The Bernie Bros vs. the Hillarybots

[Playinghardball]

Bubbling intra-left conflict over Hillary Clinton has washed over the internet, with the most recent fracas concerning the cover art for a new anti-Hillary book by left-wing writer Doug Henwood. The book, which will be published in January, is an expansion of Henwood’s anti-Hillary broadside for Harper's in 2014. Its cover is a noirish painting of Hillary, arm raised, gun pointed at readers, under the title My Turn: Hillary Clinton Targets the Presidency.

Here’s the cover in question.



From one angle, the image is a hilariously kitschy take on an ambitious, tenacious politician long bedeviled by an American reluctance to admire tenacity and ambition in women. Painted by a Hillary superfan who describes her depictions of the candidate as “libidinal,” it works as an over-the-top riff on the way Hillary (and other powerful women) are seen as emasculating and dangerous. The painting recalls the “Texts from Hillary” meme that made Clinton briefly cool, as well as “Notorious RBG” iconography that resonates around fiercely brilliant bubbe Ruth Bader Ginsburg. In other words, it kind of makes Hillary look like a badass.

But since the book is far from an ode to Clinton’s moxie, the image takes on a different cast, conveying the grotesque degree to which a competent professional woman, history-making presidential candidate, policy nerd, and grandmother can be so intimidating that her menace is best portrayed as violent threat. It’s imagery that mirrors right-wing conspiracy theories about Hillary as a murderous Lady Macbeth. But remember, this book comes not from the right but from the left. Henwood goes after Clinton as a hawkish corporatist, beholden to Wall Street; he includes Clinton’s feminist shortcomings in his critique.

More here: http://nymag.com/thecut/2015/11/bernie-sanders-bros-are-coming-for-the-hillary-clinton-bots.html#

[cantbeserious]

1. Spot On - HRC Is Only Interested In The Title Of President - Not Being President

eom

[tblue]

2. I'm voting for Bernie, but I don't like this

I wouldn't like that kind of pic posted about my guy, so this feels wrong to me. It's inflammatory and not necessary. Stick to policy and we will win.

[Autumn]

6. The cover was painted by a Hillary superfan

From one angle, the image is a hilariously kitschy take on an ambitious, tenacious politician long bedeviled by an American reluctance to admire tenacity and ambition in women. Painted by a Hillary superfan who describes her depictions of the candidate as “libidinal,” it works as an over-the-top riff on the way Hillary (and other powerful women) are seen as emasculating and dangerous. The painting recalls the “Texts from Hillary” meme that made Clinton briefly cool, as well as “Notorious RBG” iconography that resonates around fiercely brilliant bubbe Ruth Bader Ginsburg. In other words, it kind of makes Hillary look like a badass.

[tblue]

11. Oh that's different then, I guess

Thanks for the explanation. 🙂

[Autumn]

12. That's one ugly book cover, painted by a Superfan or no that painting is creepy.nt

[Starry Messenger]

3. More:

"This is the fractured, maddening dynamic in play in a far corner of the American left, as Hillary Clinton continues to square off against her progressive challenger, Bernie Sanders. Her critics, some of the loudest of them progressive men, are struggling to communicate the intensity of their distaste for her and for her supporters. But in their efforts, a few are reaching for the communicative weapons usually wielded by their ideological foes — those who diminish, demean, and infantalize women. These lefty guys are reminding their feminist peers that misogyny and bitter gender resentments are not — as they have never been — the sole province of the American right. As Michelle Goldberg points out in her piece about these tensions, "as long as feminism has existed, left-wing men have dismissed it as a bourgeois triviality. Now we know how little things have changed."

[betsuni]

9. +1

[sadoldgirl]

4. Since the book is not out yet,

I cannot say anything about its content.

The cover, however, is atrocious, and definitely
looks more like hatred than like fair criticism.

And, sorry, but I don't like hatred.

[jeff47]

8. It was painted by a fan of Clinton.

Apparently she was going for a "Notorious RBG" thing.

[Autumn]

5. Ugly book cover. It was painted by a Hillary superfan??

From one angle, the image is a hilariously kitschy take on an ambitious, tenacious politician long bedeviled by an American reluctance to admire tenacity and ambition in women. Painted by a Hillary superfan who describes her depictions of the candidate as “libidinal,” it works as an over-the-top riff on the way Hillary (and other powerful women) are seen as emasculating and dangerous. The painting recalls the “Texts from Hillary” meme that made Clinton briefly cool, as well as “Notorious RBG” iconography that resonates around fiercely brilliant bubbe Ruth Bader Ginsburg. In other words, it kind of makes Hillary look like a badass.

[whatchamacallit]

7. I know, yuck

Strangely though, this image matches the malevolent vibe of some of her most strident supporters.

[Autumn]

10. I see what you mean

[artislife]

13. hmmm.

[fun n serious]

14. Hillary bots?

What do you mean?