Hillary Clinton was totally fine in 2017. I’m sure she was depressed a lot of the time, but she kept busy in great ways – she took walks near her home, she wrote her book, she went to Broadway shows, she went out to lunch and dinner with friends a lot. When it came time for her book tour, she crisscrossed the nation and even traveled internationally to promote What Happened. The book sold well – it was actually one of the best-selling nonfiction books of the year and it broke records. There was still a lot of interest in what Hillary said and did because, oh right, millions more Americans voted for her than the Orange Poop. All of that interest was magnified by the fact that Donald Trump was and is still obsessed with her, and he tweeted insults and threats at her constantly throughout the year. We live in such bizarre days.
Anyway, my point is that it seems like millions of people still have a great deal of affection for Hillary, and we still respect her and want her to live an amazing life. We know that she wouldn’t have been a perfect president, but it’s like being stabbed in the heart every single day this year because she isn’t president. But it seems that over at Vanity Fair, Hillary is still an object of derision, and she must be publicly shamed for, like, living her life and writing a bestselling book and carrying on throughout this year with some grace and dignity.
Maybe it's time for Hillary Clinton to take up a new hobby in 2018 pic.twitter.com/sbE78rA5At
— VANITY FAIR (@VanityFair) December 23, 2017
“Take up a new hobby in the new year… Volunteer work, knitting, improv comedy ― literally anything that will keep you from running again.” For the love of God. This was really poorly thought-out by Vanity Fair. It comes across as sexist and mean for no real reason. According to the political sites, Hillary is forming committees and talking to old campaign staff… but that’s about what her role will be in helping candidates campaign for the 2018 midterm elections. Like, Hillary is still going to do what she’s always done – help raise money for Democratic candidates, help candidates connect to Democratic voters and more. Why wouldn’t she? And why would she need to be “shamed” by VF for it? Anyway, people are angry about this video. #CancelVanityFair is trending.
So @VanityFair decided that the best way to end 2017 was to take a repulsive cheap shot at @HillaryClinton, one of the most accomplished women in the history of the United States.
Now #CancelVanityFair is moving.
— Peter Daou (@peterdaou) December 27, 2017
Wellesly Grad
Yale Law
First Lady of Arkansas
First Lady of the United States
US Senator
Presidential Candidate
Secretary of State
1st Female Presidential Candidate Nominated by a Major Party…
Maybe it's time for @VanityFair to take up a new hobby in 2018.#CancelVanityFair https://t.co/Vb9uEhNPWS— Girls Really Rule. (@girlsreallyrule) December 27, 2017
I'm 50 years old. Do you know how many times in my life I've had men tell me I should be married, home caring for kids, and/ or cleaning a house. 1000s! I'll be damned if I'll have some know-nothing VF 20 somethings insult other accomplished women like this. #CancelVanityFair
— Amanda Blount (@amandablount2) December 27, 2017
Hey, @VanityFair, did you suggest hobbies for Mitt Romney, John McCain, John Kerry or even Al Gore…..?Just asking for the 65 mil ppl that voted for the ONLY female candidate of a national pol party to win the popular vote by 3 million. #CancelVanityFair #ourvoicesmatter
— Vector Ø (@We_are_Vector) December 27, 2017
Photos courtesy of Getty.
I had considered cancelling them already when they gave Steve Bannon a platform for his craziness.
I agree with VF. Her time in politics are over (I’m not a trump fan).
By the way, her book was awful.
I agree, the book was awful. And the Dems have to face facts that they put up one of the 2 least liked candidates of all time, and that she lost to effin Donald Trump.
Go back and reread those last 6 words and think again about her future political standing.
There is no way they need to advance her politically for anything outside her local school board.
Time to start fresh and anew.
Having said that, VF could have found a more respectful way to express an opinion.
+1. HRC’s time is over and I think she did shoot herself in the foot with all the blame casting. I still can’t get over how she assassinated the character of Bill’s (many) accusers.
The longer she lingers the more I worry she’s going to run again. I’m happy for the Dems to nominate another woman and I hope she wins. But not Clinton.
Really, how on earth did this appear to be a good idea????!!!!!
I understand where they are trying to go, but it’s sooo f-ing tone deaf, derogatory, and downright disrespectful/rude to such an accomplished person.
