The Washington Post motto is “Democracy Dies in Darkness,” but Democrats, well, they are the forces of brilliance. Friday’s Style section was topped by a puff piece boldly promoted in all-caps: “THEIR MADELEINE MOMENT: Women who were kids when Albright was secretary of state now look to her as a feminist icon.” Post reporter Jessica Contrera gushed about the Albright fan-girls at an allegedly Catholic college:
When the audience of more than 300 began to clap and howl, Madeleine K. Albright entered the Georgetown University auditorium. She waved. She winked. The clapping grew louder, especially from young women in the room.
They smiled giddily, checked to make sure their phones were on silent and opened their notebooks. Theirs was the generation of “The Future Is Female” T-shirts and Ruth Bader Ginsburg tote bags, who grew up being told that women can be anything, and then, just as they were getting their starts in the working world, watched Hillary Clinton’s defeat. [Italics hers.]
...The goal of this April event was to promote her new book, Fascism: A Warning, a 304-page history of authoritarian regimes with a not-so-veiled modern-day relevance. At 80 years old, Albright was in the midst of a publicity tour that would take her to 12 cities in three weeks. And in each one, she would find a similar entourage of young women, for whom she was:
“Amaaazing,” said 25-year-old D.C. resident Katherine Stark.
“A badass,” said 31-year-old Naomi Rosen, who saw Albright in Philadelphia.
“The epitome of KWEEN,” tweeted 28-year-old Catherine Monaco after a book event in New York.
Seventeen years after she left public service, Madeleine Albright has transcended the role of history-making diplomat to become a full-fledged feminist icon.
It's completely natural that the "Kween" of Fascism Warnings would be praised by the Democracy Dies folks. Trump's not a fascist, just the "most undemocratic" president in modern history. That is simply measured by this: he criticizes the media as partisan phonies. Contrera tweeted her thought that this passage was the most noteworthy:
“If I say I look up to Elizabeth Warren, people think I’m some insane leftist,” said 23-year-old Lior Azariya, who attended Albright’s event at Sixth & I in the District. “If I say Nikki Haley, people think I’m way on the right . . . Sarah Sanders? Kellyanne Conway? Who am I supposed to look up to?”
To Azariya, Albright was an obvious choice. Besides her, there was only one other figure the crowds of young women seemed to agree on.
“RBG, we love her,” said 22-year-old Brianna Messina, referencing Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
“RBG,” said 18-year-old Victoria Belka, “Notorious RBG.”
“My dream is to have lunch with Madeleine Albright and RBG,” said 21-year-old Nicole Rubin. “They’re regular people, but they’re just not.”
So somehow Ginsburg and Albright represent how to find a spot on the political spectrum far, far away from Elizabeth Warren? Contrera labors to compare Albright to Beyonce and Justin Bieber on the teen-idol scene, but admits that the students she interviewed knew Albright from mentions on the sitcom Parks & Recreation or her cameo on Gilmore Girls.
Nowhere in this valentine are the youngsters educated on how Albright the "feminist icon" ran out to the media in 1998 and insisted Bill Clinton was not guilty of sex with an intern: "I believe that the allegations are completely untrue," she declared. The Post felt HER pain when he later apologized to the Cabinet for making them look like a team of liars and deniers.
