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HADLEY FREEMAN

Awful rightwingers are the unlikely feminists

The left’s stance on gender somehow makes their opponents look rational

The Times

It is not very mature to communicate in internet memes, but when I try to describe the Democrats’ attitude to protecting women’s rights, all I come up with is that Simpsons clip of Sideshow Bob repeatedly stepping on rakes and smacking himself in the face. So severe is this rake face-smacking tendency that last week the Democrats managed to make Texas senator Ted Cruz — a misogynist of such proportions that he thinks abortion should be banned even if the woman has been a victim of rape or incest — look like America’s last great feminist.

On Wednesday, at a US Senate judiciary hearing, Cruz questioned Judge Sarah Netburn, whom President Biden has nominated to the US District Court. Netburn has a long record of