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Sen. Arlen Specter (PA-D)-- sounding all of his 80 years -- told Rep. Michele Bachmann (MN-R) to "act like a lady" while they were sparring on the radio yesterday. From Early Returns:
Sen. Arlen Specter, D-Pa., took to the radio airwaves this afternoon to talk about President Barack Obama's first year in office and the fallout from the Massachusetts special election. Paired with conservative firebrand Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., things got a little heated.
[snip]
Ms. Bachmann declared last night's victory by Scott Brown a repudiation of Mr. Obama's policies. Mr. Specter then asked what, exactly, Ms. Bachmann is in favor of.
The Minnesotan detailed a list of fiscal changes: cutting the effective income tax rate to 22 percent, dashing capital gains taxes and eliminating the estate tax will stimulate the economy plenty, she said, as opposed to the overreach of the Obama administration with the stimulus and health care legislation. As Mr. Specter started to respond, Ms. Bachmann interjected to try to reinforce her point. Mr. Specter, clearly, did not appreciate the interruption.
"I'm going to treat you like a lady," Mr. Specter shot back. "Now act like one."
Ms. Bachmann replied, "I am a lady."
The two continued to spar and Mr. Specter later again asked Ms. Bachmann to "act like a lady" when things got heated.
No one who reads this blog can possibly think that I'm a fan of Rep. Bauchmann's, but asking a woman to "act like a lady" has all kinds of sexist and negative connotations that saying "act like a gentleman" does not have. Certainly some guy telling me to "act like a lady" while I was arguing with him would sound a whole lot to me like "how dare you forcefully express your opinion while having lady bits."
Arlen, you might want to drop future requests for ladylike behavior from your colleagues -- or any other woman -- here in the 21st Century.
Michele, if you had a feminist bone in your body, you would have called him out on this instead of protesting what a good little lady you are.
Double UGH!
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It certainly would have been better if Specter had used different words to object to Ms Bachmann's interruption. I do think it was a goo idea to complain about her interrupting him, but I think it would have been better if he had asked her if she was so insecure in her beliefs that she couldn't stand for someone else to have a different set of opinions while in her presence.
ReplyDeleteIn other words I think Specter had a right to object to what Ms Bachmann did (as described in the post), it is unfortunate that he did it using sexist phrasing.
Yeah, I'd rather that he called her a spoiled brat. Or at least use that in conjunction with "act like a lady".
ReplyDeleteWhy waste a minute of our lives even thinking about Bachmann or Specter? Vote for Sestak. Sestak wins = we get a better senator (and, dare we hope, a real Democrat????)
ReplyDeleteArlan Loses = he has to retire.
Win, win situation.