Here is a perceptive column from Stuart Schneiderman.

Excerpt:

Hot Republican women are a political issue, but they are also a cultural force. If that bastion of patriarchal oppression, the Republican party, is nominating more and more women, and being represented by more and more attractive women, what are the cultural consequences?

It is worth mentioning, even if only in passing, that the hot Republican women in question are not in the same category as Paris Hilton and Lady Gaga. They do not represent the kind of hotness that plays well in music videos. They are adult women; they have husbands and families; they have worked hard on their careers and have garnered a measure of success.

But they have done it without compromising their womanhood. None has ever pretended to be anything other than a woman.

If you believe that the world of men can only accept women who leave their femininity at the door, then these Republican women are saying that you are wrong.

Moreover, these women are not feminists. They are not leftist ideological zealots. They did not try to overthrow the patriarchy. They took the opportunities that were available, and they did not spend their time agitating about the opportunities that were not available. They competed and succeeded on the playing field that existed, and did not ask for special favors and dispensations because they were women. They did not spend their time airing grievances because they were too busy with their lives to involve themselves in such self-indulgent exercises.

That’s why I keep posting videos of Republican women who are also mothers on this blog, like Michele Bachmann, Nikki Haley and Marsha Blackburn. It’s important for women to understand that you can be a success in this world without neglecting your family, and without demanding that your alleged victim status be remedied by the coercive power of the state.

UPDATE: Governor Jan Brewer (Arizona) and Governor Linda Lingle (Hawaii) are also making news this week.

Please see below for links and videos about Michele Bachmann.

Campaign speeches, interviews and debates

Speeches:

• Michele Bachmann’s Republican Leadership Conference speech
• Michele Bachmann’s speech at the Right Online Conference

Reactions from her first debate performance:

• Washington Post
• UK Telegraph

Profiles of Michele Bachmann:

• The Weekly Standard
• Wall Street Journal
• ABC News
• WORLD Magazine

Michele Bachmann on television news

Let Americans spend their own money

Time to prioritize spending

Obama’s plan is to raise your taxes

Michele Bachmann in the legislature

Against socialism:

For economic growth:

Against ACORN funding: