I know one thing. Someone came onto the scene making a classic mistake you should never make in a fight. I know, it has been the mistake most often made by others those times I had to tussle. It was the mistake on their part that was my greatest aid. That would be your opponent's underestimation of your strength. I'm tiny, in the scheme of things. And historically, people have almost always initially imagined I was much younger than I am. And weaker, of course. But I'm mighty quick, and strong enough to have made it this far, I'll say that much. If an enemy starts out with the thought in their mind that you are much less strong or fast than you actually are, they may as well have taken a stick and hit themselves in the head with it before coming at you. There's rarely enough time to correct those kinds of mistaken assumptions on the part of those making them. This is the Hillary Clinton Mistake. She didn't take her opponent seriously, or she put too much faith in her own imagined power.

Because you are right. Obama's not pure. And Clinton's not pure. But in this game, they have shown their strength, their speed, their prettiness, and Muhammed Ali would tell you it all matters. Obama's game has largely been that he brings Change; he's claiming a new way. He's tried to back that up with new ways of funding his campaign, bringing new people into the game, and presenting a new background and identity for the Presidency. Clinton's game was that Obama's New Way is bullshit, and she is the Real Thing. It's a reactive game, but that, again is because she didn't prepare properly and was caught off-balance at the start.

Did I ever tell you about the time I got in a fight with some kid on an ice fishing trip and then the kid ran and got his big brother. And we faced off. And standing on ice, I learned a lesson about fighting on ice. (Don't do it. Or at least, train for it!) And when I was on my back and about to eat his fist, I acknowledged that he had the upper hand. Don't laugh! Yes, I admitted what was clear to everyone else. I looked ahead to the bloody tongue and cut lip and bruised eyes and decided that there was no way around losing this thing and making a real mess in the process. He saw my nod, let me up. I stood and left. It was over.

You know what I didn't do? I didn't start complaining about the ice. That was in my head, yeah. And I remembered that ice for years. Here I am telling you about it now. But ice is ice, we were both standing on it, I lost my footing and he weighed more, and further, I guess I decided to pull a Rocky—who would never begin whining about getting his ass handed to him by some uncontrollable malevolent force. That day, those kids on the ice could have said "there ain't gonna be a rematch" and I would've said "I don't want one."

In unusually blunt comments, Clinton told the Washington Post that sexism has played a larger role in the campaign than racism and that it has cost her and her supporters.

"It's been deeply offensive to millions of women. I believe this campaign has been a groundbreaker in a lot of ways," Clinton said. "But it certainly has been challenging given some of the attitudes in the press."

Clinton, the first woman to make a serious bid for a major party's presidential nomination, said she did not think that racism was a factor in her bruising battle with Sen. Barack Obama.

Instead, she said, "The manifestation of some of the sexism that has gone on in this campaign is somehow more respectable, or at least more accepted."

She added, "It does seem as though the press at least is not as bothered by the incredible vitriol that has been engendered by the comments by people who are nothing but misogynists."

—For Some Clinton Supporters, Sexism Is the Only Explanation

It's pretty vague, tho damning. Yes, there have been misogynists in the conversation. Chris Matthews is an unpardonable embarassment to both the male gender as well as civilized society, for one. And there have been many threads where sexism has risen its ugly head. (And many trolls purposely spreading malice, so stay sharp.) I think talking about all of that is good.

But I detest how dishonestly she has decided to frame this.

I mean...is Clinton reallllllly trying to claim in the run of a black male as the first serious contender to the Presidency in the USA, that racism has not been a factor???? Wow. See, that offends my intelligence. Go ahead, say misogyny has been a factor in Obama's support. I will agree. Say it is the only one, I disagree. Say racism has been the only reason for supporting Clinton, I'll disagree. Say racism has been absent as a factor in this race, and I'll call you a liar. Or delusional. Or blissfully ignorant of societal factors of which a President MUST be aware.

