This got me thinking... would the same question be asked if former President Bush had gone to the game with another man who also held different political beliefs than him? Would this engagement be dismissed? I would like to believe it wouldn't, but I think because Ellen is a famous woman (loved by many) that it is easy to create drama about her public and private life. Women are easy targets for these kinds of attacks. I have attached some videos. Let me know what you think!
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/466010-cnn-catches-heat-for-asking-candidates-about-ellen-bush-friendship-at
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/15/us/politics/kamala-harris-reproductive-rights.html?searchResultPosition=24
ReplyDeleteOn the topic of the debate and women in the upcoming election, I found it interesting that current attacks on reproductive rights are going relatively unnoticed (in comparison to other issues) during this next campaign cycle. Senator Harris may not have left as strong of an impact as she did during the first debate on the topic of busing, but I appreciate her raising attention to something that I think I've been taking for granted as a California resident in 2019. Although I think this moment was also forgotten in the other hours of the debate, I think Senator Cory Booker's response and justification for women's rights was one that rejects the common evocation of "imagine your mother, sister, etc" when discussing issues related to and particularly attached to women.
"God bless Kamala,” he said. “But you know what? Women should not be the only ones taking up this cause and this fight. It’s not just because women are our daughters and our friends and our wives. It’s because women are people.”
I completely agree with your hypothesis that Bush with Ellen, instead of Bush and a democratic male for instance, would receive more attention and attacks, and I think the media played on this topic for the sake of views, in part. I do think that the relationship between Ellen and Bush attests to the fact that class in America is a socioeconomic dividing and uniting force, reflecting our great wealth equality, that doesn’t get spoken about enough though as well. Considering the general degree of political polarization, it’s fascinating (yet still expected) that one’s economic status largely determines one’s affiliate network. A person’s wealth, not their ideological or political values, determines this, and I think this class dynamic doesn’t get spoken about enough despite being as visible. Why doesn’t our media ever talk about this?
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