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September 26, 2002
Congratulations To Phil McCombs. .
Congratulations To Phil McCombs. . . Staff writer for the Washington Post, for writing a 30+ column inch love letter to Martha Burk, head of the National Council of Women's Organizations and leader of the man-bashing effort to force Augusta National Golf Club to admit female members. It doesn't take long to figure out where McCombs is going with this article, after all, he wrties for the Style section in the Post, the part of the paper that is charitably known as "the women's sports page": "Hootie" -- what a moniker! William W. "Hootie" Johnson, chairman of the Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia, came to Martha Burk's attention last April. She was in Texas visiting grandchildren and saw him on TV. Burk and a daughter-in-law were watching the Masters, which is played at Augusta. "The tournament was over," Burk recalls. "Tiger Woods has won, and it's time for the green jacket. So this guy comes out on camera and he says" -- here Burk deepens her own Southern drawl in imitation -- " 'Ah'm Hootie Johnson, prezzz-a-dint of thuh Uh-gust-a National Golf Club.' " This was of interest to Burk because at the airport she'd just read a news report that the club, with 300 CEOs and other rich guys on its roster, doesn't admit women as members. And Burk happens to chair a Washington-based umbrella outfit, the National Council of Women's Organizations, which represents 160 groups with 7 million members (almost all women, though men are welcome) who can safely be characterized as feminists. "Hootie Johnson," Burk drawled to herself at that moment, "Ah'm a-gonna wraaaht yew uh letter!" Can't you just feel the condecension dripping off the page? After all, why bother with any sort of pretension of balance when it's far easier to simply paint someone as a racist Southern rube? Who cares when the reality of the situation is far more complicated?
Eric
10:49 AM
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