Barber is drowning that cocktail of myth.

I died over the "When was the last time a president cut short a meeting to go feed a baby with his balls?" Bee ROCKS.

Also, who's that "Mystery" guy? I don't think I'd ever date a guy with, uh, goggles on his head at a nightclub. Unless he happened to be my old anthropology professor, and those goggles were lab goggles, used in his quest to do more research on life history patterns. Just sayin'.

I think Bee just made up my mind for me... I've been on the Edwards/Obama fence, but I'm now thinking... Hillary all the way! Freakin brilliant!!!

OK, I don't get the Mystery guy. I can admit to catching his show on VH1 a time or two, and am nothing more than puzzled by it. I think it's supposed to be reality, but... really? I like the guys insecure and geeky better.

Ready for a female president? Hell, I'm ready for a female Chief Justice on the US Supreme Court.

Who was that lady they interviewed who went on about women being the "weaker" sex? I know they edit the hell out of their interviews... but seriously? Do you think she was honest or that she was asked the question of "IF you were going to come up with STEREOTYPES of why a woman can't be President, what would you say?" and the Daily Show edited it for laughs?

I sort of think she was serious and I can't figure out if I'm surprised or not...

*shrug* re: the goggles, its all the biz on the Industrial/techno scene. Flyer goggles, or in my husband's case firefighter goggles are considered attractive and even necessary for some subsets of the subculture. He's still a douche because he calls himself Mystery, but douches get an amazing amount of play in a lot of club scenes.

acranom, 1 nutbag, aka Lashawn Barber

Sex in the Capitol City

I particularly like the swipes at "sex in the city" with the format, the chain-smoking, the narrator's straining to be "girly girly" not to mention that fake "pretending to agree with everyone while actually barely listening to anyone".

Spot on. As a female native New Yorker, I always hated that show. Only girls that just fell off a greyhound bus pulling in from the midwest have those Carrie whatshername illusions, and the ones that stay figure out what utter bullshit it is in about five minutes.

What's so fascinating about this piece, besides kicking the TV show I hate the most, is the contrast between the MSM-generated lit-chick bimbo narrator and the seriousness of what the actual feminists and anti-feminists have to say about the question of the US "being ready for" a woman president. (Perhaps the US is less ready now than Pakistan, India, Norway, the UK, the Phillipines and Israel were in the last Century -- but more fool US.)

It's a swipe at the ongoing MSM anti-feminist backlash in the form of repeatedly asking such a stupid sexist question in the first place, and in the form of putting up stupid shows like Sex in the City which only exacerbate the problem by perpetuating gender stereotypes in the first place.

"And by nurturing you mean...takes care of people? Yeah, I'd hate that! Yuck!"

Brilliant satire. And sexist women are AWESOME.

LaShawn Barber says on her blog that she said "women are the physically weaker sex" and that the daily show edited out the word PHYSICALLY - but if you just look at the segment, there is no chance for that, not jump, nothing. So I don't think it was the daily shows editing that depicts her saying this.

Also, she seems to have a problem with "white liberals"....

Shrug.

Alright, that was the most random and totally awesome clip ever. I think that anytime Kim Gandy and Mystery end up in a segment together, you just HAVE to have comedy gold.

I recognized LaShawn Barber from the segment that she and Ann from Feministing did awhile back, when Karl Rove left. I forget what channel/show it was on. CNN? Maybe? I loved how Bee referred to her as her "LaFriend"

This segment had my Mom and I laughing hysterically. I've only seen Sex and the City a few times, and most of the references were still understandable. And they raise a good point. If that's the kind of show that people think represent the height of strength and independence for women, no wonder they don't want us in charge of the country.

Buffy Summers for President.

this made my morning when i watched it on tivo, cuz this anti woman stuff (perpetuated by women) is beginning to drive me insane.

Here's another great feminist Daily Show segment, "Pill of Rights" - this time the correspondent is Samantha Bee's real-life husband, Jason Jones.
http://www.comedycentral.com/sitewide/media_player/play.jhtml?itemId=58791

I love Kim Gandy. She should be on television more often.

And as for women perpetuating the women are the weaker sex myth, I'm not surprised in the least. My own mother doesn't think ANY woman could be a good president.

I thought you should know that 'female' is the adjective to use in the title of the post rather than woman, which is a noun - after all you'd never say 'man president' or 'man speaker of the house', though you could say 'male president' (if there were ever a need). Just a tip for the future.

Frances: The title of the post is echoing the actual questions that dumbass tv show journalists are asking. They are the ones asking if the we are ready for a "woman president"

I think that they probably do know that, frances, but the title of the video segment says "woman." I haven't got the slightest clue why the media has switched from "female" to "woman" despite all grammatical logic, but they have, and I imagine that Jessica was just maintaining continuity here.

How over the top or subtle does something have to be to be successful satire?
I think plenty of folks watching this show, evening knowing that it's supposed to be silly because it's on the Daily Show, would shrug and say it's pretty accurate, and just goes to show why women aren't already leading the country...

I was hoping I'd see this here.

It sounds idiotic to say this about a Daily Show piece, but I was monumentally impressed. It was hilarious, and good for them for being able to put their finger on exactly what is so stupid about the media's and the people's unease with the thought of a WOMAN PRESIDENT (*shiver*) in a six-minute segment. Hell, I'd have been happy even to know that they got what's so stupid about it, let alone could come up with good jokes about it. Hurrah, I say, and hurrah. That, and my admiration for Sam Bee just tripled.

Frances, yeah I was just using the headline from the segment. Thanks, though!

Oh, I love Samantha Bee. She's always hilarious. I knew this segment would end up here.

Also, I fucking hate Sex and the City.

Parenthetically, I've been in the same club as that Mystery guy once here in Miami. He had a crowd of women around him all night, but I'm 99% positive that has more to do with his idiotic show on VH1 than any of his perceived charms. He's quite tall, and not any more attractive in real life.

And I'll throw in my love for the segment. Samantha Bee is fantastic.

I like Kim Gandy, too. But I absolutely love Cecile Richards. Cecile should be on television the most often.

I caught this segment while I was on the treadmill. I had to slow down several times because I was laughing so hard.

Just a usage note: while "female X" would be grammatically correct, it has been typical to use "woman X" to refer to a profession woman in a typically male position. "Woman doctor" or "woman police officer" for example. Entirely similar to "lady such-and-such"--the implication of course being that the gender needed to be specified because one would otherwise assume said professional was a man. I suspect that's why the Daily Show went with the less-correct phrase Woman President--that's what people are saying, and it's ridiculous. Obviously nobody asks if we're ready for a Man President. The phrase hardly even scans in a way that makes sense.

Makes me glad I have zero desire to ever run for any political office. How depressing!

Brilliant!!! It's so good to see comedy used in such a positive light!

Also note that historically, using a noun that identifies group membership - when the same word is not itself an adjective, such as "German" - has carried a derogatory connotation. (e.g. "Jew lawyer" vs. "Jewish lawyer")

I suspect that some of what's going on here is a distant reflection of that. (Or not so distant; the language could be a deliberate plant to get people to instinctively wrinkle up their nose at the thought)

William Safire had an interesting column about "female doctor" vs. "woman doctor" ...