had as you know carpet bagged Arizona a couple of just a couple of years before that so that his new father-in-law could help him buy an election I'd like to I have a lot of John McCain stories, but I'm gonna just tell you one personal one that to me exemplifies his volatile angry Vendictive and actually abusive side and I would I would call this a story of abuse of power. I Always I was running the Planned Parenthood in Arizona at the time and and I always made a point of Maintaining good relationships with all of our members of Congress and senators no matter which party they were and I had several times during the course of the of the election During the race for his election. I had several times personally met with his staff. I had it invite had met with him I had invited him on numerous occasions to visit a Planned Parenthood clinic to see for himself how How we operated the services that we provided and frankly because he was going to be voting on Appropriations for family planning funding for low-income women. I wanted to make sure he knew what that was all about He refused over and over and over again Well, one day I'm sitting at my desk and I get a phone call from a staff member in a clinic in Mesa, Arizona Which was part of his district at the time. She said very calmly Senator McCain is in the reception room and he's screaming and he's upsetting the patients. What would you like me to do? I Said put him on the phone So he got on the phone and he started screaming at me. I asked him to just go someplace else and call me which he did fortunately He began to scream at me. I am going to defund you. I'm going to defund you. You people are breaking the law I'm going to defund you. Well, what had triggered his ire was that he had seen a Shelf in the reception area with information about legislation and paper and pens where people could write letters if they chose to do so He hadn't done his homework. He didn't know a this wasn't even a federally funded clinic Be that even in federally funded clinics if you pay for advocacy work with with other dollars that that's perfectly acceptable you don't lose your first amendment rights when you take federal money and Three our affiliate had had thanks to Ronald Reagan had had had had a GAO audit and inspector general audit within the last few months and had been pronounced absolutely totally Operating perfectly exactly as we were supposed to well He he ranted and he raved and he he was absolutely Determined that he was going to defund us. He never did understand or try to understand The services that were being provided that actually prevented abortion by the way this clinic didn't provide abortion That was the other thing he was ranting and raving about He didn't he didn't try The in the bottom line of this is not that a person can't misunderstand Something that's going on but it's that for a member of Congress to first of all walk into a public area and and upset people who were there for for very personal services and Secondly that he would attempt to use his power as a congressman without even doing his homework to find out whether he had any Legitimate right to do that. I think is quite telling about the real personality of John McCain As I said later on if you want I can tell you many more stories This is just one that that personally happened to me and I think is is Very indicative of who the real character of John McCain is When I saw his wife Cindy standing next to him as he offered her up to be Miss Buffalo Chip I you know and compared that to his sort of Almost anti-feminist coddling of Sarah Palin I Also thought that that was another very clear perspective on the character of this man who who wants to be president McCain masterfully appropriates His adversary strengths change for example When he's voted with Bush over 90% of the time Now some of us might call this lying but at a minimum it's like the governor in the best little whorehouse in Texas You know, ooh, we like to dance the little two-step and lead the people on I've just been given the hook here So I'm going to just say that that it really blows me away that As I said, he has been able to create a completely different narrative and I think that watching the debate There were several times that it you could begin to see the seething boiling roiling Emotions that are right under the surface for McCain and that truly would be worrisome to have if in a person who's who's taking that 3 a.m. phone call and That the Bush Cheney Palin wagon that he has hitched himself to is Carrying us back to a country that is starting to resemble the ones my grandparents came here to escape Thank you. Thank you so much. I'll be sure to ask you about your Clinton Palin Trajectory because I really want to hear that piece But I want to make sure we keep going so we get the audience conversation So next Charlton will talk about anything he wants, but I'm hoping he will Focus a bit on Obama since his Specialty is this idea of kind of race messaging and the ways in which we're all being primed by the media and by the Campaigns themselves to think about race or not think about race as the case may be so go ahead Charlton Absolutely, that's what I plan to do and glory and I were talking before this started about how you know Just when you think you really know and I figured out what's going on in this election Something else happens and you know that throws everything to hell So I was going to give you a little bit of sort of what I've been thinking about over the course of the Election some of the things that sort of still stick out to me still after this Year two years perhaps even longer about narratives of grace Particularly as they are tied to Barack Obama and how those have sort of come across and the first one I want to lead up to by having