Kirsten Gillibrand ran a historic campaign. She was the only candidate to highlight the fight for abortion rights -well, except for Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris and Cory Booker. She burst into the spotlight by her tough yet measured attack against Joe Biden -oh wait that was Kamala, Gillibrand’s attack seemed overly convenient and didn’t land. Well, still, for a woman to go from a moderate -if not slightly conservative- Senator from New York to a “progressive” candidate for President is unprecedented. We are talking about Hillary, right?
This hilarious first paragraph was designed to demonstrate just how pointless Gillibrand’s campaign was. So pointless that I struggled to write a single sentence for this post, even after reading dozens of articles on Gillibrand’s career and campaign. Now, Gillibrand was once considered a top-tier candidate for the nomination; she was a Congresswoman from a red district, and then a liberal Senator with a top notch voting record. I remember Cenk Uygur of the Young Turks placing her among his top 4 predictions (along with Bernie, Warren and Kamala -so he was ¾ right). And if you had told me that Kirsten Gillibrand would drop out four months before Iowa yet Pete fucking Buttigieg would be in fifth place out of twenty candidates, I would have laughed for about fifteen straight minutes.
Gillibrand’s calling out of Al Franken was characterized by the mainstream media as her fatal mistake. I think that it was part of the overall pattern of her campaign, which was blatantly designed to win over women. I can’t believe I have to point this out, but women are people too. Sure, a lot of them care about women’s rights -so do a lot of men, by the way- but they also care about healthcare, the economy, jobs, education, etc. So, especially when there were candidates in the race who also placed great importance on women’s issues, and especially when there were other women running, the strategy of winning by winning over women was the stupidest thing I have ever heard -and I’m someone who sat through the State of the Union, so my bar for stupidity is pretty high.
Hillary was blamed for using the women’s card, even though she was the only major candidate who was a woman and the only candidate who placed emphasis on women’s issues. Gillibrand tripled Hillary’s use of her gender, in a race where it didn’t even make her stand out. So, Senator Gillibrand, thank you for not dragging this out, and best of luck in your future endeavors…
PS: Can you all stop releasing drop-out videos with passionate speeches and inspiring music? This is a drop-out video, not an ad for your Senate run, John Hickenlooper.
Politics is Stupid. 