The Daily Show

Having a hard time wrapping your mind around the shitshow that is the Republican National Convention? Us too. That's why we appreciate the intrepid reporting of The Daily Show's Samantha Bee, who took on the brave task of asking RNC delegates how they really feel about Romney's stance on abortion, which includes exceptions if the life of the mother is threatened.

At the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Samantha Bee learns that government is meant to protect the individual liberties of everyone lacking a uterus.

Louis C.K. claims he was vacationing sans Internet when the story broke about Daniel Tosh's rape "jokes." Kind of a coincidence that he'd tweet at Tosh during the whole mess without realizing it, but hey, I've missed stuff like that while on vacay too. At any rate, he came on The Daily Show last night to talk about the whole Tosh douchebacle, and the interview is a mixed bag of insights and head/desk moments.

On The Daily Show last night, Jason Jones met with Tad Devine, a political consultant, to talk about the increasing emphasis on "the women's vote" among the remaining presidential candidates. After pointing out that many of the discussions about women in Washington don't actually involve women, Jones invited Joanne Smith (Girls for Gender Equity), Julie Menin (Eleanor's Legacy), Sonia Ossorio (NOW NYC), and representatives from Emily's List and the League of Women Voters to join in.

Looks like some members of the GOP must have seen The Daily Show last night, because they've decided to give up on their ridiculous crusade to redefine rape in a bill banning taxpayer subsidies for abortions. Of course, they still want to ban taxpayer subsidies for abortions in most cases, so it's not exactly time to break out the champagne, but at least women who have been raped will not have to prove that the rape they experienced was "forcible" in order to get government assistance for abortions. (You know, because a lack of consent is what defines rape. We know you know.) We'd like to thank Kristen Schaal for tipping the scales in favor of women's rights in this instance. We're sure that her report on last night's Daily Show on the "rape loophole" in our government had something to do with today's decision:

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Rape Victim Abortion Funding
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I spend a lot of time blogging complaints. Not enough women, too many but too insubstantial, why do they only talk to each other about men, etc., etc. This is a complaint commonly made about bloggers, and, hell, feminists, that they are too critical and don’t ever seem to see any good in anything.

But today I’ve something positive for you. The other night I was watching the Colbert Report and a small, good thing happened. Colbert was interviewing Aaron Sorkin, who, if you’ve been living in media blackout for the last six weeks, has out a new movie about Facebook called The Social Network. The movie being essentially about a tech startup, not a form of human organization known for its devotion to vagina-ocracy, there aren’t exactly strong female roles in it. This is not something I expect to be a common observation about the film, because at least as regards the gender of the main movers and shakers, the film is merely reporting the facts: they were men. So imagine my surprise when the one major issue Colbert stated about the movie was that its portrayal of women seemed flat. "The other ladies in the movie don’t have as much to say because they’re high or drunk or [beep]ing guys in the bathroom. Why are there no other women of any substance in the movie?" And then when Sorkin admits this is a fair question and terms the women "prizes," Colbert asks, "Are women at Harvard like that? I’m trying to figure out if I missed out on the college experience."

Olivia Munn

In an interview with Salon, Munn says "these women [Jezebel bloggers] sit behind this very thin veil that I can see right through, this idea that 'we stand up for women.' If you stand up for women, then don't bash me." This quote reveals a strict adherence to what I'll call the Palin Feminist Fallacy: the idea that if a woman does something, it is automatically a feminist action. Being "okay" with a sexist remark doesn't mean that it's automatically no longer sexist, and being a female who makes misogynistic jokes doesn't somehow cancel out the misogyny.