FarSky wrote:
Politics 101: If something embarrassing is said by your side, play it off as "just a gaff," and condemn critics by saying they're ignoring real issues by focusing on it. If it's said by someone on the other side, it's that person's true feelings exposed in a Freudian slip and will be immediately enacted into unconstitutional law, likely through some sort of arcane ceremony involving eyes of newt and virgin sacrifice.
Yes, this is quite true. In fact, it's really not unsurprising that the Democrats are making a big stink over this; it's a smart election-politics move for them. Were the situation reversed, the Republicans would no doubt be doing the same thing.
That said, "mysogeny" is in exactly the same place as "racism" in our society. Mild gaffes are treated as evidence that the gaffe-maker is some neanderthal hell-bent on declaring a "war on women", just like any racial sentiment that does not serve the purposes of the left/Democrats is leapt upon as evidence that the speaker has a white hood in his closet. This happens even when the sttement itself has no racial component but there's an excuse to attribute it to race, such as the "You LIE!!" outburst.
In many ways, the Republicans and the Right are to blme for both of these sentiments because they've rewarded it by going straight into defense/disavaowel/apology mode at the first sign of outrage from the left. What the Republicans should be doing t this point is just saying "Yes, this was a foolish, clumsy way of expressing an idea that's of questionable veracity to begin with [the idea that rape trauma stops successful pregnancy], but it is not 'scary', it does not mean we're going to do away with the rights of women or rape victims, or anything like that. Stop being absurd; this is a very minor issue."