This may be simultaneously the dumbest and most condescending thing the Instapundit has ever written:
Which is why I think that rich people wanting to support the Republican Party might want to direct their money somewhere besides TV ads that copy, poorly, what Lee Atwater did decades ago.
My suggestion: Buy some women’s magazines. No, really. Or at least some women’s Web sites.
One of the groups with whom Romney did worst was female “low-information voters.” Those are women who don’t really follow politics, and vote based on a vague sense of who’s mean and who’s nice, who’s cool and who’s uncool.
Since, by definition, they don’t pay much attention to political news, they get this sense from what they do read. And for many, that’s traditional women’s magazines — Redbook, Cosmopolitan, Glamour, the Ladies Home Journal, etc. — and the newer women’s sites like YourTango, The Frisky, Yahoo! Shine, and the like.
The thing is, those magazines and Web sites see themselves, pretty consciously, as a propaganda arm of the Democratic Party. So while nine out of 10 articles may be the usual stuff on sex, diet and shopping, the 10th will always be either soft p.r. for the Democrats or soft — or sometimes not-so-soft — hits on Republicans.
When a flier about getting away with rape was found in a college men’s bathroom, the women’s site YourTango (“Your Best Love Life”) led with the fact that the college was Paul Ryan’s alma materin a transparent effort to advance the Democrats’ War on Women claim that Republicans are somehow pro-rape. A companion article was “12 Hot Older Men Who Endorse President Obama.”
Similar p.r. abounded across the board: Sandra Fluke is a hero; Sarah Palin is a zero. Republicans are all old white men (women or minority Republicans get mocked or ignored).
This kind of thing adds up, especially among low-information voters. They may not know or care much about the specifics, but this theme, repeated over and over again, sends a message: Democrats are cool, and Republicans are uncool — and if you vote for them, you’re uncool, too.
Those silly women don’t pay enough attention to politics, so let’s dazzle them with some subtle propaganda in their Redbook.
Nina
(women or minority Republicans get mocked or ignored)
They get mocked or ignored by people in their own party – Democrats don’t have to do a thing.
J
‘by definition’?? I suppose by definition women care only about hair and makeup??
Chris
This from the people who thought Sarah Palin was all it would take to appeal to women voters.
I suppose the reason they think all women and minorities are stupid is that the only ones they ever interact with are the Republican-voting ones who actually are that stupid – but it’s not because of their gender.
SatanicPanic
Ah more Republican outreach ideas! Yay!
J
‘Redbook’ a propaganda arm of the Democratic party –I always assumed it was an organ of the CPUSA–n.b. ‘red’!
Linda Featheringill
This is funny.
But I’ll try to quit laughing long enough to ask for a definition of “low information female.” I suspect it comes from something like “any woman dumb enough to vote Democratic is low information.”
And who reads Redbook, anyway?
But keep it up. You guys are doing good. Real good.
[Bwahahahahahah]
clone12
So far the GOP postmortem consists of a bunch of white guys coming up with ridiculous stereotype reasons why women and non-white people didn’t vote for them, as opposed to actually asking women and non-white people why they didn’t vote for them, because that takes way too much energy.
Chris
Also, can I just say how absolutely delighted I am that after decades of hearing “liberal elitist” thrown at everyone who votes Democrat – “they think you’re stupid! They think you’re racist!” – all it took is a couple election cycles to hear them all going on and on about how voters are too stupid or too morally defective to know what’s good for them.
MikeJ
@clone12:
It’s because women and black people and latinos are lazy and stupid, obviously. And when calling them lazy and stupid doesn’t convince them that they should vote for republicans, it simply proves how lazy and stupid they are.
carolus
Articles by Phyllis Schlafly should be a big hit in Cosmo.
