POLITICS SEPTEMBER 29, 2011
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In a Slate column on Tuesday, Jessica Grose asked the question of why the media covers Rick Perry and Michele Bachmann differently. According to Grose, the media treats Perry as dumb and Bachmann as crazy. As Grose says of the Texas governor, he “comfortably fits into the Republican archetype of the stupid male candidate.” The fact that he is from Texas and likes to play up his anti-intellectualism—both traits reminiscent of another former Lone Star state governor who was derided for being none-too-bright—only makes the picture easier to draw. Bachmann, meanwhile, is portrayed as a little off. Matt Taibbi, characteristically eschewing euphemism and good manners, called her “batshit nuts.”
There are several problems, however, with Grose’s thesis, which is best summed up by this claim: “Of course, it’s just as easy to make the argument that Perry is crazy and Bachmann is stupid.” In other words, Grose is arguing that the media treats the candidates differently because one is a man and one is a woman, not because one is dumb and the other is crazy. But her examples do not really support this point. Here is one:
Pundits may equally denigrate Perry when he says Social Security is a Ponzi scheme and Bachmann when she says the HPV vaccine causes mental retardation, but there is a subtext to some of the criticism: Bachmann is too fragile to lead.
A Republican saying something like this about Social Security seems pretty standard to me, even if it is wrong. Moreover, the claim says nothing about Perry as a person, other than the fact that he is sympathetic to right-wing economic thinking. Bachmann’s comment on HPV not only managed to associate the Congresswoman with a radical fringe group (vaccine opponents), but also did so in the context of a bizarre story about a woman approaching her after a debate.
Another aspect of Grose’s argument is that Bachmann is also stupid, but avoids being called out for it. She writes:
As Rebecca Traister, the author of Big Girls Don’t Cry: The Election that Changed Everything for American Women, points out, a lot of Bachmann’s early gaffes—that the Revolutionary War started in New Hampshire (that would be Massachusetts), that John Wayne was born in Waterloo, Iowa, (that would be serial killer John Wayne Gacy)—were more “stupid” than “crazy.”
This seems right, but it misunderstands the media. Bachmann is portrayed as crazy rather than stupid because “nuts” is sexier and more interesting than “dumb.” I would imagine that a lot of people find Bachmann to be pretty dim, but choose to instead focus on her sanity because it is more compelling and colorful. If Perry started saying things about vaccines causing retardation, the press might start calling him crazy.
But wait, says Grose: According to “many secular Americans, Perry’s ties to religious groups that claim that Texas is ‘the prophet state’ sound, well, crazy.” Indeed, he even asks people to pray for rain. The problem here, at least for Grose’s argument, is that the press is more likely to give candidates a pass when making religiously-themed statements that border on the crazy. This has to do with a tendency to tiptoe around religion, not sexism.
Finally, Grose never answers the big question: Who is really more nuts? When one human being thinks another is crazy, the reason often has to do with little things that are hard to define. I couldn’t exactly describe why Bachmann seems nuts to me, and Perry does not (my unofficial gender-balanced sample suggests that everyone I know feels the same way). But people are good at recognizing signs. This isn’t sexism. Bachmann is just crazier.
Isaac Chotiner is the executive editor of The Book.
6 comments
This article is racist against sexism. No, wait, it's sexist against anti-intellectualism. No, wait, it's slanderous toward craziness. No, wait, it's libelous toward stupidity. But seriously, can we get a field reporter to visit Michele Bachmann's district and figure out who votes for her and why?
- Konstantin
September 29, 2011 at 1:35am
Perry has been governor for 10 years. It's almost insulting to say Texas elected a crazy person. Then you look at his record, like Alex MacGillis dutifully did and it's clear he's a canny politician who follows the winds to get into office and, once there, is a potted plant in the soil of tycoons and large business interests. The fact that he's not interested in the details of his own policies completes the "Perry is dumb" thesis. From yell leader who didn't seem all that political in high school or college to the governorship, with not much changed on that front. Bachmann has held entry-level representative positions and has generally maintained lily white conservative bona fides by casting votes largely along her own ideological lines. And if you look at that record and her statements, many of them are off the reservation of things the median voter would think, much less approve of. You read the Lizza article and, even if you think the dominionism bit is trumped up--I don't, but some do--you notice Lizza was able to dredge up more than one person acquainted with Bachmann in high school who remarked upon her fanatical devotion (to the Reaganite anti-Roe crowd, as it was the 1970s) and drive to pursue positions on the student council. The sexist element only comes in if you liberally stir in Tracy Flick from Election (which Maureen Dowd will do at some point) and cast Bachmann into the mould of of crazily motivated politician. Mix with her actual crazy positions and you have a decidedly crazy cocktail, especially given how conservative the base of Republicans paying attention to the race is.
- chaitless
September 29, 2011 at 8:46am
still waiting for the meaning of Hillary Rodham being a Goldwater Girl in 1964.
- K2K
September 29, 2011 at 12:28pm
Well, how about: many young people are quite attracted to conservative ideas in their late teenage years until they discover the real world? Also, coming of age in a volatile and exciting time can speed the changeover -- that would fit perfectly for Hillary Clinton (the mid 1960s).
