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Good morning Hillary supporting community! It is great to be with you.
Hillary continued her rest yesterday (although you know that has to be difficult for such a dedicated and hard worker!) but her campaign was active. First, (because we now have to take conspiracy theorists seriously, apparently) the Clinton campaign released a statement from her doctor about her health. According to the LA Times:
The letter says that Clinton has been evaluated by Bardack several times since she nearly collapsed after becoming overheated, dehydrated and dizzy during a 9/11 memorial event at ground zero on Sunday.
Before the incident, a noncontrast chest CT scan revealed that Clinton had a small right middle-lobe pneumonia, according to Bardack. It is a mild, noncontagious form of the bacterial infection, the doctor wrote. Clinton was prescribed the medication Levaquin, which she will be taking for 10 days, according to Bardack, who wrote that Clinton “continues to improve.”
The doctor also reported that Clinton continues to take medication for an underactive thyroid, as well as the blood-thinning medication Coumadin. She also takes allergy medication and vitamin B12. The doctor shared various results from Clinton’s physical exam suggesting she is otherwise in good health.
The Clinton Twitter feed was also active. There were 20 questions for Donald Trump and another hard-hitting campaign video, featuring another of Trump’s victims:
By the way, if you’ve been worried about fluctuating polls, Anthony Reed along with Melissa McEwan at ShareBlue have some news for you: In a simulation of 500 possible outcomes, Clinton defeats Trump in 427:
...even if Trump were to win Ohio, he would not be guaranteed the presidency.To win, he would need to win every red-leaning state—as well as all three battleground states: Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Florida.Or he would need to win every red-leaning state, two of the battleground states, plus pick up wins in blue-leaning states.Neither of those scenarios appears likely at this point, especially with four red-leaning states in play: Arizona, Georgia, Missouri, and North Carolina.
If Clinton wins even one of those, Trump can’t win, even if he wins all three battleground states. Clinton, on the other hand, only needs to win the blue-leaning states plus one of the battleground states. And given her lead in Pennsylvania, this is a much more likely outcome.
To evaluate how likely that outcome is, I ran a simulation with Pennsylvania in play, meaning either Clinton or Trump could win the state. In a simulation of 500 different possible election outcomes, based on current polling, and allowing for varied combination of wins, Clinton wins the election in 427 of them, or 85.4% of the time.
Hillary is schedule to be back on the campaign trail Friday, with one stop in North Carolina. You can check out the entire campaign schedule here.
As Clinton has been resting, her high-powered surrogates have been on the trail. From David Catanese at US News and World Report:
In the last week, former President Bill Clinton stumped for his wife in Durham, North Carolina, and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, while Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts rallied an audience at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, skewering Trump as "the large, orange elephant in the room."
On Tuesday, President Barack Obama followed Warren into the City of Brotherly Love, with a widely covered visit that was scheduled even before Clinton was forced to take time off. Chelsea Clinton is in the midst of a three-day tour talking her mom up to millennials in college towns like Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Roanoke, Virginia and Dayton, Ohio. Over the Labor Day weekend, Vice President Joe Biden hit a union hall in Warren, Ohio, on behalf of Clinton. This Friday, First Lady Michelle Obama stumps for her husband's former rival in Fairfax, Virginia.
This, all as Clinton's running mate, Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia, keeps a robust schedule of his own.
Barack Obama has been campaigning for Hillary, and in case you missed it, Peter Daou at ShareBlue covered it with some great excerpts. A highlight:
We cannot afford to suddenly treat this like a reality show. We can’t afford to act as if there’s some equivalence here. To be president, you have to do your homework and know what you’re talking about and you’ve got to apply steady judgment even when things don’t go your way. You have to be able to handle criticism without taking it personally. Just brush it off, done. And that’s something I learned, and that’s what Hillary learned as a Senator and Secretary of State and as a First Lady. Yes, she’s got her share of critics like I do, and she’s been caricatured by the right and the left. She’s been accused of everything you can imagine and has been subjected to more scrutiny and what I believe is more unfair criticism than anybody out here. And she doesn’t complain about it. And you know what, that’s what happens when you’re under the microscope for 40 years. But what sets Hillary apart is that through it all, she just keeps going. And she doesn’t stop caring and she doesn’t stop trying. And she never stops fighting for us.
