Female Trouble: How Karen Hughes & Laura are winning the election for W

[dumpster_baby]

Hey, I am just the messenger!
By Naomi Wolf

selected excerpts:

>>>>>>>>>>>>>



What happened? Karen Hughes. The true genius behind the Bush success is not Karl Rove; she’s a suburban working mom in sensible shoes. It was clear from the start that Team Bush realized that the old, white, male face of the Republican Party was a recipe for losing those crucial suburban women in the swing states who are socially progressive and fiscally conservative. As long as the face of Republicanism was that of Newt Gingrich, ready to talk about women soldiers getting gynecological infections in foxholes, the GOP would face a Democratic hegemony, to paraphrase Rove, for the next twenty years.

So they devised a deliberate strategy that went unnoticed by Democratic strategists, most of whom are white guys over 50: to showcase a moderate, mainstream feminist makeover for the Bush brand. Everyone fell for it, including the press. Bush’s speeches are routinely cast before the eye, I am convinced, of Karen Hughes, who spins tax cuts as a boon to women entrepreneurs, like the one Laura Bush mentioned in her convention speech (Carmella Chaifos, “the only woman to own a tow-truck company in all of Iowa”). The fallen heroes of Iraq are “moms and dads.” Afghanistan was the first time U.S. troops were deployed for a feminist goal, “so Afghan girls could go to school.”

...

“Let’s start with ‘Heinz.’ There is no genteel way to put this: Teresa is publicly, subliminally cuckolding Kerry with the power of a dead man.” A key tactic is wife deployment. Is Dick Cheney a scary, old-guard, male-dinosaur guy? Send out Lynne to talk about how he whips up brunch. Karl Rove makes eggs with bacon for Mary Matalin! Laura Bush speaks eloquently about the young George W. changing the twins’ diapers. Why worry about abortion rights when you have Alan Alda in the White House? The Bush team sends out brilliant imagery of women vis-à-vis the president: carefully staging scenes in which a seated W. is listening attentively to a standing Condoleezza Rice. That image counts far more than a thousand words by John Kerry about child care.


While Bush Inc. is flooding women’s magazines with features in which Laura Bush gets out a family-friendly feminist message, Kerry et al. remain obsessed with sending white men out onto the Sunday talk shows—which women don’t watch. While Bush Inc. understands the power of the vivid visual image—dressing the entire GOP convention, for instance, in matching tangerine and turquoise, color-coordinating the Cheney grandchildren to give a visual sense of order and unity—the Democrats keep being bumped to the inside pages because they send out their candidate and his wife in neutrals. I am convinced that Michael Deaver is the invisible hand behind the calculated visuals of the Bush campaign—the signature use of deep, majestic backdrops behind the candidate, the use of jewel tones on Laura Bush and other women associated with the administration, the trick of forcing photographers to sit close to the stage so that they must shoot sharply upward, showing the candidate from a heroic angle. By contrast, the Democrats ignore them, losing women, who are simply too busy racing to get school lunches ready and kids out the door to get their impressions about the candidates from Meet the Press.

The low value Kerry’s team is assigning to both the visual story of the campaign and the role of gender imagery explains his drop in the polls after the GOP convention. Contrary to RNC spin about “earth tones” and “alpha males,” I was actually an adviser on women’s issues for the Gore campaign. But any cultural critic can tell you that a presidential campaign involves powerful gender archetypes, and presidents are archetypes of male potency. Republicans guided by Deaver understand this: It’s why you saw Ronald Reagan posed by a horse holding a riding crop, or W. in flight gear. And spouses play a massive role in enhancing or undermining the potency of a male candidate.
..........

more here:

http://www.newyorkmetro.com/nymetro/news/columns/thesexes/9911/

[pmbryant]

1. Sour grapes?

She claims she was an advisor to Gore. This sounds like a shot at Kerry because he wasn't wise enough to hire her as an advisor like Gore did.

It certainly doesn't make any sense otherwise.

--Peter

[Career Prole]

2. Stick it in the dumpster, baby.

It's wrong on many points, not the least of which it doesn't belong here. Shrub ain't winning a damned thing.

[WI_DEM]

3. that is a bunch of nonsence

[bryant69]

4. Karen Hughs is totally nuts

I forgot who wrote the big article during the last campaign that revealed, shocker upon shockers, that President Bush has a bit of a potty mouth. But I do remember his recollection of her response to it.

Found it, it was Tucker Carlson, and here is recollection from a Salon Article on Karen Hughes.