you just think about a few things number one the fact that in this country we had More than two centuries of slavery a long legacy of racial segregation and Jim Crow Which brought us literacy tests poll taxes that civil rights legislation that brought us Institutions such as affirmative action and racial gerrymandering. There have been two black senators elected since reconstruction Only one african-american candidate for statewide office out of five in the 2006 election actually one From Willie Horton that many of you probably remember to Jesse Helms infamous white hands add To the more recent RNC playboy ad against Harold Ford junior in 06 Implicit racial appeals have been used in political campaigns to Damage the election hopes of black candidates now say all of that to say that the most Interesting or one of the most interesting things that I've seen in this election is how given all of this the media and others have suckered the American people into believing that somehow the greatest sin For the electorate in this election The greatest sin one commit could commit is not to not vote for Obama because he's black But to suggest that to support Obama principally because he is black is somehow Anathema After a long history of race-based political decision-making all of a sudden whites blacks and others try to hide lie about or Disregard the fact that race is could be and even should be a Factor if primary factor even and whether they support Obama Choosing instead to favor the ideal principle of rational voting, which has never been the reality of American politics and voting behavior So, you know, I just think it's interesting how you know the first day of my my Political communication class last semester. I started off and said I'm voting for Barack Obama and I'm doing so because he's black Is in there anyone have a problem with that and Most of them raise their hands. I said, do you think that's okay? None of them said they thought this was okay Of course, you got the you know, very rational We should be talking about issues and where do they stand and we should compare and I said, okay But over the course of the year year and a half as I asked that question I get the same Response and so it baffles me how this narrative of this sort of colorblind ideal comes into play Especially as we're talking about the American dream and Obama and history and so forth that all of a sudden To say that race should not matter Becomes the thing that that shouldn't be now, of course, Barack Obama, I believe was smart enough to see through this and I say that because I think that when you look at his Rhetoric whether it's his speeches his political ads and so forth I think you see quite clearly where his brilliance Lies especially in terms of getting through the Democratic primary and becoming the nominee and that was his ability and his foresight to place Himself in this narrative of history where he becomes a culmination of the American dream Right the culmination of this idea of American racial progress And so with that and you know you look at the 2004 Convention speech which of course established a sort of narrative foundation Going on through many of the things that we hear of say over and over again things about You know desire for change progress something different all of these kinds of things that he embodies not only in his words, but in his very skin if you will and so I think he's been able to very Effectively walked this sort of racial tightrope to give the American public a variety of reasons to vote for him If you're looking at my celebrity status One which I think Obama cultivated and rightly so and one that I think was very much tied to issues of Race so if this is the reason for you to vote for me and part of that reason or much of that reason is because I'm black So be it please do so if you choose to vote for me because I am a voice of Unity and see this Diminishment of race and the role in which it should play and think about not us as African-Americans and whites and Latinos and so forth, but Americans the same that message to came across and if you choose to vote for me out of that Message then so be it as well And so I think he was sort of masterfully able to through all of these things together And sort of approach and appeal to Americans despite where their Particular point of view about race and the role it should play in this election was The third and final thing I'll mention that really has stood out to me Actually, there's there's so many more but okay a third one the strategy that Hillary Clinton first began and I think is continued with John McCain this sort of all-talk versus action framework this narrative definition of Obama as someone who speaks well, but when it comes to delivering is not quite up to the challenge And so there's been this message that you know He's all show and no boat or as we say in Texas all hat and no cattle Oh you've got competition And So it when that began to be the message it struck me in a number of reasons Prince will be because when you look at the history of the American presidency and Presidential rhetoric the one thing that you see is the most effective Presidents people that by and large people would say These were Good presidents maybe not so much in terms of policy and ideology and so forth But in terms of embodying the role of presidents where we're talking about Bill Clinton or Ronald Reagan or John F Kennedy and so forth all of them Really were most effective because they were able to articulate a vision For the country and the American people and an idea about the future that match where We wanted to be and so all of a sudden in this election that idea or that ability is being diminished and to me it was very much a Sort of subtle Sometimes not so subtle Racial attack because