The old rule of thumb was you don’t talk about religion or politics in polite company. But in presidential politics, nothing is off limits and nothing is sacred. Not even the Thanksgiving dinner table.
Hillary Clinton is offering supporters a guide to talking to Republican relatives at their holiday table.
Sign up and we’ll send you a guide to winning your Thanksgiving table debate: https://t.co/IPQg6CYgzM
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) November 25, 2015
After you enter your email address you are first offered the option to donate to her campaign. If you decline and close the window you are emailed a link to post on her campaign website entitled, “How to win a Thanksgiving debate with Republicans: Tips from Hillary Clinton’s communications team.”
The post is subtitled, “Talking points for the conservative cousin who wants to know if Hillary wears a wig,” a reference to stories popularized by Matt Drudge that Hillary Clinton wears a wig on the campaign trail.
So what does Team Hillary think will win debates with GOP family members? The post starts, “Thanksgiving dinner inevitably comes with a side of uncomfortable political conversation. Christina Reynolds, Hillary’s deputy director of communications, is here to help with some answers to your FAQs (Family’s Awkward Questions).”
First on the list of FAQs is the wig question. “Rush Limbaugh says Hillary Clinton wears a wig. Is that true?”
The answer:
As Hillary herself has noted on a number of occasions, while the color may not be real, the hair is.
Next comes a question on her record, “What the heck has Hillary even done, anyway?”
The answer:
The real question is, what hasn’t she done? She was a leader in the Senate and the Obama administration, for starters. As a senator from New York, she helped secure $20 billion in federal aid to rebuild after 9/11 and to care for responders. She helped create the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), which covers more than 8 million kids and cut the children’s uninsured rate in half. She negotiated a 2012 ceasefire between Israel and Hamas as secretary of state.
As Marco Rubio put it, “if this election is a resume competition, then Hillary Clinton is going to be the next president.”
Third comes the gender card, though not in the form of a question. “I just don’t think America is ready for a woman president.”
The response:
Really? So you don’t think America is ready for a president with four decades of experience fighting for families and children? That’s a shame.
Fourth is a swipe at GOP frontrunner Donald Trump. “OK, so Donald Trump is too much. But the other guys have some good ideas.”
The answer:
To steal a line from Hillary, the rest of the Republican field is just Trump without the pizzazz or the hair. They’ve proposed massive tax cuts for the top 1 percent and they’re bending over backward to say extreme things that appeal to the rightest end of the right wing. Frankly, there’s not much daylight between the Republican candidates at all.
Fifth is about Planned Parenthood, another statement. “I’m sick of her defending Planned Parenthood.”
The answer:
Hillary believes—just like millions of Americans do—that women should have the right to make their own health care decisions. And Planned Parenthood is a vital provider of women’s health care.
Sixth is another gender issue. “Why does she keep talking about equal pay and other ‘women’s issues’?”
The answer:
Equal pay, paid leave, and child care are not “women’s issues”—they’re economic issues. Beyond the fact that it’s just not right that women make 78 cents on average for every dollar that men make (and that women of color lose out even more), Hillary wants to close the gender wage gap because when women make less than men, their families (and our economy) pay a price.
The seventh and final talking point is another gender question. “Do you really think she can be a grandmother and the president?”
The final answer:
You’re joking, right? Since you asked, at least a dozen U.S. presidents were also grandparents.
Now get yourself a second helping of yams and stop asking silly questions.