Veep Preference Poll/Theory Conspiracy

[gottaB]

You may have seen the Kerry/Fonda banners that are cropping up on freepezoid sites. Yes, the wingnuts are falling all over themselves trying to associate John Kerry with Jane Fonda. And it makes sense. They need to appeal to that security mom nee soccer mom demographic that harbors a seething resentment against Jane Fonda--uh, whatever.

Poor freepers. They labor under the delusion that we librul Democrats are plotting to oust them from them power, to replace their old boy network with, oh, I don't know, women who speak their minds. In certain notorious cases, what we see is obviously a castration complex masquerading as political discourse. Go figure.

What the freepers haven't realized is that it's true. Not that they'll be castrated, of course. But there really is a vast left wing insurgency, with the Kerry/Fonda connection at the nexus of signifiers portending the downfall of the cabalistas. The key to unravelling the whole thing is feminist psychologist Carol Gilligan.

Gilligan is a recepient of the Fourth Annual Heinz Award in the Human Condition. The Chairman of the Heinz Awards Board of Directors is none other than Tereza Heinz, wife of Senator John Kerry. Gilligan is also responsible for bringing to the Harvard School of Education its largest endowment to date, $12.5 million, courtesy of none other than Jane Fonda (link).

Said Fonda, "I'm grateful to be able to do this for my sister, my friend, Carol Gilligan." Enough said. Piaget is spinning in his grave, no doubt. Nixon's gotta be apoplectic.

Fellow Democrats, don't judge me harshly. It was only a matter of time before Newsman Matt Drudge and his choirboys picked up on the story and brought it to the national consciousness.

Now that the cat's out of the bag, we shouldn't run away from it. On the contrary, we may as well announce our intentions to bonk on the Elephants' heads with feminisms and other liberations. No matter who we support for president, we can all get behind the effort to put forward a feminist theorist for vice president, and really scare the pants off of those wingnuts. We are *so* not afraid of them.

So, without any more ado, which feminist theorist do you want to see on the ticket?

[democratreformed]

1. Who?

My ignorance is clearly showing.

[LWolf]

3. Mine, too.

I've never heard of any of them.

[democratreformed]

9. Whew! I feel better now. LOL. n/t

[gottaB]

12. I do delight in the arcane

Not the wisest way to do politics. That would be one reason to stick with film stars....

Jane Fonda?
Peter Fonda?
Bridget Fonda?
Tran Nu Yen-Khe?

[West Coast Democrat]

2. Jane Fonda's Work-Out Enthusiasts Support Kerry in 2004

I mean, few people think of Jane Fonda as some kind of traitor nowadays. Am I right?

[gottaB]

6. like 3% according to one recent poll

but that's in the context of a concerted rightwing effort to discredit Hollywood celebreties.

I haven't seen J. Fonda's favorable/unfavorables.

Some actors like Sheen and Clooney can speak out against war and still have high favorables. Others like Sean Penn seem to bear the brunt of the hostility.

Hope he wins an Oscar this year.

[West Coast Democrat]

8. Isn't Jane Fonda a Born-Again Christian?

I thought I'd heard that.

[gottaB]

18. Wow, I hadn't followed her divorce

It came out several years ago. Washington Times, then I read an independent confirmation from the beeb.

I'm also reading where she's at odds with the Christian coalition.

Interesting.

[tameszu]

4. I'm more of a liberal feminist

so I like Gilligan's earlier work more, but she's still pretty cool. Plus, you can't trust a woman who doesn't use capital letters in her name. =P

[Exgeneral]

5. Camille Paglia!

anyone who likes porn is my kind of feminist!

[gottaB]

7. going for those NASCAR dad suburban swing voters, huh?

;-)

[lancdem]

15. I don't think Camille Paglia

is a Dem, exactly.

[maxanne]

23. I don't think Camille Paglia

is a feminist, exactly.

[mouse7]

10. Shirley "Cha Cha" Muldowney - THAT would get NASCAR Dads

In 1965 Shirley Muldowney became the first woman to race dragsters with the National Hot Rod Association. She was known on the race circuit as Shirley "Cha-Cha" Muldowney, and after racing funny cars in the early 1970s, she turned to racing Top Fuel dragsters. She was the first driver to win three world titles, and her life was depicted in the 1983 movie Heart Like a Wheel. After a bad crash in 1984, Muldowney was out of racing for almost two years, but returned to win races, and in 1998 she set a speed record for the International Hot Rod Association. She is considered one of the greatest drivers in drag racing history.

Extra credit: After 1973 Muldowney dropped the use of the nickname "Cha-Cha," and she once said "There is no room for bimboism in drag racing."

http://www.who2.com/shirleymuldowney.html

[WildClarySage]

11. Carol Gilligan or Karen Horney

(pronounced "horn-eye")

ok, carol gilligan, but I just like saying Karen's last name. Makes my inner middle-schooler giggle.

But, as much as I admire Gilligan's work, I'm confused by why a psychologist would qualify as a veep... of course, wayyyy better than the present squatter.

[maxanne]

20. since

Karen Horney is long dead, I'd say she might be disqualified.

[spooky3]

13. Susan Faludi, journalist, author of "Backlash"

[lancdem]

16. Yes, I loved that book

[eissa]

14. Ignorance alert

Well, I'm not familiar with any of them, sorry to say. However, that won't stop me from voting! My pick would be Teresa de Lauretis, because a french-sounding name would be great on a ticket with a french-looking candidate :*

[tishaLA]

17. Donna Haraway

but I'd be happy with Judy Butler. I'm also OK with Teresa deLauretis, but she seems SOOOOO 10 years ago.

To tell the truth, I'm really ABK--anybody but Kristeva.

[gottaB]

19. Kristeva is the bomb

I like Kristeva, but she's never even lived here, has she?

Do you really have a beef with her?

[tishaLA]

22. Yeah I really dislike her.

Sorry.

[tishaLA]

21. Can the ABK crowd unite?!

Anybody but Kristeva, that is. I think even Irigaray would be better than Kristeva. What has she even DONE since Stabat Mater that is remotely worthwhile? New Maladies of the Soul? I spit on it.

Let's face it, Kristeva makes Joan Copjec seem like a progressive--and that's not easy. Not even Renata Salecl can do that.

Can you put Chantel Mouffe on the poll please? She needs to be there, with or without Ernesto Laclau.

[gottaB]

27. Don't be so continental

Irigary *is* more fun than Kristeva, but....

How is it that you can contest the prevailing hegemony? How is is that somebody, call her Chantal, wakes up one morning and says, "Oh, let's negotiate the limits of our sovereignty. It's only an expression of hegemony"? Where did that voice come from?

Agonism for the hell of it?

Look, the American electorate is not prepared to position a radical English-Frenchwoman gramsciian socialist pluralist like Mouffe one heartbeat away from the presidency. The choices I offered were reasonable. You've got to be able to work within the system. Otherwise you might as well be voting for Bush.

[NV1962]

24. Germaine Greer for Pres / Simone de Beauvoir for Veep: Shocking Thoughtful

[tishaLA]

25. Too old school

No more of the existentialists! They have that DLC vibe about them.

We need post-structuralists (or at least post-Lacanians) as the vanguard of the party, dammit!

Hey I'm really into this thread. It's sure beats the hell out of writing my dissertation.

[NV1962]

26. Just imagine the Press Sec doing the daily briefings!

That, and Germaine Greer delivering the State of the Union speech...

As Madame de Beauvoir's buddy used to say: “Hell, that's us!”

:evilgrin: