Vegas Village Idiocy

A really weird op-ed out of the Las Vegas Review-Journal over the weekend.  Steve Benen explains:

I like to think I can take a joke, and appreciate political commentary intended as humor, but this item from Thomas Mitchell, editor of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, wasn't amusing. The headline read, "Time to repeal the 19th Amendment?"

People and candidates for public office should be judged on the basis of their ideas, stance on the issues, character, experience and integrity, not on the basis of age, race, creed, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, religion or disability.

Therefore, we must repeal the 19th Amendment. Yes, the one granting suffrage to women. Because? Well, women are biased..... Men are consistent. Women are fickle and biased.

To "prove" his point, Mitchell, head of Nevada's largest newspaper, pointed to poll results showing women voters in the state preferring Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D) over former state Sen. Sue Lowden (R) by a narrow margin, but preferring Reid over real estate agent Danny Tarkanian by a wide margin. This is evidence of "bias." (That women voters might perceive Lowden as more qualified than Tarkanian doesn't seem to enter the equation at all.)

Mitchell also pointed to recent Gallup data that showed, nationwide, women tend to prefer Democrats, while men tend to prefer Republicans. This, apparently, substantiates the argument that ... well, actually, I have no idea.

If there's a clever insight here, it's hiding well.

And if there's a punchline, I missed it too.  I understand there may be a point about no longer needing equality amendments in the Constitution in our "advanced" political environment and all...and then silliness like this goes ahead and proves quite succinctly exactly why those amendments are there.

I'm not quite sure what the point of the op-ed was, but it was poorly done.  Just because you're editor of Nevada's largest newspaper doesn't mean you should pen an op-ed like this.  You have the right to do it, you're the editor of the paper...but it doesn't mean it's a good idea.