Michele Bachmann plays to female stereotype by subserviently pouring water for all of her male GOP presidential rivals.

Okay somebody sent this to me in an e-mail and I have not been able to stop thinking about it.

It took me a while to determine WHY I found it so troubling, but then it dawned on me that Bachmann, by essentially playing serving wench to a room full of powerful men, had essentially undermined females everywhere.

Now I will need the women, especially those of you who have lived through the battle for equality in the sixties and seventies, to weigh in on this and tell me if I am off base, but to my mind Bachmann reduced herself from powerful representative of females in this country, to a second class citizen serving the needs of her male superiors.

Now before you jump on me for being sexist, I would like to point out that if ANY of the men who are currently at the bottom of the polling heap had done something similar I would have perceived that as a sign of weakness as well, and the end of their candidacy. And yes I will concede that also applies to Herman Cain, who is NOT at the bottom of the polls but due to certain prejudices would have played into a stereotype that would have dramatically reduced his electability.

Let me explain my point a little more here. These individuals are engaged in a contest of wills, and an attempt to demonstrate to the American people their ability to lead the most powerful nation on earth. EVERYTHING they do is open to scrutiny, and rife with hidden meaning.

By serving the men at that table Bachmann may have been doing something both kind, and completely in character for her, but it was NOT Presidential. And since Bachmann is also a female, and is the sole representative of women in this contest, it is not only NOT Presidential it is also an insult to all of the women who worked so very hard to prove themselves an equal to men, in the work place, in their communities, and in politics.

Just try to imagine Hillary Clinton doing something similar.

Can't do it can you?

And if you want to really understand my point imagine if Herman Cain suddenly whipped out a shoeshine box and started applying a spit shine to Rick Perry's boots.

Now as I explained, THIS is my gut reaction to seeing the video, you are of course free to disagree.  But if you DO disagree tell my WHY I am wrong and resist the urge to simply call me a misogynist pig followed by a bunch of exclamation points. That does not really further the discourse.