it's always as I said been a part of our history But all of a sudden we've got a black candidate who now you know, we sort of put into this this frame of You know being all talk being the kind of hustler Sort of figure, you know that black celebrity as we see with John McCain and so forth Who is flashy and shiny and you know kind of like watching the NFL And you see the the guys run into the end zone and got a spike the ball and dance and do a little You know something things that over the years we've associated with with blackness this sort of flashiness and so forth But really underneath at all No substance and so I see That particular narrative as very interesting and interesting in terms of how it might end up playing out I'll stop there great. Thank you And now we will take a little clip that Ramin will introduce and then he's gonna talk to us more from sort of the media Comedic perspective how some of these narratives are getting shaped So take it away. Yeah, my name is Ramin. Thanks Courtney for having me I'm a producer at the Daily Show and most people ask me What the hell does that mean when I tell them and basically It's different for various TV shows at some TV shows you handle logistics and things like that I Generate ideas basically just try to keep the show moving forward Keep things, you know looking ahead so we can get ahead because it's so important to do that And this piece we're gonna show now is something I pitched Worked on research produced and put together, so I hope you enjoy it take it away Thank you so much ladies and gentlemen and thank you very appreciate the applause The choice of Alaska governor Sarah Palin as the GOP's vice presidential nominee is earning rave reviews From at least one analyst with a head like a lump of unbaked bread dough She's a populist she's an economic and a social conservative. She's a reformer. She's a former mayor She's the mayor. I think of the second largest city in Alaska before she ran for governor Oh, I was very impressed with Governor Palin's experience as mayor of a city with 9,000 people in it Imagine He was equally impressed last month when Tim Kaine former mayor of Richmond population 200,000 former lieutenant governor of Virginia And now current Virginia governor was on Barack Obama's vice presidential shortlist He's been a governor for three years He was mayor of the 105th largest city in America and again with all due respect to Richmond, Virginia It's smaller than Chula Vista, California, Aurora, Colorado, Mesa Gilbert, Arizona, North, Las Vegas or Henderson, Nevada It's not a big town. So if you were to pick governor Kaine It would be an intensely political choice where he said, you know what? I'm really not first and foremost concerned with is this person capable of being president of the United States Roe appears bitterly divided on the experience issue Well, every time one of those pops up, I lose a testicle Well, at least everyone can agree on the more sensitive issue of governor Palin's pregnant teen daughter Millions of American families are dealing with teenage pregnancy and as long as society doesn't have to support the mother father or baby It is a personal matter It is true that some Americans will judge governor Palin and her family for the sake of her and her family We hope things calm down. Yes Papa bear Pregnancy is an issue for which judgment is personal and must be withheld On a pinhead front sixteen-year-old Jamie Lynn Spears is pregnant. The sister of Brittany says she is shocked I bet here the blame falls primarily on the parents of the girl You see what happens with opinions on teen pregnancy is that they gestate over a period of months you pinheads Clearly though the one thing that is consistent Is that we should not be even talking about this because it is sexist There have been tougher and harder questions that have been asked relentlessly by a biased news media about her daughter that about a Barack Obama who's running for 19 months a man would never have had to go through this midst deep sexism that runs What is what is going to be sexism? It's so deep It is the very same sexism that Hillary Clinton faced right dickmas When a woman wants to be president, she shouldn't complain based on gender I'm gonna take my toys and go home because the big boys are picking on me You're not strong what happens when the boys in the Middle East or the boys who run Russia or the boys who run China Start picking on you are we gonna have the president to the United States saying the boys are picking on me This is what Hillary always does whenever she gets under fire She retreats behind the apron strings and Dick Morris's defense. He is a lying sack of Big Morris certainly isn't the only one who thought that Hillary was playing the gender card Are the people who think they're helping her by playing this gender card are hurting her It would be a terrible mistake for her to try to try to play this victimology or victimization card Because it's just really what we want in a president. Absolutely. That's Nancy Pafotenour She's John McCain senior policy advisor. I think you know what's coming I think the nature of these attacks because they involve family members and because they're just so disrespectful to her as a woman I also would have hoped that they'd have learned by now not to be so quick to belittle the accomplishments of women There were questions about she has young children that came out and it was from from a feminine perspective or a female's Perspective, I found that to be one of the most outrageous double standards. I'd ever seen really one of the most outrageous double standards you've ever seen I think I've got some clips you should see Levine criticism doesn't make you a sexist I think it was put best back in March by an obscure and experienced