Comments on: Thanks a Fucking Lot, Arlen Specter.

By: Vicki'sthickaccent

Vicki'sthickaccent — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 18:06:24 +0000

This Arlen guy is digustingly sad. I just cant believe that this old sexist gasbag is still in politics.

Anyway, you know what they say about “ladies” they never make history.

By: PhDork

PhDork — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 22:31:44 +0000

No one here would argue that Bachmann is less than loathesome.

But.

What Specter meant by emphasizing Bachmann’s lady-ness was that “ladies” are supposed to shut up and listen to men talk.

“Please quit interrupting” is the appropriate way to deal with overtalkers; reminding them that they are to be deferential because of their sex is straight-up sexism. Even if your mama says it.

By: BeckySharper

BeckySharper — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 16:44:38 +0000

My mom would say the same thing–would that be sexist?

Yes.

By: kathy

kathy — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 07:14:56 +0000

I have to be honest – I find Michelle Bachmann far more offensive than this trivial comment from an old white guy stuck in the 1960′s. If you are going to dish on Spector, far better comments exist. My dad is an old white guy – and pretty progressive I might add – but he is old school and he would probably say the same thing. It is about manners and letting another person speak without being interrupted. I’m not defending Spector, but it’s kind of like the Harry Reid Negro comment. Just minds from the past making comments that aren’t meant to be offensive, but are to minds of the present. My mom probably would say the same thing – would that be sexist? And again – Michelle Bachmann – now she’s a reason to get riled! http://www.dickipedia.org/dick.php?title=Michele_Bachmann

By: flackette

flackette — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 15:26:21 +0000

The only person who gets to tell me to “act like a lady” is my mom (who has probably said this phrase about 10,678 times in my life).

As for this dust-up, I’m just going to say that Michelle Bachmann’s public statements disgust me, and so does this directive from Arlen Specter. You can dislike someone and still think another person is being unforgivably rude to them.

To hell with both of them, says this lady.

By: mischiefmanager

mischiefmanager — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 15:02:41 +0000

But then we had the hope that we could get him out of office one day, and then it would all turn around. Now it’s our turn and…we are driving ourselves off the cliff as fast as we can go. I feel like there are no more options for us, at least in the short term.

Still, we have no choice but to keep fighting. Despair isn’t a reason to quit, and I know that. It just makes the effort harder.

By: BeckySharper

BeckySharper — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 14:55:00 +0000

I hear you, MM, but I have to say, I felt a hell of a lot more despair when George Bush was president.

By: PhDork

PhDork — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 14:41:10 +0000

“any of the Harpies want to do a post about the corporate personhood decision and how it means we’re all fucked?”

Perhaps, but, like MM, I haven’t really gotten past the “despair” part. And the “welp, time to move to Denmark!” part. I haven’t quite wrapped my head around all of the ramifications yet.

By: mischiefmanager

mischiefmanager — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 13:49:17 +0000

YES, thebewilderness and JD!

Specter is so full of himself that reality never gets a chance to enter his brain. How about addressing the substance of what Bachmann says and not her loathsome but typical-of-the-right behavior?

This has been a hellish news week. I feel like I’ve been sucker-punched. We thought this would turn around a year ago, and now…we’re worried about hurting the Cosmo Boy’s feelings by taking a vote on the initiative Obama has staked his (rapidly diminishing) reputation on. And just to ice the toxic waste cake, SCOTUS, otherwise known as the wholly owned subsidiary of the right/male/white/corporate cabal in this country, has just put the last nail in the coffin for the First Amendment.

I’ve never felt such despair. Never.

By: baraqiel

baraqiel — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 13:41:31 +0000

Thought 1: As JD says, Specter is basically a dinosaur. I’m sure in his mind he said nothing objectionable because that would have been a totally reasonable thing to say in like 1924.

Thought 2: I have already resolved to vote for Joe Sestak, Specter’s dem opponent in the primary. If Sestak loses the primary…I don’t know. By that point, our political system may have gone too far in its path to catastrophic failure to even worry about it (any of the Harpies want to do a post about the corporate personhood decision and how it means we’re all fucked?).