Carlson, a floppy-haired antagonist of progressives, wasn't supposed to be hard on Karen's man. In fact, in an interview with Salon last year, the CNN host said his wife was worried that his story might appear to be "sucking up." Bush, knowing Carlson's political predisposition, lifted the shades hiding his true beliefs and offered a clearer view of himself to the reporter. Carlson's story described how Bush swore freely and mocked condemned death-row inmate Karla Faye Tucker. He told Salon that he was astonished by how Hughes responded to his article in Talk.

"It was very, very hostile," Carlson said. "The reaction was: You betrayed us. Well, I was never there as a partisan to begin with. Then I heard that , Karen Hughes accused me of lying. And so I called Karen and asked her why she was saying this, and she had this almost Orwellian rap that she laid on me about how things she'd heard -- that I watched her hear -- she in fact had never heard, and she'd never heard Bush use profanity ever. It was insane. I've obviously been lied to a lot by campaign operatives, but the striking thing about the way she lied was she knew I knew she was lying, and she did it anyway. There is no word in English that captures that. It almost crosses over from bravado into mental illness."

Here's the article, that has a lot of other nutty stories about Karen Hughes. --> http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2004/05/13/karen/index.html

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[swag]

5. The "Dan Quayle of Feminism" strikes again

[mitchum]

43. LOL!!!

Perfect :)

[saracat]

6. What a digustingly warped perception!

Is this supposed to be know thy enemy? I'm not shooting the messenger.I just find this article personally offensive. The implies succeptibility of women and and the implication of what we would find admirable is nauseating! Why should anyone read this? Other than to be offended?

[Media_Lies_Daily]

7. Why are you posting this crap?

[dumpster_baby]

9. Why am I f*cking posting this???!!

Because I myself have pointed out some of the same things here at DU over the past month!

Search my past DU posts about the Rove-cooking-bacon story and the bush-submits-before-laura-at-the-copter photo. I have been saying this for a month. THe Bush campaign is using visual imagery and female-appeal to win this goddamn campaign, and I hope to make sure the Kerry campaign knows about it.

[saracat]

15. And it doesn't occur to you that the women who would be swayed by

by such techiniques wouldn't vote for Kerry anyway? This only shores up the female "moron factor " of his base. I don't think this affects us in the least!

[dumpster_baby]

18. ohh, mannnn....

....Be-LEEVE me, these tactics ARE WORKING!

[Media_Lies_Daily]

24. Oh, please. Take your brand of "female troubles" and....

...do a one-and-a-half gainer into the dumpster from whence you came!

[saracat]

25. They are if you believe this! You obviously have a low opinion of

women voters!

[Career Prole]

16. Might have mentioned that in your original post, then...

...and a lot less of the B.S. article.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

23. Did you say that in your original post?? No, you did NOT.....

And to be honest, it is EXTREMELY unlikely that I would have read ANY of your previous posts if this is an example of what concerns you the most about this election.

And why do you think this is going to be of any concern to ANYONE in the Kerry campaign, or anyone else for that matter??

[Cronus Protagonist]

35. Yeah, and the creepy hand-around-the-neck shots were what?

Loving embraces? Or were they more symbolic of a dominant male forcing a woman around against her will?

Cherry picking some pics and ignoring others isn't a good way to make a point, IMHO.

http://brainbuttons.com/home.asp?stashid=13

[liveoaktx]

8. NO women I know are voting for Bush, they think he's a creep

They have no respect for Laura the Lump, and when Karen Hughes called the pro-choice people terrorists, they thought she looked like a nutjob.

The only women that I think will be voting for Bush will be the downtrodden Stepford Wives who step and fetch for their angry white husbands.

[dumpster_baby]

11. Oh. None that you know of are voting for W?

OK, whew! I was worried there for a little bit. Thanks for assuaging my fears...

[liveoaktx]

30. Cut the crap

If you're trying to make a point by posting that bogus article, then respecting other's viewpoints might make you get more headway.

[yardwork]

19. Unfortunately, I know several women who are voting for *

and they think along the lines of this article. It's disgusting, but it's real. These women are so filled with hate, bitterness, fear, and the need to find a strong "male" figure to cower beneath, they willingly parrot anything the Rove-machine tells them to say.

This does not mean that they are actually influenced by the rhetoric. There's a difference between parroting a smear and actually believing it.

The women I know who support * have serious personality disorders to begin with. It's very unlikely that any rational argument would influence their vote, which arises from pure lizard-brain emotion.

[Barney Rocks]

26. this is terribly sad.

Perhaps they need a sign--women with severe personality disorders for Bush. Oh well, I still feel confident that most women will vote for Kerry.

