Marc Rudov on "the downside" of a woman president: "You mean besides the PMS and the mood swings, right?"
SUMMARY: During a segment of The O'Reilly Factor to discuss "What is the downside of having a woman become the president of the United States?" author Marc Rudov's initial response to the question was, "You mean besides the PMS and the mood swings, right?" Rudov later asserted: "Well, you know, I'm joking. Of course, the main problem I have is if a woman has a female agenda."
During the March 10 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor, Bill O'Reilly hosted Marc Rudov, author of Under the Clitoral Hood: How to Crank Her Engine Without Cash, Booze, or Jumper Cables, to discuss "What is the downside of having a woman become the president of the United States?" Rudov's initial response to the question was, "You mean besides the PMS and the mood swings, right?" O'Reilly responded: "But guys have mood swings, Marc. And you know they have other control issues, as we just heard with [New York] Governor [Eliot] Spitzer and we saw with various presidents. So come on now, let's be fair." Rudov then asserted: "Well, you know, I'm joking. Of course, the main problem I have is if a woman has a female agenda. If she doesn't have a female agenda, if she just wants to be an executive for all the people, then all I care about is if she's qualified. And I have no qualms about having a female president. But if we take [Sen.] Hillary Clinton, she specifically does have a female agenda." Rudov later added: "But Hillary embodies the female agenda. She wants to be the feminist in chief. She represents women. It says so on her website. And a lot of women are voting for her because she's a woman." O'Reilly hosted Rudov and Republican strategist Margaret Hoover as part of a new segment called "He Said, She Said," in which O'Reilly and his guests will "deal with issues from a gender-based point of view."
Also during the segment, O'Reilly asked Hoover: "So it would be OK with you if a woman was elected president and then tilted her policies toward women? It would be all right with you?" Hoover replied, "Absolutely not, because you're gonna be president of the United States. You're president of women and men, African-Americans, Hispanics, everybody. So you don't run with identity politics. You don't run as a woman only representing a -- women." O'Reilly then stated, "But she -- but Hillary Clinton is."
As Media Matters for America has documented, on the January 4 edition of Fox News' Your World with Neil Cavuto, Rudov stated: "When Barack Obama speaks, men hear, 'Take off for the future.' And when Hillary Clinton speaks, men hear, 'Take out the garbage.' " Rudov also described Clinton during that program as "nagging" and "shrill."
From the March 10 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor:
O'REILLY: Tonight, we begin a brand new segment called, "He Said, She Said," where we'll deal with issues from a gender-based point of view. The segment will run every Friday, but we wanted to debut it tonight with a very provocative question: What is the downside of having a woman become president of the United States? Recent CNN poll asked do you think America's ready for a woman president? Sixty-five percent said yes; 34 percent said no; 1 percent apparently didn't understand the question.
With us now, Republican strategist and feminist Margaret Hoover. And from San Francisco, Marc Rudov, author of the book A Man's No-Nonsense Guide to Women. Oh, I got to get that.
All right, Marc, now Hillary Clinton obviously in play. And we understand that you reference her. But this is a broader-based discussion about -- you get a woman in the Oval Office, the most powerful person in the world, what's the downside?
RUDOV: You mean besides the PMS and the mood swings, right?
O'REILLY: But guys have mood swings, Marc. And you know --
RUDOV: Right.
O'REILLY: -- they have other control issues, as we just heard with Governor Spitzer and we saw with various presidents. So come on now, let's be fair.
RUDOV: Well, you know, I'm joking. Of course, the main problem I have is if a woman has a female agenda. If she doesn't have a female agenda, if she just wants to be an executive for all the people, then all I care about is if she's qualified. And I have no qualms about having a female president.
But if we take Hillary Clinton, she specifically does have a female agenda. All you have to do is look at her website.
Now let's go back a couple of months to around January 11th, where she was campaigning in Las Vegas. And a man from the crowd, and this is -- you can check this out on the Internet. A man from the crowd yelled out, "Please help me, my wife is an illegal."
And her response was, "No woman is an illegal." And that's exactly what I mean by a female agenda.
Now, men, as you know, have lost a lot of rights in this country. We saw last year at Duke University, three boys were falsely accused of rape. And absolutely nothing happened to Crystal Gail Mangum, who accused them of that. Not one politician stood up to say, "That's never going to happen on my watch." And so I fault the males as well.
