In a Washington Post editorial today, columnist Kathleen Parker hails entrepreneurs Meg Whitman and Carly Fiorina and famous daughters Meghan McCain and Liz Cheney as "a glimpse at what could become a surge of hormonal correction on the conservative side." Whitman is running for governor of California, Fiorina is challenging Barbara Boxer in the Senate, Liz Cheney just started a new website, and Meghan McCain is, well, Meghan McCain. Parker points out that these women — especially those actually campaigning — might help mitigate the dearth of powerful women in the Republican party, which currently boasts only three female governors. She writes,

This deficit in high office is both a taint on the GOP and a reflection of the broader assumption that Republicans are monolithically against women's rights. Specifically, the party's pro-life platform alienates pro-choice women, as well as moderates, who otherwise might find common cause with conservative principles.

Women such as pro-choice Whitman and "personally" pro-life Fiorina could help change that impression, while also raising other issues women care about. Fiorina caused a slight ripple in the Republican zeitgeist during McCain's campaign when she criticized insurance companies for covering Viagra and not birth control.

Parker points out that Meghan McCain is pretty liberal on social issues too, and that she, Whitman, and Fiorina might represent an emerging breed of Republican woman — one ready to roll back some of the GOP's more woman-hating policies. This would presumably be good for women who are, say, fiscally conservative, but who have felt alienated by the party's direction in the last 20 years or so. That said, Liz Cheney is pretty much a chip off the old block of grade-A evil, and Parker's predictions of a woman-led tide of greater ideological diversity slam up short when they hit one very visible woman: Rep. Michele Bachmann.

In a Times profile, Monica Davey tallies up the disturbing markers of Bachmann's popularity. She's in the calendar of "Great American Conservative Women"
(apparently she's November). She appears on cable an average of once every nine days. She's seeking reelection to the House, but some speculate she might run for governor of Minnesota. And Sean Hannity has called her "the second-most-hated Republican woman in the country, second to Governor Palin, which is a good position." Given that Bill O'Reilly also thinks she's hot, Bachmann's cred with the far right could hardly be higher.

Of course, she's also batshit insane. Davey points out that Bachmann won't complete her census forms because she thinks they're "intrusive." She thinks health-care reform means death panels and "prayer and fasting" are the way to stop it. She also thinks reform will cause schoolgirls to "be taken away to the local Planned Parenthood abortion clinic, have their abortion, be back and go home on the school bus that night." And she apparently thinks Obama might try to get rid of the dollar. It's not just that Bachmann's views aren't woman-friendly — they're not friendly to anyone with a brain.

Parker's hopes for a "hormonal correction" to the Republican Party are all fine and dandy, but being a woman doesn't necessarily mean that you're in favor of women's reproductive rights — or that you're sane. McCain, Whitman, and Fiorina might be early signs of an expanding and diversifying GOP, or they might be decoys, luring fiscally conservative but socially liberal women into a party that's not really going to represent them. Sarah Palin continues to consolidate her power (this time with a national organization called Stand Up for Our Nation), Liz Cheney echoes her dad's old pro-waterboarding rhetoric, and Republican women who stray too far outside the party line (like Olympia Snowe) get called "stupid girls" and, interestingly, "Jezebels" by conservative commentators. So while a newer, broader GOP is a nice idea, Meghan McCain and her ilk might just be beckoning moderate women into a tent that doesn't actually have much room for them.

Time For The GOP Women [Washington Post]
A G.O.P. Agitator Not Named Palin [NYT]
Palin To Launch 'Stand Up For Our Nation' [Politico]
Conservative Radio Launches Sexist Attacks Against Snowe, Collins [Media Matters]

Cillizza's two lists — one of his own imagination and one responding to inane suggestions from readers — have some okay thoughts but mostly they're of the not-gonna-happen school. Here's why.

• Of Texas Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, Cillizza says, and Zimon agrees (except about the ageism):

  But, Hutchison seems set on returning to the Lone Star State full time with her 2010 primary challenge to Gov. Rick Perry (R). If she wins that race, Hutchison would theoretically be in position to run but she would be 69 years old on election day 2012 and putting together a national campaign would be hard to imagine.

  I say: First off, Hutchison would have to get through (another) brutal GOP primary to get the nod in 2012, and she's already suffering from withering criticism from the right on everything from her anti-tax credentials to her anti-choice position (apparently, she's not nearly enough so). While the age thing is a potential factor — except for John McCain, and Fred Thompson and lots of other people who run — the bigger problem is that she's likely to fade into electoral obscurity after she loses the primary and leaves the Senate.

• Cillizza brings up Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm, who was born in Canada, so she's not even eligible. Why bring her up? Because there are so few women who would even be credible that she's inevitably shoehorned into these lists.
• Cillizza himself is a fan of Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill (who, by the way, would be 63 in 2016, not that Cillizza brings it up), but for no good reason other than that she's a Senator. He thinks her upcoming 2012 reelection campaign will be bruising (assuming she wins); I think she's seems nice enough lady and is a good Senator, but I haven't seen much in the way of serious policy chops or national charisma on a Clinton-Obama-Palin imagination-capturing level.
• Cillizza also sticks South Dakota Congresswoman Stephanie Herserth Sandlin on the list, but points out that she declined to run for governor next year and might or might not run for Senator in 2014 if Tim Johnson declines to run again — not that only being in the Senate for less than a full term is a bar to a Presidential run anymore. I would predict that Herseth Sandlin's marriage to an older, former Congressman (Max Sandlin) would be thrown in her face, in much the way Bill Clinton's supposed influence on Hillary was during her primary run. But perhaps I'm jaded.
• Cillizza's readers, though, are just dumb. First up, they nominate Michelle Obama. Just because she's cool, doesn't mean she's a viable candidate — and the woman who made her husband promise that he'd give up politics if he lost his Senate run doesn't exactly seem like someone looking to extend her family's time in the national (and international) spotlight.
• Readers also nominate Janet Napolitano, who would've been a potential contender but who probably scuttled that by moving over the DHS. She's now in charge of an unwieldy, thankless and fucked-up agency that's going to get blamed for the smallest national security screw-up. And, worse yet, she's unmarried, and we all know what that means.
• And after years of Democrats complaining about dynasties, readers brought up Karenna Gore Schiff. Never heard of her? That's because she hasn't run for elected office, like, ever. They might as well have named Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg.
• Next up is New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, who has faced multiple challenges from her left, might yet be subject to a primary challenge and who is best known, at the moment, for being often compared to Tracie Flick. While she's young enough to wait for 2020 (when she'd likely be more credible) and could shore up enough support by 2016 to live down her rocky start, I'm still not buying her as Presidential material yet.
• They're slightly more correct about Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar's chances, since she acquitted herself quite nicely in the Sotomayor confirmation hearings by bringing the mom-love and the tough-on-crime cred to the proceedings. But the Dems didn't have much luck with their last Presidential candidate from Minnesota.
• Cillizza's readers are also on about Kathleen Sebelius who I think, like Napolitano, probably gave that chance up when she resigned an elected position (and a platform to run for Senate) to take the job at HHS. Sebelius is going to be the one in charge of — and blamed for — most of the regulations implementing Obama's health reform, including the eluzive public option. She's about to be one of the bigger lightening rods of this Administration, and it's a guarantee from the Congressional fight that something's going to be fucked up about it.
• Then there's Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, who isn't running for either the soon-to-be-open Senate seat or the Governor's slot in Illinois. State Attorney General in a corruption-ridden state where the Feds get all the glory (unlike the New York Attorney General, when he's not boinking sex workers) isn't a particularly likely platform from which to launch a Presidential bid.
• Zimon is more focused on who could be the next Sarah Palin. Her list includes a state elected official who couldn't win re-election; former eBay chairwoman Meg Whitman, who is taking on the Governator (also an outside pick for Cillizza); the Senators from Maine who wouldn't win a single Republican primary; Connecticut Governor Jodi Rell, whom everyone seems to hate; Hawai'i Governor Linda Lingle, who didn't win any points with the right by proclaiming Obama a citizen; and Liddy Dole, who tried it once, failed to win reelection last year and made enemies in Republican circles with her mismanagement at the National Republican Senatorial Committee. So, other than maybe Meg Whitman, who is really going to have to step up her public speaking and politicking skills, I ain't buying it.
• Cillizza, in the end, brings up a couple of national unknowns — Missouri Secretary of State Robin Carnahan (running for Senate), New Hampshire Senatorial candidate Kelly Ayotte and Florida CFO Alex Sink (D) — who could make a run for it in 2012 or 2016. This seems a more likely scenario to me, particularly on the Republican side. Who would've predicted in 1997 that George Bush (as opposed to Jeb) would've been the Republican candidate? Where was Clinton on the national radar in 1989? Who thought the brand-new Senator from Illinois in 2005 would be the President in 2009? The Republican and Democratic parties began a process of rebuilding after losing big-time in those elections — a process that, frankly, the Republican party seems unwilling or unable to do at this stage. So, in all likelihood, they'll do what the Dems did in 1984 and 2004 and the Republicans did in 1996 and nominate some dude that "earned" the slot, rather than someone who energizes the electorate.

