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Gender has been a recurring theme this election cycle. Nevada Senate candidate Sharron Angle (R) has repeatedly challenged her opponent saying, “Man up, Harry Reid.” Sarah Palin has used the phrase. In Delaware, Christine O’Donnell (R) called her primary opponent, congressman Mike Castle, “unmanly” and said he should get his “man pants on.” Even Kentucky Senate candidate Rand Paul (R) told his Democratic opponent to “Man up.” And it’s not just Republicans: In Missouri, Democratic candidate Robin Carnahan used the phrase against Roy Blunt.
But in a female vs. female gubernatorial contest, one candidate is challenging another on motherhood.
The motherhood card was thrown by U.S. Rep. Mary Fallin (R-OK) in a debate last week as she explained what made her more qualified to be governor than her opponent, Lt. Gov. Jari Askins (D-OK).
“I think my experience is one of the things that sets me apart as a candidate for Governor. First of all, being a mother, having children, raising a family,” Fallin said.
Askins expressed her readiness for the job in an interview on MSNBC. “There have been wonderful leaders both in Oklahoma and certainly around the country that have not chosen to have children,” she continued, “and my experience…I think really equips me for the governing side of the position of governor.”
Does motherhood really qualify you to run a state? And if so, what if you biologically cannot have children? Should that disqualify you from running for political office?
Askins has tremendous qualifications serving as lieutenant governor and as a former state legislator, judge, and attorney. Fallin is equally as qualified to be governor as she currently serves as a congressman and is the former lieutenant governor, state legislator, and having worked in the private sector.
The key difference apparently, according to Fallin, is that she is married to her new husband and they have a combined six children. Askins, however, is a 57-year-old single female.
This all arises during in a cycle when the number of women candidates in the House, Senate and governors’ races have broken records. A record-tying 10 female gubernatorial candidates are their parties’ nominees. This Oklahoma race and the one in New Mexico, are only the third and fourth times there has been a woman vs. woman gubernatorial election.
No matter the outcome of this contentious “motherhood” debate, one gain for women is assured: Oklahoma will have its first female governor.
Leave a Comment:
I don't think motherhood makes Fallin more qualified than Askins. I'm an Oklahoman and a mother. I like both candidates and when watching the debate referenced in the article, I was disappointed to see Fallin "play the motherhood card".
Give me a break. I have seen many mothers who don't have sense enough to fight their way out of a paper bag. The other thing everyone forgets is that most of us come from families with Mom and Dads and we already know how it is done. Being a mother does not qualify you for anything. Not even being a mother. As most of us know how we wind up being mothers we also understand it does not take brains. By the way, I am the parent of five children. They taught me a lot more than I ever taught them.
Stick to the issue ladies who cares about your ability to have a kid. If giving birth was a criteria then Octo-Mom would be governor.
God Bless our Mothers ...don't politicize God's gifts!
I think everyone should vote for Luigi Bobbio.
Ragster:
Being a wife and mother doesn't qualify you for anything but being a wife and mother. I am from Oklahoma and I too work. Not once in my career have I had to rely on being a wife and mother to make any decision. I doubt Jari Askins does either. Just because Jari isn't a mother doesn't mean she doesn't care about children. How do you know she's not the favorite aunt of some deserving child? I will tell you this. She has worked tirelessly in her tenure as a judge to bring to justice child molesters and has worked to protect Oklahoma's children. I used to like Mary Fallin but after this cheap shot, she has convinced me that Jari Askins should be my next governor!
Weren't these women originally claiming (rightly so) that male sexuality was not a qualifier for political office? So 'splain me why now female sexuality is! IMO this just proves the old saying that the best way to tell when a politician is talking a load of crap is to see if their lips move and words come out.
Mary Fallin has had extramarital AFFAIRS when she was LT. Gov. of OKLAHOMA. I wonder why she leans on the moral family issue so much. Look it up..and you will see she slept with her SHERRIF bodyguard a few years ago......and another married man
Hypocrits come in all genders it seems.
I wont vote for a woman making sexist "man up" or "man pants" comments. Bigots make me sick.
As for a barren wombed woman trying to say parenting isn't a quality, Thats like Stephen Hawking writing a paper on proper sprinting technique.
To the dems it is an issue here. Both are qualified, how do you separate the two? You cannot say they make better decisions because they are a woman. Unlike a certain supreme court justice. People will make the call on election day, not the media today. Let the candidates fight it out already.
would you vote GOP 2012= Gen McCrystal for pres & D. Trump v.p.== flat tax==all is well.
I can not see where it makes a difference one way or the other. What I would like to see is more successful business people running for higher office. Government is big business and it needs people that know how to run a business. God know the lawyers of this country have certainly made a complete mess of it. Let's give a better qualified group of people a chance to straighten it out.
People like Bernie Madoff, Kenneth Lay, Tony Hayward, for instance?
