Buzzfeed digs up the fabulous op-ed that Republican vice-pretzeldental nominee and Indiana Gov. Mike Pence wrote in 1999 condemning Disney's animated film Mulan—for being a "liberal" attempt by Disney to push the idea of wommenfolk in our military.
“Despite her delicate features and voice, Disney expects us to believe that Mulan’s ingenuity and courage were enough to carry her to military success on an equal basis with her cloddish cohorts,” wrote Pence. “Obviously, this is Walt Disney’s attempt to add childhood expectation to the cultural debate over the role of women in the military.”
Ooooh, yeah. That's the stuff. He then went on to note that the Tailhook assaults prove having wommenfolk in our military will never work: It. Is. Awesome.
From the original “Tailhook” scandal involving scores of high ranking navy fighter pilots who molested subordinate women to the latest travesty at Aberdeen Proving Grounds, the hard truth of our experiment with gender integration is that is has been an almost complete disaster for the military and for many of the individual women involved. When Indiana Congressman Steve Buyer was appointed to investigate the Aberdeen mess, he shocked the public with the revelation that young, nubile, 18 year old men and women were actually being HOUSED together during basic training. Whatever bone head came up with this idea should be run out of this man’s Army before sundown. Housing, in close quarters, young men and women (in some cases married to non-military personnel) at the height of their physical and sexual potential is the height of stupidity. It is instructive that even in the Disney film, young Ms. Mulan falls in love with her superior officer!
Yes, that is instructive.
Gov. Mike Pence was a hard-right conservative radio jock at the time, because absolutely everybody in conservative politics either got their start being a loudmouthed hard-right radio host and/or ended up that way after leaving office again. It's apparently a requirement of the movement now, and he was clearly up to the task.
Just to bring us back 'round again: You might note that last night's Republican convention lineup featured, among others, Republican senator and female combat veteran Joni Ernst. Republicans are enormously proud of her combat veteran status, even though a good chunk of her party still believes that her presence in uniform was an affront to all the manly menfolk who had to keep not assaulting her and whatnot. Let’s go out on a limb and suppose that the convention-runners have planned things out so that the two of them never have to be in the same room together.
That awkwardness aside, let's hope that as Trump’s running mate Gov. Mike Pence will tell us more about his theories on the nubile young men and women in the military. To hell with his convention speech, in fact—throw it out! We should demand Gov. Mike Pence instead spend his time regaling us with his theories about nubile young men and women in the military.
The Republican Party—this Republican Party—deserves nothing less.