Andrea Batista Schlesinger

Conservative double-standards aren’t breaking news.

Eleanor Smeal, head of the Feminist Majority Foundation, is on the record now that Harriet Miers, the President's nominee to the Supreme Court, is being "subject to a double standard," according to today's New York Times.

Smeal: "I think that essentially that this hue and cry that she isn't qualified, there's a sexist basis to it."

Reading the paper this morning, I was annoyed. Why is the left spending time defending Harriet Miers? Who cares if she's a feminist, when her vote could determine the future of choice in this country?

Then, in talking to people smarter than me, I became convinced that this was a savvy move on behalf of a grander political strategy. Expose the conservative right for the sexists that they are.

But now I'm back where I started: why are we giving political cover to someone who sole fidelity is to President Bush and his legacy? Are we making it more difficult for Democrats to vote against Miers by setting her up in this way? And revealing the Right to be sexists is like revealing the White House to be patriarchal in their approach to the other nations that inhabit this earth. It is inherent in their worldview. Not exactly the subject of an expose.

I've changed my mind three times and it's only 9am. Who knows where I'll be on this by noon.

Andrea Batista Schlesinger: Author Bio | Other Posts
Posted at 8:49 AM, Oct 12, 2005 in judges
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