By Brent Bozell
In 1992 the feminists in the media rejoiced at what they called The Year of the Woman when 10 Democratic women (and one Republican) were running for the Senate in the aftermath of Anita Hills unproven sexual-harassment allegations against Clarence Thomas.
Just two years before seven Republican women (and two Democrats) ran. But the media yawned.
In 1992 the evening newscasts aired 29 stories exclusively devoted to women Senate candidates. In 1990 there was one ... on election night. In 1992 the morning shows interviewed women Senate candidates on 26 occasions. In 1990 there were zero interviews.
This was all about the party affiliation. When the liberals Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein both won primary elections from the U.S. Senate in California in 1992 Time reporter Margaret Carlson almost levitated in ecstasy. There was a rush an exultation that surpassed any political moment I have ever known -- better even than Geraldine Ferraros vice-presidential candidacy.
The primary elections on June 8 brought this memory rushing back. Republican women won gubernatorial primaries in South Carolina and New Mexico. The national media had plenty to say about Nikki Haley of South Carolina before the election which is to say they had an endless regurgitation of unproven adultery charges to level against her.
One low point came from former Clinton bimbo-crusher George Stephanopoulos on ABCs Good Morning America asking Haley on the morning after her victory about how shes somehow embarrassing her state by being accused without proof: Do you expect more incoming during the runoff?
And: Can you assure South Carolina voters that theyre not going to be embarrassed if they elect you?
Stephanopoulos like many good Clintonistas is incapable of embarrassment over his hypocrisy.
Susana Martinez winner of her gubernatorial primary in New Mexico has another complaint. One gathers New Mexico is too far away from the East Coast for the media to notice. Shes been utterly ignored.
Then there are the two female business leaders who won their GOP primaries in California one for the Senate and the other for governor. On ABC Stephanopoulos demeaned their business credentials as a minus not a plus because of the oil spill. Meg Whitman head of eBay. Carly Fiorina ran Hewlett-Packard. Theres some controversy there.
Stephanopoulos had invited on the perpetually annoying British import Tina Brown who complained (I)t almost feels as if all these women winning are kind of a blow to feminism. Because each one of them really most of them are you know very much you know against so many of things that women have fought for such a long time.
Stephanopoulos invited no Republican guests on this occasion so he attempted a mild rebuttal to Brown: Well you could argue theyre different kinds of feminists. Theyve had a lot of success in different fields.
Brown snapped back: Women too can be wing nuts is the point. Its bizarre that Brown is so blind that she doesnt think you could call Barbara Boxer or her beloved Hillary Clinton a wing nut only the conservative or Republican women.
Several networks found news and some kind of national controversy in Fiorina mocking Boxers hairdo as so yesterday when she was wearing an open microphone off-camera. Stephanopoulos gave it a whole story when he moonlighted as evening anchorman on World News. NBCs Today led off the show with this nothing-burger and mentioned it three times. Co-host Hoda Kotb touted it as a big gaffe-a-rooney.
Newsweeks Eleanor Clift insisted Fiorina was wrong about just who was so yesterday in politics. And these two Republican women are also social conservatives in a state thats very pro-choice. So maybe those issues will be cast as so yesterday. Clifts wishful thinking had to be corrected by Monica Crowley who informed her that Whitman favors abortion.
Thats not as bad as Jerry Brown accusing Whitman in advance of tarring him in her ads: Its like Goebbels. Goebbels invented this kind of propaganda. He took control of the whole world. She wants to be president. Thats her ambition the first woman president. Thats what this is all about.
Amount of network outrage? Zip. The only network mention came from ABCs Jake Tapper on This Week and even he said (R)egardless of the tastelessness Jerry Brown has a point ... that she has a lot of money. The media can disregard a lot of tastelessness when the women who are smeared are Republicans.
L. Brent Bozell III is the president of the Media Research Center.
By Brent Bozell
In 1992 the feminists in the media rejoiced at what they called The Year of the Woman when 10 Democratic women (and one Republican) were running for the Senate in the aftermath of Anita Hills unproven sexual-harassment allegations against Clarence Thomas.
Just two years before seven Republican women (and two Democrats) ran. But the media yawned.
In 1992 the evening newscasts aired 29 stories exclusively devoted to women Senate candidates. In 1990 there was one ... on election night. In 1992 the morning shows interviewed women Senate candidates on 26 occasions. In 1990 there were zero interviews.
This was all about the party affiliation. When the liberals Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein both won primary elections from the U.S. Senate in California in 1992 Time reporter Margaret Carlson almost levitated in ecstasy. There was a rush an exultation that surpassed any political moment I have ever known -- better even than Geraldine Ferraros vice-presidential candidacy.
The primary elections on June 8 brought this memory rushing back. Republican women won gubernatorial primaries in South Carolina and New Mexico. The national media had plenty to say about Nikki Haley of South Carolina before the election which is to say they had an endless regurgitation of unproven adultery charges to level against her.
One low point came from former Clinton bimbo-crusher George Stephanopoulos on ABCs Good Morning America asking Haley on the morning after her victory about how shes somehow embarrassing her state by being accused without proof: Do you expect more incoming during the runoff?
And: Can you assure South Carolina voters that theyre not going to be embarrassed if they elect you?
Stephanopoulos like many good Clintonistas is incapable of embarrassment over his hypocrisy.
Susana Martinez winner of her gubernatorial primary in New Mexico has another complaint. One gathers New Mexico is too far away from the East Coast for the media to notice. Shes been utterly ignored.
Then there are the two female business leaders who won their GOP primaries in California one for the Senate and the other for governor. On ABC Stephanopoulos demeaned their business credentials as a minus not a plus because of the oil spill. Meg Whitman head of eBay. Carly Fiorina ran Hewlett-Packard. Theres some controversy there.
Stephanopoulos had invited on the perpetually annoying British import Tina Brown who complained (I)t almost feels as if all these women winning are kind of a blow to feminism. Because each one of them really most of them are you know very much you know against so many of things that women have fought for such a long time.
Stephanopoulos invited no Republican guests on this occasion so he attempted a mild rebuttal to Brown: Well you could argue theyre different kinds of feminists. Theyve had a lot of success in different fields.
Brown snapped back: Women too can be wing nuts is the point. Its bizarre that Brown is so blind that she doesnt think you could call Barbara Boxer or her beloved Hillary Clinton a wing nut only the conservative or Republican women.
Several networks found news and some kind of national controversy in Fiorina mocking Boxers hairdo as so yesterday when she was wearing an open microphone off-camera. Stephanopoulos gave it a whole story when he moonlighted as evening anchorman on World News. NBCs Today led off the show with this nothing-burger and mentioned it three times. Co-host Hoda Kotb touted it as a big gaffe-a-rooney.
Newsweeks Eleanor Clift insisted Fiorina was wrong about just who was so yesterday in politics. And these two Republican women are also social conservatives in a state thats very pro-choice. So maybe those issues will be cast as so yesterday. Clifts wishful thinking had to be corrected by Monica Crowley who informed her that Whitman favors abortion.
Thats not as bad as Jerry Brown accusing Whitman in advance of tarring him in her ads: Its like Goebbels. Goebbels invented this kind of propaganda. He took control of the whole world. She wants to be president. Thats her ambition the first woman president. Thats what this is all about.
Amount of network outrage? Zip. The only network mention came from ABCs Jake Tapper on This Week and even he said (R)egardless of the tastelessness Jerry Brown has a point ... that she has a lot of money. The media can disregard a lot of tastelessness when the women who are smeared are Republicans.
L. Brent Bozell III is the president of the Media Research Center.