SatanicPanic
@Chris: Yeah, this is just too awesome. I thought I was happy when Obama was elected, his re-election turned out to be even better
Capri
Not wanting to be raped = democratic party propaganda
ThatLeftTurnInABQ
Why settle for half measures? What they really need to get the attention of the low-info female vote is to put the Republican message into romance novels. Like Ayn Rand’s work for example. Lot’s O’ Hot Sex in those page turners. That will do wonders. Here, let me cite an example..[flip, flip. Really? Oh my. Oh dear. Hmmm, that could be a problem.]
“claim that Republicans are somehow pro-rape”
OK, so perhaps this strategy still needs a little work.
J. Michael Neal
Since I’m the unemployed accountant they have, my family comes to me with tax questions every year. I was doing fine for a while but they keep getting more complicated. This year my sister, a professor at Penn State, is on sabbatical in Germany. She wants to know how to treat her stipend from the German government and what she can claim as a business deduction.
Do any of the tax guys around here have any recommendations on where to do some research on this?
Also, I originally tried to post this in something JC marked as an open thread. It wouldn’t post. I played around a little bit trying to figure out what FYWP was up to now. It wasn’t until I refreshed the front page that I found the thread had disappeared.
FYJC
Reflectionephemeral
Yep, rebranding is all you need, GOP. And more sympathetic faces! Don’t trouble your precious, beautiful minds with policies!
An Alberto Gonzales-Sarah Palin ticket would be unbeatable. Get to work!
Mister Harvest
@Chris: You start asking them questions, and soon, they’ll be all, “You know, why don’t you have anyone who looks like us running the party?” and who wants to have that kind of conversation with some hysterical female?
J R in WV
But, but but….
Wouldn’t it just be easier to actually be a party that’s against rape?
A party that stands for individual freedom for women?
A party that – oh wait! We’re talking about Republicans here!
Never mind, there’s already a party that does all that, it’s called the Democratic Party!
“”
danimal
“My advice for Dems: Buy some men’s magazines. No, really. Or at least some men’s Web sites.
One of the groups with whom Obama did worst was male “low-information voters.” Those are men who don’t really follow politics, and vote based on a vague sense of who’s strong and who’s weak, who’s cool and who’s uncool.
Since, by definition, they don’t pay much attention to political news, they get this sense from what they do read. And for many, that’s traditional men’s magazines — Sports Illustrated, Esquire, Playboy, Architectural Digest, etc. — and the newer men’s sites like (insert name of pron site here – ha!)…”
This type of condescending shit is really counter-productive. I hope they continue for a few more electoral cycles.
Litlebritdifrnt
I am listening to Limbaugh and it is fascinating to hear the bullshit he is spouting. All of his callers are repeating the line “the only people who voted for Obama are on the public dole” they actually believe that shit. Limbaugh said the way forward for Republicans is clearly tax cuts, deregulation and cuts to entitlements. He then goes on to say “people complain that they have earned those entitlements, how the hell did they do that if they have never worked.” He is so far inside his insular bubble along with a lot of his conservative friends that he really can’t see reality.
scav
Clearly, the Ryan abs and Romney coif weren’t visible enough on the tempting glossy paperstock.
Can’t wait for the Mr November / Mr July 2016 Calendar!
The Bobs
@Capri: not calling sexually active women “sluts” on every page of your magazine = democratic party propaganda
PeakVT
I don’t read “women’s” magazines (or men’s magazines, for that matter) but I am pretty sure they in no way resemble Instamoron’s description.
Brachiator
@clone12:
And they are afraid of what the real answers might be.
scav
@PeakVT: Maybe if we read People backwards and upside down we’d hear the Manifesto?
Chris
That’s quite a bold claim.
The best thing about Instapundit is that I’ve had a wingnut relative recommend it as “objective, neither liberal nor conservative, just reporting the facts” news.
This is what happens when you live in the conservative fact-free bubble for as long as they do; even for those who are dimly aware that they should probably look for some information that doesn’t tell them ONLY what they want to hear, 1) there are sharp limits to how far outside the bubble, and in what directions, they’re willing to venture, and 2) they’ve been in the bubble for so long they don’t have the first clue anymore what an honest-to-God fact is supposed to look like.
