VAST RIGHT-WING BOONDOGGLE
There sure are a lot of women in the news lately.
Vast right-wing conspiracy or not, women seem to be on the line and in the action. Players, even. Is this because of their actions or are they being acted upon?
As the President's approval poll hit 79%, the R.N.C. election strategists continue to tear out their hair wondering what went wrong. We reported a while back that they were determined to get women's votes by dividing us and thus destroy our huge, powerful gender gap.
Years ago, the R.N.C. knew that their far right wing, dedicated to the erosion of women's reproductive rights, was costing them women's votes. So their Top Dog and Money Man, Richard Mellon Scaife, started funding schemes to turn women against President Clinton.
The way to do this, he reasoned, was to anger women by showing Clinton to be an adulterer and sexual harasser (shades of Anita Hill!) They figured that women would rush to the side of any "woman-victim" and thus abandon support for him and the rest of the Democratic ticket.
There were rumors of State Troopers procuring women for then Governor Clinton. From these rumors, the Spectator (a Scaife-financed-mag) uncovered Paula Corbin Jones.
Then, women were vilified by right-wing fembots for not "rushing to her aid like we did for Anita Hill." We were further accused of hypocrisy, as they tried to shame us, working every angle to influence our opinions and emotions.
When presidential attorney, Bennett, announced his intentions to look into P.C.J.'s past, certain women's groups rose to the bait and yelled, "foul." This brought great joy to Mud-throwing-ville. They had set the hook and now all they had to do was reel us in with their high moral value line.
As all this was going on, fate stepped in, taking the form of Lucianne Goldberg, suma cum laude graduate of the Republican College of Dirty Tricks, and literary agent. She had a client named Linda Tripp. Tripp had told her about an intern in the White House that claimed she was having an affair with the President -- an intern that just loved to spend hours on the phone giving Tripp a blow by blow of the "affair."
Tripp thought this might just be the basis for a book and Goldberg urged her to "tape your conversations with her and send copies to me."
Talk about conspiracy! How interesting that the only conspiracy that the right-wingnuts don't believe is -- THEIR OWN.
They still turn a blind eye to the conspiracy between Lucianne Goldberg and Linda Tripp to illegally tape Monica Lewinsky's telephonic fantasies.
Now, as contrived leaks are reported by the media instead of news, the right-wing spin jockeys wildly ride the morality card. Their thesis is that the president is immoral and has "despoiled" a young (21-year-old) "child," which, they believe will resonate with women.
In addition, they piously reveal that "children are being harmed by the words used by news reports describing alleged acts, because children look up to the president and are now confused and frightened."
Welcome to the real world, strategists. We live in a culture that has always disrespected and objectified women. We live in a culture where many women objectify and disrespect themselves.
As your sanctimonious tut-tutting goes on, we, the public spend some $4.2 billion a year renting pornographic movies...
- . . . and Sports Illustrated just published an extra 26 million issues of its "swim suit edition." It features scantily clad women who are roughly the age of the intern, Monica Lewinski . . .
- . . . and movie theaters show movies like Striptease, to packed houses as more than a third of the TV programs seen both daytime and early evening have sexually based themes. . .
- . . . and any precocious 3-year-old knows all the words to Smack My Bitch Up! Get a life, guys!
Do you REALLY THINK OUR CHILDREN HAVEN'T NOTICED? Who are we, as a country, as a culture to flip our collected wigs over ALLEGED acts between consulting adults?
As the presidential polls show 79% approval rating, we women, and many men are showing the conservative media that we THINK FOR OURSELVES. We are sick of their secret sources, unproven allegations announced as fact, and the constant showing of inflammatory photographs etc. designed to accuse and confront, rather than illuminate.
Why an 79% approval rating? In the words from a movie, Americans are saying to the R.N.C. dirty tricksters and their lackeys in the media, "WE'RE MAD AS HELL AND WE AREN'T GOING TO TAKE IT ANYMORE!"
1998-006
Copyright 1998 Renee T. Louise and Ruth M. Sprague, Ph.D. These articles may be republished for noncommercial use only, provided that they are copied intact, and that this copyright notice is attached. Address all queries to: twanda@connriver.net.
G e n d e r G a p p e r s T M
[liznote: Is there a right-wing conspiracy?
Decide for yourself. For a detailed look at the "players," see Nick's Notebook.]