Businesses are run for profit, countries are run for the people who live in them.
There are a lot of examples of business people who were complete failures as political leaders.
Am I to understand that women who are not mothers, but are teachers, lawyers, doctors, nurses, and social workers should not run for office because they haven't cleaned the bottom of their own child??
I'm not a mom. Infertility has robbed me of that so far, but I have educated thousands of teenagers (not just 1, 2, 3, or 4). It would be ridiculous to assume that I am any less qualified than some woman who has parented her own children to be successful in public office. What a silly, silly (and offensive) argument....
Ps. This will sound juvenile, but who really has more experience in the area of diplomacy?? A mother of 1, 2, 3, 4, or more or a teacher, doctor, lawyer, etc. of thousands??
When the discussion was occurring between Fallin and Askins, Fallin was asked what set her APART from her opponent. She merely stated what she has used in a number of interviews over the years, that being a mother and a career woman have helped her along the way. Both of these candidates are well-qualified, whether they are mothers or not.
C'mon, it was a cheap shot.
Never married at that age?
Must be a lesbian.
You know there are people who will decide their vote on whether or not they think a candidate is gay.
Some politicians will use any low down tactic to win.
I don't care how many kids a politician has helped to produce. Making kids doesn't take brains.
I don't care about a candidate's private life unless she's some kind of criminal.
Or a dog kicker.
As a 68 year old mother and grandmother I find Mary Fallon's remarks very offensive.
I don't know about motherhood. But having grandchildren that are going to inherit the mess Politicians leave behind probably counts for something. After all if you have no issue, you might think you just have to worry about what happens in your lifetime.
So now the latest extremist conservative ploy is to "mother up." God help this country when this becomes a wedge issue while the corporate hijacking of the United States continues. Incredible!
I'd say the fact she has had two divorces says more about her than being a mother. Like Palin she can't stick it out. (for those of you who don't get the ref. Palin quit as Gov to make more money). If Palin runs for Pres I hope she chooses a good VP since she will probably get tired of the job after a couple of years. Palin does not strike me as someone who will work 10 or 12 hour days.
This is politically incorrect, but PLEASE....to call yourself a mother and then be OUT OF THE HOME trying to run the government.....give me a break!! It is obvious that Ms. Fallen's political aspirations are more important to her than spending quality AND QUANTITY time with her children and HUSBAND. Oh, 2nd husband at that after a divorce from her first husband. I guess getting through this difficulty is seen as a good trait now days instead of the failure that it is. And I'm a Republican!!
Typical Republican appeal to prejudice, in this case, against women who don't fall into stereotypical and traditional categories.
Man up? Women playing the fear-male card. Even Ran Paul is playing it too! Disgusting
Did this mother ever say she was a good mother? Anyone can spit out a child, but does she hand them over to her illegible house keeper so she can pursue a career in politics?
How can a house keeper be illegible? Just asking.
anyone can be illegible if you spell it wrong.
Being a mother qualifies one for public office to the same extent that being a father qualifies one for public office.
All the sniveling and bickering between Conservatives and Liberals is getting old.
Meanwhile, mega corporations run by billionaires are taking control of every aspect of our lives...
The last time we had this big an income spread between the wealthiest 2% and the rest of us, it was the 1920s.
Then you have this large portion of our neighbors that believe the GOP is coming to save us all next week???
Enter the most popular news source, "Dumb FUX NEWS", and you can see we have a serious problem...
We are so screwed...
Yep.
If some of those people, airheads, bigots, fanatics, etc. get elected to run your country you sure are screwed.
You think the bunch you have already is bad? I have a feeling you haven't seen anything yet.
It would probably be funny for the rest of us to sit back and watch, except you have all those soldiers, and drones, and nuclear weapons.
OK... let's see if I interpreted this correctly... "Motherhood qualifies a woman for office"...
To be honest... that's scary!! Too much emphasis on motherhood... not untypical of the Superwoman, soccer mom, etc. images forced down everyone's throat... Now its infiltrated politics...
Motherhood makes someone qualified for governor? I think not... Its more of a semi-libel attack against the supposed "lesbian" running against her. A bunch of women hopped on the bandwagon for motherhood and Apple pie and couldn't sense the backhanded slap...
The fact that Fallin is hitting Askins below the belt, right in the ovaries, is repulsive. Does Fallin's two previous divorces mean she can't be a good team player or she can't compromise? I doubt it. Fallin knows that this bible belt state has the illusion that a woman with children trumps one without, no matter how ungodly the people of Oklahoma view divorce.
None of this really matters though; Fallin will win simply because Oklahoma is a Republican state and will always be a Republican state.
Two previous divorces? Really? OMG, and she's dissing a woman for not having kids? CRAZY!
"I've failed repeatedly at what I consider to be a sacred institution, but look, my uterus works!"
Good lord.