Gloria Steinem, Hope-a-Holic

Nick Gillespie | September 4, 2008

Writing in The Los Angeles Times, feminist icon Gloria Steinem zeroes in on the real "culprit" in this whole Palin business:

So let's be clear: The culprit is John McCain. He may have chosen Palin out of change-envy, or a belief that women can't tell the difference between form and content, but the main motive was to please right-wing ideologues; the same ones who nixed anyone who is now or ever has been a supporter of reproductive freedom. If that were not the case, McCain could have chosen a woman who knows what a vice president does and who has thought about Iraq; someone like Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison or Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine. McCain could have taken a baby step away from right-wing patriarchs who determine his actions, right down to opposing the Violence Against Women Act.

So Palin is led by McCain, who in turn is led by right-wing patriarchs? And then...what, enter Xemu, laughing? Not particularly convincing (and I say this as someone who has no use for McCain). Btw, Hutchinson, dissed as "the Breck Girl," by late columnist Molly Ivins, is no fan of abortions.

Confession time:

Being a hope-a-holic, however, I can see two long-term bipartisan gains from this contest.

Republicans may learn they can't appeal to right-wing patriarchs and most women at the same time. A loss in November could cause the centrist majority of Republicans to take back their party, which was the first to support the Equal Rights Amendment and should be the last to want to invite government into the wombs of women.

And American women, who suffer more because of having two full-time jobs than from any other single injustice, finally have support on a national stage from male leaders who know that women can't be equal outside the home until men are equal in it. Barack Obama and Joe Biden are campaigning on their belief that men should be, can be and want to be at home for their children.

Hope-a-holic? Reminds of the great Onion bit: "I'm like a chocoholic, but for booze."

Whole Steinem thing here. I'm hoping that whatever happens in the fall, both Reps and Dems learn the value of things such as increased immigration, free trade, and non-idiotic foreign policy. All of which will be good for men, women, and children.

Interesting bit from New York Post's Andrea Peyser, re: the whole be at home Dad thing versus be at home Mom thing, which came up when Palin was first announced as McCain's dupe:

When Joe Biden tragically lost his wife and infant daughter in a car wreck in 1972, not a single colleague, friend or competitor advised him to quit his newly won Senate seat to raise his two little surviving sons.

Rather, he was sworn into office from the injured boys' bedside, and took to commuting an hour and a half each way from Delaware to Washington. And when Biden's second wife gave birth to a daughter, no one thought to ask him to step aside and stay home.

More here.

Comments

Bingo|9.4.08 @ 4:34PM|#

Ahhh, hopeahol my favorite drink.

|9.4.08 @ 4:43PM|#

Make mine a double.

|9.4.08 @ 4:49PM|#

finally have support on a national stage from male leaders who know that women can't be equal outside the home until men are equal in it

Wouldn't percentage sharing of household duties be something for a couple to work out between themselves, and not a concern for "male leaders"?

Oh, right, Gloria wants the male leaders to help the poor women be more equal at home, because clearly they can't discuss it with their partners (without being beaten, presumably).

|9.4.08 @ 4:50PM|#

And hopeahol is still better than synthahol.

Kreel Sarloo|9.4.08 @ 4:53PM|#

I thought hopeahol was the miracle fuel that's going to make it so Obama can get us off petrol in ten years.

|9.4.08 @ 4:54PM|#

"I'm a rageaholic. I'm addicted to rageahol!"

When feminism became merely the Democratic Party in a skirt, they revealed themselves as completely irrelevant.

"Rah, rah rah! Womyn! Yay!"

"What, she doesn't believe exactly like we do on every issue!?!"

"Womb TRAITOR!"

Want a little taste? Check out the comments on Jezebel on a post about the cute little moment when Piper licked her hand to smooth down Trig's hair. More than a few say it was choreographed.

Battle-ax and ideology cop SarahMC (she's all over every one of these sites.)

Don't be distracted by the cuteness, you fools! They are doing this on purpose and it's appalling. Yeah they're all pretty and such, but word on the street is that their evil mother sprung this on her the day before she accepted a spot on the ticket. I just can't get over how much I hate this woman and the GOP for hand-picking her for her handsome family and pretty smile.

Don't for a moment think she's kidding or being hyberbolically ironic.

