Sunday, August 2, 2009

Cokie Roberts: 'Men Are Just Lesser Beings'

Uh, sure, if you say so. Men, the obese, and gay folks, the last acceptable targets of discrimination?

Why is it acceptable for Cokie Roberts to make a dumbass statement like this, but if a man were to say the same thing about women, he would be fired?

Cokie Roberts: 'Men Are Just Lesser Beings'

Photo of Tim Graham.

In the "First Person Singular" interview in The Washington Post Magazine on Sunday, ABC and NPR news analyst Cokie Roberts expressed her female chauvinism loud and clear: "Men are just lesser beings." Strangely, her extreme take on the sexes came right after she proclaimed she was in the common-sense middle of political opinion:

I think that often where I am is just in the middle. The middle is often the common-sensical place to be. The notion that one side is right and one side is wrong is generally, as one finds in life, not the case. Women tend to be a lot more common-sensical than men are. In fact, when the Mark Sanford thing broke, I went tearing into my husband's office and said, "Okay, that's it. Women just are better. Men are just lesser beings." He couldn't argue at that point.

Her husband, former New York Times reporter Steve Roberts, might have noted that a woman was enabling Sanford to cheat on his wife. Or he could have matched Sanford with a female politician like Monica Conyers (wife of the House Judiciary Committee chairman), who just resigned from the Detroit City Council after pleading guilty to bribery charges.

This isn't a slip of the tongue. Cokie also said women are better in agreeing with Sonia Sotomayor. If a man said something this flat-out sexist, would he face suspension from his network duties? David Shuster might have been suspended for less for suggesting Chelsea Clinton was being "pimped out" by her mother's campaign.

One might understand her saying something like that to her husband as she watched the Mark Sanford spectacle, but then to repeat it on nation television shows poor judgment at best, and sexism at worst. She should be soundly reprimanded by her network, but will she?


3 comments:

Karilen said...

Wow, why am I surprised by this?

Anonymous said...

I support men's rights. Men are wonderful. But I'm a feminist, and you should be too. The fact that we have yet to have a female president, that there's STILL a pay gap, that women STILL do more of the housework than men, that Afgani girls have ACID thrown in their faces just for trying to go to school, that women are treated like useless sex objects you can just throw away - look at ANY magazine, women's or men's -- all this is disgusting, and yet it's real. So yeah, don't bash feminism, or women, unless these problems go away. Thanks.

Brandon said...

Hello

We all should be feminist is that what you are saying ? Men are dropping out of our society and there are several reasons for it. There IS a pay gap but NOT in favor of men. Useless sex objects ? Try overrated fat chicks that can cry sex harassment or discrimination at a moments notice and are immediately believed over men. Men are rebelling in the only ways that are available to them. One is refusal to marry and it's having a BEAUTIFUL effect on our society. Just wait till this thing get's a full head of steam ! This thing called feminism will be brought to it's knee's.