We had this discussion when writing today’s comic:
Elissa: “I could get away with a tasteful Lady Liberty in chains, I’m not sure I can get away with a Lady Liberty on all fours getting kicked…”
Derek: “Conservatives are trying to get away with it.”
Elissa: “Good point.”
I have to admit, I would normally share Elissa’s reservations about the imagery. I’ve been gone for a couple days, but coming back I see the conservative far-right has outdone itself yet again, and mainstream Republicans are there to play along.
Former Gov. Mike Huckabee (R-Ark.), Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.) Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa), Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.), Rep. Tom McClintock (R-Calif.), Rep. Todd Akin (R-Mo.), and a number of 2010 Republican congressional candidates attended the How To Take Back America in Saint Louis, Missouri recently. Apparently, the fringe wants to take America back to the glory days of 1915 when the government was small, corporations could shoot striking workers, certain people knew their place, and women couldn’t vote.
It’s more likely than you think. National Review’s John Derbyshire’s recent book, “We Are Doomed: Reclaiming Conservative Pessimism” included a chapter titled: “The Case Against Female Suffrage.” In a recent radio appearance with Alan Colmes, he was asked about it, saying “Among the hopes that I do not realistically nurse is the hope that female suffrage will be repealed. But I’ll say this if it were to be, I wouldn’t lose a minute’s sleep.” He went on to state that he thought America would be a better place if women didn’t vote.
Meanwhile, at the How To Take Back America, conference, host of the conference Phyllis Schlafly made the case that feminism is “the most dangerous, destructive force in our society today.” She was later presented an award at the conference, the “American Hero of the Century” award. Again, I remind you this conference was attended by a number of Republican names. Mike Huckabee was present at teh awards ceremony. “God bless you,” said Huckabee, “and God bless Phyllis Schlafly most of all.”
In addition to vague talk about the social ills brought upon this nation by feminists and the gays, speakers and panels had concrete things to say about the rising fascism/Marxism/Hulkamania threat represented by President Barak Obama. In one panel Rep. Trent Franks said President Obama is “an enemy of humanity” who has “no place in any station of government.” His staff later made a clarification stating that Franks was speaking specifically of the abortion issue and meant to say Obama is “an enemy of unborn humanity.”
A general sense of doom and impending disaster permeated the conference. Worried activists and speakers discussed the Second Amendment, transnationalist threats to America’s sovereignty, and the Marxist designs of the Obama administration.
This sort of thing isn’t limited to a small group of activists. Republican opinion is generally becoming far more bold and erratic. Recently, a Newsmax columnist: Military coup “to resolve the ‘Obama problem’ ” is not “unrealistic.” In a rare example of the ever-expanding tolerance for terrible rhetoric actually allowing something to be across the line, the article was later removed due to reader complaints. (The article is cached in the links below.)
So yeah, a busy week in crazy, but don’t let the outlandish claims and almost comical conservative fears fool you, this isn’t safe. The fringe is firmly in control of the Republican party at this point. They push the talking points towards extremism and the Republican leadership accommodates them. There was a time when this level of Republican congressional attendance at the How To Take Back America conference would have caused a scandal.
While the mainstream media continues to pretend it is simply politics as usual, the right continues to grow darker and more dangerous. While most of America is hoping for solutions to problems with the economy and health care, Republicans are on a far grander, more deluded, and potentially dangerous mission. To quote Limbaugh; “We’re dealing with a guy who is out to destroy the whole concept of the West, Western civilization.”
PS: I know there are a lot of links today, but check them out.
links: John Derbyshire say Women Should Not Have the Right to Vote- – -Newsmax columnist: Military coup “to resolve the ‘Obama problem’ ” is not “unrealistic”- – -Trent Franks (R-AZ) Calls Obama ‘An Enemy of Humanity’- – -Right-wing Icon Schlafly: Feminism is ‘The Most Dangerous, Destructive Force in Our Society Today.’- – -Fear of Fascism, ‘Gay Agenda’ Dominates Conservative Kickoff for Midterm Elections- – -Limbaugh on Obama: “We’re dealing with a guy who is out to destroy the whole concept of the West, Western civilization”
-Derek
“God bless you,” said Huckabee, “and God bless Phyllis Schlafly most of all.”
