Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Swing-votin' security moms looking for alpha-male protection
Pasadena Star-News, CA ^ | September 25, 2004 | Kathleen Parker

Posted on 09/25/2004 12:24:30 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife

FREUD'S most famous question "What do women want?' might be the title of this political season's playbook, as President George W. Bush and Sen. John F. Kerry strut their best stuff and try to win women's votes. What women want, apparently, is to be safe. In post-Sept. 11 America, the group of swing voters formerly known as "soccer moms' has morphed into "security moms' mostly white, married women with children who worry first about national security.

In other words, in a trend that Freud doubtless would find unsurprising, women are looking to their leading man for protection. It is, after all, a jungle out there.

Thus far, polls show Bush leading among such women, which is causing headaches for the Kerry campaign. In recent years, women reliably have voted Democratic, as in 2000, when 54 percent went for Al Gore.

But 9/11 really did change everything, including women's idea of an alpha male.

A New York Times/CBS News poll conducted in mid-September found that registered women voters favored Bush over Kerry 48 percent to 43 percent. The split became more dramatic when the question focused specifically on which candidate would better protect the country from another terrorist attack.

Forty-eight percent said they had "a lot' of confidence in Bush, compared with 29 percent for Kerry. Twenty-five percent said they had "some' confidence in Bush, with 35 percent having "some' confidence in Kerry.

Married women were far more likely than single women to vote for Bush (59 percent) than for Kerry (32 percent), according to the same poll.

Naturally, Bush is trying to sustain and build on his popularity among women, while Kerry is trying to figure out how to catch their eye. This may explain his heavy emphasis on hair and apparel.

Bush, whose macho image needs no buffing, has toned down the cowboy rhetoric and begun presenting his daddy/hubby side to female audiences. He gets emotional talking about mothers being executed by the Taliban and misty-eyed about Afghan women registering to vote. Kerry, meanwhile, has enlisted the help of 9/11 widows and disgruntled mothers of soldiers in Iraq to support him in his bid to unseat W, which Bush says stands for Women.

You half expect to see the boys strap on a Speedo and set to competitive pyramid building.

Bush and Kerry are right to court the ladies, but adapting the message to the moment isn't likely to make the difference that counts. Women by now know what Bush and Kerry are made of and most likely will vote their instinct rather than respond to a slogan or a promise.

"It's just a feeling, a comfort level,' Dina Murphy, a New Hampshire mother who voted Democratic the past three presidential elections, told the on- line newspaper telegraph.co.uk. "I trust Bush more to lead our country.'

When it comes to hearth and home, females vote their ovaries. It's the nest, dummy.

On a deep-brain level, mothers want what they dare not utter aloud in a culture that pretends the sexes are the same. They want a man to protect them and their helpless offspring. And the alpha male will be recognized on a level too primitive to be measured by polls.

Oh, by the way, those tremors you feel? Don't be alarmed. It's just the hate-Daddy Metro crowd stamping their feet in protest. This is not an unexpected response when long-buried truths bubble to the surface. It will pass. Sometimes they just need a nap. Meanwhile, as campaign strategists try to paint a portrait of their candidate as the more intellectual, or the smarter strategist, or the morally superior man, or the more nuanced or the tougher hombre, they're missing the point. The real issue in the post-9/11 dating game is simple: Which is the truer man?

Who is the most constant, most dependable, most responsible?

Obviously, if you believe Bush lied to drag the United States into war so that Halliburton and pals could get rich, such questions are irrelevant. But if you're a swing-votin' security mom, they matter.

Kerry's luck with the girls could shift, but he'll have to surmount an obstacle course of his own creation, including an impression of indecision and a record of saying what he thinks people want to hear.

Mothers, whose offspring confirm prior experience with some sweet-talkin' dude, know that score by heart. For their votes, they want a stand-up guy who will keep the hyenas at bay, not a windsurfing crooner stuck on his own purple heart.

kparker@kparker.com


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Editorial; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: bush; children; election; issues; kerry; napalminthemorning; nationalsecurity; safety; securitymoms; terrorism; womenvote
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-69 next last
To: AnnaZ

Yes, you said it out loud. So did I and every other feisty female on this thread. Be Proud Baby.

Ooooooh, goose bumps - give me a break!


41 posted on 09/25/2004 4:42:53 AM PDT by LakeLady (Terrorists, Kerry, DemonRats...ZOT 'em all! It's their only chance to leave in a blaze of glory.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: EGPWS
First Lady, Laura Bush, as replaced the rug in the Oval Office
A most respectful AND prudent move on her part!

EVERYTHING in that "sacred" room had to be totally sterilized after the former "renter" left it soiled!!!
42 posted on 09/25/2004 4:44:24 AM PDT by danamco
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 35 | View Replies]

To: Cincinatus' Wife

In other words........Kerry really is a whuss?


43 posted on 09/25/2004 6:27:48 AM PDT by Smartaleck
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: dagogo redux
If I as a man have noticed, I'm sure it has not escaped the women in the country that Kerry's pictures are remarkable for their lack of a bulge!

Alcohol, please! I need massive doses of alchol to get that (gaggg) image out of my brain.

Yes, we have noticed the lack. I think I know where they are. They're in a jar stored in Terayaaaaza's freezer.