politician from the great Northwest When I hear a statement like that Coming from a woman candidate with any kind of perceived wine about that excess criticism or You know, maybe a sharper microscope put on her. I think that that doesn't do us any good I mean work harder prove yourself to an even greater degree that you're capable that you're gonna be the best candidate What does she know? We'll be right back now. You don't want to listen to me You just want more of John The one thing, but you know besides the points we're making with the you know juxtaposing those clips is Just how easy and effortless it is for these people to say something that's totally contradictory From what they said in the past and that happens every day all day I watch it all day and it's It's making me old and So I'm here to ask for help. I don't want to watch it anymore So I think you know and also all of these people who spoke especially the you know Fotenhauer and Carl Rowe for example because they're like they're listed as advisors people who get the message out get the talking points out They were not challenged by the anchor who was interviewing them at all There was no research that they had that said oh Carl you said this a month ago about Tim Kaine or you know Nancy you said this about Hillary and you know six months ago so there's just no preparation and These people come on TV every day Whether they're Democratic strategists, whatever the hell that means Republican strategists, you know Tucker Bounds campaign McCain's campaign spokesman Bill Burton Obama's campaign spokesman. They're not Yeah, they they do the same thing too and they just come on every day and get these talking points out that For the most part often are not true and they're the ones driving these narratives that we are talking about today And they're you know, they may be day-to-day little things that they're adding to it, you know, for example on Friday When McCain did his big swoop into DC and to save the world he met with Bush and Obama as well met with Bush and Afterwards they spun it as you know McCain didn't say anything that was the whole thing McCain didn't say anything at that meeting and Obama did he spoke up and he was you know laid down a few points and McCain's people spun it as well a leader listens, you know a leader goes in there and listens and Obama he just you know, he he went in there and gave a monologue and So, you know, they any little thing they can they can twist and put it in there But we know that I think what we want to take away is that this is happening every day and these people aren't being challenged on it There's no accountability You know, you'll see from time to time. I don't know if you guys saw the the Campbell Brown thing where she went after Tucker Bounds on What decisions Palin had made in her in her time as Alaska governor and whether she had made any decisions about the Alaska National Guard and He couldn't answer it and she kept pressing him. She kept pressing him And finally he was like you're belittling belittling her accomplishments. I'm just like, what are you talking about? but that got a ton of play was all over the place was on the blogs it was everywhere and News that's news making news for doing its job and that shouldn't be that should just be the case and unfortunately it's not and So I don't know if they're just lazy if they have bad researchers I don't know what's going on but these narratives are getting built and they're growing and they're they're Taking on more little pieces every day That these anchors don't question them and don't stop them before they can take on even more so It's dangerous. I think it's actually more dangerous than the actual messages that these people are peddling so That's that I guess we'll we'll talk about it more. Okay. Thank you Thank you all that was so rich. I have a million questions. I want to ask I'm gonna I'm gonna have that each one of them once and then I'm gonna let you all jump in the conversation Gloria I want to hear from you on two things one is I really would would love to hear you talk about the trajectory of Clinton to Palin, but I also thought one thing you said that was so profound as this Well, really your grandparents said that this idea of the little guys and we've been talking about the mythologizing of the candidates themselves But we failed to really delve into the mythology of us the people sitting in this room the mythology of the middle class the mythology of the average American voter Because that certainly is sort of wildly mythologized throughout this election So I wonder if Gloria you'll tell us about the Clinton Palin trajectory and if you could talk a little bit about what you think the mythology of the little guy Has been in this campaign so far. Okay. All right Well, but in regards to the comment I made that where I said that I felt that Hillary Clinton had inevitably paved the way for Sarah Palin I think that in many respects, this is how it always happens This is how social social change and how social movements almost always Play themselves out for whatever ironic reason that might be just like Nixon could go to China Whereas Democratic presidents couldn't It's it's it's the sort of not the usual suspect is often the one who gets accepted by Society to move ahead to do something that many others have paved the way for and I really do believe that That Hillary's uphill battle against sexism Particularly as we have just seen some examples of in the media I mean, you know, remember the Hillary nutcracker the Kentucky fried chicken Hillary's special dinner with fat thighs and two left wings the way Chris Chris Matthews excoriated her for Saying she was confident she could win whereas every male candidate always says he's confident he can win and oh, yeah