the myth of the post-Clinton female voter

Rumor has it that thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands, of female Clinton supporters, so pissed off that Hillary's been forced out of the race, are on the verge of abandoning their Democratic roots and jumping on the McCain bandwagon.

Really? I mean, McCain? The man who said to his wife (in public), "At least I don't plaster on the makeup like a trollop, you cunt"? The man who thinks women just need to get themselves better educated and stop whining about unfair pay? The man who is anti gun control, anti birth control (not to even mention abortion), and has absolutely no time table for withdrawing from Iraq? The man who continues to oppose universal health care? The man who thinks that a "gas tax holiday" will save us from the oil crisis (even though this federal tax is the main source of revenue for little things like, you know, maintaining our roads and bridges)? The man who didn't bat an eyelash when a supporter, referring to Hillary, demanded to know, "How do we beat the bitch?"

Of course there will inevitably be some women who's presidential preferences will be Clinton, then McCain, then (or not at all) Obama. But to imply that this is a huge problem for the Democrats, to anecdotally create a mass exodus of Democratic women to Camp McCain, is both offensive and ridiculous. We women are not so hysterical or so illogical that we would vote en masse against our own interests and against decades of being democrats just because our girl lost.

And as for these post-Hillary-concession polls indicating that upwards of 30% of Clinton supporters are going to go out and vote Republican all of a sudden -- as one person pointed out, this is akin to asking a married couple in the middle of a big marital spat in September what their plans are for Valentine's Day. Even the most bitter, disappointed Clinton women will come around by November.

Already in a recent Gallup poll, Obama leads McCain amongst women voters by 13%. That's a pretty big lead by any standards.

Worth reading:

Frank Rich's piece in the Times yesterday
Huffington Post's Unmasking McCain