Most of the women who have offered themselves for public office over the years have done so, I believe, more because of the 'dirt' than in spite of it.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
If American politics are too dirty for women to take part in, there's something wrong with American politics.
As a husband and as a father of girls, I cannot imagine any woman in my family making the sacrifice of sanity required to run for office. The limited reward for public service cannot blunt the cost.
It is very creditable when a woman gets into politics. She does this at the expense of responsibilities toward her home and family and should be lauded for this.
My impression is that most women public service workers have a long fuse. Precisely because they care so deeply about services, more than anyone, they still want to find a sensible and fair negotiated agreement. But their patience has run out.
Women have had the vote for over forty years and their organizations lobby in Washington for all sorts of causes; why, why, why don't they take up their own causes and obvious needs?
This was the first time a woman in Dallas had won public office of any kind - even women questioned whether or not I was qualified, whether or not I could take it.
Every congresswoman surely endures the same strains that drive some of her male colleagues to have affairs: lots of travel, families far away, heady work that makes a domestic routine seem distant and boring. But the stakes are much higher for women, because they are still judged by a different standard.
Whatever is dirty, it is women's job to clean up, or drive some man to clean up, and that goes for everything from cellar to senate.
Women are able to fit public service into their lives. Once they find out they like it and can do it, there is plenty of room to grow.
Men should be disqualified for public office. Women should run the planet. They're better than us.