Rhywun|9.4.08 @ 4:55PM|#

It's Xenu.

|9.4.08 @ 5:03PM|#

Gillespie wrote, "increased immigration, "

Nick the issue is ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION. Why doesn't that sink in? Why can't you grasp that fact?
Or do you believe that everybody should be allowed to break a law or two that they don't like?
That is NOT libertarianism, that is arnachy.
Hell on earth.

Dagny T.|9.4.08 @ 5:10PM|#

And American women, who suffer more because of having two full-time jobs than from any other single injustice

Wait, so she is implying that choosing to work and have children is an injustice? Not to mention her kind decision to speak on behalf of all American women and our *ahem* "suffering." Boy, am I glad I skipped lunch today.

SugarFree, I'm not sure how you stomach the Feministing stuff.

texas_libertarian|9.4.08 @ 5:13PM|#

When is this bitch gonna die?

Dagny T.|9.4.08 @ 5:14PM|#

Wouldn't percentage sharing of household duties be something for a couple to work out between themselves, and not a concern for "male leaders"?

In a world where people were more than the sum of their reproductive parts, yes. Clearly, Steinem occupies another planet altogether.

|9.4.08 @ 5:17PM|#

Clearly, Steinem occupies another planet altogether.

Alpha-Male-Centauri 5.

When is this bitch gonna die?

HAHAHA

SugarFree, I'm not sure how you stomach the Feministing stuff.

I have asked him that question multiple times. I think he's a masochist.

Bingo|9.4.08 @ 5:20PM|#

Change! Hope! Yes We Can!

Dagny T.|9.4.08 @ 5:30PM|#

I think he's a masochist.

I must be, too, because I actually went to his Jezebel link above. That place is where humor, irony, and correct grammar go to die.

|9.4.08 @ 5:44PM|#

I had a law school professor actually propose that the split of household chores should be legislated AND that inspectors should come in on a regular basis to make sure that the man was doing his fair share. Seriously. She thought it was a great idea. (Which led me to wonder what the inspectors would say about my household where my poor husband does his and my fair share - since I spend all day reading H&R).

atrevete|9.4.08 @ 5:47PM|#

"Btw, Hutchinson, dissed as "the Breck Girl," by late columnist Molly Ivins,"

Jesus Christ, how is it a woman as fat and ugly as Molly Ivins ever had the balls to diss ANYONE as "the Breck Girl".

|9.4.08 @ 5:48PM|#

I must be, too, because I actually went to his Jezebel link above

That was bold. I commend you. I'm sure you won't make that mistake again.

|9.4.08 @ 5:50PM|#

"Battle-ax and ideology cop SarahMC (she's all over every one of these sites.)
Don't be distracted by the cuteness, you fools! They are doing this on purpose and it's appalling. Yeah they're all pretty and such, but word on the street is that their evil mother sprung this on her the day before she accepted a spot on the ticket. I just can't get over how much I hate this woman and the GOP for hand-picking her for her handsome family and pretty smile."

Again, you can bet this bitter twit is uglier than slapping your mother on Mother's Day.

Tim Cavanaugh|9.4.08 @ 5:55PM|#

A little L.A. Times inside baseball might explain why this piece of incoherence ended up in print:

Way back when Hillary and Barack were going head to head, Steinem wrote a fairly interesting piece noting that Obama was woefully inexperienced and that by any meritocratic measure Hillary Clinton should have been the nominee. Unfortunately, she wrote it for The New York Times, and since it is the sworn mission of my old friends on the Op-Ed staff always to do exactly what the real Times does, only a few days later and not as well, they wasted several days trying to get the hope-aholic to write a variation for us, then trying to get somebody else to write the same piece for us. As I recall, nothing ever came of these efforts, but the Op-Edsters were always eager to get a Steinem piece on presidential gender.

Which is a fine idea, except that (who'da thunk?) it turns out the bloom goes off the rose when an actual woman gets chosen for an actual position, and she's actually a Republican.

How great journalism gets made!

|9.4.08 @ 5:58PM|#

So let's be clear: The culprit is John McCain.

Old school feminist blames the old white guy? What do they call that in journalism school - dog bites man?

Seriously, if someone had asked me "Gloria Steinem - alive or dead?", I don't know what I would have said.

Btw, Hutchinson, dissed as "the Breck Girl," by late columnist Molly Ivins

I thought John Edwards was the Breck Girl.

Paul|9.4.08 @ 6:16PM|#

and since it is the sworn mission of my old friends on the Op-Ed staff always to do exactly what the real Times does, only a few days later and not as well, they wasted several days trying to get the hope-aholic to write a variation for us

Tim, you sound bitter.