[okieinpain]

10. there is truth in this article, this is a campaign of images, not

substance. the american people are being sold a leader. you know you can make a kia look like a Mercedes.

[PittLib]

12. Now, this pisses me off ...

a co-worker and I were talking about this the other day, that our mothers both bash Hillary and Teresa (mine says that they're only about themselves, which I find ironic - considering what a narcissist she is). My mother is a one issue conservative (fiscal) and hers is a democrat. Now, both women (mothers) are independent and intelligent and modern ... so what gives? Can someone please explain this phenomenon to me? Is it resentment, envy, some kind of unconscious insecurity issue? What? :shrug:

[saracat]

17. Sorry. They "aren't" intelligent!

[UdoKier]

13. I think Kerry shopould take this under advisement...

I have seen Theresa's cookie recipes in magazines, so I don't think they're totally ignoring that audience, but they could certainly do a bit better.

Theresa's very interesting and likeable, and smart. Sure, she is different - all the more reason to get her out there, so people can get comfortable with her.

And it is a good idea to work women's issues into the rhetoric more.

Just because the campaign manager is a woman doesn't mean she isn't vulnerable to tunnel vision like everyone else.

Anyway. I disagree with the premise that they are doing a "bad" job on this, but they can always do better...

[Barney Rocks]

14. women HATE

Bush. I admit that it is true that the Republicans try to use lots of imagery and stuff to combat that--but I do NOT believe that it works on anyone. I don't see how any woman could like Bush. (or Karen Hughes) Does anyone really believe it when they say that Rove cooks up breakfast for a woman? Come on, get real. If I ever met a woman stupid enough to believe this I would hurl all over her.

[yardwork]

20. See post #19 above

Hurling is exactly what I feel like doing.

[dumpster_baby]

21. have you got enough vomit for most women in America?

Cuz I bet most people just read the damn article just for entertainment value. They don't think all that much about it. You know, MOST people are not as interested in politics as we are. That is why this crap is working.

[Barney Rocks]

27. I think these idiots

would inspire as much vomit as needed. Women need to be smarter than this. If it were up to the Republicans they would probably lose their vote.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

28. "Most women in America"??? Please. Do the math, dumpster...

...not even the most fraudulent political polls claim to be polling EVERY woman in America.

[HEIL PRESIDENT GOD]

39. Yes BUT...

Aren't the Republicans you know much more likely to be married than the Democrats? And don't they have authoritarian households where politics is the "men's sphere"? And aren't the women so insecure as to latch on instantly to something (Hughes, Pickles) that gives them identity while not forcing them to disobey their "master and commander"?

Yes it is UTTERLY sickening, but it's out there. I wonder how many Republicans' wives break ranks in the polling booths, though...

[Barney Rocks]

46. I don't personally

know anyone with an "authoritarian household" where politics is the men's sphere. I am sure that some of these households exist--but they are not in my social sphere. It is a very strange and alien way to live to me. Like being back in the 1890's. I can't imagine that very many Repug men can get away with running a household like this in 2004?

[HEIL PRESIDENT GOD]

57. On the one hand...

I wish I could agree with you. On the other hand, I know far too many "liberated" women who eschew the news as "too depressing" and parrot their partners' opinions. Many more women like this than men, in my experience.

Remember, most of the oppressed don't know they're oppressed.... When they do, it's called "revolution".

[Barney Rocks]

59. Very True.

I don't doubt that they exist, it is just that when I think of the women that I know personally, I can't think of one that would stand for it. My mother was a fairly traditional housewife (she took pride in making delicious meals and keeping the house clean--yes--she really did consider that her "job" and she wanted to do it well) but if my father had of tried to tell her what to THINK or how to vote--well he would have gotten a size five shoe right up his ass. And all of us (including him) knew it.

[yellowcanine]

22. "I was actually an adviser on women’s issues for the Gore campaign."

This is all you need to know about Naomi Wolfe. IMO her advice hurt Gore more than it helped. Wasn't she the one advising him to dress in earth tones? I hope the Kerry campaign doesn't take her seriously. The "Kerry is losing the women's vote" mantra is mostly based on flawed polls that over sample older Republican women anyway - you know darn well women in the 18-25 bracket aren't favoring Bush.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

29. That's the one! I wouldn't hire her to tell me what color....

...the sky is...I'm afraid she would tell me every color but "blue".

[cally]

40. She's the one...and surprise it was leaked all over the press

Was she helping Gore or herself? She did more to hurt Gore than many others.

[Catt03]

31. Sorry to tell you but I HAVE met these women

A couple women I know will vote for Bush no matter what, because they truly believe that he will keep them safe from a terrorist. Another, because she likes that rough and cowboy kinda guy she sees Bush as being.

