Friday, January 06, 2006
Madeleine Albright Has Big Ovaries!
Former U.S. Secretaries of State and defense gathered at the White House yesterday, a full three years after invading Iraq . Finally, the White House feigns interest in the opinions of others outside that cabal.
And who has the ovaries in the room? The only woman in the room, of course - Madeleine K. Albright, Secretary of State under President William J. Clinton. Oh wait... I forgot about Condi. Opps.... I should rephrase... who has the ovaries in the room to stand up to the President about his poor leadership? MKA!
Her best quote from the Washington Post: "I feel very strongly it is wrong to say something publicly critical of the president and then don't say it to his face," she said. "I said this was a war of choice, not necessity. But getting it right is a necessity and not a choice."
Best NY Times quote about her comments during the meeting: His predecessor, Madeleine K. Albright, a bit stirred up after hearing an exceedingly upbeat 40-minute briefing to 13 former secretaries of state and defense about how well things are going in Iraq, asked President Bush whether, with the war "taking up all the energy" of his foreign policy team, he had let the nuclear programs in Iran and North Korea spin out of control and allowed Latin America and China policy suffer by neglect.
So, total digression - why do we still say so-and-so "has balls" or "has big balls" when clearly that is a male-only reference? I think we should start gender-appropriate application of such comments - and apply the ovary comments to comparative analogies by gender. That's why I titled this as I did. SHE HAS BIG OVARIES! That means she's strong! If that shocks you - rethink the "big balls" comments before you use them again. Want more proof of cheesy sexism in our analogies of gender bias & adjectives for talent? Read the Gil Cates quote about testosterone & Jon Steward's hiring as Oscar Host. I am thrilled they picked Jon, and his quote in this article is charming... but, come on, Gil! Testosterone???
And who has the ovaries in the room? The only woman in the room, of course - Madeleine K. Albright, Secretary of State under President William J. Clinton. Oh wait... I forgot about Condi. Opps.... I should rephrase... who has the ovaries in the room to stand up to the President about his poor leadership? MKA!
Her best quote from the Washington Post: "I feel very strongly it is wrong to say something publicly critical of the president and then don't say it to his face," she said. "I said this was a war of choice, not necessity. But getting it right is a necessity and not a choice."
Best NY Times quote about her comments during the meeting: His predecessor, Madeleine K. Albright, a bit stirred up after hearing an exceedingly upbeat 40-minute briefing to 13 former secretaries of state and defense about how well things are going in Iraq, asked President Bush whether, with the war "taking up all the energy" of his foreign policy team, he had let the nuclear programs in Iran and North Korea spin out of control and allowed Latin America and China policy suffer by neglect.
So, total digression - why do we still say so-and-so "has balls" or "has big balls" when clearly that is a male-only reference? I think we should start gender-appropriate application of such comments - and apply the ovary comments to comparative analogies by gender. That's why I titled this as I did. SHE HAS BIG OVARIES! That means she's strong! If that shocks you - rethink the "big balls" comments before you use them again. Want more proof of cheesy sexism in our analogies of gender bias & adjectives for talent? Read the Gil Cates quote about testosterone & Jon Steward's hiring as Oscar Host. I am thrilled they picked Jon, and his quote in this article is charming... but, come on, Gil! Testosterone???
