Charlotte Allen reacts to women swooning over Obama. "I can’t help it, but reading about such episodes of screaming, gushing
and swooning makes me wonder whether women — I should say, "we women,"
of course — aren’t the weaker sex after all." I’ve read this article a couple of times looking for irony. I don’t think it’s there.
These two pictures cracked me up.
Dr. Manhattan has rebooted his blog.
Women’s Voices/Women’s Vote is having a favorite woman blogger contest.
What’s the most important characteristic of a presidential candidate? Drezner says judgment and the ability to deal with unknown. Josh Jones said experience should be the premiere characteristic. I would say that most important is the ability to have a discreet affair, to make a quick speech with a megaphone, and to pose with turkeys, boy scouts, and seniors.
Apt. 11d 
There are really no words for Charlotte Allen’s stupidity. I can’t decide if she’s trying to be funny (and missed by a mile), or if she’s really that thick.
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The first time I read it, I thought that I had made some error. She couldn’t have really written that women were dim and were bad drivers. So, I reread it. Yeah, she really did write that. Strange, strange piece. Hard to even think about how to respond to something like that.
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I think there is such a thing as unisex stupidity, but there are also large areas of gender specific stupidity, for instance at least 75% of the pink books at Barnes and Noble, plus various magazine empires and whole Tv channels. Encouraging women to be stupid is a major industry in the US. I’m not as familiar with male stupidity, but softening of the male brain seems to hit somewhere in the mid-40s, and is accompanied by such symptoms as not paying property tax, getting behind with the IRS (for some reason, I barely ever hear of women in that predicament), motorcycles, boats, overpaying for businesses, etc.
I would have preferred an article along the lines of “Women: Despite what Cosmo says, showing up and being a girl really is good enough.”
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Amy, edit out “in the US” in your second sentence, and I’m with you all the way.
From the intranet of my company’s parent publishing company (loosely translated):
Every Woman’s Dream
Schoes, handbags and dresses in every color, shape and size – every woman’s heart beats faster while combing through the clothes closet at FREUNDIN [a magazine]. We went behind the scense for you!
[Der Traum einer jeden Frau
Schuhe, Taschen und Kleider in jeder Farbe, Größe und Form – beim Durchstöbern der FREUNDIN Kleiderkammer schlägt jedes Frauenherz höher. Wir haben für Sie hinter die Kulissen geschaut!]
+++
You will not be surprised to learn that the board of directors of this publicly traded company has no women on it.
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the heart rises with sun over still and peaceful waters.
Be thou blessed.
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I can’t stand shopping. Hate it.
Amy, if you haven’t heard a lot about male stupidity, you must not have 3 sisters. 😉 (Just spent the weekend at my parents’ with aforementioned sisters.) (None of them particularly like shopping either.)
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i didn’t read the charlotte allen article, but based on what you said, the first thought that popped into my mind is all the men i’ve heard say what a hotty the current governor of michigan is (can’t remember her name). noone says that they are the weaker sex when they react to a female elected official being attractive. if anything, that just sets the bar that much higher for the female elected official in question – to prove that she’s more than a pretty face and a hot body.
GAH!
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The more I think about it, what really depresses me is not just the article, but the (mostly) women who rushed to condemn “frivolity” and harrumph that THEY never shop, spoil their pets or watch Oprah, oh noooooo. In their zeal to proclaim themselves part of the serious-minded, sensible-shoe crowd, did it ever occur to them that there is really nothing wrong with a bit of frivolity? I mean yes, I think Celine Dion is ghastly, but is it really a crime to listen to her music? Men have their guilty pleasures too – sports, Chuck Palahniuk, “big boy toys,” etc. but male frivolity is much more accepted in our culture. I wonder how many men who wouldn’t miss a ball game and spend thousands on “big boy toys” nevertheless condemn their wives or girlfriends for “squandering” money at Sephora, or listening to Oprah.
/rant
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You mean “discreet,” not “discrete.”
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You mean “discreet,” not “discrete.”
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thanks, Joanne. heh.
My husband said that Sullivan reported today that the Allen piece was a spoof.
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