I am constantly amazed, one step forward, two steps back.
I know that there was a lot of pushback against Hillary this year, most recently with the book release. But really, VF? Now you do this? It’s stupid and petty and clueless.
Just goes to snow how sexist the fashion industry still is – I wonder if a woman wrote that – internalized misogyny is a helluva drug. I agree with the twitter comments – some childish, sexist, twenty something junior editor telling a fellow woman (a very accomplished woman) to f*ck off and step aside – girl, the men tell us that often enough that we don’t need it from a fashion mag too. Remember this next time mags like VF claim to be feminist, progressive, or pro girl power.
If it was a young woman, she is going to be quite shocked in 10-20 years when she starts getting the same thrown back at her.
And knitting??!?!??!? It’s just so much sexism and ageism in one word.
I am a serious knitter. The contemporary knitting community includes all genders and age groups.
Yes, knitting isn’t an activity that is restricted to one gender or age….but that isn’t how they were using it here. They used it as a symbol for what an elderly woman should do when she’s been put out to pasture.
Yes, I’m a knitter too. Frankly insulted at the notion that it’s sexist or otherwise offensive to suggest that someone take up knitting.
It’s a sexist and outdated trope to think that knitting is only for women or for the elderly.
HRC should NOT run for anything again. Whatever other hobby she wants to take up is fine with me. And kudos to her if it’s knitting.
just would like to say that I know a whole rugby team of manly men who knit together. They say its like meditation and they like to make beanies. They started taking it up together when they would fly as a team to places to play. I only know bc of my best friend’s brother who is on the team lol.
vanity fair is stupid and tbh, irrelevant. reminds me of a magazine that people would read in the 1950s. they are so dated, you think they would have shuttered by now. who the heck still pays for it??????
The jokes on vanity fair. Knitting is relaxing and great for mindfulness. I wanna learn how to, I tried, i just suck at it.
And she should just step away from the politics. Dems need someone new and fresh. Someone who will shake things up and not remind anyone on past events.
Yes. It’s dismissive and comes across as saying “Know your place.” I doubt they would have said it about a male candidate of any age. And it may not be true, but knitting is perceived as something for old ladies with nothing important to do.
” I doubt they would have said it about a male candidate of any age.”
Exactly.
@beckonit – Do they donate the beanies to hospitals so that premature babies may use them? If so, that is even more cool!
Ryan Gosling knows how to knit. A friend of mine taught him on the set of a movie because he was so bored and took an interest in what she was doing. She said he really took well to it.
My neighbor’s son is an awesome knitter as well as a few male friends I’ve had. Just sayin because even though the sexist and age-ist stereotype is still prevalent, the reality is that young men feel more comfortable in their social standing as men to learn a “woman’s” skill.
Ive subscribed to VF for over 15 years, and they have consistently some of the best political coverage. Graydon carter, frank rich, etc are hugely anti trump and have amazing commentary about trump and the family and the state of American politics. Michael kewis has been doing incredible reporting on the destruction from within of the USDA and energy departments, and others have been doing great rusdia coverage. Let’s stop this knee jerk mom mentality response to every perceived slight against female kind and stop tossing babies out with bathwater.
+100
Vanity Fair isn’t a fashion magazine. It is more entertainment/society and in depth interviews.
She WON the popular vote by almost 3 million. This idea that no one wanted her pisses me off. I’m so sick of relitigating 2016 because of this and Bernie Bros. Speaking of which, there are calls for him to run and he’s 5 years older than HRC with less executive experience. But okay, it’s not a sexism thing. It’s just that when a woman is up to bat, experience is gets shoved to the side. Cool. Cool.
Ugh Bernie is going to be 80. Normally I am not ageist but its hypocritical the same people saying HRC was too old are totally ok with an 80 yr old white man running. Have we learned nothing from Ronald Reagan and Trump???
TULSI 2020!
If I remember, Mitt Romney spoke out against Obama’s policies for years after the 2012 election. Why is Hillary Clinton the only one being persecuted for digging into the reasons for her loss?
Because she threw a giant pity party for herself. Compare her behavior to Gore or Kerry post-loss, both were more dignified than Hillary.
Because she ran a terrible campaign and the whole thing was a hot unorganized mess. She has her fans, but a lot of us aren’t part of that group. She would have made a better president, but the left doesn’t need the Clintons anymore, and I wish they would go away, so new fresh people emerge.
