In Goldilocks Age, When Will Female Pols Be Just Right?

Women in politics are suffering from a "Goldilocks Syndrome" at the hands of a misogynist media: With Hillary Clinton deemed "too hard" for not paying attention to fashion and beauty, and Sarah Palin "too soft" for doing just that, what woman will possibly be deemed "just right?" asks Meghan McCain in her Daily Beast column. But it's not just this generation of female politicians that will suffer: With treatment like this on both the left and the right, "why would any woman my age ever feel inspired to run for office?"

Referencing Clinton's snapping at a mistranslated question that seemed to ask what her husband thought about an issue, McCain, who initially thought Clinton reacted "as strongly as any man would," now says she wished Clinton ''had kept her cool, because the incident only seemed to confirm what misogynists have said for years—women are too unstable to hold positions of power.'' All women involved in politics, whether as a candidate or commentator, face unfair scrutiny, asserts McCain, who writes that if her brother were writing her columns, ''I can pretty much bet that his weight wouldn’t have been an issue.'' (More Meghan McCain stories.)