Cassidy
“Hey, maybe we should reevaluate our platform, take a look at what it is that’s turning off voters.”
“Nah, get me someone who speaks Spanish and put an ad in some women’s magazines.”
Baron Jrod of Keeblershire
Yes right-wing moneymen, buy up all the women’s magazines. Those print magazines are the wave of the fucking future.
While you’re at it, you should look into buying the companies that make newsreels. Lotsa women watching those newsreels. Maybe buy up some vaudeville theaters too; women just love vaudeville.
Just Some Fuckhead
Even better, just buy women! Those mindless little creatures will do just about anything for jewelry, a nice handbag or sh0es.
The Moar You Know
I guess they can’t get enough of stepping on their own dicks, and now want to enlist women to do it for them.
I’m sure the little ladies will be glad to oblige.
Chris
@Brachiator:
QFT.
On the other hand, Herman Cain and Sarah Palin will always be there to reassure them that they’re not racist/sexist, so there’s that.
flukebucket
@Litlebritdifrnt:
I just hope people like Limbaugh and Reynolds and Ingraham keep giving that sound advice that has gotten the Republican Party where it is today.
Maude
@Litlebritdifrnt:
Limbaugh says something to get attention. His ratings are down, his show is losing money and next year won’t be a good one for him because he may lose stations.
Saying stuff like this has made him a multimillionaire.
TR
Stop mocking these suggestions. If we make fun of Instaputz too much, the GOP might not follow his Blueprint to the 19th Century.
Southern Beale
Et tu Redbook? REDbook? But … but … it’s RED!
Snarki, child of Loki
@clone12:
And, as usual, the response they come up with is “MOAR LYING”
Maude
@Just Some Fuckhead:
And not worry their pretty little heads about it.
catclub
I must be pretty naive. This sounds like a good idea. IF DONE WITH A LIGHT TOUCH. A lightly weighted thumb, over a long period of time, could shift perceptions.
It also seems that House&Garden, or Southern Living,
or Martha Stewart Living, are already pushing the white middle/upper class conservative american dream of shopping continually for a perfect home and family, and no people of color ANYWHERE in sight. Not even the ads. I guess they are not sufficiently politicized, yet I see them as much more insidiously biased to the status quo and conservative
‘values’. ‘Traditional Home’ is actually a magazine title.
The likelihood of a political organization having specifically bought said magazine, then continuing with a light touch, does seem kind of low.
Someone else posted about Romance novels. It seems to me that the generic themes of these are already very much in the GOP wheelhouse. Finding the one man to love and protect one,
and marrying him. (I could be out of date in my misconceptions. Any romance novels where the heroine plays the field and is happy doing it?)
Rome Again
No, I don’t follow politics. That’s why I read Balloon Juice. ::rolls eyes::
scav
hey, we missed that having written off the overly educated “elite” voters during the last election, they’re now worried about not having enough low-information ones.
ahhh Goldbuggy-locks & Godlylocks, this information voter is juuuust right.
pseudonymous in nc
Let’s not forget that Dr Mrs Ole Perfesser’s entire schtick is telling MRA fucknuts that they’re right to hate the wimmins. Perhaps he’s imagining her as senior editor of Ladies Against Women Magazine.
shortstop
Look, this is about accountability. If women want to be treated like adults, they’ll stop voting Democratic.
Gravenstone
@The Moar You Know: You know, some guys actually pay good money for that sort of thing.
jl
Seems like ol’ insta is suggesting that the GOP target women who can read. Not sure that is the best target audience for the propaganda the GOP has been catapulting recently.
cathyx
All this political talk is making my female brain hurt. When does the next Dancing with the Stars air?
Brachiator
@Chris:
There’s more to it than that. Bobby Jindall is popular in Louisiana; Nickki Haley less so in South Carolina, but did get elected the first time around. But both of these politicians are acceptable to the GOP because they embrace the same goofball religious and political values of their core supporters.
