I apologize in advance for this short diary, but I think you'll agree it's worth the click. I was reading the lovely hit piece on Sarah Palin that Watertiger linked this morning, and found the following poll on the same page:
Who is the most powerful woman in the G.O.P.?
Sarah Palin
Barbara Bush
Carly Fiorina
Laura Bush
Condoleezza Rice
Susan Collins
Ann Coulter
Olympia Snowe
Liz Cheney
Elizabeth Dole
Meghan McCain
Wow, just wow. How bad do you think the author wanted to add a "other/none of the above" to that list of options? I'd love to go down the list in order and provide exhaustive objections to each one, but I think the objections (or punchlines) should be obvious to even casual readers here so I won't waste your time with detail.
Palin- really? Bar- I could actually believe this one, but I would think this country is pretty sick of Bush-league political thoughts for now, and I would hate to pollute your beautiful minds with ugly thoughs. Carly- Why is running a company into the ground thought to be a qualifying skill for Republican leadership? Laura- um, ha ha ha ha ha ha HA HA ha. She may be the only one of these people who has actually killed a man, but that's not a strong selling point. Condi- I should think Condi would want to keep her head down in the hopes that all the folks talking about prosecuting war crimes would forget all about her. Collins, Snowe, and Dole why are they even on this list? Did it look bad that the editors couldn't even come up with ten? Why not Meg Whitman or Maria Schriver? oh well, you go to poll with the losers you have... Coulter - if a felon and advocate for terrorism is the GOP's strongest female leader... Liz - when "power" is measured in terms of time on TV, Liz is probably the clear winner here. But that doesn't mean that anyone actually gives a damn what she thinks about anything. Meghan- who? No really, who?
If this is the best the GOP can do, the only thing left to decide is whether this is part of the reason the party is dying, or if it's just another symptom.
Go over to VF, check out their poll, and let them know which of these doughty warriors will carry the banner forward for women in the GOP...