But Hillary embodies the female agenda. She wants to be the feminist in chief. She represents women. It says so on her website. And a lot of women are voting for her because she's a woman.
O'REILLY: All right, so --
RUDOV: Contrast that with Barack Obama --
O'REILLY: Let me -- I want to get Margaret in here. OK, so as long as the woman, as you put it, doesn't have a female agenda when she gets power, it's OK. You say?
HOOVER: I say there is absolutely no problem with a woman being president of the United States.
O'REILLY: Even if they have a female agenda?
HOOVER: There's no problem with a woman being president of the United States if you take her gender as a sole issue. Gender shouldn't matter. As we all know, there have been fabulous women chief executives. Margaret Thatcher, Golda Meir. This may be America's opportunity. I certainly hope not, because I don't agree with Hillary Clinton's policies. But this isn't gonna be a gender issue. And that's what we've see. We've seen Barack Obama --
O'REILLY: But various people, various politicians have various points of view. You would see that. Men, women, it doesn't matter, right?
HOOVER: Sure.
O'REILLY: OK. Marc is saying that Hillary Clinton is coming at it, raising the gender issue. And she, he thinks, is going to govern in that way.
HOOVER: I'm unclear as a senator that she's governed in that way. But she has certainly brought women's issues to light in a way that maybe a male senator from New York might not have.
And I think that that's OK. People represent their constituencies and have particular interests, based on who they are and the experiences that have formed them. You don't have to be a child to be an advocate for children. You don't have to be a woman to be an advocate for women. You don't have to be Hispanic to be an advocate for Hispanics.
O'REILLY: So it would be OK with you if a woman was elected president and then tilted her policies toward women? It would be all right with you?
HOOVER: Absolutely not, because you're gonna be president of the United States. You're president of women and men, African-Americans, Hispanics, everybody. So you don't run with identity politics. You don't run as a woman only representing a -- women.
O'REILLY: But she -- but Hillary Clinton is.
HOOVER: I think she does indulge in identity politics and she uses it as her victimization card, which is unattractive, which is partly why I hope she's not elected.
O'REILLY: All right. Now, Marc, if you had what you consider to be a straight-down-the-line female president with no agenda, basically looking out for the folks and looking at every issue in an objective way, then you have no problem with a female as president?
RUDOV: No, I don't. As long as she's qualified. Absolutely not.
O'REILLY: Now, qualified to you means what?
RUDOV: It means she has executive experience. And frankly, I don't think being in the Senate is executive experience.
O'REILLY: So she'd have to be a governor?
RUDOV: Well, yeah. A governor who has run something, who's been responsible for a budget, who has had bicameral experience dealing with both sides of the aisle, who's actually been responsible for helping the people of a state. But again, profit and loss responsibility.
O'REILLY: All right, so I'm getting either a governor or a CEO of a major company. I'm gonna give Margaret the last word.
HOOVER: Bottom line is, Bill, what this debate shows is that gender isn't a defining issue in our country. That's how far the women's movement has come, that suddenly we're talking about this. And really, she's an individual running against other individuals --
O'REILLY: But you know some people are gonna vote -- some women are gonna vote for Hillary 'cause she's a woman.
HOOVER: And some blacks are gonna vote for Barack Obama 'cause he's black.
O'REILLY: Right.
HOOVER: And some white guys are gonna vote for John McCain 'cause he's an old white guy. But you know what? That's not the defining issue for the majority of Americans when they go to the polls in November.
O'REILLY: All right. "He Said, She Said," everybody. They're gonna be back on Friday. And we appreciate it very much.
He presents some very powerful evidence about Hillary's raging bias in favor of women:
When she made an off-the-cuff comment at a rally in Las Vegas. ...On any respectable news program, this turkey would be escorted off the stage and security would remove him from the studio.
The piece wasn't about "women Sen Clinton's age", it was about women. So, while his joke was crude, it was relevant. And, quite frankly, PMS is a potent enough issue that it has been around in joke form for a long time and it only makes sense that people should be curious about how such a hormonal condition might affect one's performance in the oval office.
Does it open a can of worms? You bet. Should it be avoided? No way.
The piece wasn't about "women Sen Clinton's age", it was about women.
You must have read a different piece. Only one woman was mentioned and the discussion was clearly about the Oval office. I'd say nice try, but it was a poor effort.
