In the first lesson on how to play the Shame & Blame Game in America's political culture you were introduced to the rather easily played and simple to use Race Card.
The race card is typically played by white liberals against white conservatives so that white liberals can feel superior.
In this lesson we'll look at an example of a hand that is almost always played by women and their male supporters against other males.
Mass Attorney General Martha
Coakley (AP photo)
The leader of the pack of Democrats pursuing the Edward M. Kennedy-franchised senate seat in Massachusetts is Attorney General Martha Coakley.
It's almost painful to watch how, in a Boston Globe article, "Coakley has women on her side in Senate race," everyone studiously dances away from the charge of sexism while simultaneously stressing her sex
The article pointedly points out that Coakley is "trying to become the first woman to serve as US senator from Massachusetts" and that she is being backed by a "coterie of powerful women" even as that same coterie busily practices its fancy "not sounding sexist" footwork.
Senate President Therese Murray, for example, "will join dozens of politically active women in helping Coakley launch a major push for women voters" and then hastily fox trots away with, "But it won’t be enough to get her elected.’’
The other three candidates for the Dem party nomination are also courting women voters, assuming the word "courting" isn't considered sexist:
US Rep Michael Capuano, City Year cofounder Alan Khazei, and Celtics co-owner Stephen Pagliuca are eagerly boasting that they too have women supporters.
Mass Rep Michael Capuano
(AP Photo/Mary Schwalm, File)
Capuano claims the backing of a former state senator and several state reps. Khazei has the endorsement of a county sheriff. Third runner-up Pagliuca not only plays the "disadvantaged children" card but also asserts that his campaign "would resonate with women."
It was Coakley supporter Therese Murray who finally broke down and played the sexist trump card. She accused Capuano of being sexist for calling Coakley "cautious."
‘‘You all have these little code words; now it’s cautious,’’ Murray charged.
So "cautious" is a "little code word" for "sexist."
(Apparently nobody noticed that referring to male political opponents as "You all" which sounds suspiciously like the racist's "You people" may also be "sexist.")
In a follow-up Globe article, "Capuano attacks front-runner Coakley," Capuano seemed as surprised as anyone about the change in status of the "cautious" word: “I don’t think the average person thinks the use of the word cautious to describe generic candidates is a sexist term."
But as strong as the sexist card is, it can be blunted by a clever counter-play.
Just as the race card can be offset by having a black colleague testify on behalf of a racist-accused white person, so a female can be used to attest to a male's non-sexist status.
Capuano played his "sexist" trump card trump card. Per the article, "He said his wife, Barbara, laughed when she heard the charge."
So your homework assignment for this lesson is: How many politically expedient weasel words can you find for "sexist?"
For libertarians, of course, being "cautious" about freedom has no gender bias; it simply describes about 99.99% of today's political hacks, male and female.
In any case, award yourselves ten points for each new sexist weasel word you can conjure up.
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