Slate.com columnists Emily Bazelon and Dahlia Lithwick say that embattled former Justice Department Director of Public Affairs Monica Goodling (pictured), who is part of the Alberto Gonzalez/U.S. Attorneys scandal, is getting off light by playing the “girl card.” In The Goodling Girl: How Monica Goodling played the gender card and won, Bazelon and Lithwick write:
“Nobody seems to want to go there, so we will. Let’s pretend for a moment that the world divides into two types of women: the soft, shy, girly kind who live to serve and the brash, aggressive feminists who live to emasculate. Not our paradigm, but one that’s more alive than dead.
“When she was White House liaison in Alberto Gonzales’ Justice Department, Monica Goodling, 33, had the power to hire and fire seasoned government lawyers who had taken the bar when she was still carrying around a plastic Hello Kitty purse. Goodling, in fact, described herself as a ‘type-A woman’ who blocked the promotion of another type-A woman basically because the office couldn’t tolerate infighting between two strong women. (‘I’m not just partisan! I’m sexist, too!’) That move sounds pretty grown-up and steely. Yet in her testimony this week before the House judiciary committee, Goodling turned herself back into a little girl, and it’s worth pointing out that the tactic worked brilliantly. (more…)
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