Why Angry Old Men Calling a Meeting to Yell at a Woman is a Spectacular Failure

[pnwmom]

http://theslot.jezebel.com/why-angry-old-men-calling-a-meeting-to-yell-at-a-woman-1738194096?utm_campaign=socialflow_jezebel_facebook&utm_source=jezebel_facebook&utm_medium=socialflow

Twice in recent weeks, we’ve gotten to watch hotly anticipated Congressional hearings, in which mostly male Republican members got the chance to grill powerful women who had upset them. In both cases, those members of Congress ended up looking like damn fools. How’d that happen?

There are lots of good reasons why neither the #Benghazi squad yelling at Hillary Clinton nor the House Oversight Committee yelling at Planned Parenthood CEO Cecile Richards worked out particularly well for Congress. Some of it stems from the fact that both hearings were show trials, a purely partisan effort to show the folks back home how erectly principled their conservative principles are. But there’s also a visual, theatrical reason: watching a body composed predominantly of white men shout at, interrupt, and harangue a dignified, composed woman has always been a bad look, and in 2015, it’s one the public will no longer accept.

We’ll spare you the mind-numbing indignity of watching the entire 11-hour ordeal, but as a case in point for how yesterday’s hearing was a particular flaming dumpster, let’s watch this long but instructive exchange between Rep. Jim Jordan and Clinton. Jordan has long accused Clinton of pushing a “false narrative” on the Benghazi attacks, saying she knew that day they were terrorist actions, but falsely tried to attribute them to spontaneous protests in response to an anti-Muslim video.

SNIP

Then, when he finally piped down, she went in, calmly and deliberately, while Jordan looked at his notes, at the audience, at his lap, anywhere but at Clinton. She started by icily offering to send him a copy of her memoir so he could familiarize himself what she’d actually done in the days and weeks following the attack. Then, and not for the last time that day, she accused him of impugning the reputations of military and intelligence personnel who responded and investigated.

SNIP

[yeoman6987]

1. Why old? They are all younger then she is.

[pnwmom]

2. They're antiquated in their belief systems, at any rate. Their heads are stuck in the 50's. n/t

[Enrique]

4. and why white?

she's white too.

They did the same thing to Bill Clinton, who was white and male. So this stuff about going after Obama because he's black, and after Hillary because she's a woman, rings false.

[pnwmom]

5. Their whiteness makes them a part of the white male power structure.

The optics of members of this group ganging up on a woman is obvious, no matter what the woman's race.

And who is her champion? An African American.

As to how you can conclude that Obama's race didn't affect their treatment of him . .. . wow. You are amazingly supportive of that racist, sexist gang of thieves.

[WinkyDink]

6. What country do you live in? Remember Anita Hill? The FBI's treatment of Monica? "KENYA"?

If you think neither misogyny nor race enters into the machinations of Republicans, I fear you are sadly mistaken.

[Liberal_in_LA]

3. REMEMBER BENGHAZI FOOTED PAJAMAS

REMEMBER BENGHAZI FOOTED PAJAMAS

?color=Pink&height=460&width=460&qv=90

http://www.cafepress.com/+remember_benghazi_footed_pajamas,1054904666

[Vinca]

7. The best is yet to come.

Now they want "Benghazi-like" hearings for Planned Parenthood. The same old farts will giddily discuss the private parts of young women everywhere. They don't believe in science, but they all seem to have gynecology as a hobby.