Following up a couple of points from yesterday

Regarding press failures (in addition to yesterday’s list), we have AP’s messed-up efforts to fact-check Bill Clinton’s speech. The Daily Howlers finds CNN’s efforts just as bad. Happily, the media are getting along fine with politicians, even offering them free back rubs. Literally.
And Democratic support for women’s rights (also touched on yesterday) is still annoying right-winger Erick Erickson who calls the convention “the Vagina Monolog” (Media Matters lists some of his previous issues with women). Sandra Fluke’s appearance freaked them out even more. Much as the Repubs deny there’s a war on women, the repeated attacks on Fluke—who didn’t do anything more than say she wanted her law school to cover birth control in its mandatory health-insurance package—show many of them really do have trouble with a woman who doesn’t know her place (and worse, thinks sex is OK). You can also check out my And column on right-wing health-insurance myths.
And speaking of sexism, lawyers, guns and money tackles an argument from Ross Douthat that women should stop giving away the milk and make men buy the cow. I dissected Dreher’s previous call for chastity a while back, and also the whole buy-the-cow concept. As LGM points out, underlying it is the idea that women can’t possibly enjoy sex so making love isn’t an even exchange unless they get something else out of it.
Makes me wonder how miserable some of these right-wing marriages must be.