Go ahead, keep attacking Ashley Judd

[babylonsister]

http://www.salon.com/2013/02/22/go_ahead_keep_attacking_ashley_judd/

Go ahead, keep attacking Ashley Judd
Even if the actress-activist doesn't win the Kentucky Senate seat, Republicans' attacks will boomerang
By Irin Carmon


Ashley Judd(Credit: Reuters/Lucy Nicholson)


I have no idea if Ashley Judd would win if she runs against Mitch McConnell, a prospect looking likelier by the day. I would bet, however, that a lot of Republican men are going to make themselves look like misogynist bullies in the process. For Democrats, a Judd candidacy might be a win-win — if not in Kentucky, then on the national stage.

snip//

For the record, Judd is more than an “attractive woman.” She has a masters in public administration from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government — the same one, incidentally, achieved by O’Reilly — and has spent years committed to political activism. It also seems oddly beside the point to argue about intellectual gravitas in an institution where another member once suggested that women who can’t afford birth control just Google it, to name one example of exceptional acuity. For his part, Paul once complained in a hearing that it was unfair that women could get abortions when his toilet didn’t flush to his satisfaction.

Speaking of reproductive rights, Judd has been pretty vocal on the subject, which proved a winner last year. Yes, her choice of words and lack of apology would probably make the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee itself cringe. (During the Bush administration, Judd gave a speech saying, “Throughout history, men have tried to control the means of reproduction, which means trying to control woman. This president is a modern day Attila the Hun.”)

snip//

What’s clear is that the people attacking her will be defining themselves along with Judd. The optics of a bunch of good old boys ganging up on a local girl done good, one who loves University of Kentucky basketball and who is, to borrow Paul’s term, quite “articulate,” will have national reverberations. Even if the women and men of Kentucky don’t rise up to elect her, the women across the country who recoiled at Republicans last year will be paying attention. No wonder Planned Parenthood is targeting McConnell for his opposition to expanding insurance coverage of birth control and voting against equal pay. (What, no mention of his vote against the Violence Against Women Act?)

The same day Rove went on “The O’Reilly Factor,” Judd tweeted the following quotation, attributed to Goethe: “There is nothing in which people more betray their character than in what they laugh at.” In other words, it looks like she gets it.

[NYC_SKP]

1. Love her...

"“There is nothing in which people more betray their character than in what they laugh at.”

[OKNancy]

2. You're on a roll today b-sis

So many good articles to read!

[CaliforniaPeggy]

3. I look forward to seeing her on the national stage. She really does get it! n/t

[Frustratedlady]

4. Picture this: McConnell vs. Judd on stage/in debate...

McConnell would lose due to ugly...inside and out...before any word was spoken.

[sheshe2]

5. Women across the country sure will be watching this closely!

Watch who you are messing with GOP. Better yet, don't. You have proven time and time again that you are the party of stupid. I for one look forward to the backlash!

thank you, babylonsister!

[Laelth]

6. Hope she runs. I very much look forward to the contest.

I agree with the OP. Even if she loses, it's a win-win for the Democratic Party.

-Laelth

[Cha]

7. Oh, Ashley.. Run and beat that good ol boys club that

snickers they want to make you cry. They're messing with the wrong woman.

I could see how something like Karl Rove and O'Reilly discussing Ashley Judd in such gross terms would actually give her more incentive to declare her candidacy as US Senator from Kentucky.

Thanks babylonsistah~

P.S. Ashley can Kick ass.. anyone seeing her "Missing" show?

[freshwest]

8. This is so impressive - I didn't know her full background. No one they are terrified!

Thanks, babylonsister, you really lifted my day!

[Mr.Bill]

9. Good thread, OP.

I never knew much about her, but the more I hear, the more I like her.

[Botany]

10. She is camera friendly too.

Attacking her for living in TN is stupid too ..... her family was and is in the country music biz ...
and TN just happens to be where that has a home and the people of KY know that too.

[PufPuf23]

11. Ashley Judd entering politics and displacing McConnell

would be outrageously good for the World, USA, Kentucky, Senate, and Democratic Party.

[BootinUp]

13. +1

[BootinUp]

12. "...more than an attractive woman"

I think this is correct and why I think she can win. I'm a fan anyways.

[smirkymonkey]

14. +1000

I am huge fan of her politically. I really hope she beats the crap out of Mitch McConnell.