Why did they have to do this? Was that really necessary? Effing unbelievable.
Gurr, I thought VF was moving towards a new direction with Radhika at the helm, but this seems like something that Graydon would not even do…
She began on Dec 11, this is something that was likely approved before she took over.
I wish I was a subscriber so I could cancel the hell out of them!
Just cancelled my waiting room subscription
Makes me feel better vicariously ,thanks
So f*cking mean spirited and stupid. They’re obviously trying to court the anti-Hillary crowd and it is gross. Bye.
Meanwhile I’m over here crying as I read about all of Hillary’s accomplishments. She was literally the most qualified presidential candidate in history. It took the entire Russian mafia just to keep you out of the White House, Gal, and they still barely did it. We love you.
Agree completely.
Yes! We have lots of good women (and people) but there has never been anyone as qualified. Hope we still have a county (and a world) the next time around.
A lot of people on the left including women of color realize that the Clinton legacy is not a good one for them. That could have been written by several women in my feminist group except worded in less derisive sexist terms.
Tone deaf.
Think how many people that had to go through in order to make it to the public. Just think about it.
This is why I’ve said I hope Hillary Clinton never leaves the limelight. I hope she stays there, spitefully, supporting and fundraising and speaking her mind and pissing everybody off. Because regardless of how I feel about her politics, all I’ve seen for the past thirty years of my life is people telling her to sit down and shut up so the men can talk.
This. All. Day.
Totally agree with your last sentence. She got a lot of grief from heads of state (male!) in her previous job as well.
Yes.
You know what I love about Hillary, though, Veronica? Is that she really doesn’t seem too bitter. I am partway through her book, and sure, there is some venom there toward Trump (who wouldn’t have that? He’s an awful human, let alone President. And I haven’t made it to the Bernie part yet). As much as I have heard about how evil Hillary is from Faux and their cohorts, she always seems pretty gracious and grounded. Perhaps that comes from knowing she has the goods, unlike Trump, who is insecure af).
I wasn’t attuned to politics until after the 2016 election, so I don’t know that much about the Clinton presidency (I was a kid in the 90s), and anyway, Bill was the President, not her, but adult me loves how Hillary comes across. I find her to be intelligent, compassionate, knowledgeable, and secure in who she is. Is she as squeaky clean as the Obamas? No, but she’s also been in politics for most of her adult life. I give her a lot of credit, and think history will show her to be a brilliant role model.
Mini shout-out to Chelsea, who is never anything less than kind, thoughtful and dignified on Twitter, even to people who write the most disgusting comments to her. And she’s an intelligent, accomplished professional woman in her own right.
tl;dr: I honestly think the Clinton women are wonderful role models and probably good people underneath the public personas.
Edited mildly to correct errors
Yes. Yes. Yes.
Yass @Veronica!!
She has horrendous favorable ratings and would be a giant anchor on Dems in 2018. She needs to stay far away from the party so we can actually recover and win back the House in 2018.
Hillary just topped the Gallup poll as the most admired woman in the country.
She is a stateswoman. She bailed the DNC out when they were several million in the red. Even if you don’t like her, millions of people genuinely did and I am one of them and I side-eye anyone pushing such an accomplished woman to the side as if she can’t possibly be of use.
There’s always been this ultra-strong narrative that no one wanted Hillary and that fundamentally is not true. Pantsuit Nation was originally so Hillary supporters could talk about supporting her without people immediately insisting that no one likes her. Many people genuinely like and support Hillary. Why is this so hard for some people to accept.
I can’t stand Bernie. I think he’s an opportunist but I accept that many people strongly disagree with me.
HRC is an albatross. The pantsuit nation was peak white problematic feminism.
I can’t stress enough how much we don’t need a repeat of that.
Black women have been in the shadows for far too long as have other WOC, so it is time for the Clinton era to be over. It was already past only they didn’t seem to realize it. The left can’t win without black women, and black women aren’t about to be mules and taken granted to honor a white woman who ran twice and lost.
It is time for the left to stop idolizing white women and propping them up when most of them don’t even vote liberal. What is the draw? For who? She is an intelligent, competent woman, a flawed woman and a woman with a truckload of baggage which includes her arrogant husband. It doesn’t matter if it is fair it is what the perception is so, therefore, it is real. All of that is fine but she is also polarizing, and it would be a mistake of epic proportions to have her out in front any longer. Along with Biden, Bernie and ugh Gillibrand.