And speaking of the Obama family, Michelle will be campaigning in Northern Virginia on Friday. So will Donald Trump...I know who will draw the bigger crowds!
First Lady Michelle Obama’s plans have been finalized for a campaign visit to Northern Virginia on Friday on behalf of Hillary Clinton, meaning both she and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump will be in the region that day.
The Clinton campaign said Obama will speak at George Mason University’s Johnson Center at about 3 p.m. on Friday. Doors will open at 1 p.m. She is expected to urge Virginians to support Clinton and vice presidential candidate Tim Kaine and to be sure to register before the Oct. 17 deadline.
Speaking of Michelle Obama, let’s take a quick break for a (recycled, but with new stuff added) bit of Thursday Herstory! I first wrote this back in April, and I’ve added a few things.
I’m really going to miss Michelle Obama, who has made herstory as the United States’ first African-American First Lady. She’s done so with grace, aplomb, and —famously— with style. She’s often compared to Jackie Kennedy for her superb fashion sense, which is a nice compliment. But Michelle Obama is more than great clothes.
A sociology major and African-American studies minor, she is only the third FLOTUS to hold a degree beyond the B.A., the second to hold a law degree, and the first to hold both of her degrees from Ivy League schools. She wrote her senior thesis on racial divides in the Princton community. While she and Barack carefully avoid the Clinton-style construction that they are “two-for-one,” the very intellectual Michelle Obama has carved out her own path as an advocate and social critic.
She was a driving force behind the 2010 School Lunch Act, which sought to improve the quality of school-provided food across the country. She has strongly critiqued the U.S. record on Native issues. She has not hesitated to talk about her own experiences with racial discrimination, talking frankly and sympathetically with Tuskeegee grads about racism in the United States:
[Y]ou might remember the on-stage celebratory fist bump between me and my husband after a primary win that was referred to as a “terrorist fist jab.” And over the years, folks have used plenty of interesting words to describe me. One said I exhibited “a little bit of uppity-ism.“ Another noted that I was one of my husband’s “cronies of color.” Cable news once charmingly referred to me as “Obama’s Baby Mama.”
…The world won’t always see you in those caps and gowns. They won’t know how hard you worked and how much you sacrificed to make it to this day — the countless hours you spent studying to get this diploma, the multiple jobs you worked to pay for school, the times you had to drive home and take care of your grandma, the evenings you gave up to volunteer at a food bank or organize a campus fundraiser. Instead they will make assumptions about who they think you are based on their limited notion of the world. And my husband and I know how frustrating that experience can be.
I can’t do justice to her entire remarks, which are fully included at the link.
I really appreciate this about Michelle Obama: her willingness to call out the racist history of the United States, which is an absolute necessity if we are to appreciate how groundbreaking she and Barack have really been. She has a tremendous platform as First Lady, and she is not afraid to use it. She took ta lot of grief for speaking about the enslaved people who built the White House at the Dem national convention, but as Zeba Blay at Huff Po reminded us, that awareness is vital:
Part of the reason that this country has a race “problem” is the fact that it has a race delusion. That delusion allows a vast majority of Americans, many of them white, to avoid discussing race and racism in a real constructive way. These are the type of people who would rather believe that the White House just sprang into perfect existence, rather than acknowledge that the blood and sweat of slaves are mixed into its very foundation.
But there’s a beauty in acknowledging our past, in acknowledging the complex imperfections of this nation. When Michelle Obama, the first black first lady ever, stands in front of a crowd of thousands and talks about the watching her children playing on the lawn of a house built by slaves, she isn’t saying: I hate America. She isn’t pointing out this fact to cast a shade on our idealized vision of America.
...The first black president didn’t solve racism, and the second (whenever that happens) probably won’t either. But by reminding us of our collective past, by placing Barack Obama’s presidency in a context that’s as real as it is uncomfortable, FLOTUS reminded us that this country does have the potential to be truly great, that it has the capacity to move beyond the darkness of its history to something better. She reminded us that if we can move forward from that darkness, we can also move forward from the looming danger of a Trump presidency
One of my favorite causes that Michelle and Barack Obama have embraced is Let Girls Learn, focusing on keeping girls in school both in the U.S. and in the world. It’s a cause that has been near and dear to Hillary Clinton’s heart as well, so I hope to see her continue the program as president. Writing in the Atlantic last year, Michelle pulled no punches about the source of the problem:
Right now, 62 million girls worldwide are not in school. They’re receiving no formal education at all—no reading, no writing, no math—none of the basic skills they need to provide for themselves and their families, and contribute fully to their countries.