Sarah Palin is honestly loved by many conservatives, including conservative women. Had McCain been elected and Palin somehow become VP or even, gasp, POTUS, she would wield actual power even if scads of Republicans mumble crap about her place being in the kitchen.
This is not to say that many wingnuts are not racist or sexist; but their anxieties here are more complicated than simple bigotry.
shortstop
@Chris: Reynolds’ own wife does plenty of the enabling around that house.
In other news, Redbook and Ladies’ Home Journal editors were drunk with ecstasy at actually being called “cool.” Then they found out it was this guy who’d said it.
J. Michael Neal
@pseudonymous in nc: Make it “Ladies Against Women Newsweekly.” That way they can tell us to get off their LAWN.
Just Some Fuckhead
Women gotta stop thinking with their cooters.
Chris
@catclub:
Light touch propaganda is always a good thing to have, it’s just that
1) When you juxtapose it with Republican congressmen bluntly proclaiming that women can’t be raped, or at least can’t get pregnant from rape, a lot of the propaganda’s work is going to be undone right then and there.
2) If I believe what I’ve read here on Balloon Juice, Republicans still carried the white woman vote, just not by nearly as much as the white man vote. So it’s not just a gender problem they have to worry about.
3) As you say, it’s hard to imagine the propaganda remaining “light.” Republicans don’t do “light,” I’m not sure they can even remember how. Their message is “the age of apocalypse is upon us and if you don’t vote against this bill raising taxes then we’re all going to have Sharia Law mandating gay marriage and abortion before the end of this term.”
Rosalita
WTF? Never heard of ’em. I don’t think I’d want to get caught with a website called The Frisky on my browser history.
Comrade Dread
I can imagine the articles:
Politics is hard! 15 reasons why you should just let your man fill out your absentee ballot.
Your body’s natural rape defenses: the six reasons why if you got pregnant after you were raped, you must have enjoyed it.
Jay C
I wonder if, among the numberless plethora of Things That Have Never Occurred To Glenn Reynolds, is the notion that the reason why the Republicans don’t do well among women in general is because they actually ARE paying attention to politics??
Naaah, too obvious…..
shortstop
@Chris:
This might be a good time to note that most low-information women voters seem to have a better grasp of reproductive science than much of the male Republican caucus.
rikyrah
NOPE
Suffern ACE
Perhaps then the Democrats can counter by buying their own supermarket tabloid?
I’m going to guess that the policy discussions in a years worth of Ladies Home Journal are going to be more substantial than those in many of our “serious” newspapers, so I wouldn’t call those readers low information.
stinger
If they want more women, why don’t they just ask Mittens? He’s got binders full of women.
rikyrah
I knew the GOP was in trouble when the most apolitical women I knew…
could tell me all about transvaginal ultrasounds from Virginia.
And knew all about the birth control and the Catholic Bishops..
And knew about ‘Legitimate Rape’
and Rush calling Sandra Fluke a slut.
They finally had to admit that everything I had ever told them about the right wing, and that it was never just about abortion was actually true.
for 99.99% of women in the world…
BIRTH CONTROL IS A FINANCIAL ISSUE.
Planning whether or not you want a child is a FINANCIAL ISSUE that affects everyone in the household.
Women get that.
Paul in KY
@SatanicPanic: Yeah, I’m feeling pretty good right now! Repub tears lubricate my happiness :-)
Roger Moore
@The Moar You Know:
Can they make sure to put on stiletto heels first? I think it would make the whole experience ever so much better.
RareSanity
I love listening to the “wisdom” of entitled, self-absorbed, middle-aged white men, that truly think they are smarter than everyone else.
They don’t have to actually understand the people they are trying to convince. They just have to use their superior intellect, to figure out the correct “message”, that will convert their lessers, over to their side…
What a bunch of assholes.
