Tsk Tsk, Nancy

Democratic House Minority Leader and would-be Speaker Nancy Pelosi was just on Meet the Press. I'm not a big fan of hers, and it wasn't a great performance overall for her, but what really pissed me off was when she used the line "maybe it will take a woman to clean up the House."

OK I know politics is all about catchphrases and buzzwords these days, but really do we need to be using that mental image? Of Nancy in apron, holding feather duster, buffing to a high-gloss shine? It would be great to have a Democratic majority and a female Speaker, don't get me wrong, but I have a big problem with using the justification that those two things should come about BECAUSE she's a woman. That's only the flip side of the argument that certain people shouldn't rise to a position because they are women. Then throwing in the gender stereotype about women being the ones who should be doing the housework, well, why didn't she just say "a woman Speaker can cook up some good legislation" or "it takes a female Speaker to give birth to new ideas."

I guess I should be grateful she didn't overtly remind the audience that she has a vagina.