We, Millenials are the most significant group of voters and the future of the left as we are overwhelmingly liberal but if you want some to stay home then keep putting her front and center.
What Pantsuit Nation became after the election was hugely problematic. But before the election, it was just a space for people to talk about excited about potentially the first woman president.
I’m a POC and a millenial. I was a Hillary supporter and not because I idolize white women or think the Clintons are unblemished. Hillary opened doors for women coming up behind her including millennial women. I don’t think she needs to be the face of the party, and I agree with you that neither does Bernie, Biden or Gillibrand. But I think that by pushing her away as if she’s something we need to forget about in a way we haven’t done to Biden or even Bernie, is partly succumbing to decades of misogyny and validating it and it makes us vulnerable to the same thing being done to other women.
This was so completely unnecessary.
Hey, Vanity Fair, you know who needs to get a hobby? Not Hillary Clinton, whom I’m sure keeps herself quite busy, but Ivanka Trump. Yes, Ivanka Trump of the “let me use your tax $$ to fly myself around the world to promote my businesses and let me use your tax $$ to travel around the US to lobby for a whopping tax cut for myself and let me use your tax $$ to film myself walking in and out of rooms with people who should be so grateful to meet me while Daddy cuts the funding for their programs and let me use the photographer you pay for with those tax dollars to take pictures of my kids to post on social media to distract you from daddy doing bad things, like just yesterday when daddy cut fines for nursing homes found to violate Medicare safety regulations and I posted a picture of my little Ara…Ted… Joseph, yes I think that was Joseph, holding a fish that Jared pretends they caught instead of having the nanny buy it at the fish market, on a boat with the confederate flag proudly displayed behind them. Cute, right? ” She’s the one who needs a new hobby but maybe you could just stop telling women what to do?
Spot on. This would have been more in keeping with what I thought was VF’s POV. Not sure why they decided to target Hillary. But your last sentence sums it up best. Sigh.
Preach, LP. Ivanka is a walking money-making scheme. No credit to her whatsoever.
Vanity Fair? I do not subscribe anyway. That was easy. I am not a Hillary fan, but I certainly hope she does as she pleases. And I certainly wish the best for her.
Their new editor is a woman.
Raise your hand if you are really sick of the harsh dystopian snark that passes for “too cool for school” these days. It’s nothing but the same ole’ chauvinistic crap that’s been shoveled at women for centuries. “Forget well-researched, thoughtful articles–things that sound like a 15-year-old bully writes them will really make us look cutting edge,” said Vanity Fair. Nope.
P.S. No one at VF is good enough to take out Hillary Clinton’s trash.
I know what you mean about mean-spirited snark being en vogue, but I think the Backlash of Wholesomeness is coming.
Vice, one of the progenitors for this chavanism masquerading as snark, has just had their come to Jesus moment. I’m hoping this is signaling the end of bro culture and cool girls. I mean, in the end, it’s the same old stuff, they’ve just gotten smarter about the wrapping.
It’s more likely just signaling their change to something different but equally bad, but one can hope.
I am raising both my hands to this comment about snotty, snot, snark and the little cowards that hide behind it.
Here is the bigger issue about the choice Vanity Fair made.
There is a war being waged on the media by the President.
When they decided to do this little bit about Hillary Clinton, they added another side to fight and added #CancelVanityFair to the mix of antimedia sentiment.
I don’t subscribe, but I unfollowed on all social media platforms. It’s the least I can do.
Although the comment is kind of Max Landis level, there’s a point there. HRC was bulldozed into the nomination because it was her turn and the DNC assumed that a wealthy white woman was the same thing as the first candidate of color. She may have won by 3m, but there is a reason more people stayed home than ever before and it wasn’t just Russian trolling. HRC is emblematic is a dynasty and a political rot in the system that made “drain the swamp” seem appealing. I’m okay with her going away, although I recognize that Vanity Fair should think it’s ‘jokes’ through a little. Come and talk to me about Kamala Harris, or Kristen Gillibrand. I’ll defend those two to the death.