- ironyroad
September 29, 2011 at 5:49pm
The 2012 Republican Presidential Primary Candidates The religious fringe has become the Protestant mainstream One of the trends I find "exceptional" about the USA today is the number of religious sects and cults participating directly in the electoral process (with the benefit of tax exempt status.) Gov. Rick Perry of Texas began his Presidential campaign by organizing a “Christian Only” evangelical, and "Dominionist" prayer meeting called “The Response: a call to prayer for a nation in crisis.” “Dominionism” is the belief that holds the Holy Bible as dominant over laws made by man. For an examination of the relationship between Gov. Perry and the controversial “New Apostolic Reformation” movement, see the Texas Observer’s article “Rick Perry’s Army of God” http://www.texasobserver.org/cover-story/rick-perrys-army-of-god. “The Response” was a gathering of the different tribes of American fundamentalism – Christian Zionists, prayer warriors, apostolic and prophetic types, etc. – under the umbrella of political and spiritual revival, see Rachael Maddow’s special report: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908//vp/44098787#44098787 Like Governor Perry, Congresswoman Michele Bachmann espouses a "Dominionist" religious perspective and spent her student years in law school studying the "dominionist" approach to society, law and government, see John Chait’s article in the New Republic: http://www.tnr.com/blog/jonathan-chait/90014/michelle-bachmanns-worldview. The leading contender for the Republican nomination for President, Gov. Mitt Romney, is a Mormon, officially known as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Heretofore, Mormonism was considered an heretical sect by most Christian church goers. No more. By comparison to the fundamentalist and evengelical movements, Mormonism assumes the mantle of "Norman Rockwell normalcy." Gov. Sarah Palin is a member of a "The Wasilla Assembly of God." The “Wasilla Assembly” is a member of the Assemblies of God, a Pentecostal Christian denomination founded in 1914, in the United States. The ‘Four Core Beliefs’ of the Assemblies of God are Salvation, Baptism in the Holy Spirit, Divine Healing and the Second Coming of Christ. A dramatic insight into Pentecostalism is found in the 1997 film, The Apostle written, directed and starring Robert Duvall, as a charismatic “Pentecostal” preacher. Pentecostals are known to “speak in tongues:” see a clip from Duvall’s movie, The Apostle: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FwMu9WW_bg. The Apostle’s main character” Sonny” is what social scientists once politely referred to as “Other Protestants.” Sonny was actually a preacher in the traditional holiness movement, distinct from the Pentecostal movement, which believes that the baptism in the Holy Spirit involves speaking in tongues. Many of the early Pentecostals were from the holiness movement, and to this day many "classical Pentecostals" maintain much of holiness doctrine and many of its devotional practices, according to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holiness_movement. “Dominionism” is largely unknown to most Americans. The list of unknown schismatic sects, cults, groups, exotic beliefs and churches, which the contenders for the Republican nomination belong to or are in agreement with, is "exceptional." The religious fringe, it seems, has become the Protestant mainstream. Today’s Republicans could be re-branded the “Christian Republican Party.” The center core of Protestant faith has migrated from “Liberal Protestantism” to an entrepreneurial-style, evangelist and fundamentalist faith, which votes heavily on the Republican Row. It was once believed that such sects originated mainly among the religiously neglected poor. Clearly, this is now no longer the case. It has been argued by social scientists that insecurity, differential status and anxiety characterize these religious movements. The effects of the Great Recession and the affects of geographic relocation and workplace displacement have contributed to a sense of anxiety and anomie among the American middle-class. The German theologian Ernst Troeltsch, considered the major historian of sectarian religion, has characterized the psychological appeal of fundamentalist religious sects in a way that might appropriately be applied to extremist politics. A direct connection between the social roots of political and religious extremism has been observed in a number of countries. It was observed by the American sociologist S. M. Lipset, as early as the 1960s, in his seminal essay “Working Class Authoritarianism” that “rigid fundamentalism and dogmatism are linked to the same underlying characteristics, attitudes, and predispositions which find another outlet in allegiance to extremist political movements.” Many western democracies have “Christian Democratic Parties,” the US, because it is “exceptional,” has a “Christian Republican Party.” The candidates for the Republican nomination have made their religious views of scripture known, by degrees. To discover what these candidates deeply and sincerely believe requires the investigative work which the New Republic should continue. The ascendancy of the “fundamentalist Protestant elite” to high leadership positions in the Republican Party needs to be understood as a serious step toward a profound redefinition of church and state in America. The ascendancy of hard-core chronic “know-nothing-ism” and “anti-intellectualism,” so eloquently written about by Columbia historian Richard Hofstadter, and sectarian belief systems, is undoubtedly "exceptional" for a modern mass political party with governmental responsibilities. While it is argued that Europe is experiencing a “crisis of faith,” the United States is experiencing a revivalism parallel with the Second Great Awakening of the 1800s. The decline of mainstream Methodists, Presbyterians, Congregationalists and Episcopalians as forces affecting the direction of the Republican Party, has been statistically significant, and the rise of “Other Protestants,” and sects, has marked a realignment of voting patterns and political commitment. Is it possible to image Presidential candidate John F. Kennedy organizing a 30,000 person “Catholics only” prayer service as a campaign launch? One of the famous quotes from Kennedy’s address to the Greater Houston Ministerial Association, during the 1960 national election, was, “I am not the Catholic candidate for President. I am the Democratic Party’s candidate for President who also happens to be a Catholic. I do not speak for my Church on public matters — and the Church does not speak for me.”
- LawrenceGulotta
September 30, 2011 at 9:53am
To paraphrase Dr. Johnson, this argument is as useful as trying to determine the order of precedence between a louse and a flea.
- Vekert
October 6, 2011 at 9:28pm