"I want to punch Hillary the person in the face"

I don't think I've ever said this before, and I actually don't have an intense urge to punch Hillary in the face, but I sort of instinctively disagree with part of this opinion. Actually, I agree you cannot divorce Hillary from her womanhood, but I don't think saying you want to punch Hillary in the face is actually carrying the baggage Melissa seems to think it implies. I want to punch Bush in the face as well. In fact, there is a whole meme of "in the face." Like "I want to shoot you in the face", "I want to stab myself in the face", etc.

"In the face" is just sort of the throwaway, slightly comical additive to a statement. And to say you want to punch Hillary in the face basically just means you want to punch her and she sucks. Cause she kind of does. Melissa says:

It's something of which I must be conscious, too—I am reluctant to use violent imagery generally, but extremely averse to using it when discussing women I don't like. Despite the distinct unlikelihood that anyone would mistake misogyny as my motivation, even a (metaphorical) attack within a culture in which women—particularly strong, opinionated women—have historically been silenced with threatened or actual violence borrows and legitimizes misogynist strategies. I don't have to like Hillary Clinton's voice (although, for the record, I do), or her policies or her sense of humor or her decision to stay in the race, and neither does anyone else—but, regardless of intent, the public declaration of a desire to punch her in response summons an ugly history of physically silencing uppity women. And, no, a threat to punch a man doesn't work quite the same way—care of the double standard brought to you daily by the patriarchy.

Yes, it does bring up some history of uppity women being put in their place if you automatically relate FEMALE + VIOLENT THOUGHT = PATRIARCHY! But it's also a general reaction of people who conceive of being powerless to a negative force. I want to punch Bush because I feel powerless to stop him. When I hear his voice, I know that he is there, beyond my control, and it enrages me. I want to punch him to shut him up and make him stop.

I can easily see how this parallels people who want to punch Hillary in the face. She at this points represents negativity and a power the we cannot seem to stop against Obama. To claim that this somehow invokes a history of violence to women, well I disagree. If anything invokes a history of people being powerless against their leaders and acting out against them in one of the few ways they can which includes humorous language and statements like "I want to punch them in the face."

How Hillary Remembers It

Clintons: Giving Us An Unenthusiastic Reach Around

BILL CLINTON HATES CHILDREN!!! Look at how Bill Clinton attacks that sweet, stern looking lesbian about his actions against the gay community.

This video brings up a good question and is one of the fundamental reasons why I support Barack Obama. Bill Clinton (and Hillary) argue that the Defense of Marriage Act was the necessary thing to do at the time to protect gay people. Bill here argues that the other option was a constitutional amendment.

Now, no lie, I was really young when he signed that bill. But the whole idea of a federal constitutional amendment didn't really gain traction and credibility until Bush. This seems to me that Bill and Hill are trying to meld two different points in time together and claim some sort of time warp in LGBT history.

Unfortunately, to protect themselves politically and appeal to us 'mos, they have to say that one of the most anti-gay bills in history was to protect us from our selves. The Defense of Marriage act did more than prevent states from having recognize other state's gay marriages, it prevented the federal government from having to recognize them either. This locked us out of all federal benefits (social security!) and other rights conferred by the federal government (immigration!).

Hillary states she wants to repeal parts of DOMA and Obama says repeal the whole damn thing. It's like being fucked unwillingly in the ass while getting a sort of limp reach around. The Clintons are going to get off in us (get our vote) while limply making us get off as well ("We do what's best for you, now stay quiet you nasty bottom!"). As someone in a relationship with a foreigner who will be forced to leave the country soon because I can't sponsor his Visa, I can't side with the someone who says basically it was the best option and now the best option is pick a few things out of it but to leave it largely intact.