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Why Should We Care What NOW Thinks of Bill Maher’s Sexist Palin Slur?

On Friday night, the abhorrent idjit known as Bill Maher used a crass and offensive slur about Sarah Palin. It is one that I will not repeat here, but suffice it to say it is a favorite misogynistic epithet of the lofty, oh-so-enlightened leftist set. I’ve been called it many times in hate emails and even on Twitter. It is usually prefaced with “dumb” and is second only to their top favorite term used to describe women; a term that starts with the third letter of the alphabet. Frankly, this isn’t very surprising coming from the trollish Maher. He clearly has women issues, as he’s shown many times in the past. As well as, I suspect, “compensation” issues. Hello, small man’s complex!

What was more infuriating, although also not very surprising, was the lack of media response. John Ziegler, quoted in an article on FoxNews.com, said the following:

“If a conservative used that language to describe Hillary Clinton, we wouldn’t be hearing very much about Japan or Libya,” said John Ziegler, creator the documentary “Media Malpractice.” “If they said it about Michelle Obama, the media would be going 24/7 with the story.”

Absolutely true. Sexist slurs against The One’s wife would not be tolerated. It’s only okay if you think the subject of the slurs is super icky, like that “chick from the sticks”, bitter clinger Sarah Palin. The Fox News article went on to explain that the National Organization for Women (N.O.W.) at first chose not to comment on Maher’s grossly misogynistic remark. The reason given was that it is a “known fact that NOW does not correspond with Fox News.”

Oh, really?

They hold women who merely watch Fox News in such contempt that they won’t even deign to try to speak to them? Well, you know what is a “known fact”? The fact that N.O.W. does not give a rat’s patootie about women.  Matthew Vadum, also quoted in the article, said the following:

NOW really ought to change its name to National Organization for Liberal Women because as far as it’s concerned conservative women aren’t real women at all.”

While it’s true that N.O.W. has nothing but disdain for conservative women, I don’t think the above is entirely correct. N.O.W. might be an organization of Liberal Women, but they certainly aren’t for them. A better name would be the National Organization for Useful Idiots. N.O.W. proved that themselves with the statement they eventually grudgingly gave in response to Maher’s vile comment. They were shamed into giving some sort of response due to the cries of “Where is NOW? What does NOW have to say? Will they denounce this?!” This infuriated me further.

Because I say “who cares what N.O.W. has to say?” Why on earth would we give them any credence at all by expecting them to make a statement? About anything? What right do they have to claim to be an authority on women? The same thing happened when the odious site Gawker published a disgusting ‘article’ about an alleged one night stand (with no “stand”) with Christine O’Donnell. N.O.W. was shamed into making a statment then (one that basically said “she’s totally a slut, but slut shaming is bad) and people fell all over themselves in a rush to praisethem and “give credit where it is due.”  Baloney. There is no credit due, nor will there ever be.

Both statements in regards to the sexism aimed at O’Donnell and at Palin were half-arsed at best. They weren’t “defenses” so much as insults and ridicule rife with hypocrisy. The latest statement goes one further and suggests that the systematic misogyny that has been aimed at Sarah Palin is all a nefarious plan by conservatives to “distract.” No, really:

“You’re trying to take up our time getting us to defend your friend Sarah Palin. If you keep us busy defending her, we have less time to defend women’s bodies from the onslaught of reproductive rights attacks and other threats to our freedom, safety, livelihood, etc,” wrote Bennett. “Sorry, but we can’t defend Palin or even Hillary Clinton from every sexist insult hurled at them in the media. That task would be impossible, and it would consume us. You know this would not be a productive way to fight for women’s equal rights, which is why you want us stuck in this morass.”

It’s our fault the Left is vile and anti-woman, you see. We are tricking them into doing it so that we can hatch some evil plot to restore The Patriarchy ™. Sarah Palin is just our prop – and a dum-dum, of course, hence their use of “your friend, Sarah Palin”. I’m only surprised they didn’t say our “cute little friend”. Sarah Palin just happens to be a woman whom they despise even more than usual, because she had the utter audacity to not abort her child.

What more will it take for them to be discredited as a “women’s” organization? They endorse men who call female politicians “whores” – even the fact that Meg Whitman is pro-choice wasn’t enough for them. She wasn’t a Leftist. That is all that matters. They ignored the attempted smears of Governor Nikki Haley. They were silent when venom was spewed at the women featured in the movie “Fire From The Heartland“. They were, and still are, supportive of serial sexual harrasser and manslaughter Ted Kennedy because his sweet, sweet Liberal policy was more important. They were silent when it was suggested that skirts were checked to ensure women in Congress had girly bits prior to voting.

N.O.W. doesn’t wish to ‘correspond’ with Fox News? I think that Fox News should never, ever try to extract statements from N.O.W., nor should any media outlet. Unless, and only unless, they make clear that they are not a women’s group, but a Leftist organization only. While N.O.W. holds conservative women in particular contempt – they unabashedly do not hide the fact that they despise them – they aren’t really for any woman. Every belief that they espouse, every policy they push, every agenda they embrace is harmful to all women. Even the women who continue to misguidedly support them.