O'REILLY: So she'd have to be a governor?
RUDOV: Well, yeah. A governor who has run something, who's been responsible for a budget, who has had bicameral experience dealing with both sides of the aisle, who's actually been responsible for helping the people of a state. But again, profit and loss responsibility."
They just keep throwing McCain under the bus don't they? Unless the "bicameral experience" quote was meant as a pass to him, but then they all 3 have "experience dealing with both sides of the aisle."
Really, that entire segment is just time-filler. Though I do have to give O'Reilly credit for coming back with the "but men have mood swings too."
Billy is the poster boy for erratic behavior when he's on his "period."
Next week, Billy will have on two octagenarian Repubs (one male, one female) to discuss whether John McCain is using identity politics reaching out for the AARP vote and the brain-dead white guy vote. I know, in my dreams.
In Billy world, fair and balanced mean having twice as many Con guests as liberals.
". . . but men have mood swings too." --O'Reilly
We're not talking about the same thing Billy is ! :-)
On the other hand, how can you explain what caused her to say that McCain is experienced enough to be the President but Obama is NOT?
Post-PMS-dimensia?
How can you explain McCain saying he wants to stay in Iraq for a hundred years?
Early altzheimers? Or just the ravings of George Bush II, as he re-flushes our nation down the toilet?
I guess I'm not entirely surprised that anti-war types can't, at least, objectively flesh this one out themselves but by "another 100 years", I think he is referring candidly to the fact that even after a region has been stabalized, it is going to require some kind of a force in the region to deal with minor outbreaks or attempts by hostile neighbors/groups to compromise that stability.
Just like we still have a presence in Korea and Bosnia. Oh, by the way, how come you don't complain about those soldiers in Bosnia from when Clinton was bombing the hell out of Serbian churches, hospitals and schools with US planes restamped with UN emblems?
Never mind that, anyways, I answered your question. Iraq was like brain surgery... it can be managed but terrorism takes a long time to defeat because it's defeat has multiple components, the last of which is EDUCATION, and it takes a while before one can create a place stable enough to introduce that education.
Right now, girls are denied it and people are killed for even teaching them.
My term for a discussion between these two:
Idiot race
And, they both win!
This story is so timely. A few hours ago I was sitting in a waiting room of the doctor’s office alone with a middle aged black woman. CNN was on TV and I struck up a conversation about Obama. I explained that I was thinking of Hillary but have decided Obama is my guy. She immediately made comments about how moody she was at times and couldn’t picture a woman as president. I was shocked and explained to her that I could vote for a woman and this was not my reason for voting Obama. So now I realize that some women themselves have been convinced that their “mood swings” make them incapable of holding politically responsible positions. She was called before I could follow up on her comments, but I would have loved to have asked her if this was something she really felt or was she just repeating something she heard on Fox News ( to perhaps mask what I might have perceived as her bias towards Obama)?
I can’t speak for any woman, but neither of us (men or women) will ever be able to understand how “different” we are “wired” when it comes to mood swings. Personally, I can be very moody – and know plenty of men who I have accused of being “like a woman” because of their mood swings. Hillary’s campaign has helped make me stop myself from making such comments as I see such sexist remarks as my own prejudice playing on stereotypes – but today, this woman had me thinking that maybe they are true? Help me out here ladies - I'm confused.
Golda Maeir (sp?), Margaret Thatcher, etc., excellent Chief Executives.
Attila the Hun, Ghengis Khan, etc.---MOOOO-DEEE!!!
Totally agree...
It's amazing that this conservative slop even finds a home on TV. It shows how far our nation has been corrupted by Republican Party USA. Keep Cons in power for any length of time and all sectors of society are reduced to third-world level quality.
“Let us pause for a moment to ponder this all-American dysfunction. A state is spectacularly ill served by the Reagan-Bush stampede of deregulation, privatization and laissez-faire. It sees its countryside depopulated, its towns disintegrate, its cities stagnate—and its wealthy enclaves sparkle, behind their remote-controlled security gates. The state erupts in revolt, making headlines around the world with its bold defiance of convention. But what do its rebels demand? More of the very measures that have brought ruination on them and their neighbors in the first place. This is not just the mystery of Kansas; this is the mystery of America, the historical shift that has made it all possible.”
