McCain uses Susan Rice to relaunch war on women
John McCain and Lindsey Graham are on a fool's errand.
The hawkish GOP senators have launched a pre-emptive strike against Susan Rice, the U.N. ambassador, who is a contender to replace Secretary of State Hillary Clinton once Clinton quits her job as the nation's top diplomat.
But in going after Obama in this way, they run the risk of opening an even wider gap between the Republican Party and women, 55% of whom voted for Obama in his lopsided victory this year over GOP candidate Mitt Romney. A dozen female members of the House of Representatives drove home that point when they held a news conference to accuse McCain and Graham of being sexist and racist in their attack on Rice, who is black.
While the two Republican senators might prevail in keeping Rice from becoming secretary of State -- either by forestalling her nomination or blocking a Senate confirmation vote -- their opposition to her almost certainly will be seen by many others as proof of a GOP war on women.
And that will cost Republicans dearly at the polls.
Regarding those dozen female members of the House:
“There is a clear, a clear in my opinion, sexism and racism that goes with these comments that are being made by, unfortunately, Senator McCain and others,” Fudge (D-Ohio.) said Friday at a Capitol Hill press conference
Our USA Today columnist and Ms. Fudge warn us in blunt language: Females and minorities cannot be held accountable or responsible for anything that happens under their jurisdiction. If one tries to, then they will be either perceived as sexist (as USA Today claims) or will be accused of racism (as Congresswoman Fudge does).
Unless, of course said females or minorities are Republicans. If that's the case, well...never mind. All bets are off. Just ask Condi Rice, or Sarah Palin.
This is absolutely outrageous. Susan Rice is being pilloried because she went on five different national news shows and peddled a patently false story about the 9/11 Benghazi Massacre, one that the administration news was untrue within hours. The question of whether she told falsehoods out of ignorance, or lied to protect the president's chances in the upcoming election, is still an open one. One that needs to be explored in an open society. If the perpetrator here was a different black woman - again, say Condoleezza Rice, and the president had an "R" next to his name, we'd be gearing up for impeachment hearings al la Nixon by now.
And yet - I do not hear anybody outside the blogosphere making this argument.
Which means Republicans have learned nothing from their defeat of a few weeks ago. I can scream on top my lungs, so can every blogger from me to Glenn Reynolds, and it won't make a dime's worth of difference. We sit here and laugh at the stupidity of DeWayne Wickham's USA Today piece or Marcia Fudge's obvious attempts to play the race/gender card to head off a relevant investigation, but it doesn't matter. We are in a fucking echo chamber, where we nod at the obvious wisdom of our own words but fail to make sure it penetrates the public consciousness. (see here, in which I question my own blogging existence on this basis).
And while the wall that the mainstream media has built around the Democratic party seems impenetrable, the one remaining way to break through it is for our political leadership to take a stand. To my knowledge, no Senator or Congressperson has stood up to Marcia Fudge and called out her hate-mongering and race-baiting. No elected official has taken to the pages of USA Today to rebut DeWayne Wickham's threats. No one has gone on the AM news shows and called bullshit on the McCarthy-esque tactics being used by the Democrats.
Instead, they've reacted to the bullying with...fear. I have little doubt that Obama will nominate Susan Rice to State - partially as a reward for her subterfuge on his behalf, and partially just to roil up the pot of racial and gender tensions. It makes sense - Obama has never lost a battle when he's drawn that particular sword. Why would he stop? As soon as he - or his cadres - whip it out, the Republican party falls to its collective knees.
The Republican party responds...
So I am not going to waste my time any further on this particular tempest. At least, not until I see some representatives of the Republican party take a stand against this race/gender nonsense that the Democrats have used in an attempt to build a shield around the contemptible Susan Rice.
Why should I fight, when my own leaders are cowering in a corner?
UPDATE: The Democrats pound away at their advantage. And why not? If your enemy is in full retreat, why not press the offensive (in every sense of the word)?
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