Hard evidence of the neo-con Irony Filter.
Here they come
Here come the feminists
I heard it from a confidant -
Who heard it form a confidant
They’re definitely on their way…
Oh, yeah, you moronic right-wing nutjobs…that “war” you so often speak of will work SO well. Your army of rich, flabby, middle-aged white guys, assorted idiots and crackpots, and feeble, bigoted old farts, against our army of multi-ethnic, young, and intellectual people. Please. Bring it on. I’m waiting for you, you jackasses.
Really, though, if Obama’s so bad, why don’t you just kill yourselves instead? You’ll be saving a lot of time and effort…not to mention doing a great service for the cause of Darwinism!
Although there might be something to that anti-feminism thing. The prospect of Michelle Bachman and Sarah Palin being unable to run for office, or even vote, is rather appealing, I must admit.
You joke Jason, but that’s kind of like saying it’d be awesome if we re-enslaved black people so that Michael Steele would go away. If my sense of humor is lacking (and it is, and I’m sorry for that) it’s because this issue is pretty close to my heart. Or, you know, my XX chromosomes.
I’ve been saying for years that The Handmaiden’s Tale scenario, the backsliding of equal rights for women, is more possible than most women think. We take for granted our enlightened society that has at least egalitarian ideals if not an entirely egalitarian practice. But the Victorian era for women was only slightly better than the Taliban, and that wasn’t long ago. My grandmother remembers her grandfather with his coat tails and top hat – It’s living memory. Rhetoric like this only proves the point.
Historically, since the onset of largely agricultural societies and patriarchal dominance, women have had brief periods of a few generations of increased rights, generally precipitated by some economic pressure or need. These brief periods have ended quickly, and quietly, and get lost in the history otherwise dominated by the kind of patriarchal system that keeps women as breeders and baubles.
It’s happened before, it can happen again.
True…which leads one to question why people like Palin, Bachmann, Ann Coulter, and the rest of the usual female right-wing suspects haven’t spoken out against the anti-suffrage idiocy. While they’re not the sharpest knives in the drawer, they have to be smart enough to realize that such a program will have a negative effect on their political ambitions, right?
I wouldn’t worry about it much, though. It’ll never pass even a GOP Senate, and because of that, I doubt if the Repubs would want to risk further alienating a group that makes up over half the population of the US by even seriously proposing it. It other words, they may be prone to political stupidity, but I doubt if they’d want to commit electoral suicide.
And while I hadn’t thought about it before, it could potentially even divide their own base. Female Palin supporters could, realistically, see it as a ploy by the GOP establishment to “keep Sarah down” or ruin her chances. And what about female pro-life voters? Waaaaay too risky a proposition to ever get past the wacko fringe, IMO. Only if NOBODY explains what “women’s suffrage” IS to some less knowledgeable voters will this ever have a chance, and the media will solve that problem in short order, I’m sure.
Which reminds me of a skit some comedian did a few years back. He set up a booth on a college campus, with a banner that said “End Women’s Suffrage”. He had a petition for people to sign, to do just that! Several women actually signed it, thinking the word “suffrage” meant “suffering”, and that the cause was actually feminist! He finally stopped when a woman who understood what the banner and petition really meant came up to him, outraged at his efforts. Hopefully, people aren’t really so dumb as that, are they?
It’s true that there isn’t currently a political climate where they could take away the vote from women, and even the writer who included it in his book lamented that fact. However, it starts by making “feminism” a bad word. Ann Coulter? Sarah Palin? From what I can tell the women on the fringe right believe themselves to be pretty, feminine, and ladylike enough to thrive in a society where men are in power. They claim openly that feminists are women who can’t get a man – a concept that’s obviously false and full of vanity and self importance, but it’s attractive to women who’s love and marital prospects mainly consist of misogynists and who’s self esteem rests more on their looks or domestic skills than on their accomplishments and careers, and understandably so. The desire to please others is a feminine quality that’s taught rather rigorously to our little girls. Vanity, superiority, and a justification for arrogance are elements of an ideology that would appeal to anyone.