Well, that's just you know, of course, you know, we know that The fact that there were comments on everything from her her voice tone her cackle her Her her cleavage. Yes. I mean everything and I really do believe that the fact that not only did Hillary Eventually get around to calling attention to those things and I think I think a part of her Fit her I don't want to call what she did a failure because I don't think it was in any way a failure But I think a problem actually I think it kind of relates to what you were saying about the tightrope that Barack Obama has to walk From a racial perspective the same thing was true from for Hillary with the gender perspective I mean she had to both be the tough person the tough guy and also To be proud that she was the first woman running for that office and it was just a really difficult tightrope But the fact that of her candidacy meant number one that it called attention to that sexism And so now Sarah Palin is treated much more gently by the media But secondly, I really think it's a more subtle thing than that It is simply that both the media and the American public Has seen that leadership can come with cleavage and breasts and A and a higher pitched voice. I mean we it's just simply not a surprise anymore It we sort of got used to it in the larger cultural milieu So so that's I think that's really that I mean I honestly I honestly have always thought that the first woman president would be a Right-wing anti-choice Republican Started to write that in a novel at one time Good story. Yeah, I really do but I did believe that was true, and I'm hoping it's hope That's not gonna be the case and just for clarifying because I know you were just speaking off the cuff But there have been lots of women who've run for president But this has been the woman who's been taken the most seriously We all know there's a long line of women who have done this right, right? Yes, and the fact that this is the first one that has been taken seriously is is Statement enough statement enough in terms of the little guy the the sort of The cultural narrative of the little guy It's it's really great to watch old movies on television because you see this all the time But I don't think we see that narrative at all very much today. It's just not and And you know if I can kind of go back to what my my father's little little comment that Everybody puts their pants leg on pants on one leg at a time In a way that sounds sort of cynical when it's applied to politics, but on the other hand I think it's kind of a comforting thing to know that in the end We the little guys the American voters Actually do get to decide who is the candidate of the future Right if we do it if we are engaged if we are involved go Yeah, they're another interesting research recently by the drum major Institute or people familiar with them It's a think tank it the drum major comes from a Martin Luther King quote Which I won't remember well enough to tell you but it's a great Institute And they just released a study on the middle class that they did which actually showed that the middle class voters biggest fears were not The terrorists but were economic instability, which of course is no surprise to the people in this room probably struggling to pay mortgages and rents And that the majority of the middle class agreed on most Kind of issues that we think of the middle class is being very bipartisan about things like taxes things like the American Dream Act which is would make Teenagers who are either going to college or in the military and have come over illegally automatically get citizenship So it's a really interesting study if you have a chance to look at it I wrote my column which comes out tomorrow on it at the American prospect online Sort of breaking apart the mythology of the little guy Charlton you talk about kind of Obama as this Rorschach test that he's setting it up to be anything you see in Him that's fine. Just as long as you pull the lever for his name Right, so if you want to vote for him because it makes you feel good about The fact that you are not racist or if you want to vote for him because race isn't an issue But you just think he's qualified. I'm wondering what you think the loss for black Americans is of that positioning of that sort of Rorschach test because we know we've heard You know with hot mics things. We shouldn't have heard from you know, Jesse Jackson. We've heard other sort of civil rights era leaders Who obviously have a problem with Obama? What do you think the losses for average black Americans? I Think the loss really is You know, I think this is the what Obama had to do of course to get to through the election and get elected So I don't fault him on that but I think that one of the things we haven't really paid so much attention to is what Progress with this progress will mean if Obama is elected And to what degree do we lose? Anything that we currently have in the name of this progress and so One of the things that I see is that of course when you Ultimately champion a colorblind vision of American way of looking at things Then you lose a degree to which you can advocate for issues and positions that are clearly Color-coded much difficult much more difficult to advocate for African-Americans poor African-Americans in a place like In New Orleans with Katrina and so forth where I don't think there's any Disagreement that much of the situation where those people were in has to do both because of Economics as well as race that are tied together and so when we sort of dissipate That connection I think we then cut off a group of people for whom We still need to advocate and so You know, I think there's been a lot of talk about, you know with her black politics If Obama is elected, and I think that's a very interesting question