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    Blame the Victim

    Posted Friday, August 29, 2008 4:38 PM | By Hanna Rosin
    Dahlia, you direct your rage at The Man and The Media whereas mine goes in another direction. This is the game conservative women politicians have played forever: grab power but know just when to defer. If they play it exactly right, they can shield themselves from the disdain of the Rushes and Tuckers of the world. Sometimes they use the mommy card, or the good wife card, or just a few good tears. I remember in the early nineties writing about Enid Greene, one of the right wing warriors of the Gingrich generation whose campaign, it turned out, was mucked up in scandal. So when the time came to apologize, she just stood up onstage and wept, and talked about her baby daughter. Danielle Crittenden used to complain about women not using their husband's name (shes married to David Frum)  Ann Coulter and Laura Ingraham are masters at it. Palin could be photographed pointing a shotgun at Ted Stevens and no one would ever call her a ballbuster. She would just conveniently drop a diaper out of her purse, or blink those beauty queen browns, and that would be that. When I was younger, I used to rage at the hypocrisy of the Scarlett O'Hara strategy. But that was when I was sure it was doomed. Now, I just marvel at how successful its turned out to be. Maybe this is the Fourth Wave? 
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