Yes. I don’t think that the tone of the comment was needed, but I could not agree more. Go away already
“She may have won by 3m, but there is a reason more people stayed home than ever before and it wasn’t just Russian trolling.
I understand the long-standing exhaustion with the Clintons. But, as low as turnout was, it’s not the lowest, in terms of numbers or percentages:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voter_turnout_in_the_United_States_presidential_elections
https://www.statista.com/statistics/262915/voter-turnout-in-the-us-presidential-elections/
Thank you. For those of us who voted against her in the PRIMARIES, that was what much of that vote was about. Many of us still voted for her in the main election simply because she was better than the idiot, but the fact that another candidate got such traction with the democratic nomination should have been taken as a warning.
Agree we should be looking to younger candidates. Have a friend who worked Gillibrand’s campaign years ago who speaks highly of her. I would like to see her run.
Re: Kamala Harris. She is not such a bright shiny object.
*she was against early release for prisoners because it reduces the labor pool for prisons
*she refused to prosecute Mnunchin
*she was the *only* candidate Mnunchin donated to
*she opposes body cams for police
*she insisted an innocent man had to remain in jail
*she voted in 2015 to expand civil forfeiture
That’s not all I have, but she is NOT a champion of the people. Now the DNC is trying to position her, among others to run in 2020 so she’s quite a bit more guarded, but look into her background before you defend her to the death.
Kamala Harris got her start when she was the long-time girlfriend of San Francisco’s then Mayor, Willie Brown, a busy pol with lots of deep connections. Before Mayor, he’d been Speaker of the California State Assembly for the last 15 years of his 30 years there. Brown coached, mentored & positioned her into what has become quite the career.
Agreed, Kamala is a chameleon who’s very good at positioning herself where she’ll get the best publicity. She’s buddies with Gavin Newsome, another former SF mayor, now Lt. Gov., who has presidential aspirations. Gavin got famous for allowing gay marriages in SF. He’s got some interesting dirt too, behind his shiny pictures.
Kamala is more centrist than I would like but seems to be moving more left, and in all honesty, her ethnicity is a huge plus.
Barack won twice over an older wealthy white patrician and HRC, and there is the clue who the base is on the left. People in my age group have no problems voting for people of color or any minority. There was a town in Kentucky, poor, all white, mountain people who had voted Dem for over a hundred years and twice for Obama. 2016 they went red.
You can’t force people to the polls and the lesser evil is uninspiring.
“Come and talk to me about Kamala Harris, or Kristen Gillibrand.”
If you support those candidates, then you should understand the power that Clinton has with her ability to direct attention to other candidates and issues. There are voters who strongly supported Clinton who are not as familiar with Harris or Gillibrand, and Clinton can be a bridge. Hillary has said she is not running for office again, so what is the issue?
We need all hands on deck.
Honestly, I’m tired of the “DNC shoved her in our face” argument. If voters want to see more choices, they need to do the groundwork in researching what candidates are available and voting in the primaries, pushing for change from the local and state level and up. Democracy is the responsibility of the people, not a political party. It was shifting that responsibility onto them that got the younger generation into trouble. They are not superheroes swooping down to save us from our own government. The people are supposed to regulate democracy, not the other way around.
Wow Veronica… word. <3
+1000
Even if you don’t like Hillary Clinton, the people in that video were super annoying in tone and presence.
Yeah, I think that was probably the bigger problem. To have young, white privileged millennials toasting champagne while dissing HRC after the year of hell everyone is suffering though, brought upon us by the biggest election upset in US history, was definitely tone deaf and insulting.
Wow – didn’t take Radhika Jones long to change the tone around there. If this is the direction it’s going generally – I’m out of there.
who still pays for magazines?
Oy. I cancelled Vanity Fair twenty years ago when they put Paris Hilton on the cover of the magazine. That was the end, as far as I was concerned.
I was one of the many who subscribed at the beginning of the year when predator-in-chief slammed them and I’ll keep my JLo and Meghan Markle copies, but, yeah, I cancelled VF today. They can send an exploratory committee up their azz, which is where they mine for humor obvs.
I’ve written for them, and it was an honour, but this was so bad. SO BAD. Nothing good can be said about it, and if they had a decent social media editor they’d have deleted it long since but it’s still up. When you get five thousand likes but twelve thousand replies, you know you fucked up. Bigly.