I don't think it's just black politics, but race-based politics where Latinos Asian Americans Militias and so forth have very real race-based based ethnic based Interests still I don't think those have gone away even though our sort of mindset about Using race as a framework to deal with them is sort of diminishing, right? Great. So Rameen obviously Got us all riled up with this contradictory punditry, right? Which you know we see constantly and my question for him is is anyone holding these people accountable other than The comedians then you John Stephen Colbert the folks who are You know watching these clips and really putting them together and and can the American people do something about that Let's see why there are other people doing it. I mean if you watch CNN sometimes they have this thing called truth squad or reality check or You know that you know all the three big ones MSNBC foxy and then they have ways in which they do it And they are actually I think I don't know if it's our model, but it's what we do is just playing clips back to back They're doing that more. I've noticed in the last few weeks, which is good But I what the part that concerns me is just the filler time, you know that kind of just midday Saturday even weekdays just when they're just trying to kill time and the you know the big story has come out in the morning And nothing's really happening and they have all these strategists on and they're just talking and they're arguing and you know They just have them on and they say what they want to say and That's it. They're not there's no challenging going on and also just the fact that I Think people and you know you go to an airport I just flew to LA last weekend and you In both airports all the waiting rooms had TVs set to CNN So a lot of people are just sitting there and absorbing a lot of what's coming out I think even if it's not showing up in the Nielsen ratings, you know Because people maybe it's like three million viewers for the top-rated cable news show But people are just they're seeing the lower thirds. They're they're hearing little snippets more and more, you know jury-duty waiting rooms hospital waiting rooms airport waiting rooms and More often than not they have CNN or at Fox or MSM is he on so That's that to me is just very dangerous as the longer the you know the more time there is In the day that these things are going unchecked That's scary and what are the chances they would see a later correction. Yeah, it's right I mean because most of the time People will say what these strategists will come on and say what they say and it'll get into, you know The public's consciousness before it has a chance to get Vetted and corrected. I think that's what happens most of the time and these narratives grow and they You know people go home and they talk about it at their kitchen table and did you hear this today? I heard this guy say this, you know, and it just grows and grows and grows and It's just out of control. I think at this point But what can we do? Yeah, has anyone in this room written a letter and email any kind of thing to you know, CNN any sort of media outlet where you saw contradictory Punditry but also doing something the next day about sort of calling different networks on their practices Maybe it could change perhaps. I mean you should just if you haven't if you don't watch this stuff That's good, but you should throw on like Fox or MSNBC CNN just on any day just in the midday like one two three o'clock Where they're really trying to kill time unless there's an Obama speech or something going on or McCain Maybe not so much leading up to the election but and just kind of watch and sit there and force yourself to just see how people are presenting their messages and the talking points and how The anchors the mediators so-called mediators are not challenging them and just saying oh, thank you You know fair and balanced there it is, you know, thank you this person. Thank you that person We'll be right back, you know, there's there's none of the Campbell Brown type stuff That you're seeing on a daily base. It's not happening. So Courtney. Can I can I give you one practical thing? I this I actually wrote a whole chapter up called watch your mouthpiece and in my book or on choice about this and So I'm gonna make the suggestion to you that I made there, which is just tape to your computer or near it the email addresses of five to ten of the major television network programs or our talk radio programs that you listen to or watch and Have them right there by your you know really really at your fingertips and just simply once a day at least Make a point of writing one email to one of them to either say good job on something you think they did a good job on or No, no, no, no This is not this is not right if it's something that you feel that they treated unfairly or or or miscast Just one quick email a day. I've Trust me if we all did that it would make the difference. They're very all these networks the major three They're very insecure about what they're doing, you know the very so They I mean that's how George Bush got him by the short hairs and why they're doing a lot of the things they're doing now Yeah, yeah, they react to you know what the public is thinking about what they're reporting on more or less You know, I also feel like they've just discovered email and the internet like they're so excited to announce We just got this over the email like they're like on the cutting edge of technological And that makes it a story too, I love that when they're like well the blogs a lot of blogs are saying right now that Okay, that doesn't mean you have to report on it Why don't you actually see if it's worth reporting on before just saying well, this seems to be a story so it's I watch a lot of news