Often, understandably, this issue is framed as a matter of resources—a failure to invest enough money in educating girls. … But while these investments are absolutely necessary to solve our girls’ education problem, they are simply not sufficient. Scholarships, bathrooms, and safe transportation will only go so far if societies still view menstruation as shameful and shun menstruating girls. Or if they fail to punish rapists and reject survivors of rape as “damaged goods.” Or if they provide few opportunities for women to join the workforce and support their families, so that it’s simply not financially viable for parents struggling with poverty to send their daughters to school.
In other words, we cannot address our girls’ education crisis until we address the broader cultural beliefs and practices that can help cause and perpetuate this crisis.
It is a damn fine piece of feminist analysis, and I encourage you to read the whole thing.
In June, Michelle Obama hinted that she will continue with this effort after Barack leaves office:
Speaking at the first-ever United State of Women summit dinner, Obama said she was “just getting started” in her work on getting girls into classrooms around the world.
“I am so excited to continue working on this issue not just for the next seven months as First Lady, but for the rest of my life,” she said at the White House-hosted event. “And it’s going to be good work, because there are a lot of good partners in this room. And I am so looking forward to really diving in.”
As part of her address at the summit’s dinner, Obama announced $20 million in new commitments to the Let Girls Learn initiative, which promotes education for adolescent girls around the world.
Michelle and Barack Obama will still be relatively young for an ex-First Couple. I’m excited to see Michelle continue with the Let Girls Learn project, and can’t wait to see what else they do. I have a strong feeling that Michelle Obama, like Eleanor Roosevelt and Hillary Clinton, is going to break some new ground post-White House. It’s what she does!
...And back to our Hillary coverage!
Writing at Bustle, Chris Tognotti has a great piece on the ways the Hillary Clinton’s health has become a feminist issue:
Conjure this image in your mind: an otherwise robust male presidential candidate, in possession of a clean bill of overall health from their doctor and keeping a furious campaign schedule, falls ill in the waning months of the presidential race. It isn't gravely serious, however ― though some types of pneumonia can be very serious for some people, especially as they grow older, the candidate doesn't feel that bad, was keeping a full schedule already, and is promptly put on antibiotics. And while he's advised to get some rest, he also feels well enough to keep going.
And the election is in less than two months! And the 15th anniversary of 9/11 is just days away, and this gray-haired elder statesman of his party used to represent the state of New York in the U.S. Senate. So obviously, he can't miss that, right? You can see the headlines now: "former senator takes sick day, misses 9/11 memorial." So he sticks it out, can't quite endure the exertion, and gets a little faint. Not the first time it's happened to a man with an otherwise robust, physically potent reputation, and it won't be the last.
And let's not forget what so many people would've said ― you know, if Clinton had fessed up right away, and soothed everyone who's been criticizing her on transparency grounds. "Well," countless pundits and cable news personalities would surely have said, "this just goes to show that the Trump campaign was right!" Or, at the very least, you'd be faced with a slew of articles about how "this looks bad for Clinton, given swirling questions about her health." And it would have looked bad! She was caught in a classic no-win scenario, all because Trump's weeks of underhanded, unsupported insinuations were allowed to set the agenda. Make no mistake: while it's not necessarily sexist to want more medical information from the candidates, everything that's transpired in this particular story has been absolutely shot-through with gendered stereotypes and double-standards.
Speaking of conspiracy theories, professional Hillary impersonator Teresa Barnwell finds herself at the center of a conspiracy theory about Hillary Clinton’s “body double.” The Echo-Pilot has the story:
On Sunday, 61-year-old Barnwell, who's been impersonating the former secretary of state since 1993, got the news that Clinton was forced to leave a Sept. 11 memorial service in New York because of a health issue. Hours later, the presidential candidate emerged from her daughter Chelsea Clinton's apartment looking hale and hearty.nternet conspiracy cracks theorized that the woman photographed outside of Chelsea Clinton's apartment was, in fact, a body double. Leaning into the joke, Barnwell, who admits she never really "got Twitter," tweeted a surreptitious photo she'd snapped in front of that very apartment building in Manhattan in early August. She added the fire-fueling caption "maybe I was in New York." And "healthers" ran with it.
