Is This A Joke?
11 June 2009 6:59 pm by Taylor Marsh
Don Surber has written a post that defies rational thought. It’s actually entitled “Why the left ridicules women,” in which he opens with the following nonsense:
Too many American liberals cannot handle a strong, good-looking, intelligent, independent woman who disagrees with them — and so they make the crude, cruel and sexist remarks…
What women are his examples? In the order Mr. Surber chose himself through his pictorial: Katharine Harris, Carrie Prejean, Sarah Palin, Michelle Malkin, and Michele Bachmann.
Where’s the laugh track when you need it?
Katharine Harris couldn’t even get the Republican Party behind her, even after she threw the 2000 election. Pres. Bush ignored her, even though she helped put him in office. That’s how Republicans treat women.
Carrie Prejean finally got fired because she wouldn’t commit to her contractual obligations as Miss California. As a former Miss America Pageant contestant, I can tell you that they’re serious about these types of things, though the Miss USA is that other pageant.
Sarah Palin is a governor who when tapped to be on a national ticket had some fantasy that Vladimir Putin was someone she was supposed to watch. That she didn’t know what Bush’s policy of preemption was all about is another issue. Most liberals around my neck of the woods in 2008, which was a major stop for Clinton supporters, were insulted that Mrs. Palin didn’t have the chops for the job. That she was basically put on the ticket to save John McCain.
As for Michelle Malkin, well, Google her.
But it’s when you get to Michele Bachmann that you’ve really got to wonder if Surber forgot to do his homework. This video says it all, though there’s always more where Bachmann is concerned. But from her own congressional YouTube site (via DailyKos diary) comes the description of the video, which a day after the Holocaust tragedy proves that we don’t have respect for her because she’s not only ignorant, but that her ignorance is dangerous:
Republicans take to the floor to call to question the recent Homeland Security department memo referring to conservatives as “right-wing extremists” who pose a potential threat to the security of the nation. Rep. Bachmann urges her to answer questions before Congress and potentially tender her resignation.
Of course, Surber’s new found anti sexism campaign was all inspired by Dave Letterman. As I said yesterday, he can fight his own battles.
But the right doesn’t get to conveniently co-op an issue they’ve ignored for one hundred years.
Conservatives finally finding a voice on sexism is not going to be taken seriously by anyone, let alone liberal women, who have watched these cretins eviscerate our brightest female, someone who almost became the Democratic nominee for president, Hillary Clinton. Conservatives hunted her for two decades, calling her every name in the book, as well as attempting to destroy, not only her public life, but her personal life as well.
In fact, he can’t resist bringing it up again:
So-called feminists stand on the sidelines like so many Silda Spitzers or Elizabeth Edwardses or Hillary Clintons, standing by their menfolk while the boys treat women like dirt. Heck, Mrs. Edwards even served as her husband’s attack dog against any critic — even as she knew he was sleeping with his mistress of many years.
Funny how Senator David Vitter is omitted. I even remember what his wife was wearing at the time, as it got a certain cable host in trouble when she commented about it.
I also have never heard Mr. Surber or anyone on the right call Rush out for his “feminazi” rants, his “info-babe” belches, or any number of other names he’s called liberal women.
Selective sexism from the right, that’s what we’ve gotten for years, which includes not utilizing women when they actually do get an important job. Tell me again what real accomplishments Dr. Rice was allowed to achieve as she fought against Rummy and Dick Cheney? Like Christine Todd Whitman who had to leave the EPA because Bush had reduced her to a figurehead.
Oh, and when was the last time a Republican fought for equal pay? When I interviewed Carly Fiorina last year during the election cycle she wouldn’t even back the Ledbetter Act, making excuses for John McCain.
And someone needs to tell me how Sarah Palin was supporting her daughter when she dragged her in front of a national audience in a publicity stunt, TV shotgun wedding that was nothing but a fraud.
It’s not just about women. It’s about intelligence, competence and the policies people support. It’s about supporting women, all women, not just when you decide you can make hay from a comedian on tv.
