Posted on 01/29/2008 8:21:52 AM PST by fweingart
Marcia Pappas will probably consider me a male chauvinist pig for saying this, but her attack on Sen. Edward Kennedy yesterday was idiotic and suggests she is unfit to lead her organization.
Pappas, president of the New York State chapter of the National Organization for Women, accused Kennedy of committing the "ultimate betrayal" of women everywhere.
And what was his heinous offense, pray tell? Advocating reversal of Roe vs. Wade? Calling for repeal of women's suffrage? Supporting female circumcision?
No. Endorsing Sen. Barack Obama for President instead of Sen. Hillary Clinton.
"He's joined the list of progressive white men who can't or won't handle the prospect of a woman President who is Hillary Clinton," Pappas said in rambling, incoherent statement e-mailed to the media.
After this, her second nutty outburst in three weeks, Pappas should consider stepping aside and letting someone with a cooler head speak on behalf of women's rights.
The fact is that Kennedy, the Massachusetts Democrat and liberal icon, has spoken up for women's rights throughout his career. He's currently the lead sponsor of the equal rights amendment in the Senate.
"I truly wish we could clone him and keep him around forever," gushed Massachusetts NOW Co-President Melissa Walsh a few years ago.
But a decades-long track record of feminism means nothing to Pappas. Kennedy is pro-Obama; therefore, he's anti-woman.
This is not the first gender grenade Pappas has lobbed into the Democratic race. Earlier this month, she portrayed Clinton as the victim of a "psychological gangbang" in the leadup to the New Hampshire primary.
"Gang raping of women is commonplace in our culture, both physically and metaphorically," she wrote on Jan. 11. "Last week, we witnessed just such a phenomenon involving men who are afraid of a powerful woman."
Pappas does neither her candidate nor the cause of women's rights any good with such shrill rhetoric. To the contrary, she only shreds the credibility she and her organization need to take on the really important fights.
And, by the way, such rhetoric is downright insensitive to victims of actual rapes. A feminist should know better.
Imagine the uproar if the leader of the NAACP in New York accused Obama's opponents of engaging in a "psychological lynching."
Pappas' statement was just as outrageous.
To her credit, Clinton is not the type of feminist who is quick to play the victim.
"I don't think they piled on me the other night because I'm a woman," she said of the events Pappas referenced. "I think they piled on me because I'm winning."
And her campaign quickly disavowed Pappas' attack on Kennedy.
"This statement does not at all reflect her views or the opinion of the Clinton campaign," spokesman Howard Wolfson said.
So who, exactly, does Pappas speak for? My guess is, almost no one. The Democrats I know and the women I know long to choose a presidential candidate based on his or her merits - not on skin color or reproductive organs.
Pappas told me that she speaks only for NOW's state chapter, not the national organization. NOW officials in Washington issued a statement defending Kennedy's record but not repudiating Pappas.
Here's what they should have said: Pappas' statement was unacceptable.
If anyone is betraying the cause of women's rights in this situation, it's Pappas herself - by bringing shame and ridicule down on NOW - an organization with a proud history.
The women of New York deserve a better advocate than this.
(NOW press release!) Psychological Gang Bang of Hillary is Proof We Need a Woman President
Plus, NOW has never voiced any criticism of the way women were abused under the Taliban—they only criticized President Bush for employing US forces to defeat the Taliban.
They are evil/vile socialists. Here they are defending the Clintons and drawing an analogy to Bill’s actions to describe how candidate Mrs. Bill Clinton is being “attacked” in the campaign. Hillary’s machine enabled a serial rapist and attacked the victims.
Ha! Ha!
Even the radical feminist blogs I read think the broad has come undone (cue Korn’s “Coming Undone” ... “Keep holding on while my brain’s ticking like a bomb ...”).
http://feministing.com/archives/008495.html#comments
H
Ron is prettier and I would bet has less body hair than Marcia.
The NOW nags didn’t do anything to help Juanita Broderick, Paula Jones, Kathleen Willey, etc., etc.
Ultimate betrayal of women everywhere? Take another look at Hillary's history.
Harrumph!
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