History News Network just sent out this lovely little tidbit.

*Women's Suffrage: A state senator who once said that giving women the vote was a symptom of weakness in the U.S. family wants to be Kansas's top elections official. Sen. Kay O'Connor said yesterday that she is seeking the Republican nomination for secretary of state next year. O'Connor, 63, has served in the Legislature since 1993. In 2001, O'Connor received national attention for her remarks about the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, ratified in 1920, which gave women the right to vote. "I think the 19th Amendment, while it's not an evil in and of itself, is a symptom of something I don't approve of," she said at the time. "The 19th Amendment is around because men weren't doing their jobs, and I think that's sad. I believe the man should be the head of the family. The woman should be the heart of the family."

Those of us who study the history of woman suffrage know how long and hard American women fought for the right to vote -- and its accompanying right to hold office. This kind of hypocrisy is so unspeakably awful, I just don't even have words. Oh, no wait -- I do. If you believe that women should be the heart of the family and don't approve of their right to vote, why don't you put your money where your mouth is and go home. Be your family's heart. You aren't doing your job, and I think that's sad. Leave the politics to those of us who value beyond measure our right to have a voice in the government. But, this is, of course, the fundamental problem with the religious right: they are appropriating the means of power in order to perpetuate and enforce their agenda -- even when that agenda is fundamentally at odds with the means they are using to perpetuate it.

As fabulous feminist Spousal Unit just said, "Well, if there's any doubt that the Christian Right is retrograde - there it is."

This Idea of yours, Senator O'Connor, is something that I just don't approve of.