Persia
@SatanicPanic: I know, right? YES, PLEASE SPEND ALL YOUR MONEY ON REDBOOK ADS. PLEASE.
Just Some Fuckhead
@Comrade Dread:
“Why aren’t you in the kitchen making dinner instead of reading this?”
“How to know if he’s cheating and why it doesn’t matter. Besides, it was just a one time thing.”
shortstop
@rikyrah:
Which is why I couldn’t stop laughing when they sent Ann Romney and Kelly Ayotte and Cathy Rodgers McMorris or McMorris Rodgers or whatever and so on to earnestly assure us that women don’t care about this stuff; what we care about is jobs and the economy. LIKE THE TWO TOPICS ARE UNRELATED.
Paul in KY
@J. Michael Neal: If she can stay out of country for a calendar year, it should all be tax free (said by a person who had to drop Accounting class, due to having to do an assignment for EACH class).
shortstop
@Just Some Fuckhead: “Also, it was your fault.”
FormerSwingVoter
If Republicans want women to vote for them, they need to come to terms with the fact that rape is worse than abortion. Full stop. Until they take that step, literally nothing else matters.
Paul in KY
@Baron Jrod of Keeblershire: How about companies that make spats? I hear from the fellas down at the yacht basin that the ladies love spats on a gentleman.
Steeplejack
__
Just when you think they’ve plumbed the depths of stupid, the trap door opens and they drop down another level down.
ETA: Which way to The Frisky? That sounds neat!
Maude
@catclub:
37 Romance books are a huge seller. They make tons of money.
Paul in KY
@rikyrah: 50 Shades of Grey?
Bubblegum Tate
That’s not PR; that’s just…you know…obvious truth.
JPL
Have to admit that Mr. President is welcome into my home anytime. Now after saying that, Pundit is the one that drank the kool-aid if he believes that trickle down economics work.
Roger Moore
@cathyx:
Do not bring up DWTS if you want to convince women to vote Republican. The DWTS fans I know are still pissed off at the Teabaggers who kept Bristol Palin in the running long after she deserved to be off the show. And yes, that’s teabaggers; when I suggested they shouldn’t use that term because it also refers to a sex act, they doubled down on using it.
aimai
They are still royally pissed that Tina Brown suggested the Obama campaign market designer Obama merchandise and the campaign decided to do it and raised 40 MILLION DOLLARS off it. And they are really, really, really, pissed off that if it is true that magazines ran any “20 hot older men who are voting for Obama” articles (which must have just been picture after picture of George Clooney) that they can’t even figure out who would figure in an article about hot guys who voted for Romney. I mean–who have they got? Bobby Jindal in a speedo? Ted Nugent with his poop filled pants?
aimai
Corner Stone
@Comrade Dread:
“10 Positions That Will Drive Your Man Crazy! –On Politics!”
“How Voting Republican Will Flatten Your Tummy!”
“Five Easy Lunch Solutions Republican Congresswomen Vote For!”
aimai
@FormerSwingVoter:
Your error here is in thinking that the Republicans identify with the woman in either of these scenarios.
kindness
When did he start writing for the NY Post? Didn’t know that.
My sister’s husband buys the Post every day. He claims it’s because ‘it is more interesting than the Times or the News’. Bullshit. The guy is a closet conservative. Love him still but at least be honest. Funny thin is when I visit NY and go to their place and bring a Times with me they both read it.
shortstop
@aimai:
FormerSwingVoter
@Litlebritdifrnt: It’s worth pointing out that many conservative talk shows hire plants to call in, so that people will think that normally-outlandish-sounding things have popular support. This convinces them that it’s okay to agree with whatever the host says, and perception becomes reality.
Paul in KY
@aimai: Don’t forget Billy Baldwin, also Scott Brown is now looking for work.
MikeJ
@Steeplejack: You’ll like this, which ties together several threads here.
RSA
Somehow “buy her something she’d like” doesn’t sound like a very good strategy for winning over the female vote.
different-church-lady
“All the smart women already vote for us by definition, so we better figure out how to attract dumb women.”
