Order of the Whinging Wingnut: The Shrilling
Amy Siskind, founder and president of an allegedly non-partisan women’s organization, The New Agenda, may not qualify as a wingnut in the strictest sense of the word. She might have policy differences with Whinging Wingnut Fellow Andrew Breitbart of Big Ho and prior nominee John Hinderaker of Powertool.
It’s hard to say where Siskind stands because she operates as if important national policies, including reproductive rights, are gender-neutral. But despite her craven avoidance of real policy stances, I think Siskind qualifies for the coveted Order of the Whinging Wingnut award for posting this hagiographic bucket of awful on Sarah Palin, which reads like Twilight FanFic:
This week, a year ago, I was driving my kids to their post-camp pre-school dental appointments when my cell phone rang. On the other end of the call was Cynthia Ruccia who had been trying to reach me since the crack of dawn. Cynthia, as always, had the scoop.
The country had been waiting for weeks, or perhaps months it felt like, for John McCain to announce his running mate. Cynthia, on that morning, was calling to let me know that she was hearing that McCain would announce shortly AND that he had picked a woman! A woman- that was a specific request of The New Agenda in the first days of our formation. Through a McCain surrogate, Carly Fiorina, we had handed in our short-list of qualified women who we wanted as VP. Sarah Palin of course was one of our picks.
On the way back from the dentist, the phone rang again – it was that familiar 614 area code. Cynthia was so excited when she called. She was screaming that is was Palin – we both shrilled with excitement.
Emphasis mine. Those poor kids—can you imagine being trapped in a car while your mother and her Mary Kay lady phone pal “shrilled with excitement”? I just hope the windows were down.
But why, o why, the use of the word “shrilled”? Didn’t TNA demand an apology from Harry Reid for allowing his press secretary to use the sexist word “shrill” just about a year ago? Yep, they did:
The New Agenda strongly objects to your press secretary’s characterization of Governor Sarah Palin’s speech last night as “shrill.” The New Agenda believes that Mr. Manley’s use of this word was intentionally meant to degrade and belittle Governor Palin because she is a female candidate.
Mr. Manley’s remarks are not a positive reflection on you or your leadership. The New Agenda requests an immediate public apology to Governor Palin by yourself and your press secretary, Mr. Manley.
As we all know, the word “shrill” has a very negative connotation when used to describe a woman or a woman’s voice. The term shrill has recently been used by the media as a purposeful weapon against female candidates, although never male candidates. The word “shrill” was used to characterize Hillary Clinton.
And now Siskind herself is using a form of that awful word to describe her and the Mary Kay lady’s ecstasy about the Palin pick. Wouldn’t “bellowing” or “shrieking” have been better choices? As a woman, I request an immediate public apology from Siskind for advancing sexist stereotypes about women’s voices and Mary Kay ladies.
Siskind shrills on:
The next call came from Arleen, my dearest friend from my Wall Street days. Arleen and I worked as traders together – two of the few women in the jungle so to speak. Arleen’s comment on Palin: She’s one of us.
Yes, there it is. There is a connectiveness that women have with other women. While I might disagree with Sarah Palin on many policy issues, she seems, well, familiar. I feel like I “get” Sarah and can relate. I admire what she has accomplished despite the odds and the barriers that our society places on women as they reach for leadership roles. I would have been thrilled to have her in the White House.
The New Agenda did speak out for then Governor Palin a year ago – our first three press releases a year ago were in defense of Gov Palin. We were proud to be the first and only national women’s group to have Gov Palin’s back!
I “get” Palin too—I get that she’s a dangerously uninformed demagogue who would have been an absolute disaster for Americans of any gender if she came within 1,000 yards of the White House. But Siskind’s claim that other national women’s groups didn’t have Palin’s back is a flat-out lie.
For example, NOW and Kim Gandy, whom Siskind devoted so much energy into smearing, denounced the sexist treatment of Palin; they just did so while simultaneously noting that a McCain-Palin administration would be terrible for women. And they cited policies to back up the claim, which is something you do if you’re the leader of a real women’s group rather than a shrilling FanFic club.
The next bit of shrillation is revealing:
And today as I read the front page of The New York Times – a story about how Attorney General Holder plans to recharge civil rights:
“As part of this shift, the Obama administration is planning a major revival of high-impact civil rights enforcement against policies, in areas ranging from housing to hiring, where statistics show that minorities fare disproportionately poorly.”
Sigh, I couldn’t help think about what could have been.
Our country can be proud, yes, for electing its first African American President. But I can’t help but wonder, as Secretary Clinton makes women’s issues her main focus abroad, sigh, what could have been. And as Sarah Palin pursues a path less travelled now, sigh, what could have been if she were in the White House.
Yes, if only a woman were in the White House—any woman, moderate Dem, wingnut witchcraft-believing Republican, it makes no difference—if anyone who possessed a vagina were in the White House, we wouldn’t be wasting time enforcing civil rights policies to benefit minorities (who are never women, you know). I mean, everyone knows it’s a zero-sum game, and if THEY (the dusky hued) get attention, WE (white chicks?) don’t.
For advancing a despicable theme worthy of Lee Atwater, Siskind joins the Order of the Whinging Wingnut. Huzzah!
Posted by Betty Cracker on 09/02/09 at 11:52 AM • Permalink
Categories: Politics • Election '08 • St. McSame • Barack Obama • Hillary Clinton • Bedwetters • Nutters • Sarah Palin •
Share this post: 
