Hating Hillary Doesn't Make You Anti-Woman

A couple of years ago, I was visiting some relatives in Western Europe when one of my cousins asked me if I was looking forward to Hillary Clinton becoming the first female President of the United States. "God, I hope not!" was my answer. My cousin, seemingly convinced that Hillary was as universally popular in the United States as she seemed to be in Europe, was shocked at my prompt and certain negative response. "Why?" she inquired, "are you not excited about having a woman lead your country?" I told her that I'd be quite comfortable with a woman running the country, just not that woman.

Tokenism has become such a factor in modern society that it trumps any serious consideration of individuals. So someone who articulates a dislike for Hillary Clinton is often labelled "anti-woman", while someone who doesn't like Barack Obama might be considered a racist. Those who draw such conclusions are intellectually lazy, at best, and blatantly dishonest, at worst. But somehow, through repetition, perhaps, the perception that conservatives are anti-minority has been continually fostered. In a political climate where Democrat candidates still reap the benefits from pandering to assorted minority groups, treating each and every group as if they're the only one that matters, conservatives simply cannot win.

When the Republican Party invited an African-American gospel choir to perform at a presidential convention some years ago, the GOP was ridiculed for pandering to blacks. Cynical liberals joked about the stiff white choreography, and claimed that the choir constituted the only representives of the minority community in attendance at the convention. While the reality belied their claims, the perception remained. George W. Bush appointed the first African American Secretary of State, then replaced him with the first African American woman to fill the post. Was he credited for giving opportunities that no previous President had seen fit to give? Of course not. Instead, Colin Powell and Condeleezza Rice were often ridiculed as "house niggers" taking orders from a white master. The detestable Ted Rall and Jeff Danziger both subjected Ms. Rice to perverse racism in their cartoon strips without much backlash. Kathy Griffin, who last I checked is white, went so far as to suggest that Condi Rice follows "everything white men say". Of course, neither Kathy Griffin nor the white lefty cartoonists went through anything approaching the overt racism that Ms. Rice had to deal with. Condoleezza Rice's childhood friends were murdered in a southern church bombing by a White Democrat, after all.

While Democrats have always pretended to be morally superior on issues of race and gender, they've cornered the market on overt and covert racism. Jim Crow Laws and Bull Conner were tools of institutionalized white Democrat racism. In the 1990s, Democrats in the Senate attempted to torpedo the Supreme Court confirmation hearings of the highly qualified Clarence Thomas by making up sexual harassment allegations at the eleventh hour. The virtual lynch mob that was created by these baseless allegations was led by such shining lights as Ted "Chappaquiddick" Kennedy. During the run-up to the 2006 elections, Chuck Schumer had his dirty tricks unit steal a copy of Republican candidate Michael Steele's credit report in an effort to dig up some pre-election dirt on the black Lieutenant Governor. Typical of the left-wing media that's more interested in endorsing liberals than in promoting African Americans, Schumer's theft went largely unreported.

Last November, Chris Matthews accused Tenneseeans of being racist for electing a white Republican, Bob Corker over a black Democrat, Harold Ford, to the open Senate seat in that state. Conveniently, Matthews failed to level the same charge against Maryland voters, who chose a white Democrat, Ben Cardin, over a black Republican, Lieutenant Governor Michael Steele for Maryland's open Senate seat. He also ignored the fact that Pennsylvania's corrupt white Democrat Governor, "Fast Eddie" Rendell clobbered his black Republican opponent, Lynn Swann.

It was conservatism and the Republican Party that freed Black Americans from slavery. And, in the spirit of Martin Luther King, conservatives have always been more interested in the content of one's character than in the color of one's skin. Great Americans like Clarence Thomas, Condoleezza Rice, Michael Steele, Lynn Swann, Thomas Sowell and countless others have been welcomed in the Republican Party not because of their race or gender, but because they were qualified candidates and superior human beings. And that's the way it should be. If a qualified woman is interested in running for President of the United States, I would consider voting for her. Hillary Clinton is not qualified, so I will not vote for her. If a qualified African American, perhaps a Michael Steele or Condi Rice, runs for President, I would seriously consider voting for him or her. Barack Obama is not qualified, and I will not vote for him. If a qualified Hispanic runs for President...and no, Bill Richardson is not qualified...I would give the candidacy its due consideration. John Edwards is ambulance-chasing scum, and I refuse to vote for anyone from that minority group. In short, I will always vote for the best candidate, whether that candidate be black, Hispanic, female, or, God forbid, a white male.