Epistemic closure never sleeps.
Joey Maloney
Until the next one. The man’s a striver, give him that.
Richard
More articles that a conservative “women’s” magazine would be likely to publish…
“Contraception is for Socialist Moocher Sluts”
“Maternity Leave is Unpatriotic”
EZSmirkzz
Com’on John, it’s the usual matter – anti-matter- doesn’t matter from the eleventh dimension. He’s the only planet in the solar system that orbits his own moon. Just saying.
Persia
@RSA: IDK, ‘health care’ is something I’d like.
Bokonon
Pretty revealing. Because it is all about style and packaging, right? Time to adjust the GOP’s own propaganda accordingly, to increase the cool factor.
Because he GOP’s gender gap problem can’t have anything to do with the substance of things like … I dunno … state governments forcing trans-vaginal ultrasounds? Senate candidates with criminal anti-abortion protest records? Candidates pondering the difficulties of determining “real rape”? Candidates calling pregnancies that result from rape a gift from God? Or the GOP message machine at all levels mocking women on birth control as “sluts”?
Messaging. Right.
MosesZD
I don’t think they were ‘low information.’ I think they exactly recognized him as that self-serving, dishonest, lying-douche-bag bar-fly that looks like the next date rape attempt…
He was so phony. I never understood how so many people couldn’t see through that con-man smile.
Mnemosyne
@catclub:
I’m actually surprised to hear that about Martha Stewart Living, et al., because all of the American knitting magazines I read are very careful to have very diverse models. In fact, I can always tell if I have a British knitting magazine in my hand just by flipping through the pictures because everyone pictured in it is white, white, white (unless they have a feature with designers like Cookie A or Cosmic Pluto).
And I don’t know that I would decide that monogamy = Republican. I prefer monogamy for myself, and I’ve been a liberal all my life. Mainstream romance novels do push monogamy (obviously) but usually most of the plot revolves around the two leads negotiating an equal relationship.
If anything, Fifty Shades of Grey is your conservative romance — creepy S&M lite with “consent” as a vague, unromantic notion that real women don’t want.
Jennifer
@Roger Moore:
Some of them might have a shoe fetish and get off on that.
Have them wear golf cleats instead.
Chris
@MosesZD:
I think many of them did. They just voted for him anyway because the other guy was a Kenyonesian Muslim.
I remember what they were like when they had a leader they actually loved (George W. Bush; “he’s a good man, he’s got the right values, we’re lucky to have him,” etc) and that’s not what I heard this time around. The message they were hammering was that we couldn’t afford four more years of Obama, because [insert half-remembered Fox News rant here]. But I can’t think of a single conservative acquaintance I knew who would’ve sworn to Romney’s character like they did to Bush’s.
He was, quite plainly, an awful candidate. Bloody awful.
Baron Jrod of Keeblershire
@Richard: Oh, that looks like fun.
“Just Leave the Voting to the Men, Sweetheart”, a guest column from Ann Coulter
“47 HAWT Ways to Get Your Man Off Fast, So You Can Go Back to the Dishes”
“Mine Was Different: My Brave Story of Picketing the Planned Parenthood that Did My Abortion”
“The Bloody Welts of Love; or How I Know My Man Really Loves Me”
“38 Ways to Tell if Your New Man Is an Illegal Mexican”
Maude
@RareSanity:
They wave their wands and say bibidy, bobobidy boo.
Unfortunately, they don’t transform, they remain pumpkins.
Roger Moore
@Richard:
“Is barefoot and pregnant the look for you?”
“Why your man should provide everything (and you should stay home)”
“Learning to submit to your man”
Just Some Fuckhead
“5 Great Reasons You Should Let Republicans Fuck You In The Ass.”
“Ten Great Snorkeling Destinations. He Has The Equipment, You Find The Time!”
Jennifer
For all values of “low-information” which = “not being a Fox News viewer.”
