THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD
(apologies to Keith Olbermann)
Aaron Gardner
I never thought I’d be spurred to defend GOP Rep. Renee Ellmers, but the misogyny coming from the right, in the wake of her helping torpedo the 20-week abortion ban, is appalling. The boys over at Red State are leading the charge, with sexually insecure sad sack Erick Erickson calling her “the GOP’s Abortion Barbie” (his sick nickname for Wendy Davis) and now another Red Stater, Aaron Gardner, asking “Is Renee Ellmers worthy of life?”…. In a country where abortion providers have been murdered and clinics bombed, that’s a particularly ugly provocation. Gardner justifies his threatening question by explaining he’s the product of rape - his biological grandfather apparently raped his grandmother — and that the rape exemption to the abortion ban that Ellmers supports somehow makes the case that he’s not worthy of life.
Every now and again I manage to run across something so mind-numbingly stupid, racist, and/or misogynistic that it takes my breath away. What I could possibly add to Aaron Gardner’s epic, mean-spirited confirmation of his own ignorance and inhumanity?
First of all, if you’re turning to Red State for insightful, cogent political insight…well, you’ve got problems far bigger than anything I can help you with. You might just want to stop reading now and seek professional help. Seriously. Red State is a collection of sexually repressed Conservative males renowned only for lacking the compassion and empathy genes and for their belief that when women aren’t on their backs in bed servicing their husbands they should be in the kitchen. Sometimes I wonder if one of the prerequisites for writing for Red State isn’t being one of the nerds who in high school could never get a date. For anything. The level of discourse that emanates from this cesspool speaks to a collection of misfits who never got over the multiple wedgies they suffered in junior high school.
That Aaron Gardner feels qualified to pass judgment on Renee Ellmers (and I can’t #@%$&(% believe I’m standing up for Ellmers, who’s the Repubican intellectual equivalent of Pee Wee Herman) is laughable. Gardner contributes nothing of value to the public discourse. What he excels at is engaging in cheap shots and very intensely personal and offensive criticism. Worse, he takes the comments of politicians personally when it’s neither reasonable nor appropriate.
Tell me why you are worthy of this life you have been given, Representative. It might seem like an unreasonable request, I am sure that many will find it impolite…But when the pro aborts call me an extremist, when they say, “exceptions for rape”, I hear, “you are not worthy of life.” I feel compelled to justify myself and explain that it isn’t extreme to defend one’s own existence.
Ellmer is no one’s Liberal, and she’s as reliably anti-abortion as any North Carolina Republican could hope to be. That she’s not adhering to whatever draconian agenda Gardner subscribes to is enough for him to declare her unworthy of life. Gardner has no suggestions, no alternative to offer, but he’s certainly quick to declare Ellmers insufficiently committed to a cause Ellmers has demonstrated herself to be beyond devoted to. That, at least in Gardner’s myopic, hated-addled worldview, evidently makes Ellmers’ use of oxygen extraneous.
That anyone could in all serious chastise Ellmers for not being sufficiently and utterly anti-choice is patently ridiculous, but Gardner is not renowned for his commitment to dispassionate discourse. No, cross him, and he’s likely to imply that you’ve forfeited your right to live and implicitly advocate for your execution.
Stay classy, eh?
So the staunchly antiabortion Ellmers is transformed into a “pro-abort” through the magic of male hysteria. This is a particular kind of paranoia and narcissism that should get Gardner into therapy, not on the front page of RedState (where they’re also calling Hillary Clinton “an elderly unaccomplished crone,” by the way, but we’re used to the anti-Democrat misogyny.)
Now, Ellmers has been reliably right-wing and anti-women most of the time, leading the charge against the Affordable Care Act’s mandating that insurance policies cover pregnancy-related healthcare with the memorable war cry: “Has a man ever delivered a baby?” As I noted at the time, you might think that was the opening salvo in a defense of sharing the costs of childbearing, but no, it was a defense of protecting men, and essentially returning to the days when being a woman was a preexisting condition.
Renee Ellmers is one of the women in Congress heavily invested in legislating her gender back to second class status, baby incubators who without a man have little reason purpose in life. That Aaron Gardner could seriously chastise Ellmers for being insufficiently anti-woman and anti-choice is…well, I’m not certain I can stop giggling long enough to finish that thought.
Don’tcha just LOVE watching Conservatives eat their young? I know I do….
