As more and more incriminating photos surface of Democratic New York Rep. Anthony Weiner’s indiscretions, some in the media are posing the question – would the country be better led if there were more women in politics?
Such was the topic of discussion on Sunday’s “This Week” on ABC, which a roundtable panel with host Christiane Amanpour, former first lady of France Cecilia Attias, former President George H.W. Bush administration staffer Torie Clarke and ABC national correspondent and wife of White House press secretary Jay Carney, Claire Shipman asked if this were an opportunity for the female sex to make inroads into politics.
However, conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh looked to debunk that theory and had his own idea of what caused someone like Weiner to act the way he did. On his Monday show, he explained what his view of feminism was – to undermine the role of men in society.
“So the assumption is that it goes back to one of the early periods of feminism,” Limbaugh said. “Fathers, men were natural predators. That they really had no redeeming qualities – that the purpose of women was to tame them, socialize them. If you pointed that out, they really hated you, even though those are the circumstances they set up, the only conclusion you could come to, based on the criteria they set forth.”
And according to Limbaugh, since Weiner has been surrounded by women with those ideas in mind, it has affected his behavior.
“Here’s the thing – I wonder why is it that Anthony Weiner turns out to be the kind of guy he is?” Limbaugh said. “If we’re going to bring this stuff up folks – let’s talk about it. Let’s bring it up. Who, what kind of women has Anthony Weiner been around his whole life? He has been around a bunch of these kinds of women that have been attacking testosterone, who have been attacking traditional male roles. He had been around women who the idea of a real guy is some metrosexual. Is it any wonder ladies and gentlemen – I wonder if it occurs to Claire Shipman or Torie Clarke that Weiner did what he did because he’s been surrounded with them like them for his whole adult life.”
Limbaugh pointed out how this sentiment has seeped into pop culture as well. He noted the increase in the number of sitcoms where the men in the shows are “beaten down into panty-waist milquetoast wimps.”
But as it relates to Weiner, Limbaugh says that conventional wisdom blaming testosterone has it wrong.
“How do these men turn out that way?” Limbaugh said. “Who makes them that way? Because that is not their natural state. I mean look at what happened to Weiner. We cannot blame what happened to Weiner on testosterone. We’re looking at a guy here who is kitty-whipped. If you want to get down to brass tacks on this, we’re looking at somebody who has been hanging around these kind of women and he’s doing anything he can to break out. He’s doing anything he can to break out. He’s doing everything he can to step out and get away from their control. This is Anthony Weiner being a guy. He’s not allowed to be a guy hanging out with a bunch of liberal women. “