Slog News & Arts

Line Out

Music & Nightlife

« Sports Headline of the Day | Hillary Clinton. Barack Obama.... »

Monday, October 29, 2007

Romney Says Hillary Would be Like “an Intern” as President

posted by on October 29 at 17:10 PM

I’ll leave it to the arbiters of what’s sexist and not to tell me whether Mitt Romney crossed the line tonight on Hannity & Colmes. But if this is going to be a consistent line of attack from him, I believe he’ll have some explaining to do:

She’s never run anything. She’s never had the occasion of being in the private sector, running a business, or, for that matter, running a state or a city. She hasn’t run anything, and the government of the United States is not a place for a president to be an intern. You need to have experience actually leading and running things.

RSS icon Comments

1

go ask the big dog who's the boss, stupid fucking mormon.

Posted by maxsolomon | October 29, 2007 5:25 PM
2

What an idiot. Nothing but air in that Ken-doll brain.

Posted by keshmeshi | October 29, 2007 5:27 PM
3

I wouldn't buy that it's inherently sexist, but it sure is a steaming crock of shit.

Posted by tsm | October 29, 2007 5:31 PM
4

If Hillary was even remotely like an intern, we'd never have had Monicagate, would we?

Posted by NapoleonXIV | October 29, 2007 5:32 PM
5

Maybe he was talking about another Hillary ...one that wasn't married to Bill Clinton for two terms in the White House. Like Hillary Duff, or something.

Posted by Y.F. | October 29, 2007 5:37 PM
6

Senators don't mean jack shit to Romney apparently.

Posted by matthew fisher wilder | October 29, 2007 5:37 PM
7

Didnt he say something similiar at the last debate?

Posted by blaire | October 29, 2007 5:38 PM
8

Weird -- that's an easily disputable claim. Wikipedia has a nice long list of things she's run. For example:

- co-founded the Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families
- chairperson of the Legal Services Corporation
- chair of the Rural Health Advisory Committee
- introduced Arkansas' Home Instruction Program for Preschool Youth
- chaired the American Bar Association's Commission on Women in the Profession
- on the boards of the Arkansas Children's Hospital Legal Services and the Children's Defense Fund
- on the corporate board of directors of TCBY, Wal-Mart Stores, and Lafarge

...and so forth. Oh and also she's a state senator, for whatever that's worth.

Her career certainly seems to have had a more executive sheen than Mitt's.

Posted by mattymatt | October 29, 2007 6:12 PM
9

Has anyone noticed how everyone refers to clinton as "Hillary" and every other candidate by their last names?

And since when did running a business equal knowing how to run a country

*cough* Bush *cough*

Posted by Brandon h | October 29, 2007 6:17 PM
10

I'm betting that Obama supporters know the difference between a US and a state senator.

Most of those Arkansas associations are the types of things that the Governor's wife always ends up "running." In the case of Wal-mart since its headquarter is in Arkansas it was useful for them to have a friend at court.

Posted by mikeblanco | October 29, 2007 6:31 PM
11

Brandon h, I have noticed that, and it bothers me, but I've been kind of putting it down to the fact that "Clinton" means Bill, so she has to be "Hillary."

Or you know it's unconscious sexism. But right now I prefer to view it as the former.

Posted by arduous | October 29, 2007 6:31 PM
12

@8

Sitting on a bunch of committees and boards is not a form of executive experience. Trying to pretend that it matches being a governor or mayor or CEO just makes you look weak and desperate.

Just admit that she doesn't have any executive experience and talk about what she can do.

Posted by elenchos | October 29, 2007 6:46 PM
13

@9 and 11--Maybe it's because that's how she's putting herself out there? Check out her website. It's all "Hillary" all the time. Methinks it's to combat any possible Clinton fatigue.

Posted by Michigan Matt | October 29, 2007 6:51 PM
14

Oh, and if anyone says it is a sexist criticism, then you're saying you can't elect a woman because she will cry sexism every time she is attacked. She needs to show she can be hit and then hit back without making everything about gender.

