You're currently reading an archived version of Jim Hightower's work.
The latest (and greatest?) observations from Jim Hightower are only now available at our Substack website. Join us there!
Seventeenth century play wright William Congreve must have been a seer, for he wrote that even in hell, there is “no fury like a woman scorned.” Apparently, he foresaw the tempest now roaring out of the League of Women Voters.
Long considered to be the church ladies of American politics, the group is best known for its sober voter education efforts. But – Pow! – the ladies have suddenly shattered that stereotype by delivering a powerful political punch to a couple of U.S. senators, making clear to a startled Washington that they are not to be trifled with. LWV recently ran some hard-hitting TV ads taking Massachusetts Republican Scott Brown and Missouri Democrat Claire McCaskill to task for trying to weaken enforcement of clean air laws.
Enjoying Hightower's work? Join us over at our new home on Substack:
“I was shocked,” cried McCaskill. “To me they have always been about civic engagement and debates.” Well, hello Senator – you’ve just been civicly engaged by a group of feisty women who realized that their polite and earnest letter-writing efforts to lawmakers like you were not working. With both parties kowtowing to the money of corporate polluters, senators were simply ignoring the letters, so the group toughened up.
Sen. Brown whined that LWV’s ad was an ambush, as though the little ladies should stick to their inoffensive knitting. Pathetically, he tried to retaliate with an impetuous video slapping at the women’s credibility, whimpering that they “have gone to the gutter with their negative ads.”
Get a grip, Scott, You voted to gut EPA’s clean air authority, so it’s hardly gutter politics for a group of mothers and grandmothers to point that out to voters. You’ve also taken campaign cash from the lobbyists with whom you voted, so it’s your credibility that’s in question.
How shocking that senators are shocked when they’re called to account by fed up voters!
“Voter Group Flexes Muscle In Ads Aimed at Senators,” The New York Times, May 26, 2011.