Other than those little bits, Wolf has a point about Karen Hughes. Bush appears to really depend on her. She's tough, aggressive and in your face. Just like Mom Barbara. I noticed that the campaign changed when she came on board. It got even nastier and more grotesque in image and content.

I think instead of taking it personnaly, we as women, should know that she is manipulating those that get their soundbites without doing much reading or investigation. And, as for the men, she have will marginalize you, or worse, in the blink of an eye if it will help and/or protect Bush.

[Catt03]

32. I KNOW these women too

A couple women I know will vote for Bush no matter what, because they truly believe that he will keep them safe from a terrorist. Another, because she likes that rough and cowboy kinda guy she sees Bush as being.

Other than those little bits, Wolf has a point about Karen Hughes. Bush appears to really depend on her. She's tough, aggressive and in your face. Just like Mom Barbara. I noticed that the campaign changed when she came on board. It got even nastier and more grotesque in image and content.

I think instead of taking it personnaly, we as women, should know that she is manipulating those that get their soundbites without doing much reading or investigation. And, as for the men, she have will marginalize you, or worse, in the blink of an eye if it will help and/or protect Bush.

[bobbyboucher]

38. Why are you repeating your post with different subject lines?

Inquiring minds want to know.

[dumpster_baby]

33. Wolf is doing us a service here

Americans in general are getting fairly media savvy. By pointing out this type of media manipulation, she is in small part undoing its effects. I know that I myself was won over from the Right by reading analyses of rightwing/neoliberal media manipulations.

Don't worry--I do NOT think Bush is going to win. There are so many concerned liberals that our turnout will win it for us.

But he is a bit ahead right now, and knowing WHY he is ahead can only help.

[noiretextatique]

48. New Poll Shows 17 Point Gender Gap in Presidential Election

something tells me it's not "us" she's attempting to help.

New Poll Shows 17 Point Gender Gap in Presidential Election
Women Swing Voters Remain Uncommitted

August 13, 2004—A new EMILY's List poll finds a 17-point gender gap between men and women voters' presidential preferences, with women favoring John Kerry and men supporting George W. Bush.

The poll also finds that women "swing" voters—who are 32% of all women voters and 17% of the electorate—favor George Bush over John Kerry. However, these voters are more likely to say their support is "less than definite."

good news...sort of....then there's this:

Women are Key Undecided Voters
Women Outnumber Men Among Undecideds

July 23, 2004—More women than men are undecided about who they will vote for in the presidential election, a review of recent national and state polls shows:

* Women are 65% of undecided voters nationwide, according to the George Washington University’s Battleground 2004 Poll conduced June 20-23 (n=1,000) by Lake, Snell, Perry & Associates and the Tarrance Group. Contact: Lake, Snell, Perry & Associates.



http://www.votesforwomen2004.org/gender.htm

[dumpster_baby]

49. you just helped make my point for me!

Look at the date on that old poll....

[noiretextatique]

52. wolf is still full of it...the gender gap still favors democrats

though most undecideds are female. and the real point...that B.S. wolf is peddling is no more relevant than peggy noonan's idiotic pap.

[SheWhoMustBeObeyed]

34. Naomi Wolf is a very flawed thinker

She is a pretentious faux-feminist who is notorious for trying to make a gender-wide case based on her own experiences.

As Meghan O'Rourke said about Wolf's sexual-harrassment charges against Yale professor Harold Bloom, "She makes a dangerous extrapolation from the personal to the political—but the personal undermines the cause that is the pretext for writing the piece in the first place."

Full story at http://slate.msn.com/id/2096152/

In an excellent piece published in 2001 in Washington Monthly, Stephanie Mencimer writes:

"The problem, of course, was that Wolf's analysis was based largely on her own experiences, which she posited as representative of women elsewhere, a flawed premise that explains much of the criticism directed against her. The Beauty Myth, for instance, seems to have grown out of what Wolf claims was her own case of anorexia in the 1970s, when she was 12 and started starving herself after a kid at the water fountain teased her about her weight ('I almost lost my life to anorexia,' she once told a reporter.) ....as has become her trademark, Wolf has created a dramatic meta-narrative out of her life and grafted it onto larger society. She has taken ordinary events -- the universals of female experience -- and written them like a Harlequin romance, imbuing each event with deeper symbolism and political meaning. The result is that Wolf seems sometimes like a sillier Sylvia Plath -- self-obsessed and highly overwrought."

More at http://www.alternet.org/story/11915

Naomi Wolf married a Clinton speechwriter, and it's very likely that fact had more to do with her position as an advisor than her precision in assessing what women think and want. I view any writing sporting her byline with deep distrust.

