MOMocrats™

Salon op-ed compares Melissa Harris-Perry to Bachmann, KKK

Yesterday, Salon.com published an op-ed by white liberal columnist Gene Lyons in response to Melissa Harris-Perry's recent writing for The Nation on racism as a factor in declining white liberal support for the President. Rather than disagreeing thoughtfully and respectfully with Harris-Perry's argument, Lyons chose not to focus on criticizing the substance of her articles but instead on attacking her as a black female intellectual.

The short version: Lyons dismissed Harris-Perry as a "fool" and "a left-wing Michele Bachmann, an attractive woman seeking fame and fortune by saying silly things on cable TV." He claimed her argument that white racism may be a factor in liberal disillusionment with POTUS is a "photonegative of KKK racial thought," and dismissed her writings on race as "useful for intimidating tenure committees staffed by Ph.D.s trained to find racist symbols in the passing clouds." On top of all that, Lyons mocks black experiences of racism and our right to speak out about it thus: "Furthermore, unless you're black, you can't possibly understand. Yada, yada, yada. This unfortunate obsession..."

There's absolutely no question that this is an outright attack on Prof. Harris-Perry's race, gender, and professional accomplishments. Even more disturbing, it's an attack on all black people and all other people of color who dare to study or publicly raise the issue of racism on the left.

Michele Bachmann and Me

Michele Bachmann and I had lunch together. It's true! She even had these lovely Tea Party cookies!

OK, there were about 200 other people in the room, too. But we were both eating in the same place at the same time!

Bachmann was at the National Press Club and, as a member, I was lucky to snag a couple of tickets so Mr. PunditMom and I could see and hear the Tea Party powerhouse up close and personal. No, it's not our usual kind of date, but it is part of our theory on the importance of knowing what those on the other side of the political aisle are up to. So when one of them is in your 'hood, why not go?

Bachmann pretty much took the opportunity to give her standard stump speech -- raising the debt ceiling is bad, President Obama is bad, Ronald Reagan was a saint, Constitution, God, Americans are scared. You've heard it before.

But it was at the National Press Club. So that means questions that aren't planted or scripted. Heh.

Guest Post: The Way to Confound Bachmann - Your Kids?

Last month, MOMocrats entered into a competition at the Circle of Moms community to find the 25 most popular political blogs written by mothers. Thanks to your votes, we made it into the Top 10 -- along with some of our other favorites. Plus, through the Circle of Moms list, we've been introduced to several new progressive voices, like Shannon Drury of the Radical Housewife (#3), who kindly offered us this account of an up close and personal encounter with now-official Presidential candidate, Rep. Michele Bachmann:

As a longtime activist in the service of feminist and other social justice causes, I have spent more than my fair share of time in the Minnesota State Capitol.  And because I believe that politics is an all-ages activity, I like to take my two kids.  

This was easier when they were small, as Elliott and Miriam were in the capitol session of 2006.  I dragged them and a stroller full of one-year-old Miriam’s junk to a hearing that involved regulating abortion procedures in our state so stringently that the “choice” in “pro-choice” would be meaningless for all but wealthy urbanites, the types who had access to everything anyway.  My sister and her four-year-old son joined us.  Great pals as well as cousins, Elliott and Aidan liked any opportunity to hold signs and chant as loud as they could, proving my oft-held theory that there are no finer activists than energetic little boys.  Yet even these two grew tired of flapping “PRO-CHOICE PRO-FAMILY” signs, taking their first opportunity to sneak away from their mothers in search of greater kicks.

“STOP THAT,” came the inevitable bark of an irritated stranger.  

A slender, finely-coiffed brunette had her gaze fixed on the boys, who were zipping in between a marble alcove and a copper bust of some long-dead former legislator.  My cheeks reddened as I plopped Miriam in my sister’s arms, mentally preparing for a heartfelt apology and a promise that the children in my care would stop behaving like overcaffeinated puppies.  Until I got a closer look at the woman’s face, that is.

I realized that my children were being admonished by Michele Bachmann, a state representative from Stillwater.

Rarely am I able to identify Minnesota legislators outside my home of Minneapolis, but Bachmann was making quite a name for herself in state politics, and not always for the reasons that she hoped.  I wouldn’t have recognized her if she hadn’t been exposed for hiding in the bushes outside a LGBT rights rally outside the capitol building the session before.  Why was she hiding there?  Bachmann never quite explained this herself, but the universally held opinion was that she couldn’t resist a peek at the folks she’d spent her tenure in the Minnesota legislature demonizing.  That very day, in fact, I’d passed by a gentleman holding a homemade sign with the words “HATEMONGER” scribbled across her headshot.