The Radio Equalizer: Brian Maloney

19 July 2007

Media Matters, Laura Flanders, Air America Radio, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama

THE GENDER WAR

Over Male, Female Prez Appeal, It's Lefty Vs Lefty







Since the Edwards campaign unleashed its now- famous attack on Hillary Clinton's "manliness" factor earlier this week, political junkies have needed a scorecard to keep track of the many confusing twists and turns as lefties begin to eat their own.

If you somehow missed it, the remarks by Elizabeth Edwards were clearly meant to boost her husband's support from female voters:


WASHINGTON (AP) - Elizabeth Edwards said Tuesday that her husband, Democrat John Edwards, would be a better advocate for women as president than his rival Hillary Rodham Clinton.

"I think one of the things that make me so completely comfortable with this is that keeping that door open to women is actually more a policy of John's than Hillary's," Edwards said in an interview published in the online magazine Salon. "I'm not convinced she'd be as good an advocate for women. She needs a rationale greater for her campaign than I've heard."


But in one of the weirdest developments to date, left- wing smear site Media Matters has now taken on "progressive" feminist / Air America Radio host Laura Flanders (seen in above left photo) over comments she made on CNN.

This site has never seen Media Matters single out a fellow leftist this way, particularly one with strong credentials in the movement's most radical and socialist wing (just take a look at her relatives).

Sure enough, however, here it is, with the David Brock- led site and its bloated talent roster looking pretty ticked off at a fellow- traveller.

In fact, in the piece, Flanders is lumped in with no less than Rush Limbaugh (via an earlier related and linked story), Tucker Carlson, James Taranto of the Wall Street Journal, Matt Drudge and others not known to be "enlightened":


On CNN, Air America's Flanders said Obama has "kind of become the female" candidate, while Clinton has "the balls"


On the July 18 edition of CNN's Lou Dobbs Tonight, Air America Radio host Laura Flanders said of Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL), "he's kind of become the female on this race. It's very interesting. He's seen as the weaker -- cute, attractive." Flanders then said of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY), "Hillary is the one with the balls." Host Lou Dobbs responded, "Well, Laura, my goodness." The comments came after Flanders noted that daytime television host Oprah Winfrey was supporting Obama while, according to Flanders, Oprah's mother "is 100 percent for Hillary."

Dobbs then turned to CNN contributor Roland Martin "to work out the physiological symbolic gender-bending sort of analysis that Laura has put on the table." Martin said that Clinton "has no choice but to appear to be stronger because that was a perceived weakness being a woman running for president."

Martin then said that Obama "has to play a bit safer, being an African-American running, not having a long amount of experience," and added that "he has a very difficult task of, well, do I -- the whole question: Is he black enough? Is he too black?" Dobbs responded by noting that Flanders had "introduced the idea that he's too female and Hillary's too male." Flanders added, "He's female enough for Oprah, and she's male enough for a lot of voters out there. It's fascinating. I mean, I think this is going to be an amazing election."

Flanders' comments followed similar remarks in the media recently. As Media Matters for America documented, after Internet gossip Matt Drudge posted a headline that read "GENDER BENDER: WIFE EDWARDS SAYS HILLARY 'BEHAVING LIKE A MAN,"


Another oddity is the fact that Flanders has mostly flown under the radar for many years, a celeb in extreme "progressive" circles, but little- known elsewhere. Is she signaling a change in career direction?


Frankly, from an entertainment standpoint, the Democrat Party nomination process has just been kicked up about seven notches. Hey gang, thanks for making this fun! Until now, it had long- since grown tiresome.


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11 Comments:

  • Brian:
    When are you going to correct your obvious mistake in the latest "frankenfluff" post? You misidentified Coleman's spokeswoman as being Franken's spokeswoman -- and then used your mistake as the basis for an attack on Franken.
    Have some class, and own up to your errors.

    By Blogger Justin, at 20 July, 2007 06:22  

  • who cares is Flanders said sometthing, about Obama?

    Unlike you, we all think for ourselves


    astonishing huh?

    By Blogger Minister of Propaganda, at 20 July, 2007 09:26  

  • Justin, I'll check into it and make a correction if necessary. Meanwhile, your tone is nasty as always. Wonder if spend this much time correcting the constant errors at Think Progress and the Politico. And don't tell me they readily admit to their many shortcomings!

    By Blogger Brian Maloney, at 20 July, 2007 10:39  

  • Brian: I don't actually read TP or Politico, so no.

    But please don't change the subject, from your original post (which also had a nasty tone). You quoted a Coleman spokeswoman as saying that 75% of Coleman's contributions from the in-state, and then wrote:

    "Doesn't that mean that a full 25% of Franken's money is coming from outside of Minnesota? It's a great deal of out- of- state influence, with much of it coming from Hollywood."

    An obvious error. Just asking you to correct it for the record.

    By Blogger Justin, at 20 July, 2007 12:15  

  • Justin, I find it hard to believe you don't read key lefty blogs, but I'll give you the benefit of the doubt there.

    I have no problem correcting mistakes when they are brought to my attention, but your approach stinks.

    You leave comments in posts and if I don't catch them, you turn it into some kind of crusade. Your only purpose is to try to undermine the site's credibility.

    If you were to instead send an email, I'd have a better chance of catching it sooner.

    By Blogger Brian Maloney, at 20 July, 2007 12:24  

  • Brian,
    Ok, I'll email you next time. But, as of now, you still haven't corrected the item...

    By Blogger Justin, at 20 July, 2007 13:01  

  • Thought you might be interested in the 1991 interview with Laura Flanders that's posted on the www.bfeldman68.blogspot.com site

    By Blogger b.f., at 20 July, 2007 15:26  

  • "Justin, I find it hard to believe you don't read key lefty blogs, but I'll give you the benefit of the doubt there."

    Why?

    I'm an ACTUAL lefty, and I don't read them either.

    Why are you speaking of political movements and media outlets that you clearly have absolutely no understanding or knowledge of, Brian?

    It's one thing to use cute buzzwords and erroneous phraseology to lure the knuckledraggers in. It's quite another to begin slandering your own readers out of sheer intellectual laziness....

    By Blogger hashfanatic, at 20 July, 2007 18:16  

  • One full day, and still no correction. What happened to: "I have no problem correcting mistakes when they are brought to my attention"?

    By Blogger Justin, at 20 July, 2007 23:53  

  • They have no intention of correcting their mistakes, because they were not mistakes but intentional lies to begin with.

    Justin, this has happened to me as well, no less than half a dozen times.

    By Blogger hashfanatic, at 21 July, 2007 00:44  

  • While you're correcting mistakes, it's the "Democratic Party" not the "Democrat Party." We know you think you're being clever, but really, you just sound illiterate.

    By Blogger Unknown, at 22 July, 2007 13:46  

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