Political yelling (or, I love Nancy Pelosi)

I was just thinking today about how much I like Nancy Pelosi. The crazy people on Fox News and at Free Republic have dubbed her "the Mafia Queen", which I guess is supposed to be an insult, even though it actually sounds like a superhero name (or a TV show I would watch every week). She is probably one of the top three most-hated lady politicians in the US, with Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin.

Political yelling
Now, I am a big fan of politician-hating in general. I do politics like I do sports, which is a trait I inherited from my parents. There is Team Us, and there is Team Them, and you all yell a lot and then go into the voting booth and vote with your conscience. Or play "Here comes Carolina-lina" and jump over things on fire. Whatever.

The purpose of political yelling is to let the voter both blow off frustration with everything that's wrong with this damn country, and celebrate everything that's great about this damn country. Like, "Oh my god, can you believe what a smug asshole Mike Huckabee was on the Daily Show last night? I want to punch his stupid face! FUCK YOU, MIKE HUCKABEE!", that actually means "It is not reasonable to pretend that the way to fix the many issues surrounding unwanted pregnancies is to simply say 'Don't do it'. The arguments you are making are misogynist, and you are smearing your class, race and gender privilege all over the place."

On the other side, "Oh my god, can you believe how hot Gavin Newsom is? Look at that suit! GAVIN I LOVE YOU" actually means "Health care for everybody is important, and so is environmentalism, and gay rights."

Lady politicians
However, political yelling gets really problematic when the politician is a woman, and that is because sexism comes out roaring.

Sarah Palin is the obvious first example. Now, I dislike Sarah Palin for a lot of reasons, none of which have anything to do with her being a woman. And yet, the vast majority of insults that my lefty brethren sling at her are gendered. They may be trying to code "Comfort in ignorance is dangerous and should be corrected, not praised", but they are actually communicating "I hate women." Weird! And most of the attacks on Hillary Clinton are about her effect on men, whether by busting up the patriarchy ("ball-buster") or failing to conform to the beauty standard ("boner-shrinker").

Which is total bullshit. You know who doesn't get that so much? Nancy Pelosi. I don't know why! But I'm glad of it. Okay, she gets a few plastic-surgery cracks, but most of the political yellers are angry at her because they're anxious about her policies, and not because she's a woman at all!

Pelosi also wrote an awesome book for young women about how to kick ass and be a girl, called Know Your Power: A Message to America's Daughters (great title), and puts hilarious videos on YouTube.

So, way to be, Nancy Pelosi. Many people hate you for being a Marxist socialist mafiosa, but I think you're great.