They do not, nor should they, speak for women. They are not, nor should they be, looked to as an authority on anything at all, women included. Their For The Woman ™ card expired long ago and  it is now time to confiscate it and cut it up into little pieces.

It is harmful to women to continue to give them credence, when absolutely none is deserved, by expecting them to issue “statements”. Who the hell wants them to? I certainly don’t. I need ‘feminists’, including the alleged ones at N.O.W., like a fish needs a bicycle.  They’ve done nothing but harm to women and to continue to give them credence by wanting them to – or expecting them to – issue statements is insulting. Women don’t need the likes of NOW “defending” them. Sarah Palin knows this. She is often accused of “playing the victim” too often and the reason given is that she stands up for herself and issues her own statements in lieu of waiting for others to do so. That is the opposite of victimhood. She is not relying on the likes of N.O.W. or other faux women’s groups to “defend” her.

She has come a long way, baby. It’s far past time that we all do. The first step is hammering the final nail in N.O.W.’s coffin (violent rhetoric be damned!) They should be marginalized as the group full of useful idiots that they are.

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Cross-posted from Newsreal

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COMMENTS

  • earlgrey

    Than liberal women have for conservative women.

    • lightfootletters

      Conservative men have more respect for liberal women, Than liberal women have for conservative women. Could it be that the conservative is more of a real liberal than the the liberal in name only Democrats? Until the 1940′s generally speaking Republicans were the liberals of their day. They were the champions of individual rights, states rights and the tolerance to allow the average citizen to enjoy those rights with only the Federal government interference that was absolute necessary.

      • earlgrey

        but today’s liberals represent nothing that resembles freedom.

        • myron_j_poltroonian
      • tanstaafl1019

        I always find it interesting that liberals are supposedly “pro-woman,” but they only like the women who behave like men.

        Conversely, conservatives allow women to be themselves. Which, really, is far less sexist than forcing them into sociopolitical, often false gender roles.

  • Mark D

    It’s the “Useful” part that has me baffled.

  • runner12

    hypocritical organizations in the country. Everyone knows that they only support women’s rights if you are a lefty Progressive. All others need not apply.

    They are political action group, not a supporter of women’s rights. The true women’s rights activists of old must be rolling over in their graves right now.

    • cam1

      it is more of a lesbian organization that touts abortion, because it is a very lucrative way to make a living. The funny twist is that lesbians worry about abortions. It’s like a straight guy worrying about the color of the drapes.

      • myron_j_poltroonian

        How did Coulter put it? Something about having an “Alphabetized Spice Rack”?

      • runner12
  • junkbondtrader41

    Of what we’re asking NOW for, how absurd is it protest this is some serious drain on their time to issue a freakin’ press statement?? What are we talking, 15 minutes of some intern’s time to type and email a statement everyone knows you don’t mean, followed by … nothing?

    What an imposition.

  • http://westforwestwing2012.com heartlander

    Lori, you represent TRUE feminism and TRUE woman-power!

    You are right that NOW is nothing but a leftist organization, and that every policy they espouse is actually HARMFUL to women. Leftism is harmful to everyone, male, female, adult, child.

    But even beyond that general statement, a conservative can easily show how NOW’s specific policies hurt women. For instance, NOW favors quotas and affirmative action; what does that do but reinforce the stereotype that women are inferior and thus need extra help to get the positions they want? NOW supports “women’s studies” and other divisive, wacko “feminist” elements in academia whose ultimate expression is trash such as “The Vagina Monologues,” which only further encourage women to see themselves as nothing more than sex objects! NOW supports abortion to such an extent that they actually work against any individuals or institutions that give women any other choice, such as crisis pregnancy centers. To the extent that NOW and others attempt to narrow women’s choices in that way, they are actually disempowering women.

    I agree with you 100 percent that their particular hatred of Sarah Palin is due to the fact that she did not abort her baby, Trig. Many women who have had abortions deal with the guilt not by working through it and repenting of what they did and seeking God’s forgiveness and healing, but by repressing it, stuffing it, silencing their own consciences in ways that warp their personalities, as repressed guilt always does. Sarah awakens that suppressed guilt, and the psychological pain that that causes is often dealt with by channeling it into fuming rage that must then be directed at the target: the one who awakened it, i.e., Sarah. Sarah’s joy and fullness of life only rubs salt in the wound. It is sad that these wounded women do not allow themselves to grieve, repent and accept Christ’s forgiveness — which is the only thing that can heal them and give them peace — but meanwhile, they are destroying a good, beautiful person.

