The XX Factor: Slate women blog about politics, etc...

Bitches and Polls

I agree with Dahlia and Emily that gender is a big part of it for many of the Hillary hatas out there. A while back I mentioned a study that suggests we see "manly women" as "pretenders," which does seem to suggest that lots of us murkily associate not toeing-the-gender script with phoniness. Meanwhile, I don't think the media's new focus on "gender" is working out that well for Hillary; it seems like she polled better when we weren't contantly being reminded that she is a... woman and her competitors are.... men. A new CBS/New York Times poll of "likely Iowa voters" shows Obama and Edwards closing on her, with 25 percent saying they'd vote for Hillary, 23 percent going to Edwards, and 22 percent for Obama. (Statistically insignificant margin, but it's intriguing that Edwards is equal with Obama.) Even so, I'm not sure this poll tells us anything substantial.

As for John McCain, Dahlia: Sure, he should have said, "Let's not use that word" before he went on to answer the woman's question. But I can't get too worked up about his response; what's really at stake in this campaign has nothing to do with whether McCain tolerated the word "bitch." I'm increasingly finding it tedious to watch politicians being taken to task for small gaffes while weighty issues go largely unexamined.