By JOE GIDDENS
Toxic masculinity is in a number of stories this year, recently with Kavanaugh and his deep affection for beer and debauchery.
Locally, you first saw it on Jan. 12 when Martha McSally announced her candidacy for the U.S. Senate.
“I absolutely refuse to bow down to Sharia law after eight years of fighting. I won my battle for the religious freedom of American servicewoman”; “I’m tired of PC politicians and their BS excuses”; “I’m a fighter pilot and I talk like one like one. That’s why I told Washington Republicans to grow a pair of ovaries and get the job done.”
If part of toxic masculinity is rooted in the image of the big burly protector and trying to live up to that at all cost, I’m surprised that McSally supporters haven’t sought to pass a public restroom law against her.
For a person that is tired of PC politicians, there have been been a lot of crocodile tears and faux outrage over her opponent Kyrsten Sinema’s past videos, calling Arizona “the meth lab of democracy” or her time as an anti-war protestor.
Which I could perhaps understand if not that’s what a non-pc politician says and for the fact that Don “Grab’em by the pussy” Trump will be stumping for McSally on Oct. 19 in Mesa. So, the GOP suddenly cares about old tape.
As a minor petty grievance: Don’t say BS, have the decency to say “bullshit.”
In 2002, McSally filed a lawsuit against then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld over the armed forces policy of “host nation attire” requiring female personal to wear abayas, according to her interview with “60 Minutes” that year:CQ this
“This is unconstitutional,” she said.
A valid point: the host nation attire policy went against against the the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause, which prevents the government from both establishing an official religion and actions that favor one religion over another.
Yet McSally’s fine endorsing the Trump travel ban on people from predominantly Muslim countries. A ban that Trump has repeatedly revealed to be directed specifically at muslims most notably on Twitter. In the Trump era the Establishment Clause means as much as the Emoluments Clause.
The image presented is not one of a champion of civil rights. Rather, it’s “be scared of others but I’ll get out and shield you with ovaries of steel.” It’s bizarre and intentional how the women of the GOP exhibit toxic masculinity. Also, perhaps, in a GOP primary field consisting of Sheriff Arapaio, it was a question of who could be the most afraid of brown people.
The Senate race in Arizona is a study of the nation at this point. What label would you apply to a politician who votes align with the Trump agenda about 60 percent of the time?
Depending on whom you ask, it runs the gamut of Socialist to the Democratic candidate for the Senate.
Democratic candidate Kyrsten Sinema, according to fivethirtyeight.com, votes in line with Trump’s position about 60 percent of the time (conversely, McSally’s position aligns with Trump about 98 percent of the time). And Govtrack.us places Sinema to the right of the political spectrum when you look at the total voting record of everyone within Congress.
This is what many are missing. That includes Robert Robb of the Arizona Republic, who recently penned in an op-ed “The real choice in this election is between a capable candidate from the center-right, McSally, and one from the center-left.”
No. The actual choice here is between a center right and someone who has a decided to out-Arapaio the competition.
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