“Low-information” is pretty meaningless. I’m sure there are lots of voters – male and female alike – who don’t know very much about things like what the new healthcare reforms involve, for example, or what our current trade policy with China is, and all sorts of various minutia. But “better-informed,” in the sense of consuming a lot of quasi and pseudo-political “news,” low-income white males, for example, have been voting against their own economic interests for the past 30 years. A lack of information seems to lead people to at least end up voting in their own self-interest, while misinformation tends to lead to voting Republican.
As for the “vague sense of who’s ‘mean’ and ‘nice,'” this is why it’s generally not a good idea to go around demeaning sexually active women as sluts and trying to pass legislation requiring them to submit to having foreign objects shoved up their vaginas if they attempt to avail themselves of a legal medical procedure. As “uninformed” as a woman may be, when she hears about this kind of stuff…yeah, she’s gonna conclude that you’re “not nice” and not the sort of person she wants representing her interests. Funny how easy it is to reach that kind of a conclusion without ever once tuning into Rush Limbaugh or Fox and Friends and so remaining woefully “uninformed.”
Villago Delenda Est
@clone12:
We’ve got to change something….our messaging, our marketing, our branding.
The product however cannot be touched.
Chris
@Jennifer:
I believe there’ve been studies actually confirming that people who follow politics closely but only get it from Fox/PJM/etc are actually less well informed about the world around them than their brethren who don’t give a crap.
Rathskeller
@Chris: yes, that’s the case.
There are too many studies to cite, in fact. I would love a meta-study, since I think they all point to the obvious conclusion that people who watch a propaganda network have been deliberately steered away from the truth, and tend not to recognize it as such. Most people in North Korea probably also have no idea what the world is really like, either.
However, I would love to know from any polling or political science experts: does low-information exclusively mean “literally doesn’t have much information about the election” or does it it mean “doesn’t follow election closely, without regard to being informed about issues.”
blondie
First of all, there’s a flier on getting away with rape? Was it laying next to “Murders — Alibis and M.Os.”?
Second, how Orwellian is it that his suggestion on getting the women’s vote is to buy the press so that he can secretly force the printing (so much for the independent press!)of his propaganda points in places where women would be subliminally persuaded, without even worrying their silly little heads about it? And he doesn’t even try to hide it or dress it up.
My country has really, really changed. Without sounding like I think I’m the Greatest Generation, I believed certain things were beyond question, like: torture is evil, and our country punishes enemies who torture others, even if they do it during war; the press should be independent, a check on our government or other institutions prone to corruption; unions protect the rights of workers; war is hell so we shouldn’t start one for no good reason; the government should not spy on its people, but the people should know what their government is doing …
pk
I know three republican women. All three in the suburbs. One blames Obamacare for the fact that she was denied insurance because of a preexisting condition. The second is an environmentalist and should be a progressive based on her views on many subjects, yet votes republican because “that’s the way I was brought up”. She also refuses to believe that republicans will actually act upon any of the horrible things that they say. The third votes republican because hubby hates Obama, and Obama will take her money and give it to the riff raff, and of course Obama is a socialist. I would not call these women “low information voters” (the way instapundit calls democratic women voters). I think they believe what they choose to believe and nothing will ever change that. I differ from these women in skin color, otherwise economically we are at the same level and yet I see something which they don’t see (or they see something I don’t see). I have no idea why they vote the way they do.
different-church-lady
@Bokonon:
As I’ve said before, I’m at a loss to understand how they’re going to repackage, “You suck, you’re parasites, and we hate you” into something more attractive.
Just Some Fuckhead
“9 Easy To Sew Outfits For Your Snowflake Babies”
Just Some Fuckhead
“Working The Trans-Vaginal Probe Into Your Daily Workout”
Just Some Fuckhead
“Dollars & Sense: You Actually Make More Money Than Men Because You Work Less”
Chris
@pk:
I know a few Republican women. One is a 1%er’s kid whose father runs a private (Catholic) hospital, and who will never have to worry about not being able to afford or have access to whatever she needs (including abortions even if they were banned nationwide).
