Thursday, June 05, 2008

"THE END OF WOMEN IN POLITICS"? HUNH?

I really don't understand what Amanda Marcotte is talking about here:

With two hands over my eyes and plugs in my ears, I could still tell you that Clinton losing the nomination is going to inspire all sorts of disingenuous hand-wringing concealing glee over women’s chances in politics....

For those about to gloat about the end of women in politics, I salute you....


Amanda's no Clinton zealot -- she thought Hillary stayed in too long and thinks a VP offer would be a bad idea -- so I'm just wondering where this comes from, what evidence there is of any glee anywhere about the defeat of the entire gender. I guess, possibly, this comes from watching too many cable pundits -- that's the only subgroup I know of in which there seem to be a lot of people who find the idea of women seeking political power grotesque and unnatural. Everywhere else, even among the nastiest Clinton opponents, the focus seems to be on Clinton and Clinton alone.

But what about all the sexist crap thrown at her? I'd say that a disturbing number of people who turned against Hillary resorted to sexism in a way they don't, if they're Democrats, when talking about, say, Nancy Pelosi or Kathleen Sibelius, or, if they're Republicans, when talking about, say, Condoleezza Rice or Sarah Palin. There's no justification for that -- but as for a blanket dismissal of the idea of a woman president, I don't think I've ever heard that during this campaign, except implicitly from the likes of Chris Matthews and Tucker Carlson, and maybe random idiots like the "Iron My Shirt" guys.

I don't know how long it's going to be until we have another genuine female contender for the presidency, but I think this campaign made the notion seem far more plausible, not less. Time will tell I guess....

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