But who did they miss? Or do you think it's possible that, while we might not have to wait 24 years to see another woman get close to the top of the ticket, we might have to wait more than 3 or 7?

A Woman in the White House? [The Fix]
Madame President, Revisited [The Fix]
GOP's White House 2012 ticket: Female-Female? [Writes Like She Talks]

Earlier: White House Turns To Head Off More Regina Benjamin Rumors

8:50 ET: Carly says "John McCain is the choice of the new generation." I happen to be reading this comment and snicker out loud by mistake. Three other reporters proceed to snicker. And then she's out. And so am I until Romney speaks in a few minutes: it's potty time! New thread 'round about 9:20 or whenever the Romnibot 3000 steps up to the mike.

8:49 ET: John McCain values the contributions of women in the following ordered ways: to our families, communities, the economy, and then in governing. Also, she said it AGAIN.

8:48 ET: How many fucking times is she going to say, "I know John McCain"? But does she know him Biblically? Otherwise, fuck it, I don't care.

8:47 ET: "Many people talk about changing Washington." Which is why it never, ever changes.

8:45 ET: John McCain will empower companies to make money. That's what Republicans do.

8:43 ET: We should all have an equal opportunity to achieve the American dream, according to John McCain, not that he plans on doing anything to guarantee said equality because that would be too much government interference, which he objects to.

8:42 ET: Maverick! Drink! People again realize by her pauses that they should applaud. Carly starts to realize the absurdity of talking when no one is actually listening.

8:41 ET: Obama is rhetoric and promises, McCain is service and reform. Some people realize by the way she pauses that they are supposed to clap. McCain's life is remarkable — oh, and BY THE WAY he was tortured.

8:40 ET: Long list of question... Getting bored. Crowd is getting louder, but no one else is paying attention either.

8:39 ET: Carly's turn. Time to be shallow: don't like the new haircut. Also, the magenta suit with the red backdrop? Bad call.

8:26 ET: Playing "Rock Around the Clock," Brian Setzer version, lots of old people actually dancing now that the recognize the song (even if they don't recognize the artist). There are way more old men here doing The Twist than I pretty much ever needed to see. The bass line makes me cross my legs more.

8:24 ET: Playing "Everyday People." There is unsurprisingly way less rhythm here.

8:32 ET: I look up at the movie screen only to see vid of brain surgery. Not nearly enough blood to be interesting. If I knew it would be this long, I would've gone to pee instead of doing the pee-pee dance during Fiorina's speech but it will make me motivated to blog fast.

8:30 ET: Choose John McCain, thanks, and it's video time.

8:27 ET: Applause line dies. Also, it's all about "individual freedom," except when it comes to your uterus.

8:26 ET: Meg says the tax code is "mind-numbing." So's this speech.

8:24 ET: "The real agents of change in this campaign." Wow, where did I hear that before? Oh, right, last night. Exciting. Or not. Drink, so maybe it'll get that way.

8:23 ET: "John McCain is more ready to lead than any person in America." Oooh, burn GWB, Meg, I might like you more.