Paul|9.4.08 @ 6:19PM|#

Oh, don't be surprised that Mccain picking a socially conservative woman as a veep will screw up Journalism's three ring circus.

Ring one: DC Politics
Ring two: Identity politics
Ring three: The Environment

tarran|9.4.08 @ 6:39PM|#

Or do you believe that everybody should be allowed to break a law or two that they don't like?

I knew it! All that talk about the Libertarian Militia was agitprop.

Admit it Terry, you work for the ATF. I've only heard such drivel from career government employees.

BTW, speaking for myself, when a law violates people's rights, it should be flouted.

You have no more right to prevent some guy from flying in from Bogota and renting an apartment and getting a job at a local factory sweeping the floor than you have to prevent some guy from flying in from Cape Cod, renting an apartment and getting a job at a local factory sweeping the floor.

That's the libertarian postition. Once you figure it out, you'll have much more luck infiltrating some opposition group/starting a domestic terrorist cell than you have to date.

Who knows, you might even make GS-10 before the decade is out. ;)

Phil A\'tio|9.4.08 @ 7:40PM|#

"Interesting bit from New York Post's Andrea Peyser, re: the whole be at home Dad thing versus be at home Mom thing, which came up when Palin was first announced as McCain's dupe:"

Was Weigel's dick still in your mouth when you wrote that?

|9.4.08 @ 7:53PM|#

So the going theory here is that, because Steinem criticized Palin for holding political positions that Steinem has long denounced, despite the fact that Palin is a woman, Steinem is engaging in identity politics.

This is the dumbest thing I've ever read in my life. This is the type of argument you can't believe just by being stupid, you have to work at it.

|9.4.08 @ 8:10PM|#

Conservative definition of hypocrisy: a liberal not living up standards the conservatives assigned to her.

Oh my goodness, isn't Gloria Steinem supposed to side with any woman ever in politics no matter what?

That's totally what she says. I hear.

RNC|9.4.08 @ 8:11PM|#

Sexism. Panic.

Gilbert Martin|9.4.08 @ 9:40PM|#

"Way back when Hillary and Barack were going head to head, Steinem wrote a fairly interesting piece noting that Obama was woefully inexperienced and that by any meritocratic measure Hillary Clinton should have been the nominee."

Ha!

On a meritocratic measure, neither one of them should be the nominee because neither one of the have ever done anything of any real substance whatsoever.

Gilbert Martin|9.4.08 @ 9:45PM|#

"Oh, right, Gloria wants the male leaders to help the poor women be more equal at home, because clearly they can't discuss it with their partners (without being beaten, presumably)."

I've always thought it was funny that the liberal feminists insist that women are equal in capabiltiy to men in anything and everything and simultaneously proclaim they are being O-pressed and therefore need government help to make the men do right (help that would primarily be enforced by men).

Now if they are truly equally capable in all ways, just how did they ever get as far behind as the feminists claim they are in the first place?

After all, any group of beings that is truly equal to any other group is perfectly capable of holding it's own and looking after it's own interests without assistance from any outside party.

|9.5.08 @ 12:05AM|#

Steinem appears to assume that women are naturally leftists. It is also unclear what "right-wing patriarch" is a code-phrase for.

Which led me to wonder what the inspectors would say about my household where my poor husband does his and my fair share - since I spend all day reading H&R

Man does less than his fair share == sexism
Woman does less than her fair share == justice
"Fair share" == whatever women want

Abdul|9.5.08 @ 7:55AM|#

Gloria was a lot more fun in the bunny suit serving drinks filled with alcohol instead of hope.

|9.5.08 @ 8:18AM|#

Seriously, if someone had asked me "Gloria Steinem - alive or dead?", I don't know what I would have said.

Have you seen her lately? I'd split the difference and go with "undead."

(OK, that was just mean.)

Bob A|9.5.08 @ 8:48AM|#

We need Steinem's opinion like a fish needs a bicycle.

guy in the back row|9.5.08 @ 1:24PM|#

So let's be clear: The culprit is John McCain.

"Gov. Palin couldn't decided with that pretty little head of hers and had nice ole Mr.McCain mke the decision for her."

bleh

If Steinam was ever mugged she would cry and swoon. Sarah Palin would kill the bastard. Who's cooler?