One’s a girl raised in a white, Southern, Protestant, upper-middle-class Republican cocoon, who after seven years in DC, is
still getting overnever going to get over the fact that there are people in this world who aren’t white, Southern, Protestant, upper-middle-class, or Republican.The rest are Catholics who are appalled that Obama’s been sooo meeeeeaaaan to the Holy Mother Church. (Interesting side note; you know those WhatsTheMatterWithKansas voters who are totally economically populist – believe in unions, UHC, regulation and all that – but vote GOP anyway because of social issues? All those that I know are Catholic. The fundiegelicals tend to be 100% on board with the GOP, on economics as well as everything else. It’s the Catholics who produce the biggest share of these voters. Makes sense, given the Church’s official teachings).
trollhattan
An awfully high bar to clear, given his vast collection of dumb things to choose from. But who am I to argue, this is pretty thunderously dense, but isn’t that his specialty, being obtuse and darn proud of it?
Also, too, “bang!”
I hope UT’s getting their money’s worth from this particular public employee. His poor, poor students.
J R in WV
@shortstop:
But, but…
the male Republican caucus IS the low-information male group – isn’t it?
Corner Stone
“Why Missionary is Making a Comeback!”
“How to Help Your Man Get There. Yeah. We Said It.”
“Tax Cuts and Your Sex Life: 10 Great Recipes to Set The Mood”
Lyrebird
@J:
This whole thread is doing wonders for my mood, and this comment is the one that got me laughing loud enough to wake the neighbors.
“Low-information women voters” – I’m guessing that’s female voters who aren’t such news-blog-junkies as myself. But don’t tell these strategizing morons… all it takes is one picture of that gdmn hanger (sorry, don’t have link, I think a frontpager covered this) from the drycleaners with anti-choice slogans printed on it to help most women reach the “I know enough to decide my vote” level.
Bulworth
Is this Theory #286 of why Romney lost?
BruceFromOhio
FIXT
Howlin Wolfe
@Just Some Fuckhead: Binders full of women!
Just Some Fuckhead
“He Says He Wants To See His Rape Babies But You Know Better: Ten Beauty Tips To Get You Assaulted Properly”
Just Some Fuckhead
“How I Dabbled In Witchcraft And Learned Voodoo Economics – Christine O’Donnell Tells Her Story”
Corner Stone
“Shut It Down: What to do Next When You’ve Led Him Too Far”
Corner Stone
“Plan B? 101 Ways to Hook Your Man For Good!”
Snarki, child of Loki
@Just Some Fuckhead: “Women gotta stop thinking with their cooters.”
Ah, there you go, suggesting titles for the GOP to start up: Cooters.
Perhaps “Play-Doh and Bacon Monthly”. Pull in the Mommy demographic *AND* dogwhistle to the uber-wingnuts. Win-win!
Just Some Fuckhead
“‘Get Me a Beer and a Potpie Hon’, Our Latest Romance Book Review”
SiubhanDuinne
@pseudonymous in nc:
You kids get off my LAWM!!
Anonymous
@SiubhanDuinne #121: About the plagiarism thing this morning, I went ahead and decided to post the links to the articles in question.
rikyrah
@Paul in KY:
the ‘heroine’ in 50 shades was a virgin when she hooked up with the control freak.
Helen Bedd
I’m not at all clear on how this isn’t correct.
Grumpy realist
@J. Michael Neal: First thing you need to do is look up any tax treaty that exists between Germany and the U.S. Also check the IRS. If your relative is paying taxes on the stipend in Germany (they may be taking it out automatically) the stipend should fall under the $87.5K amount that the IRS grants a waiver on.
(Note–I am not a tax lawyer.)
Paul in KY
@rikyrah: Have not read book. Thank you for the synopsis.