Hillary's "Experience" finally questioned!

"I have 35 years of experience, fighting for real change, and I will use my experience to change Washington, starting on day one."

This is the nonsense that the media has repeated without question throughout the battle for the democratic nomination. But her barrage of misleading statements is now being challenged, and even better - it's coming from a mainstream media voice in Maureen Dowd:

Her Democratic rivals had meekly gone along, accepting her self-portrait as a former co-president who gets to take credit for everything important Bill Clinton did in the ’90s. But she was not elected or appointed to a position that needed Senate confirmation . . . She was a top adviser who had a Nixonian bent for secrecy and a knack for hard-core politicking. But if running a great war room qualified you for president, Carville and Stephanopoulos would be leading the pack.

Brilliant. In addition, Dowd has already countered the inevitable smear response from the Clinton campaign; that this is a sexist attack, attempting to belittle all female politicians.

“She hasn’t accomplished anything on her own since getting admitted to Yale Law,” wrote Joan Di Cola, a Boston lawyer, in a letter to The Wall Street Journal this week, adding: “She isn’t Dianne Feinstein, who spent years as mayor of San Francisco before becoming a senator, or Nancy Pelosi, who became Madam Speaker on the strength of her political abilities. All Hillary is, is Mrs. Clinton. She became a partner at the Rose Law Firm because of that, senator of New York because of that, and (heaven help us) she could become president because of that.”

I've thought for a while that Clinton's campaign is actually damaging to female politicians who HAVE made it their own way, and on their OWN merits, such as Feinstein, Pelosi, and a former presidential candidate who was far more qualified: Carol Mosley-Braun. Her candidacy re-enforces existing sexist stereotypes that imply that nepotism and personal connections are required for female politicians to be successful. Other issues aside, I'm thrilled that this is finally getting brought up, and here's hoping it continues.