Washington Whispers

Rep. Marsha Blackburn Says No to ‘Congresswoman’

By Paul Bedard

May 26, 2010 RSS Feed Print

By Jessica Rettig, Washington Whispers

The first woman to be elected to Congress from Tennessee's 7th District, Rep. Marsha Blackburn, says she prefers "congressman" to the more PC "congresswoman" or "congress member." At a recent benefit for women in politics, she recalled her first run for Congress in the late 1990s, when she told a constituent that if she could handle being both a mother and scout leader, she could handle Congress. The man asked, "Little lady, what should we call you then?" "Sir," she replied, "Congressman will be just fine." Organizers at the benefit were careful to note her preference in her introduction.

Corrected on 5/26/10: A previous version of this article misstated Blackburn's district. She is the representative for Tennessee's 7th District.

Tags:
Marsha Blackburn,
Congress

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Personally I am thankful for Blackburn's stance on the state income tax and the privatization of Social Security. If the gutless tax and spend liberals of this world had free reign we'd have a tax rate of 85%. Ignorance is killing America....and I mean the type of ignorance displayed in the comments about Blackburn....the 23rd district? Are you kidding me? Read a newspaper or some other meaningful source of information instead of watching King of the Hill reruns and you might learn something.

True American of TN 9:13AM May 27, 2010

Sorry, she "represented" the 23rd district in the state senate. She incited a riot over the state income tax while here and people were throwing rocks at the state capitol breaking the windows. Her fellow state senators and reps, both Republicans and Democrats will tell you they were glad to see her go. It's a shame she keeps getting re-elected in the gerrymandered 7th, and people just don't pay attention to her voting record. She's even sponsored legislation to privatise social security and give vouchers for Medicare. She's bad news....

Rudy of TN 7:57AM May 27, 2010

It's sad that she has chosen to self-identify as a "congressman." "Congress representative" and "Congress member" are more than PC. They don't implicitly say that all members of Congress are men. As one of the women of that legislative body, she should recognize that.

Incidentally, I'm tired of people being "PC" just to be polite or to avoid acknowledging their prejudices. We should be PC in deference to groups. Being polite doesn't say anything about our mentalities and in many ways it allows people to covertly hide or repress their negative views. Someone can be polite and still be a flaming bigot. Being deferential, however, demonstrates not only a sense of mutual understanding between groups, but also shows genuine kindness. I we can reach that some day.

Stephen Kearse of GA 7:46AM May 27, 2010

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