Notorious Republican dirty trickster Roger Stone has launched a 527 political organization called Citizens United Not Timid (aka CUNT) to educate the public about "what Hillary Clinton really is." The organization's sole purpose? To sell $25 T-shirts emblazoned with the organization's charming name and its red, white and blue logo. The logo is supposed to evoke a woman's crotch, but it looks more like an elephant's anus (a perfect image for Stone's role in the Republican Party).
Talking Points Memo has since published the IRS filing for the 527, and a number of blogs, including the the Carpetbagger Report and the Talking Points' Muckracker, have covered the story. The Washington Times also reported that another, similarly named anti-Hillary organization, Citizens United, has sent a cease-and-desist letter for name infringement.
If an anti-Obama group created an organization whose sole purpose was to call him the N-word, the response would be pure, unmitigated outrage, and, in this sense, it might be a less complicated story. But the analysis around Clinton has become so convoluted that now, any animosity toward her inspires deconstruction. Judging from scores of reader comments on blogs, plenty of people assume the vile T-shirt shilling operation is something more deceptive than simply another rabid expression of Hillary hating and the misogyny that fuels it.
Some are ironically celebrating Stone's stupidity -- expecting that the blowback from his use of the C-word will be so great as to ensure Clinton's nomination and turn every last Republican soccer mother into a card-carrying feminist. (From the Carpetbagger discussion forum: "If Stone didn't exist, we'd want to invent him: if there is a single soccer mom left in the Republican party by the time he is through, I'll be surprised." From the Muckracker discussion boards: "Way to go, Stone! Nice GOTV effort for the women. LOVE it!")
Others assume Stone is counting on a backlash, since he wants Clinton to get the Democratic nomination on the assumption that the Republicans will beat her more easily than Obama. Still others have gone so far as to theorize that the mercenary Stone is actually rooting for Clinton to win the presidency so that, as a professional Hillary hater, he'll be in business for the next four to eight years.
It will be interesting to see what becomes of such an inane attempt to insult Clinton. Blow-back? Double boomerang? Sheer exhaustion? Ennui? I won't hazard a guess, but the fact that misogyny is increasingly being analyzed as a viable if twisted political tool is just sad.
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