Mitt the Jerk: a Woman’s View of the Debate

[babylonsister]

Mitt the Jerk: a Woman’s View of the Debate

Amy Sullivan
October 17, 2012 | 2:35 am



At the risk of going all Maureen Dowd here, I’d like to suggest that in the second presidential debate on Tuesday night, we met Mitt the Man. He’s always been there, surfacing briefly at the Republican National Convention to implausibly claim that he has always believed wife Ann’s job raising their sons “was a lot more important than mine”—as if Romney sincerely believed that for decades he pursued a less important career path. For the most part, however, Mitt the Man had been under wraps until he emerged in full-force at Hofstra University. Just who is he?

Mitt the Man gets his way by talking over you and not stopping until you give in so he can make his point. Which he may have forgotten by then, because getting his way was the point.

Mitt the Man can go from charming to testy in two seconds flat because while he has tolerated you as a female colleague, he will not allow you to disrespect him and his authoritah!

Mitt the Man is not self-aware enough to realize that he can be easily goaded and that you are pushing his buttons.

Mitt the Man feels sorry for you as a single parent and your sure-to-be-screwed-up kids.

Mitt the Man cannot help but disappoint you because his chivalry is all about saying the right thing as opposed to doing the right thing.

It’s fair to say that Mitt the Man did not have a great evening on Tuesday. He bragged about filling positions in his state cabinet by consulting “whole binders full of women,” sounding amazed that so many smart, qualified women existed while also calling to mind the days when men selected their mail-order brides from plastic binders of photos. He talked about how in a Romney administration, employers would be so “anxious” to hire good workers that they might even consider women. He fumbled an otherwise reasonable point about the connection between family structure and poverty (one key reason most anti-poverty advocates support family planning, sex education, access to contraception) by managing to sound like he was blaming single moms for horrific gun violence.

snip//

But mostly, Mitt the Man interrupted and ignored the evening’s most prominent woman, moderator Candy Crowley of CNN. In one particularly uncomfortable exchange, Crowley attempted to get Romney to explain his arithmetic for massive-tax-cut + increased-defense-spending + closing-of-unspecified-tax-loopholes + cuts-to-PBS-and-Planned-Parenthood = lowered deficit. “If somehow when you get in {the White House}, there isn’t enough tax revenue coming in, if somehow the numbers don’t add up,” asked Crowley, “would you be willing to look again at a 20 percent…” “Well, OF COURSE, they add up,” interrupted a visibly annoyed Romney. “I was someone who ran businesses for 25 years and balanced the budget. I ran the Olympics and balanced the budget. I ran the state of Massachusetts, to the extent any governor does, and balanced the budget all four years.”

The dismissive lecture Romney gave Crowley was devastating—but not in the way he intended. He defended his honor as a businessman, but at the cost of reminding undecided women of every man who ever made them feel stupid or who cut them down just to win an argument.

more...

http://www.tnr.com/blog/plank/108711/mitt-the-jerk#

[beac]

1. Mitt the Misogynist. n/t

[rock]

2. Thanks for the take! kick and rec

[whttevrr]

3. Found the recommend button...

Now what is the kick?

Oh, and I wish more women could see Mitt for what he really is.

[babylonsister]

4. Welcome to DU, whttevrr! The kick

'happens' when you reply to a thread; it sends it to the top of the category the thread is in, so thanks!

[whttevrr]

6. Got it... Thnx

[NCarolinawoman]

5. Couldn't agree more.

[TeamPooka]

7. Mitt the Twit nt

[TroyD]

8. Mitt is currently running an ad with a 'former Obama voter' about contraception

Deciding to vote for Romney because of his moderate position on contraception or something or other. It's an ad where the woman googles what Romney has to say about it.

Just saw it discussed on Twitter.

And Mitt has another ad out claiming how Bi-Partisan he is. Hopefully the MA legislators, Sen. Kerry etc. will continue to slam him for the lies on that one!

[toby jo]

9. 'not self-aware enough...' says it all for me

Imagine if he had to debate an actual woman. Gosh a black guy is bad enuf, but a girl?

I've had men treat me that way - bullying - I've got em in my little boy binder

[babylonsister]

10. Ha! I'm glad you're keeping a binder, too, and

welcome to DU!