You want to know how you can tell this particular game she is playing ain't a winner? Just imagine Obama trying to make a similar comment about racism. Riiiiight. So that's how much "worse" sexism is, I guess. So much worse you can discuss it on TV without the nation erupting. It's like when I got that email from Hillary's campaign that was all sentimental, with a musical slideshow and the whole thing was calling out to women. In blatant and non-blatant ways. And I think that's cool. It's the one element that has caused me to offer more respect to the fury shown by her own supporters. I think to myself "this is very important to them...and I can understand exactly why." But I also thought to myself "Obama could never do this. He could never call out to all mixed-race, or black, or brown people. He'd be torn to shreds."

But let me stress: I don't think it is useful to begin comparing (and especially lying about) which force has been present or "worse." Racism and Sexism—oppressions that aid the "Patriarchy" or this White Male Supremacy that girds our laws and nation's culture for the most part—have both been in play. And that's the world we live in. It hasn't been a surprise, right?

And online? Some people, and mostly I mean Clinton supporters, at this point need to take a Xanax. I know it hurts to lose, but there is just some wackiness out there developing. Angry, paranoid, republican-infested nut-threads. Yeah, I mean you, ya brand new Male Feminist who never blogged a graf about women's rights or pains until suddenly you are electrified into action by Obama the Woman-Hater. Get real. All I know is I better see you hitting women's issues in six months, and in a year, and with the same zest and anger. Don't you dare use Feminism as a convenient silo for your latest personal political missile. In case you didn't know it, that is actually not a "feminist" act. It's appropriation of a cause for your own selfish desires and it is disingenuous and just plain wrong. And yeah, I mean you, the site who first whined the Barack was unelectable, and then when he pulls a crowd so big it makes history, you sulky paranoid freaks start talking about Goebbels. You are LOSING IT. Hillary Clinton would not be worse for the USA than Bush has been! Not by a long shot. And if she is the Dem nominee, I'll vote for her and feel as good about it as I would voting for most Democrats. But newsflash, neither is Obama some fascist pied piper worth your full store of revulsion! You've left semi-rational blogging and are now stuck in Limbaugh land.

We all knew that this race would introduce opportunities to stare sexism and racism in the face. We are not yet doing so well with those opportunities from what I see. And I hate that we are so comfortable boiling all nuance away from these discussions, that we fall into the trap so easily of overlooking human complexity. We can't know how much of what—racism, sexism, etc—is responsible for how many people feeling and doing whatever. So it doesn't pay to get all bundled and bunched up over it with weighty assumptions about this Evil Bunch or That Evil Bunch. I mean what did we expect? Did we think that a black man running against a woman running against a geriatric warghost in a PRESIDENTIAL nomination/election would result in only a slight ruffling of the sexist, racist, ageist feathers that deck out the entirety of this giant eagle? Of course all these sentiments come about, of course all these feelings are kicked up, of course we begin to see the faultlines that swallow so many and every day. Question is, what are we going to do about it?

Are we going to take a second look at our humor? Or our values? At what we think of women, when we think of them in power? Are we confident they may do better than some men? Is it about time more of our mothers and daughters and sisters begin sharing the wisdom and strength that enable so many families to function at all? Should we examine the disproportionate loathing that a simple pantsuit can inspire? (I'm against them myself; we need more flowing fabrics up in this place.)

Should we stop and think hard about why some feel a bone-deep fear from the sight of a brown man gathering massive support and affection from huge crowds? Or why so many of his supporters feel offended by racist tactics used or attitudes revealed and where the vast disconnect comes in from so many of HIllary's supporters who think that's an outright lie? Should we examine why some Hillary supporters are fuming that Obama has "pulled the race card," when he has in fact been pinned with half a dozen smears that only hold weight because they resonate in our collective national racist mental backchambers of thought? Or how related it might be that some bloggers are ecstatic that "gee, We Elected the Black Guy"?

Finally, are we going to calmly remind our aging grandparents to grip the railing tightly when they lie about lobbyists and tax returns? Are we going to kindly pat their hand and remind them of the real lyrics to Beach Boys songs when they space those out, too? Should we reexamine the state of our elderly and worry when instead of having found peace and wisdom through living out their years, they retain the anger and will to violence that a young man of 19 or so might be better suited for?

Or are we going to turn on all the people around us and hiss and spit and vow to do everything in our power to gum up their works, to cause them pain?

Let's not lose this chance to make the most of these conversations.