Valerie Plame Wilson used her considerable intelligence and self-discipline to take on a CIA job that could have well cost her life to protect the American people from WMD.
Ally and friend of the Bush Administration, Fox News's John Gibson, called American patriot Plame Wilson "little wifey."
It's gotten a little bit of attention, but we could imagine a liberal opposition that would take these kind of hateful comments and attack them much more aggressively. Why isn't Ken Mehlman asked to comment on this piece of hate? Or Scott Mclellan in a press conference? We can't lose by emphasizing as much as possible the accomplished person whose life was ruined by Karl Rove, and who is still being attacked.
And we can't lose by emphasizing that the CIA operative who was outed is a member of a key swing demographic in the U.S.: a suburban, professional woman for whom the security of the United States is vitally important.
Is John Gibson's sexist rhetoric an aberration?
Of course not.
On the contrary, the very strategy of disclosing Wilson's "wife" is itself driven by the same sexist worldview that is demonstrated by Gibson.
The Republican right deliberately crafts a public image of machismo by verbally "emasculating" its critics and opponents. On a rhetorical level, this helps to maintain the myth that Republicans are strong on defense.
Although "academic feminism" has been occasionally derided on this site, it might be a good - and worthy -- tool to use as part of our arsenal in the Rove scandal.
How do we scramble the Republican sexist code?
Replacing "Joe Wilson's wife" with " WMD expert Valerie Plame Wilson" might be a start.
And how do our Republican women senators and representatives feel about supporting an administration whose members apparently think nothing of disrupting the important work of a highly skilled female public servant? How do they feel about belonging to a party whose friends and allies think of them as the "little wifey."
Let's ask senators:
Lisa Murkowski
Olympia Snow
Elizabeth Dole
Kay Bailey Hutchison
Susan Collins
And congresswomen:
Nancy Johnson
Ginny Brow-Waite
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen
Judy Biggert
Anne Northup
Candice Miller
Jo Ann Emerson
Sue Myrick
Heather Wilson
Sue Kelly.
A feminist attention to language is a tool sorely needed now.
