One woman I'd like to see beaten up and humiliated....

Maureen Dowd feels that our culture likes to abuse strong women, as she puts it: "Arabs put their women in veils. We put ours in the stocks." (If it's such a tough life being a New York Times columnist, might I recommend a move to Saudi Arabia?). First we like to put them down and "[a]fterward, in a gratifying redemption ritual, people like to see the battered women be rewarded."

But Maureen Dowd doesn't play these kinds of games. No, she stands up for strong women. Women who faced sexism and racism growing up in the American south in the 1960s to become Secretary of State...

"And what about Condi, who's now being touted for the Republican ticket in 2008? Perhaps she does not need to play the victim to make people feel better about her power because she was never seen as a termagant, pushing people around and bending them to her will. She always seemed subservient to President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, a willing handmaiden and spokesman for their bellicose bidding."

Because if a women doesn't have suitable liberal cred, she is "subservient" and "a willing handmaiden" (interesting that she's not a 'spokesperson'). And I'm sure these are exactly the same terms that she would use to describe a man with whom she disagreed. It's so amusing watching the feminists frothing at the mouth over Condi. She is a legitimately strong woman who has worked her way up to one of the most powerful positions in the world, but they take every opportunity to bash her. Because they don't know how to deal with her. In the modern era, a woman is allowed to be anything... except a conservative (as we all learned during the last election the only Republican women are "security mom's"). And as a conservative black woman she has committed a double sin. Men are free to base their politics on any number of factors. But women? We have to vote with our vaginas.

Happy belated International Women's Day!