John Edwards had to face the exact same objection and he couldn't say it was because he is a man.

Posted by elenchos | October 29, 2007 6:51 PM
15

Well, W was governor and ran several companies before he was appointed. That certainly turned out well, no?

Posted by Mike | October 29, 2007 6:53 PM
16

@9 Bush didn't know how to run a company. He ran two of them into the ground.

Posted by Gitai | October 29, 2007 7:04 PM
17

She's like an intern, except that SHE'S never gone down on Bill! She's like the Bartleby of interns: "I prefer not to."

Posted by jack | October 29, 2007 7:55 PM
18

I think there might be something to the idea that "Hillary" differentiates her from Bill, even though if we hear "Clinton" right now we'd probably be more likely to think "Hillary" not "Bill" b/c duh, she's the one campaigning. I doubt it's rooted in sexism, and definitely don't think it's conscious sexism. After all, we don't confuse Bush I w/ Bush II b/c we often call Bush II "Dubya" or something less flattering. But perhaps the change is due to a conscious branding/positioning decision on the part of her campaign. Maybe they're trying to humanize her, make her seem more relatable??

Posted by ms. mohr | October 29, 2007 8:22 PM
19

Well, the last senator to become president was JFK. So there is something to the fact that being a State Governor is a better training ground. And no, @8, the list you provided has nothing about executive experience - serving on boards doesn't cut it. Romney's point is valid. Still, I don't prefer him over Hillary, but I still dread Hillary.

Posted by raindrop | October 29, 2007 10:51 PM
20

Experience is virtually worthless in a job that has hundreds of advisers. It's "experience" that frequently gets in the way of ideas and action. Provided the President is neither an obstinate stump, a puppet, or surrounds him or herself with sycophantic idiots(Or any combination of the three!), then just about anybody can be a decent president.

Posted by Chris in Tampa | October 29, 2007 11:21 PM
21

Eli's post is a blatent and spineless attempt to insuinuate that Romney's comment is sexist without actually saying so, because he doesn't want to put himself in the position of defending such a ridiculous assertion.

Romney has consistently contrasted his record of executive successes not only against Clinton, but against all the other major candidates, male and female, Republican and Democrat. And whether or not you think that a record of executive success is important for a president, he does pretty clearly have far and away the best record of any candidate on that account. He grew Bain Capital from scratch. He turned arround the Salt Lake City olympics. Even the "New Yorker" (an insufferable bastion of Republicanism, I know) pretty much grants him this point.

Posted by David Wright | October 30, 2007 12:22 AM
22

#20 - if that thinking is a result of the water in Florida, beware. You are off base totally.

Such an empty assertion. Talent is all in the President of anything. All those people on the payroll around you take all their clues from you.

Talent is the MOST important need.

Needed even to hire talent.

Posted by Leyland | October 30, 2007 3:43 AM
23

Perception is everything. So it all depends on what “d” one looks for in Romney’s statement, whether it’s “dirt” or “diamond” ...OR in the famous intern’s case, she was looking for a “di_ _” ...LOL!

Posted by harry | October 30, 2007 8:41 AM
24

So what does this make Mitt Romney?

I mean the guy has FIVE sons all eligible to serve in combat units in Iraq, and not a single one has signed up for a combat tour.

Does this make him ... unpatriotic?

Or just a coward?

Posted by Will in Seattle | October 30, 2007 10:48 AM
25

Hillary is a total loser. Romany is correct. We do not need an "intern running our country." President Bill Clinton allowed al Qaeda to take foot in the Afghanistan, Iraq as well as "in America." Who he heck needs these two?

Hillary Documentary

YouTube - The Shocking Video Hillary Does NOT Want You To See! (1of2)
YouTube - The Shocking Video Hillary Does NOT Want You To See! (2of2)

Posted by Marie Jon' | October 30, 2007 1:18 PM

Comments Closed

In order to combat spam, we are no longer accepting comments on this post (or any post more than 14 days old).