PBS host gone wild

By Daryl Montgomery and Jack Kemp

When I read what passes for adult discourse in the mainstream press, I think I'm back in junior high school. Witness these two wishful-thinking paragraphs by Bonnie Erbe of PBS and Scripps Howard:

"If Clinton loses the nomination, do women lose? Rights? Power? Visibility? Clout? Are they not taken as seriously by the political establishment? A month ago I would have told you yes. Now I believe the answer is no. Why? Because metrosexual, pro-choice, pro-health care, anti-poverty Obama is, in every political sense at least, more of a woman than Clinton."

"Still Clinton's female supporters who are watching Obama's movement coalesce, solidify and take over should console themselves there will be a woman Democrat in the White House either way if the Democrats win the general election. The nominee will either be a woman with double-X chromosomes, or one with XY chromosomes who votes more like a woman than most with XX."

Wikipedia informs us that Ms. Erbe, host of PBS's "To the Contrary," stated:

"In 2000, there was some controversy over Erbé's comments that Linda Chavez, one of her panelists, was in greater danger of being struck by lightning than of being raped, due to her (Chavez's) age. Chavez quit the show's panel as a result of Erbe's comment.^[1]"

Ms. Erbe has graduated Barnard College, has a masters degree from Columbia U., and a Doctor of Law degree from Georgetown U. I would suggest that Ms. Erbe aspire to another degree, this time in biology - with a minor in criminology.

Could you imagine Peggy Noonan saying that no one would want to sexually attack Speaker Pelosi because of her age? I couldn't even imagine David Shuster, formerly of MSNBC and "pimping Chelsea" fame, saying that.

Bonnie Erbe may think Sen. Obama is a woman, but I think Ms. Erbe has borrowed a few chromosomes from Don Imus - or Andrew Dice Clay.

(Jack Kemp is not the politician of the same name.)