8:21 ET: Meg's mom believed in America, and not in sexism. Uhh, those two things aren't mutually exclusive. Also, shout out to small government.

8:20 ET: She's here. She grew up on Long Island. I hate that place (sorry Long Island Jezzies) — it's like one long never ending suburb

MEGAN: I am so happy to have you back! (When you're back from getting coffee, that is).

MOE: Okay, here I am, having showered and resigned myself to brewing coffee because I can't leave the house twice in the same morning that is blasphemous, and watching Fox News. Wow, has John McCain cast a wide net for running mate! They are talking about Meg Whitman! Alaska Governor Sarah Palin! Mitt Fucking Romney! (God I would love it to be Romney!) But I suppose we should talk about last night's speech, even if I kind of think it's not worth talking about.

MEGAN: Well, the VP speculation was all the rage in the press box last night when no one was speaking. MSNBC was reporting it was Pawlenty, rumors were flying it would be Kay Bailey Hutchison, someone who doesn't have to be non-partisan was begging for it to be Romney, it was pretty amazing. And how is it not worth talking about?! It was amazing. People were crying. Like, hearing the way African-American people talk about this and the symbolism of seeing him be the standard bearer for the party, has been really interesting actually. One woman I interviewed for Glamocracy was like, black folks don't get invited to conventions very often, but we finally feel not just allowed but welcomed.

MOE: Yes, that is beautiful and moving and amazing and shit, but I gotta agree with what Noonan warned me about with that venue which is to say:

My own added thought is that speeches are delicate; they’re words in the air, and when you’ve got a ceiling the words can sort of go up to that ceiling and come back down again. But words said into an open air stadium…can just get lost in echoes, and misheard phrases.

Or cliches and tiresome pandering, which is, I believe, what that venue did for the speech. I love this guy, but if he is going to knock China within his first few minutes, if he has to take it to the illegal immigrants undermining our wages…well Jesus Christ, Barack Obama, this is your chance to point out, And I Say All This Not Because Illegal Guatemalan Meatpackers And Migrant Chinese Factory Workers At Heart Deserve America Any More Than We Do…but because we have to do right by the rights and values and ideals upon which this country was founded and improved before it is too late. And the "before it is too late" is where you get into the Iraq War, as opposed to — and here is what really sat badly with me — pointing out the Iraqi government's unspent surplus.

MEGAN: I'll be frank, by the time he got around to discussing policy issues, I was sort of bemoaning being the only woman (besides my friend Emily) anywhere near my section because if there had been more women, there would've been Diet Coke and I was ready to usurp ownership.

MOE: Which seemed tacky. But then! I switched to Fox News and Frank Luntz was yammering on about how it reminded him of Ross Perot circa 1992. Which I think means it was a success.

MEGAN: But I do recall without the benefit of the text, that he pointed out that he wanted to get out of Iraq, and used the surplus issue to make the point that they don't even really need us that much.

MOE: Those Perot voters are exactly who Barack Obama needs to vote for him! Unless he'd like to run himself.

MEGAN: Oh, God, Frank Luntz is so annoying! I'm glad I missed most of the punditry this week. I don't know that we need Ross Perot when we have Bob Barr.

MOE: Right! They don't really need us that much…WELL OKAY AGAIN YOU ARE RIGHT WHEN YOU SAY BARACK OBAMA THAT WHAT THEY REALLY NEED IS A TIME MACHINE. But yeah, no, they have some urgent needs in Iraq, and to dismiss them so glibly annoyed me. But speaking of Fox News, you know, it's what I watch when I have to watch TV news which is why I don't watch a lot of TV news. Are the other channels running those "I'm John McCain and here's looking at you kid" commercials?

MEGAN: Well, it all had to be done by the end of prime time without going so long that people tuned out. Plus, I actually thought that there was maybe too much policy in the speech, though I realize he was trying to counter inter-Democratic charges (all flash and no substance, etc.) with it. But a policy speech is a different thing. So I didn't get particularly exercised about it, though I'm pretty sure I lost 90% of my capacity for excitement on my second day of the convention.