Barnwell quickly corrected the record, making it clear that she was in fact in Los Angeles during Clinton's New York stop, taping a live episode of "Lip Sync" Battle with a Bill Clinton impersonator.But just as quickly she learned that once it's out there, it's out there. "I thought the story would be over and done with," she said, adding, "Help me."
I thought this was interesting too, that Barnwell has limits as to what kind of impersonations she does:
Which isn't to say she doesn't take her job as Clinton's sillier "evil twin" with a grain of salt. There are definitely jobs Barnwell won't do. Like the time a "very famous" Hollywood producer wanted her to appear in a video opposing the Iran nuclear deal. In it, Barnwell as Clinton would star alongside Barack Obama and John Kerry impersonators. All three would bow down to "Muslim leaders," and the last shot would be of "Clinton" walking away from said meeting in nothing but her underwear.
Yeah, no. "It's hard to turn down a paycheck, but I have my standards," explained Barnwell, who makes thousands a month and tours the globe being Clinton. "I'm not gonna portray Hillary in that light," she added, noting that she does a gut and moral compass check before accepting or turning down a gig.
At least somebody has standards about what they will and will not associate Hillary Clinton with. Too bad it’s an impersonator, rather than Matt Lauer.
Hillary has a supporter in Steph Curry:
Two-time NBA MVP Steph Curry said he backs Hillary Clinton for president and that he'll "most likely" stand for the national anthem during the NBA season, though he supports Colin Kaepernick's ongoing protest.
The basketball star traveled into political territory during a question-and-answer session Tuesday night at TechCrunch in San Francisco,
according to the Mercury News.
Asked who he would support in the 2016 election, Clinton of Trump, Curry had a one-word answer: "Hillary."
Phil Plait at Slate has a few thoughts on Hillary and science:
Turmp lies about everything, saying only what satisfies his immediate political expediencies. He has abandoned the dog whistle of racial and sexist politics, and is instead now using a megaphone. White supremacists and misogynists have heard him loudly and clearly. His ability to garner votes in black America is essentially dead (he’s polling the worst of any GOP candidate in decades), and women are avoiding him in droves.
Even so, he might have traction to status quo white male America. I hope this is not the case, but I fear it may be.
But not when it comes to science. A discussion of science could give Clinton an edge. Polls show that concerns among Americans over global warming are at an eight-year high, with 64 percent expressing a great deal or fair amount of worry on the topic. Trump flatly denies global warming exists. That gives Clinton an advantage right there. Even better, Republicans are expressing more concern about warming as well, and that strikes right to the heart of the very people Trump is disenfranchising. Clinton has a chance here to widen her gap ahead of Trump. Science has become a wedge issue in GOP politics.
Our technological advances, our engineering, our education, our infrastructure, our health care system, our energy generation, even our ability to produce food and water rely entirely on our ability to understand the science behind these issues. If we ignore the science—and I don’t think this is an exaggeration at all—we are endangering our ability as a nation and a people to exist.
Finally, because I like to end with something positive and fun, here is some perspective from the 6 year old girl who was photographed with Hillary Clinton after she left Chelsea’s apartment Sunday. And I say: let’s turn the commentary over to 6 year olds!
The little girl who ran up to Hillary Clinton as she left daughter Chelsea’s apartment Sunday says she was floored when the Democratic presidential nominee offered to take a picture with her.
Six-year-old Irene Reismann lives next door to Chelsea Clinton and her husband, Marc Mezvinsky, in Manhattan.
Speaking to Inside Edition, the little girl recalled the incident, saying: "So, she said: 'Do you want to take a picture with me?' I said, 'yes!'" The girl said it was “so exciting” to snap a photo with the former secretary of state, who had come to the apartment to relax after appearing wobbly while leaving the New York City 9/11 memorial ceremony Sunday.
Well, Irene, this one is for you (and anyone who needs some HRC fun): Hillary and Beyonce and Girls Who Run The World!
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Crossposted at HillaryHQ, an independent, progressive blog committed to the electing Hillary Clinton as the next President of the United States. If you would like to support @Scan and his work there, visit GoFundMe and make a donation.
(Header image by Barbara Kinney for Hillary for America. Used under Creative Commons License.)