Does the gender of the senator from Massachusetts matter when s/he votes for or against health care reform that’s a give away to the private health insurance industry, war authorization in Iraq, retroactive immunity for telecoms that violated our 4th amendment rights in “good faith”, massive tax cuts that increase the federal deficit, a second stimulus package, in favor of Judge Alito to be seated on the Supreme Court and so forth.
I’d like to see the reporters assigned to this race ask the candidates questions about their positions on issues that have dominated headlines over the last eight years, as a means of making this special election campaign productive informing the electorate and setting reasonable expectations about the candidates.
Coakley runs against history in state where old boys rule
Mass. slow to embrace women in high places
By Matt Viser and Eric Moskowitz
Globe Staff / December 12, 2009Twenty-three states have sent at least one woman to the United States Senate, and in three states – California, Maine, and Washington – female senators hold both seats.
But Massachusetts, a bastion of liberal politics and a pioneer in civil rights, is just now marking the milestone of nominating a woman as a Democratic candidate for Senate with Attorney General Martha Coakley’s overwhelming victory in Tuesday’s primary.
Let’s hear about the candidate positions on “liberal politics” and “civil rights” and the other issues of our day.
Let’s talk about “firsts” after the election is over:
“Whenever you’re talking about firsts, it’s always ironic that we’re in 2009 and we’re still talking about them,” said Suffolk County Sheriff Andrea J. Cabral, who is the first woman elected to her position and who supported a Coakley rival in the primary. “People say there are certain jobs that are jobs for men. All that means is that a woman hasn’t been hired yet.”
Coakley has grown more comfortable openly discussing her gender – she used it to great effect in the one of the last debates, and then made barrier-breaking a theme of her acceptance speech Tuesday night – and the issue poses a potential challenge for her Republican opponent, state Senator Scott Brown, as he plots his campaign.
“They said women don’t have much luck in Massachusetts politics,” Coakley said Tuesday. “We believed that it was quite possible that that luck was about to change.” read on
READER COMMENTS:
crzn wrote:
Voting based on race and gender = ignorance.
If you have a question for Martha Coakley, post it here and we’ll do our best to get her to answer it.
Senate Candidate Martha Coakley takes your calls
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
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This is Martha choosing to be indirect and therefore non-responsive to a direct question, which predictably causes the questioning to be more contentious than necessary. As a result Martha loses instead of wins.
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p>There is a better way and she needs to do it to be a better candidate and better senator. Martha needs to learn how to answer a question with a good explanation of her position without not answering it. Not answering is non-responsive and perceived as lawyerly double talk (because it is lawyerly double talk.)
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p>For example: “This special election is a short cycle scheduled over the holiday period and I feel it’s important for us to include all candidates on the ballot in the debates. Therefore, I have decided my campaign will accept invitations to debate if all three candidates are invited and not if just two of the three parties are invited… especially if the two are Brown and Kennedy đŸ˜‰
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p>See? Strong reasons for her debate policy, not a slick non-responsive answer to a direct question,
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p>Other Topics:
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(Braude notices and comments on the directness of Martha’s answer)
As a female who was in the last legally denied class of females denied entry to Mass Maritime, and as a female who endured the Army, I’m so sick and fucking tired of people whose first reflex is to a) defer to and b) exploit a female’s gender to evade honest appraisal.
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p>Gaaaa. Can we just get an honest appraisal of Coakley–from any-freakin-body? I don’t give a shit if she’s female. In this day and age, the “good ol’ boys” excuse is simply that–an excuse. I’ve been there, I’m tired of it. Martha Coakley is not a woman; she’s a candidate for the United States Senate. And for those who INSIST on seeing her through some other lens, all I can say to you is stop. Please stop. You hurt girls with your historical neuroses and you impede progress.