Who really got thrown under the bus?

Fifteen months into this presidential campaign I’m sick of it all. Sick of the candidates hammering away at each other as another state’s contest rolls nearer. Sick of the media echo chamber presuming to speak for the American people. Sick of Republicans and Democrats. Sick of endorsements and ads. And sick of hearing who got “thrown under the bus.”

Let me tell you. It ain’t Patti Solis Doyle or Barack Obama’s grandmother. It ain’t Jeremiah Wright or Mark Penn. It sure ain’t George Stephanopolous or Charlie Gibson.

It’s the American people.

While elected officials try to determine whether or not to endorse and mainstream media personalities chatter on about the latest trivial non-issue, we the people are gasping for breath out here. We can’t afford to fill up our cars and buy groceries. We’re praying no one in the family gets sick or has an accident. We’re hoping we can make the next mortgage payment while Charlie Gibson is worrying about his capital gains tax. Honestly! And it’s been like this for years.

I say it’s time we throw our political elite and media mavens under the bus. Vote ‘em out and unplug the radio and TV. Enough is enough.

Tired of whiney women!

I am sick of hearing from whiney women about how sexist everyone else is. Enough already!

I’ve spent a lifetime listening to self-proclaimed feminists pontificating about how the world hates women. And I’m a woman.

I grew up the youngest of three sisters with one brother. My oldest sister gave me a “Sisters Unite” t-shirt, complete with raised clenched fist, that I lived in at age 8. And when I was in college, my brother’s girlfriend gave me a “69 cents” t-shirt that I wore at least once a week. My college roommate also referred to me as “Woman” because I insisted it was condescending for people to refer to us as girls at 18-plus years of age.

In graduate school, I pointed out to two of my professors that I felt there was some bias involved in providing older, single guys with teaching assistantships that put them on their own in classrooms, while some of us women were overlooked or given graduate assistantships pairing us with professors.

I’ve witnessed or experienced bias all my life. But I didn’t whine about it.

I simply spoke honestly when appropriate and went on to do the work, whatever it was. And I tried to do it better, smarter and more completely, acting as a person first.

So the Geraldine Ferraro flap sent me over the edge. I’ve been seeing for months whiney, self-righteous, bloviating statements and posts all over the Internet about how Hillary Clinton is so discriminated against. Cry me a river!

This woman has floated along on her husband’s coattails. Experienced! Only if you give her credit for her husband’s years in office. And what kind of “feminist” takes credit for her husband’s resume? Shouldn’t she do it on her own?

In reality, Clinton’s only served seven years in public office. And her resume of “working for change” includes one year with the Children’s Defense Fund. Most of her working life has been as a corporate attorney, and there are some questions of conflict of interest with that experience. Yet the mainstream media has given her a pass on her resume and tout her “experience” versus a man with nearly 11 years service as an elected official, plus years of public service as a community organizer, civil rights attorney and teacher.

But because she’s a woman, other women refuse to look at her as a person and evaluate her more broadly. I’ve seen post after post by Taylor Marsh, Kathleen Reardon and Roseanne Barr, among others, touting the knee-jerk reaction that everyone is a woman-hater. Can they not comprehend that some of us are choosing to evaluate the candidates based their resumes, experience and skills? That we’re evaluating them as people? That perhaps Hillary being a Clinton is more of a detriment to her candidacy than the fact she’s a woman?

I’m tired of women who want to blame all their troubles on how someone else perceives their gender. I’m a human being.