Thomas Frank – “What’s the Matter with Kansas”
the main problem I have is if a woman has a female agenda - Rudolph
What does that mean? If it means a less war, pro-middle/lower class, universal health care type of agenda, then Clinton needs to get the nomination.
But if she does, these "jokes" will be everywhere.
So if we elect a guy do we get a pro-man agenda? No tax on beer and a new federal law making football season 3 months longer?
Now conservatives are suggesting that women have mood swings and PMS. Thank you MMFA for exposing this misinformation.
Thanks Colonel. with some help from you I'll be up to speed soon I'm sure.
i was trivializing further what seems to me to be a trivial non-story. People that are truly chauvanistic will hear the hillar remarks and nod their heads in aggreement. Everyone else just disregards it as low-brow humor.
And isn't low-brow humor what we really watch a "news channel" for?
Never mind all that stuff about being informed so you can judge the issues for yourself.
Shouldn't we all be making judgements as to the candidates qualifications? I'd like a president 50 or older. Life experience. I'd like a president who's been successfull at something and who has some accomplishments. Some core principles would also be nice,
But back to your original question he's a VOTER I assume
"Shouldn't we all be making judgements as to the candidates qualifications?"
Yeah, that would be really nice, wouldn't it? But instead of a responsible media that provides the information we need to make that judgment, we get crap (aka "low-brow humor") like this.
I could give you a couple male fantasies, which, while colorful, would be of little use. I'd take anything Soopy says with a cup of salt, otherwise its in the girl's court.
Does that publisher have titles for other standard identites?
This is one thread that was really summed up in the headline.
Marc Rudov on "the downside" of a woman president: "You mean besides the PMS and the mood swings, right?"
As if there has to be a downside to a female, muslim, black or any other president that doesn't fit status quo.
If only O'Reilly had been this diligent in 2000.
"Coming up next- Is there a downside to a dry-drunk coddled preppy semi-retarded frat boy pretend-cowboy President?"
Amazing, it was to O'Reilly's credit that he basically called Rudov out on his stupid remark. I can see saying that between guys in private... every group has their own little jokes but national TV was no place for it and O'Reilly did the right thing in calling him on it and giving an example of how some men can be undependable, too.
So, I find it all too telling, and a bit of a shame, that none of the fanatical left can, at least, objectively say, "props to O'Reilly" for calling him on that. The left would gain so much more credibility in the eyes of independents if they could embrace even just a little of that kind of intellectual integrity. But as much as they rail on about the right, they each can't live without each other. It's kind of a sad continuum to be avoided altogether.
Amazing, it was to O'Reilly's credit that he basically called Rudov out on his stupid remark.
What is amazing is how much skill he uses to deploy a looney more far out than himswelf so he can look reasonable by disagreeing.... Then he can feed that line he has been waiting for... about HRC having a feminine agenda.
There is no question he knew the remark was coming.
BO isn't usually this clever. Maybe he has learned from Hannity.
I don't think Media Matters which is driven by the Clinton camp will ever report on her bias or her campaign's comments about race. Today Geraldine Ferraro claimed that Barrack Obama is wining because he's black. What a scum-bag! It's not like blacks haven't run for the White House before. What about Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton? They ran, but didn't win. Why is race an issue? Why is sex an issue? These are the kind of attacks that show how pathetic and desperate Clinton is. Enough with all the female sexist pigs who support Clinton and the male eunuchs who are supporting Billary.
If you go to her website you notice all the rhetoric is about women (emphasis is on women).
OK I took your advice Ghostman and found the site, I had never seen it. In the last 60 news articles there is only ONE that directly pertains to "womens" issues and that one is about Womens History month. There are several others clearly about children or education.
Next I went to the video section, there must be hundreds of them. Her mother is mentioned in one and her daughter in a couple of others. If you hadn't made the claim I wouldn't even suspect she was a feminist by looking at the website. I didn't notice "all the rhetoric" you claimed I would see and couldn't even find it after looking for it.
You are blowing smoke Ghostman and evidently some pretty stinky stuff as shown by your closing statement.
Enough with all the female sexist pigs who support Clinton and the male eunuchs who are supporting Billary.
so ... some guy who claims to be an expert on the sexuality of women claims that a (likely) post-menopausal woman will be suffering from PMS?
Don't go to this guy to figure out how to please a woman ...