Great article...

Bob, I subscribe to your column, but this disgusted me beyond description:
"the Alaska governor's successful recitation of a convention speech without, you know, choking on her own vomit or accidentally sneezing out another baby." WTF, Bob? Can you please (I'm polite for at least the first request) stay out of Palin's uterus while you critique, or is her womb your favorite assault point? Cut the sexist crap or you're off my subscriptions, dude. Male politicians flaunt their wives and kids like merit badges, yet their penises never get dragged into critiques of their stupidity.

Excellent point, VCubed. We don't always notice when we've imbibed the culturally sexist norms, so it's helpful to have the issue raised from time to time.

QT

Humor is tricky.

And if you want to see REAL sexist crap, catch Dick Armey on Hardball today talking down to Hillary Rosen.

Great article Bob and I have to say that although VCubed does make a valid point, when it comes to Sarah Palin she gets what she deserves.

She came into the race playing it down and dirty so she is fare game for anyone to take down. I can't even count the vile lies and crap that came out of her mouth. Not to mention the racist remarks that she allowed to get passed her every day. She wants to be at the table with the big kids so she gotta take her hits and shut the hell up.

Yeah, I thought it was a joke about the low expectations of the speech and how many children the Palins have -- a joke that applies to all families with more than a few kids. Not anything to do with her being a mother or a women.

But whatever. Line deleted.

For what it's worth, VCubed and Queen, I never once joked about anything to do with the Palin kids or the Trigg stuff. But one line suggesting "WOW! They have like 100 kids!" -- a joke I made about Rick Santorum, even referring to his family as a gaggle of hobbits in the pages of the Philadelphia Inquirer -- and you'd think I punched Palin in the face.

Sheesh.

i don't think bob was being sexist at all! the woman has a lot of kids! i think his statement was fair game. vcubed, i call guys dicks all the time! hehe...

Oooohhhh...shows the importance of reading carefully. I read it as "accidentally sneezing on another baby" which, coupled with the not choking on her own vomit, seems like quite a feat.

VCubed,

I just read Bob's new book, and I paid particular attention to his wet snarkery (see Urban Dictionary). A quick re-scan revealed the following:

gender-neutral wet snarks: 12
male-directed wet snarks: 5
female-directed wet snarks: none (unless you count a quote from a fellow blogger)

My conclusion: Bob is a feminist.

CEU,

Damned right about the "reading carefully" part. I need to stop commenting at HuffPo and leave it to the professionals!

great post Bob thank you ...( and I have that photo as my screensaver...so it is well loved..) thanks for kicking some ass....needed that....I seriously don't think boner or cantor read it...at all....and also thanks for pointing out how there is no lefty airplay - just rethugs blabbing- the graphic says it all....

Bob - I've never doubted your goodness, and don't think you're any kind of sexist. I do, however, feel that its worth paying attention to complaints like the one Vcubed raised, just because it's so easy to make jokes that are inherently sexist, without being sexist ourselves. Even though I though Vcubed's criticism was overly harsh (and should have said so), I still am sensitive to the issue.

Also - I'm not sure too many people would have minded if you punched Palin in the face... (KIDDING!)

QT

Hmmm. I see that others are (mis)reading the HuffPo column in the same way I did.

QT,

As I took a second look at Bob's book, it struck me how hard it is to find any snarky comments directed at women. I think Bob went out of his way to avoid sexism, and is probably more of a feminist than I am.

i kinda think bob is so pro-female he now gets "monthlys" hehe...

I'm a fan on HuffPost; and so far, I have greatly enjoyed all of your columns that I have read. I have never felt that you come across as sexist. Keep up the great job!

>>>i kinda think bob is so pro-female he now gets "monthlys" hehe...

Heh. I do!

A question - which is better to dig - here or at HuffPost? (Because Bob always tells us to dig his HuffPost columns, but rarely tells us to dig any other ones)

QT

I loved that Chill Out graphic, even moreso because I was there, Tuesday, September 16 on the Mines campus when Obama started the "attacks" on McSame.

As for VCubed's complaint, Palin reaps what she has sown. We all do, so get over it.

What exactly was the big deal here? People are so quick to jump on NOTHING and completely igonore the real point. I mean really. Let's evolve here folks.

Bob has never once come across as misogynistic. Ever. I feel the comment about Palin was nothing more than a statement/joke about the number of kids the Palin's have and not a statement/joke about women having children.

Additionally, she has put herself out there to be subject to ridicule. She's a public figure (God help us) and that comes with the territory.

I happen to be a woman and can't believe the whole point of Bob's HuffPo column was obscured for something so ridiculous.

Don't worry about this Bob. If people don't get you, they can go elsewhere. I say don't let the door hit them in the ass.

This is strange - this sure looks like a CBO report on HR1 from Jan 26th, in full.

http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/99xx/doc9968/hr1.pdf

>>A question - which is better to dig - here or at HuffPost? (Because Bob always tells us to dig his HuffPost columns, but rarely tells us to dig any other ones)

I'd love it if you would Digg the Huffington Post page. And, of course, this site for everything else. Thanks, Queen!