COMMENTARY | The attempt by the left to create a "war on women" by their enemies on the right has backfired and turned into a "war by women" launched against left wing misogyny. It is one of the best examples of political blowback in a long time.
The latest salvo has been fired by two unlikely combatants in the ongoing conflict, in response to serial offender Bill Maher's plaintiff plea for everyone to lighten up about people being offensive in the New York Times. Penny Lee and Kirsten Powers, both Democrats, penned a letter to the New York Times suggesting Maher be a man, go on bended knee and apologize for his sins. Powers had previously written a column calling out a number of liberal men for their hatred of conservative women.
The most hated (by liberals) conservative woman of them all, Sarah Palin, gleefully posted a "you go girls!" message on her Facebook page. Artfully, the lady from Wasilla noted Lee and Powers hail from Alaska and suggested the women on the Last Frontier on Earth do not tolerate being put down by the likes of Maher.
Indeed the sort of manly men who fish, hunt and do other manly things in Alaska do not feel the need to puff themselves up by trash talking women. Palin wryly imagines people like Maher trying to survive in Alaska, working on a fishing boat or flying a float plane. Perhaps, Palin speculates, people like Maher are trying to compensate for something missing in their lives.
She shoots. She scores.
Even in the 21st century, when women are doing all sorts of things from flying fighter jets to working on oil rigs, previously reserved to men, there is still a little room for gentlemanly (and ladylike) courtesy. Good manners are not condescension but rather an attitude of respect for others as human beings.
People like Maher have forgotten this ancient truth, if they ever knew it at all. That has come back to bite them and the people trying to make a political issue of a "war on women" out of thin air. The message to the left is: Sure there is a war on women and we wish you'd stop waging it.
