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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