    Lori, I especially like this brilliant insight on your part:

    [Sarah] is often accused of

    • rightwingmom52

      And not only where was NOW, but where is the outcry of the Republican Party? Reporters? Our elected officials? Everybody who was screaming for a more civil debate? Not that Sarah needs them to defend her honor any more than I do. What women like us have in common is a confidence in who we are and what we believe that needs no validation from small men like Maher or women like those in NOW. While I couldn’t care less about NOW, I deeply resent the silence of Republicans in condemning the sexist attacks on Palin, O’Donnell and other conservative women. Go after women on the issues all you want, but this is vulgarity at its worst.

    • http://snarkandboobs.wordpress.com/ Lori Ziganto

      There are many specific instances wherein NOW and their fellow “feminist” travelers actively harm women. The ones you mentioned, and also when they fight against mandatory ultrasound prior to abortion laws, fight against laws aimed at regulating abortion clinics somewhat (unsafe, legal and NOT rare is what they want), they ignore the actual oppression and subjugation of women in the Muslim world. Because, multiculturalism.. They perpetuate lies about “wage gaps”, they encourage government regulations that punish women workers. I could go on and on and not even get to the cultural and societal harm that they’ve inflicted!

      P.S. I love your pro-life posts and hope that you continue writing them.

      • myron_j_poltroonian

        Hmm. And she has a sense of humor as well. Glad to see I’m not the only conservative who can use slightly off-color humor like this. When my trucking company went “Belly Up”, I created a production company (because I had 20 years experience as a professional guitarist) and, using another euphemism, called it: (. ) ( .)’s Up! Productions

  • Menlo

    Weren’t they championing Bob Packwood as a women’s hero back in the 70′s?

    I’m surprised they are still around though. All half dozen or so of their members are probably over seventy or close to it. Now that so-called “law” schools have made their agenda a reality for them, and with so many popular left-wing groups today, I can’t imagine enough liberals seeing the need for them.

  • marshmom

    Anyone who knows all the gory details of partial birth abortion and still supports it has absolutely no credibility whatsoever. I respect a cockroach more than I do the NOW.

  • taxpayer1234

    condemning honor killers and helping victims of Islamic domestic abuse–Oh, wait….

  • voltron

    N/T

  • http://jhpruitt.blogtownhall.com/ kipling

    I remember a time when someone who used such a vile and filthy remark to describe a woman would be shunned by polite society and punched by any man within hearing of the initial remark.

    Maher mistakenly feels like a big man as he uses his show to demean women and intellectually strut around with the mental midgets who comprise his liberal audience. Sadly, he is a neutered dog who yaps for attention.

    • GetAClue

      I give a lot of credit to Sarah’s husband Todd for having the self control to NOT go after this mental midget. If someone were to insult my wife or anyone in my family in this manner, I would probably be in need of a good defense attorney after the beat down that person would receive.

  • rickbull
  • smitch61

    would meet Mr. Bill in a dark alley, and make a believer out of him.

    He is pure slime.

  • Finrod

    .

  • Adjoran

    anything Bill Maher might say. I don’t care.

    There is nothing he could say which could either surprise me or lower my opinion of him.

    I feel sorry for anyone who cares even the tiniest twinge about what the miscreant says.

    • davesinsanantonio

      or anywhere else actually, needs to be condemned lest it become the norm through lack of condemnation.

  • powertothepeople

    are the ones who are extreme leftist. But I did love their explanation that they do not have the time to go out and defend all women for every slur be it Sarah Palin or Hilary Clinton. That is quite funny considering Hilary supports baby genocide and they would rush to her defense if you only simply disagreed with her much less insulted her.

    But Maher is no worse that the so called Joke thrown out at the Roast of Donal Trump the other night.

    “Lisa Lampanelli on Seth MacFarlane:

    • http://westforwestwing2012.com heartlander

      …someone actually made that comment. How could ANYONE be that sick? Not to mention STUPID, since:

      1. ALL babies have big heads.
      2. Trig is not even a baby anymore, he’s a 3-year-old boy.
      3. He’s cute as all get-out.

      These people are not only sick, they’re also just plain stupid.

  • jackhammer

    but maybe it is because “that woman” actually exudes some sexuality, as opposed to most of the non external genitalia bearers on the left, who by and large have all the sexual energy of a bookcase…..

    but maybe if I grew up as someone who no one ever called pretty or took notice of, I would also think the world was unfair and needed all sorts of government interference….at least that is my theory…

  • southernpatriots

    Agreed! Leftist, liberal, Progressive, Socialists, but not champions of women!

  • jbinvirginia

    Keep speaking the truth, Lori! You’re speaking for millions of us who aren’t as eloquent. God bless your brilliant insights.

    • http://snarkandboobs.wordpress.com/ Lori Ziganto

      That means a lot to me, truly. And hopefully one day, such posts will no longer be necessary.

  • hendrig

    There was a time when a remark like that made on radio or television was a career killer no matter who it was about. I also wonder why N.O.W. would want to get in their two cents when, normally, they wouldn’t waste their spit on a conservative woman. Maher should be unemployed for that. People like him seem to resort to name calling when they have no other intelligent comment to make.