Erick Erickson Not a Fan of Women Talking

The Democratic National Convention might seem a bit boring, considering the low chance of cranky old men lecturing empty chairs, but never fear, connoisseurs of right-wing nuttery. If you let your eyes drift away from the stage to the reactions of conservative pundits, many howlers are still to be found. As with the Republican convention, the focus of the DNC is on getting female voters to the polls. Which means that expectations of seeing highly insecure dudes descend into hysterical bouts of sexism at the mere thought of Democrats running on a platform promoting women’s equality are at a record high. First out of the gate, the always-dependable Erick Erickson, RedState.com editor and CNN contributor, who tweeted this: He later non-apologized: “Sorry you were offended” is well-known code for “I stand by every word, but am sorry that not everyone agrees with me.” Which is appropriate in some cases, such as when what you said makes sense, but in this particular case a more thorough apology is called for. “Sorry that I think my audience is stupid enough not to notice that my objection to letting women speak didn’t extend to the RNC, which featured many female speakers,” would be a good start. “Sorry that I need to believe half the human race has nothing of value to add in order to feel good about myself,” is another, more appropriate apology. But this is just the opening shot and we have two more days ahead of this stuff. For instance, Sandra Fluke’s speech is still in the future. I fear Bill O’Reilly may not survive witnessing a Known Female Fornicator on stage. He’s spent the past week making it very clear he longs for the days when single women known to do it were considered too toxic to be allowed to walk among respectable people. In his various entertaining rants, he’s called contraception a “lifestyle expense,” rhetorically framing premarital sex amongst adults as a boutique kink like BDSM. He’s in so much shock that Democrats would let a woman living the scandalous lifestyle of an engaged law student on stage that he’s suggested that she be pelted with condoms instead of the traditional balloons of a political convention. One of the major goals of the Democrats this week is impressing upon women that voting Democrat is a vote for their best interests. For that reason, I hope they’re considering sending bouquets of thank you flowers to men like Erickson and O’Reilly, who make the point for them.