Palin, Bachmann, Coulter, et al are not rational strategists. They’re straight from the viper pit. They do and say whatever feeds their ego. They spit vitriol rather than spinning tenable arguments. Obama wants to institute death panels? The health care bill will let teenage girls get abortions in public schools?
For the record, I have female conservative friend who was pissed off when Palin’s candidacy was announced because she didn’t think a woman should be vice president.
In the (incredibly unlikely) event the US government repeals suffrage, I encourage every single female citizen of the United States to flee the country and claim refugee status in another. Really, any other country would do. Somalia, Senegal, Afghanistan, Iran… anywhere but Saudi Arabia.
See how those straight white middle-aged middle class males like living in a society without women.
I disagree with contention that Palin, Bachmann, and Coulter say what they say and do what they do because “they’re not the sharpest knives in the drawer”. This has nothing to do with intelligence. It’s just that they’re epistemologically challenged.
I agree with Jesse. The right appeals to some intelligent women – I just think those women are weak in the face of vanity and promise of superiority, like many people would be given the opportunity. I think it’s dangerous to say “All the people on the other side are idiots,” they aren’t. I wish they were.
Well, a lot of them are. For example, the people that think Czars have something to do with Russia. But there are people across the spectrum of intelligence on all sides. The substantive issue is that the jerks with the megaphones are promoting disingenuous arguments. They aren’t interested in truth. They aren’t interested in facts or logical cohesion. They ARE interested in power. Demagogues are filling the leadership vacuum that was left when the Republican Party imploded.
So, it sounds like you’re all saying that ending women’s suffrage has become a sort of mainstream conservative view. Or even has a chance of ever becoming so. That those espousing it wouldn’t be shunned by the rational majority of conservatives. Am I mistaken? That’s kind of like equating the average forum troll to the average internet user.
You wonder why prominent Republicans won’t denounce the demagogues but don’t question the same behavior from your president. You worry about possible but nonexistent violence on the part of town hall protesters because of talk show hosts, but when actual anticapitalist violence occurs at the G20 summit the week after Michael Moore’s “capitalism is evil” movie premieres, you don’t openly question whether Moore is too vitriolic.
I wonder if we’ll ever understand each other.
Anarchists always cause trouble at the G8 and now G20 events, Nick, you know that. This years was positively tame compared to the Seattle riots. I would hardly call an estimate of six injuries in “hours of violence” (as I saw it described in one article) to be worth much note. In general, I’ve seen the rather tame protests held up as a sign of the ineffectiveness of Moore’s movie.
As for Obama, you know as well as I do that if he were to answer every call for denouncement, proof of this or that, clear statement about whether or not he loves puppies, or if he’s stopped beating his wife that would be all he had time for. A much truer measure of the left’s willingness to embrace the craziest in the party would be media appearances, congressional support, and the ability to set talking points. Given that the respectable progressives have had an infuriating time trying to get any sort of strong commitment for the public option from the Democratic party as a whole, I see little evidence that the crazies hold any power.
This is not the case on the right. The same woman describing feminism as the biggest problem with America was blessed during the same even by Huckabee. The congressional turnout for this conference, focused on fighting the rising fascism in America, was significant.
That said, I haven’t seen Moore’s new movie. Judging from his others, I doubt he calls for violence. I’m sure that won’t stop people on the right from trying to draw a false equivalency between Moore and Beck.
I’d concede that Coulter has a modicum of intellect, as does Schlafly. But Palin’s nothing more than a more charismatic female version of Dan Quayle – not quite as stupid as some make her out to be, but still a political lightweight.
Bachmann is just a moron, period, or, at the very least, a bigot. I really can’t find any redeeming qualities in that woman. The female Glenn Beck, and what makes her worse is that she actually holds elected office in, of all places, one of the more liberal Midwestern states.
I feel like calling people in the GOP stupid is not only an underestimation, but dangerously missing what is attractive about the GOP. If we can’t acknowledge their strengths, we’re not going to be able to fully understand their tactics, either.
Surely even men who are Republicans have learned enough about social change that the image of June Cleaver is dead.
Funny thing I remember from history. Julius Cesar was put in place by a senate that decided assassination was a viable form of government change. That was essentially the end of the Roman republic. It will be ironic to see Republicans end the Republic and Democracy in one burst of stupidity…