That is, she dresses like a professional, and she has an unyielding commitment to a rigid ideology. But, because Bachmann is a woman, and women are delicate flowers with a singular capacity for decorating the world by being pretty and subservient, this means she is "something of a contradiction" according to a piece in the WaPo headlined: "Michele Bachmann's ladylike toughness." Yiiiiiiiiiikes. It gets worse in the subhead: "Michele Bachmann is something of a contradiction. She dresses in ladylike suits and pearls, but as The Washington Post's Sarah Kaufman describes, she delivers her tough views with no hesitation."
You'd think a paper as robust as the Washington Post would have heard the breaking news by now that women are human beings and the year is 2011.
Text Onscreen: Washington Post.Grim stuff.
Sarah Kaufman in voiceover, over drawing of Rep. Michele Bachmann: Don't let the delicate appearance fool you—there is nothing weak about Michele Bachmann.
Video of Bachmann during debate: —I will go over to the Department of Education, and I'd turn out the lights, I'd lock the door—
Kaufman, onscreen: In fact, what strikes me most about the Minnesota Congresswoman is how tightly wound she is. [over video and stills of Bachmann] She's something of a contradiction: The way she dresses in ladylike suits and pearls emphasizes her femininity and her small stature, and yet her outlook is super macho. She has tougher views than almost any of the men on the debate stage. She delivers them with no hesitation.
Video of Bachmann during debate: If I were president, I would be willing to use waterboarding.
Kaufman, over video of Bachmann: Her stage presence is all about steeliness, resolve, and absolute certainty. The downside is: Will she listen to any views other than her own? Can she empathize? She may look like one of the ladies who lunch, but the impression she gives is that, inside, she's solid, hard, and unbending.
Anyone who finds it "striking" that a conservative woman—or any woman seeking national election—feels obliged to out-macho the men, in a nation where funding war is prioritized over funding healthcare and women comprise only 16% of the Congress, has no business covering politics.
Nor does anyone who pretends to find it striking, in order to levy a misogynist attack rife with dog whistles against a female candidate.
Contact the Washington Post ombudsman here.
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