No woman but the best?

[q_pheevr]

Every now and then, an article in my morning newspaper will call to mind scenes of high fantasy presumably uncontemplated by the journalist who wrote it. Consider for example the following sentence, from a piece by Tim Harper, of the Star's Washington bureau, speculating about potential vice-presidential candidates for the upcoming election in the

Comments

[tahnan]

I think the sense behind the "most qualified woman" is: if Barack picks Sebelius as a running mate, it would only be because he wants a female running mate in order to woo female voters (who, presumably, are currently swooning over the megahunk that is John McCain). And if all he wants is a female running mate, it should be Hillary.

Put that way, it still utterly fails to make sense, but perhaps it shifts the reasoning to "insane stupid logic" instead of "insane troll logic".

[theridger]

Yes - "How can you diss Hilary by asking Kathleen???? It can't be because you think the latter is a better candidate, it has to be an attack on Hilary!!!1!1!" At least, this is the way the media wants us to think women think. Feh.

And isn't that use of "reticent" odd? I see it frequently and it always gives me pause.