44 posted on 09/25/2004 7:24:17 AM PDT by Rollee (Shut up and sing!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Rollee
I probably should amend my last post. They are not stored in Teraaaayza's freezer, they are kept in the spawn of satan hell creature of Chappaqua's freezer.
45 posted on 09/25/2004 7:26:19 AM PDT by Rollee (Shut up and sing!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 44 | View Replies]

To: Cincinatus' Wife
I'd like to think so...LOL....I think Kerry scares the hell out of *thinking* women

That picture is Saddamesque, don't you think?

46 posted on 09/25/2004 7:29:31 AM PDT by Rollee (Shut up and sing!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: Cincinatus' Wife
"Yes, men want to solve problems not talk about them."

But sometimes we also feel lazy and want to just lay around like bears.

47 posted on 09/25/2004 7:55:19 AM PDT by BobS
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 28 | View Replies]

To: BobS
But sometimes we also feel lazy and want to just lay around like bears.

LOL

And that's when women won't stop talking.

Ha ha ha ha ha ha...

48 posted on 09/25/2004 7:59:45 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 47 | View Replies]

To: Vinnie
"IMHO the Zell Miller speech awakened people, especially women, "

I still have that speech on my HD. I will listen to it. I burned 5 CDs and gave them away to friends who couldn't listen to it live. Zell will wake me up this morning:)

49 posted on 09/25/2004 8:00:33 AM PDT by BobS
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 26 | View Replies]

To: AQGeiger
Exactly. No man who wears salmon and pink ties all the time as J F'n K does can be trusted to be a real man under pressure.

I CAN'T STAND pink ties!!

50 posted on 09/25/2004 8:01:00 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 40 | View Replies]

To: Smartaleck
In other words........Kerry really is a whuss?

A minor league whuss - he can't even do whuss well.

51 posted on 09/25/2004 8:02:49 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 43 | View Replies]

To: Cincinatus' Wife
I saw an interview with some of these idiots on CNN yesterday.

Some thought Bush would protect them. Others thought Kerry would do so.

Both groups are fools, since *their* protection is *their* responsibility. Instead of sipping their $5 coffee at Starbucks, these "moms" need to be out on the range acquiring shooting skills with a quality handgun.

And they need to buy more ammo and gear instead of pissing it away sitting around talking about their feelings.

52 posted on 09/25/2004 8:08:59 AM PDT by Mulder (All might be free if they valued freedom, and defended it as they should.-- Samuel Adams)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: seastay

as I read the article, the author, a woman, is saying that women are turning to more serious matters, i.e., national security, which they should have been more concerned about in 92 and 96. We would not have had a Slick in the White House for eight long years absent those soccer moms, who seem to be growing up


53 posted on 09/25/2004 8:11:18 AM PDT by EDINVA (a FReeper in PJ's beats a CBS anchor in a suit every time)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: Mulder
Well I do want a Commander and Chief but beyond that none of the women in my family, dating back many, many, many generations, ever needed taking care of, or feminists to make things work out for them.
54 posted on 09/25/2004 8:12:19 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 52 | View Replies]

To: Cincinatus' Wife
D'OH!
55 posted on 09/25/2004 8:19:54 AM PDT by Publius6961 (I, also, don't do diplomacy.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Senator Pardek
You need rest.
 
 
(Graphic from SimplifiedSigns.org)

56 posted on 09/25/2004 8:20:13 AM PDT by AnnaZ (John Kerry is a social clymer.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: Cincinatus' Wife
When 9/11 hit, two things came home to me. I wanted a cell phone right away (I had been resisting these for a while, but then I saw how people were at least able to leave last messages I knew I had to have one.) And I was scared. My husband was out of state (he was working adminstration on a forest fire, miles away from town in California). I was so thankful that he was safe and unlikely to be a victim in the outback, but I wanted him HOME NOW and we had no idea of how he would get home with all the planes down.

I had almost lost relatives in the Oklahoma City bombing (one was working in an office near by and got knocked to her feet, and another just didn't get out of the house in time to go to the Social Security office.) So maybe I was prepped already. Whatever. It hit hard.

I was one of those people who made an emergency supply and evacuation kit. When they said get the emergency supplies together, I ran, didn't walk. I planned emergency routes, and where I would go in my head. I discussed potential trigger points so that my husband and I would know when to leave. I can understand the concept of Security Mom in a big way, cause I am one. Although I have relaxed some since then, I cannot deny that there is that part of me that stays vigilant. Kerry makes me scared.
57 posted on 09/25/2004 8:20:22 AM PDT by Knitting A Conundrum (Giving Comfort to the Enemy Is Not Something A Presidential Candidate Should Do)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: seastay
So. Just stamp your little feet and remind us how fierce you are.
Time to get the guitar and the Helen Reddy sheet music?
58 posted on 09/25/2004 8:21:27 AM PDT by Publius6961 (I, also, don't do diplomacy.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: BobS
Please!

Do you still have the link to all those speeches?

59 posted on 09/25/2004 8:26:30 AM PDT by Publius6961 (I, also, don't do diplomacy.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 49 | View Replies]

To: Cincinatus' Wife

You could only clean that old carpet so many times, the warranty was probably blown (no pun) by the previous 8 years.


60 posted on 09/25/2004 8:31:55 AM PDT by Scott from the Left Coast
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 34 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-69 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson