It's pearl-clutching time again at Fox "News." And this time, it's because they are appalled'appalled, I tell ya'at the level of contempt directed at women by Stephanie Cutter, President Obama's deputy campaign manager. What horribly offensive thing did she say? Brace yourselves; it's ugly:
That's the other thing that you find most often with women. They're not really concerned about what's happened over the last four years. They really want to know what's going to happen in the next four years.With an innocuous statement like that, you know it's time to fire up the faux outrage machine at Fox. So the brain trust that is Fox & Friends'Gretchen Carlson, Steve Doocy and Not Steve Doocy'brought on Michelle Malkin, whose crazy ideas suggest she's a close cousin of Michele Bachmann, to get all indignant.
Doocy, why don't you get us started by explaining how wrong this "jaw dropper" is?
DOOCY: Oh really? So looking forward, women are not concerned with what happened in the last four years, with all those jobs lost and the economy in the dumper. They're more concerned about looking forward. Do you believe that?MALKIN: Well you know what? I know that every thinking woman out there, when they hear this or have heard it over the last 24 hours, is thinking, "How stupid does this woman think we are?" And I think it shows a basic amount of contempt that this administration has for independent women in this country, and of course that's the demographic that is so prized right now in this election.
Pretty sure Michelle Malkin doesn't want anyone to actually answer the question of just how stupid we think she is, so let's move right along:
CARLSON: I think what was'I mean, as a woman, I guess as a woman I can speak for myself. I think what is disappointing when you hear some rhetoric that women only think about one issue. I think that that is what becomes condescending. So, for example, that women only care about birth control. I mean, any woman cares about the economy, the future of their children, gas prices, entitlements, growing debt'Helpful of Not Doocy to let Carlson know what she cares about, isn't it? Although, given that she's not quite sure if, as a woman, she can speak for herself, maybe she needs that help.NOT DOOCY: NFL reps.
CARLSON: NFL reps, 'cause I love football. Is it condescending to put us in a box and think we only care about one thing?
The only thing missing from this conversation is some nice gratuitous insults about the women who don't agree with Fox and its lady wingnuts. Hey, Michelle, why don't you take this one?
MALKIN: Of course it is. You know, the Susan B. Anthony List, which is conservative women, a couple months ago came out with a great ad mocking this idea of the orthodox left, and they said Obama basically runs what he considers a bureau of womanhood conformity. And you could say the same thing about the entire feminist left, that they think we all only care about our reproductive organs and subsidized birth control. And I think this kind of extremism is so out of touch with reality.
See, talking about women's concerns shows a "basic amount of contempt," but referring to the majority of women in this country who do care about their reproductive rights and equal pay and health care and education and programs to combat domestic violence and all the other things Republicans have been fighting so hard to take away from them as the "orthodox" and "feminist left"? Well, that's downright feministical!
You'd think, given how often Republicans invoke the "women don't care about that stuff" talking point, it must be effective. But of course you'd be wrong. Poll after poll shows women don't think Romney and the Republican Party have an eighth of a clue about what matters to women. Like a recent NBC/WSJ poll showing that on "dealing with issues of concern to women," 54 percent favor President Obama, while just 26 percent favor Romney.
And that's why women have overwhelmingly opposed pretty much every anti-woman bill the Republican House has tried to pass. And that's why Mitt Romney can't close the gender gap. Hell, even Fox's own poll in September showed a 20-point gap. But apparently the bobbleheads on Fox didn't get that internal memo.
While it may be news to the Fox brain trust, women are actually capable of caring about many things at once. Turns out, though, that blaming President Obama for all their problems just isn't one of them.
Want to show Fox what really matters to women? Please give $3 to each of our Daily Kos-endorsed women candidates for the House and Senate so they can go to Congress, raise some hell, and fight for what really matters to women.
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