Editor’s Note: A version of the following article ran on FoxNews.com. Click here to read it.
It’s difficult not to crow about 2010 being The Year of the Conservative Woman. Never before have so many fiscal and socially conservative women candidates covered the nation’s ballots. It is a heady time for traditional women.
These women are fighters too. Nikki Haley, Sharron Angle, Carly Fiorina and Christine O’Donnell are apparently threats to the liberal and progressive establishment, especially to the liberal women. It’s like a bad memory from middle school where mean girls rule the school and lash out when ever they feel threatened. But this time, it plays out on a national stage on network television.
Derogatory language against women running for office is nothing new. Geraldine Ferraro, Hillary Clinton and especially Sarah Palin all went through it. But the rhetoric has been particularly foul and demeaning during this election cycle. They are no longer content to criticize clothes and perceived IQ. They have moved on to character assassination and good old fashioned expletives.
In her cringe-worthy inducing tirade against Republican Senate candidate Sharron Angle, The View co-host Joy Behar lambasted Angle as a “b*tch” who would be “going to h*ll” because she had run an ad against illegal immigration. Killing Joy with kindness, Angle was the better woman when she sent Joy flowers thanking her for her help in boosting fundraising at the last minute. Of course, Ms. Behar went back on air to conduct rant number two against Angle upon receiving the bouquet.
And California GOP candidate Meg Whitman stayed classy when her opponent called her a “wh*re” while Senate Republican nominee Christine O’Donnell has had to deal with complete and utter humiliation when this week the trashy website Gawker ran an anonymous, unverifiable post about a one-night with her years ago. What word will they possibly come up with next to demean these women after already calling them a “b*tch” and “wh*re”? I’d rather not put it in print.
Where are the so-called women’s groups defending these women? The National Organization of Women actually endorsed Meg Whitman’s opponent after the wh*re comment and only after some teeth-pulling by the media did they come out against the Gawker attack on Christine O’Donnell (originally NOW spokespeople said twice they were “passing” on the story).
Perhaps more importantly, where in the world are the ABC executives denouncing Joy Behar’s unprofessional and misogynic rant against Sharron Angle? Might as well put them in the same category as NPR for their firing Juan Williams. ABCs silence is a disgusting show of intolerance towards conservative women.
Joy Behar needs to be fired, immediately. Are ABC executives hiding under their desks, afraid of her wrath? Get over it and do the right thing.
Conservative women, like Sarah Palin and all the others after her running for office these midterm elections, have played it straight and have not resorted to derogatory name-calling and high-school mean girl antics. Voters will no doubt remember these moms, and grandmas, who endured hate-filled sewage coming from the mouths of liberal pundits, candidates and so-called comedians.
This is certainly the Year of the Woman — the conservative, principled woman who has shown her incredible inner strength when up against the most vitriol of attacks never before seen on a national political scale. It’s a real pity that much of it came from other women. Is it sexism when women hate on other women or is it just good old fashioned jealousy? Grow up girls!