[noiretextatique]

44. 'flawed thinker'...that's very generous of you

i just call her a dimwit :7 thanks for the links...i think they hit the nail of the head.

[SheWhoMustBeObeyed]

47. lol!

:D

Someone gave me "Beauty Myth" as a gift and I couldn't even finish it...sold it on eBay and felt guilty for passing along such claptrap, but hey, a buck's a buck.

[Neecy]

36. this article is SO incredibly patronizing

As a woman, why on earth would I give two shits that Laura Bush wears 'jewel tones'? Would this really sway my vote? Or would the fact that Laura wants to take away my right to choose, or opposes stem cell research, or married a murdering insane warmonger carry more weight with me when I go to my polling place?

I know very few women feather-headed enough to let the color of someone's outfit influence them - period.

[noiretextatique]

55. wolf, literally, can't see beyond her own skin

her article is (literally) about women just like her...white, priviledged, neo-conservative, married, etc.
she's not talking about BLACK women, for example, who favor kerry 8:1 over bush.

[theboss]

37. I think Wolf is being a little emotional

But I do think she makes a decent point about Teresa. I personally think she is awesome, but she is so different than any other political wife (including Hillary) that we have seen. Her "otherness" may be hard for voters to deal with - whether it's her accent, her wealth, her outspokenness, her still obvious deep love for her deceased husband, or a combination of them all.

And I do think woman tend to be harder on outspoken woman than men are. My mother and grandmother absolutely adore Bill Clinton but still harbor deep doubts about Hillary. I'm not quite sure why that is.

[noiretextatique]

41. wolf is a dimwit

who doesn't seem to know it...just like her pal, camille paglia.

[mitchum]

42. Why would anyone take advice from that huckster Naomi Wolf?

[VaYallaDawg]

45. Karen Hughes

always looks like a woman dressed up like a man dressed up like a woman to me.

[BlueNomad]

50. yeah!!!

Remember that movie with Angie Dickinson and Michael Caine--was it Dressed to Kill (Brian DePalma??)Yeah well she looks like a woman dressed up like Michael Caine dressed up as a woman ready to kill women in elevator..yeah...

Anyway, Laura Bush gives me the willies. She is the Ms. Umbridge of Harry Potter Number 5...and Hughes is just creepy. Not to be rude, but her hands creep me out...

[Larkspur]

51. The real women's gap is between married women vs single women

single women of all races are more likely to vote Democrat and for Kerry than white, married women. Naomi doesn't mention that. Of course, married woman vote in larger numbers than single women and that could explain the poll numbers.

[Swamp Rat]

53. Naomi Wolf is an alien lizard just like Karen Hughes.

[robbedvoter]

54. Propaganda disguised as news - with polls and pablum like this

Rather than say: "Women, please vote for W cuz his wife is less uppity than Kerry" they "report": Women are known to like to be barefoot and pregnant and dominated by rednecks who call them "lumps in the bed" and are swayed by Laura's bad taste in clothing". It's a "fact", and can be posted as such by people with dumpster in their handles or "reported" by hacks like Katherine O'Seelye.
Of course, anyone who watched the demographics of past elections know women are the most progressive segment of population.

[progressivebydesign]

56. Talking Point For the Week: Kerry losing with women. BULLSHIT!

How MANY articles have we seen this week? I guess this meme was this week's toy in the GOP Happy-fucking-Meal. It's almost an embarrasment how coordinated they are with this shit.. either that, or people who write these things are the most unimaginative, lazy, people in the media.

[dumpster_baby]

58. Wolf has a way with words: Elizabeth is a "mom-shaped stealth missile"

Whatever flaws this piece might have, you gotta admit she has a way with words...

"In Elizabeth Edwards, the Democrats finally have a down-to-earth, appealing mom-messenger to bring the swing voters home. Funny and family-oriented, aware of the struggles of middle-class working moms, she is even the size of the average American woman. She alone can counteract the urbane wealth of Teresa Heinz Kerry, who reads as being so unmaternal that her denying the small, scared Edwards child his thumb resonated nationally. Yet where is the mom-shaped stealth missile Mrs. Edwards now? Instead of presenting the Kerry-Edwards family-friendly policies and domestic security on Oprah, Mrs. Edwards has disappeared."

I can only hope that they are holding back Elizabeth, to spring her at the end when she can have the most effect.

I also think there is NO DOUBT that the GOP targeted appeal to women has worked. I do not know exactly how to counter that, but I sure hope someone in the Kerry camp does know how.