We already knew that conservatives have some kind of a weird grudge against women, but this latest jab at the CPAC Conference proves they learned absolutely nothing from the last election. (Hint: women are 53 percent of the electorate).
When Paul Begala spoke about what Hillary is doing now, someone in the crowd yelled "Get a facelift!"
"'No, not get a facelift,' Begala said. 'She's not a Republican society lady, she's a real woman.'"
Right on!
Can you imagine someone suggesting that an older male politician -- for example, a male Secretary of State like John Kerry -- get a facelift?
This really tells us what some conservatives think women's priorities should be, doesn't it? Certainly it's not the job of older women to run the country with the Big Boys who don't get facelifts.
So many women now live in fear of showing their real older faces in public that we're increasingly surrounded by friends or public figures we used to know who now look like they've been disfigured and tightened by merciless torturers. Too many of us somehow don't look "real" anymore, as if a plastic Barbie doll had sneaked into our bedroom in the middle of the night and taken our place in life.
What happens to our culture if women over 40 spend their lives in the vain effort to pass themselves off as far younger than we are? Well, for one thing, fewer women will mature into their full power as elders and leaders in our society. Good news for those who dislike women in the first place.
When I was in my 30s I was in a women's group where something happened that changed my life. A woman in her 20s spoke with tears in her eyes to a woman in her 70s. She said "thank you for not getting a facelift so I can see you as a beautiful older woman." That did it for me. I vowed then and there that I would wear my real face til the day I die -- a bizarre act of rebellion in this society, it seems!
And now I, like that woman, am approaching 70 -- in the face I was born with. Yes, it has a few lines and some signs of wear. But as I look in the mirror -- I recognize her! She's the powerful woman elder I've spent all these years and struggles becoming. And to me at least (and, gratefully, to my husband as well) she's authentically beautiful, wrinkles and all.
So Hillary -- please keep on being your real self with the face Mother Nature gave you. We need your experience, compassion and power to turn this country around.