MOE: See but, the genius of Barack Obama is that he has made substance his style, and that he has proven himself capable, in a speech, of teaching America little lessons, reaching the corners of the minds of average swing state Americans that seems to almost scramble their ideological codes, restoring in them intellectual honesty for a few seconds. I truly felt that when he "threw his grandmother under the bus" in that race speech. That race speech bowled people over and, more importantly, reminded them there's a trajectory here, that we don't give up hope on America precisely because we've encountered these little obstacles before…and this speech did not have this. Most offensively — and I do not get offended — this speech had "save our farms." Save our farms? Are you fucking kidding me?
Oh, but, loved Michelle's dress. What was that?

MEGAN: Well, you knew that was coming. He's from Illinois. I have no idea who made the dress, but Michelle has looked every single kind of awesome this week. So have Malia and Sasha, actually.

MOE: Now on Fox they're saying it's Sarah Palin as McCain's running mate. (Maybe)
Oh man Malia, Malia…she's just so very elegant! It is almost intimidating.

MEGAN: I mean, she's looked both pretty, elegant and age-appropriate, which I personally loved.
As for Palin, I don't know why she'd give up the governorship of the state of Alaska to be a running mate for John McCain. She'd be an inspired choice if he could get her, but I don't know why she'd do it, really.

MOE: Here's the other thing: I found the little documentary about Obama they showed in the lead up to the speeches — this was on PBS — I found it very inspiring because Obama talked about how his mother had impressed upon him the importance of putting himself in others people's shoes. And I think that's not an easy thing for a politician to pull off without making the other side cynical, what with so many of them being such profound narcissists, because all the conventional wisdom says "No, you don't understand, you have to put yourself in the shoes of a cliche." Put yourself in the caricature of his shoes!
Oh that is reminding me how Mitt Romney skipped the Timberland factory or something. That was Mitt Romney, right?

MEGAN: Nope, he went, he just didn't take their shoes.
Actually, I hated all of those videos this week, I found them super-annoying and disruptive to the energetic vibe I thought they were trying to create. I got on board with Michelle's, but then they just kept on coming. Sort of like the free bars but not the free food, which I'm sure has a lot to do with my current utter exhaustion.

MOE: I suppose that is enough until next time! Hey commenters, if anyone understands anything about the water supply, feel free to email me bc I need some help on a post. KTKSBAI
Oh fuck! Hold on. You can't leave without the funny David Brooks line.

MEGAN: Sure, what is it?

MOE:

For this election isn’t about the past or the present, or even the pluperfect conditional. It’s about the future, and Barack Obama loves the future because that’s where all his accomplishments are.

That is why it needed to be a better speech I think. But I'll hold out hope.

Predictably, there aren't many women in Yahoo's '50 Most Important People on the Web'*, so you'd think they'd be pretty, well, important, wouldn't you?

It all starts well, with Marissa Mayer, VP for search products and user experience at Google at number 9. Pretty impressive. At number 14, we welcome Shana Fisher, who is "Senior Vice President for strategy and M&A, IAC/InterActiveCorp". That's so impressive we don't have a fuck what it means. Way to go, girl! Things are a wee bit dry on the woman front until we hit number 28, where we find Meg Whitman, CEO of eBay. Yay! We've even heard of her!

And that's your lot.

Oh wait. Who's that creeping in at number 50, a mere four places behind creator of the known universerse World Wide Web, Sir Tim Berners-Lee?

Why, it's Tila Tequila! No, we've never heard of her either, so we think she must be thrillingly technologically important. And she is. Guess what? She's got a Myspace page, with 1.6 million 'friends'! Hoooooo!

But that's not all!

"She has posed for Stuff magazine, she has a part in an Adam Sandler film currently in production, and her MySpace page currently boasts more than 56 million page views and 1,734,374 comments."

Stuff Magazine! Adam Sandler! This girl is the fucking BIG TIME. Oh yeah.

[Yahoo's 50 most important nerds] Yahoo.com

*And yes, our lord and master is also on the list. But he's only five above Tila, and that's GOTTA hurt.