The Persistent Perviness Of Conservative Pundits

It’s become a conservative refrain to trumpet the “hotness” of right-leaning women, especially compared to the “dogs” among liberals. So no wonder some major (all-male) names in conservative punditry saw no problem in judging the 20 hottest conservative female bloggers.

Conservative male taste in women seems to roughly align with Roger Ailes’ hiring preferences: half the women are blonde (including Ann Coulter!), and with the exception of Michelle Malkin, all of them are white.

As Newsweek blogger David A. Graham notes,

Some of the photos appear to be official press shots or were pulled from the commentators’ blogs. Others, however, look disconcertingly like they were pulled from the subjects’ Facebook pages, chosen for maximum hotness. Those pages may be fair game, but it’s misleading for Right Wing News to pull candids from parties-especially when some of the subjects have sensible, businesslike images posted as their public image on their blogs.

Our gasping shock at Right Wing News doing something misleading aside, Graham has a point: just because these women have photos on the Internet and choose to express their political opinions online, doesn’t mean they were auditioning to be slobbered over by pervy middle aged guys. Says National Review editor-at-large Jonah Goldberg, a judge, “My shame spiral is bottomless.”

Graham points out the hypocrisy here: certain elements of the right are all about “feminism” when it comes to anyone criticizing women in their camp — there was that Newsweek cover of Sarah Palin in shorts — but a wink and a chuckle are in order when it comes to ogling among their own. And of course, it’s always about men looking at women. It’s the natural order!

The 20 Hottest Conservative Women In The New Media [RWN]
Conservative Hotties And Gender Hypocrisy: Why It’s Hard To Have It Both Ways [Newsweek]
Judge Not [NRO]