Bay Buchanan Schools Norah O'Donnell on 'Glass Ceiling' in Politics

CBS chief White House correspondent Norah O'Donnell and Republican strategist Bay Buchanan had a bit of a tussle about women in the workplace on Sunday's Face the Nation.

When Buchanan said opportunities for women are currently unlimited, O'Donnell strongly disagreed claiming, "There is a glass ceiling in politics" which led the conservative to correctly point out this is largely due to women's personal choices rather than anything nefarious (video follows with transcript and commentary):

BOB SCHIEFFER: What's the state of women today? You know, when I came to work at CBS News in this bureau, there was one producer that was a woman, one woman that was a correspondent, one woman that worked on the desk. And when one of those three left, they replaced her with a woman. Now, I would say-- what would you say, Norah, more than half the people in this bureau are women, the TCU in our journalism school, seventy percent of the students there going into journalism are women. How would you say women's chances are right now, Bay Buchanan? Is-- is there equality?

BAY BUCHANAN: There is. There's-- the opportunities are unlimited, both through the universities as well as business and professional. And-- and-- and I think what's key for women, there's too-- often too much talk about-- look to see how you're treated and what you can do and you better not do that because so many people will say that's beneath you and they're just asking you to get coffee because you're a woman. It's so much nonsense. I think-- I think the message to young women today is, do whatever you can, learn, be part of the team, be willing.

NORAH O'DONNELL: I would just strongly disagree with that. I just think that women have had, for the past-- past thirty years, equal opportunity in college. We now have more women who are getting medical degrees, PhDs, than men. But you had for the first time in the last election the number of women in Congress decrease. There is a glass ceiling in politics. We only have seventeen percent of women in the House and the Senate. And so while women are the driving force in the economy in terms of consumer decisions, they're not represented in politics or in the White House or in the halls of Congress--

BAY BUCHANAN: But-- but they have a choice.

NORAH O'DONNELL: --and that affects decisions.

BAY BUCHANAN: They can run or not run--

MELINDA HENNEBERGER: And not-- and we're not paid the same way.

BAY BUCHANAN: --and we choose not to run because women in politics have an equal opportunity to win. That is time and again in effect.

NORAH O'DONNELL: That is absolutely true.

BAY BUCHANAN: They have an edge to men, often, because they're more trusted. And so it's-- they choose not to run because of their own personal lives, their commitment to family or-- or whatever small business they might have. So it's ridiculous to say we have to have equal, equal everywhere it is.

Indeed.

Here's something else feminists should consider whenever they complain about how few women there are in politics: look at how the Left and their media minions treat conservative females that dare to run for office.

Start with former Alaska governor Sarah Palin who from the moment Republican presidential nominee John McCain announced her as his running mate in August 2008 was mercilessly attacked by virtually every press outlet in the nation.

You think that makes conservative women want to enter politics?

In the last two election cycles, the press have rallied against every conservative woman including those running against men.

They backed Joe Biden over Palin, Harry Reid over Sharron Angle, Christopher Coons over Christine O'Donnell, Terry Goddard over Jan Brewer, Richard Blumenthal over Linda McMahon, and Jerry Brown over Meg Whitman.

And they routinely attack Michele Bachmann including putting absurd pictures of her on the covers of their magazines.

New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd in October 2010 disgracefully referred to all of these women as "Mean Girls, grown-up versions of those teenage tormentors who would steal your boyfriend, spray-paint your locker and, just for good measure, spread rumors that you were pregnant."

But this misogyny and sexism isn't only aimed at Republicans, for the media's treatment of Hillary Clinton in 2008 once the press had firmly gotten on Barack Obama's bandwagon was almost as disdainful as how conservative females fare.

As such, if folks like O'Donnell really want to see more women in politics, maybe they ought to do a better job of treating women in politics regardless of their ideologies.

Until then, it seems any sane woman wouldn't want a thing to do with this disgusting circus and would instead stay in professions where they are treated with far greater respect.

In reality, if there is a glass ceiling in politics, the media are largely responsible.

Why this isn't obvious to folks like O'Donnell is beyond me.