Fox Business host Lisa Kennedy ripped into the latest trend of male Democratic presidential candidates promising to choose women for their running mates, saying that it was insulting.
During a Thursday segment of “Outnumbered,” Kennedy addressed the topic alongside Melissa Francis, Katie Pavlich, Leslie Marshall and the Daily Caller News Foundation’s Chris Bedford. (RELATED: Fox’s Kennedy Calls John Kerry The Jane Fonda Of The Middle East)
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Noting that several of the Democrats running in the 2020 primary have already promised to choose a female running mate — among them California Rep. Eric Swalwell and New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker — Pavlich argued that it was a cop-out.
“It cheapens the issue,” she said. “Instead of addressing real issues as you are talking about, we’ll just plug a woman into the vice presidency.”
Bedford said that he was reminded of a Washington Post front page that ran during the 2008 primary election. “‘I want to vote for Barack Obama because I’m black, but I want to vote for Hillary Clinton because I’m a woman.’ I thought, can’t you look at what they stand for?” he asked. “They have different policies and they have different ideas for the future of the country. That’s been completely pushed aside for this identity politics which is ruling the roost.”
Marshall chimed in then, saying it wasn’t really a fair characterization of what was happening. “I’m a woman and I voted for Hillary Clinton. I didn’t vote for her because she is a woman,” she said. “When I voted for her — and Melissa remembers this, I think — I took my daughter’s hand and put it on top of mine. For over 200 years, this country has been run by men and we want a turn. We want our turn.”
“I want to push back on that a little bit,” Kennedy cut in. “It’s so incredibly oppressive for people to say, ‘You have to vote a certain way. You have to stay in this basket. You belong with them. You cannot think for yourself, you are not an individual. You’re part of a group.'”
Marshall began to talk over her, pushing back, but Kennedy kept going. “That’s absolutely the subtext when people talk simply about race and gender. It’s offensive. Because you’re looking at people based on their race and based on their gender, saying, ‘You don’t have the rational capacity to make your own decision.'”
“I don’t agree,” Marshall rebutted as Kennedy fired right back, “‘There’s a special place in hell for women who don’t support other women.’ That is dog crap!”
Pavlich noted that the idea that it might be someone’s “turn” suggested that a group or a specific candidate was somehow entitled to the office. “Hillary — she famously, infamously, said that it was her turn. It’s her turn, that’s why the DNC worked so hard to get it done,” Pavlich explained, referencing the concerted effort to push independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders out of the 2016 Democratic primary.