Rep. Cohen Haunted By Hillary/Fatal Attraction Gaffe
The grueling Democratic presidential primary may be over (but for the shouting), but the pain is only intensifying for freshman Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.), a Barack Obama backer whose gaffe last month comparing Hillary Rodham Clinton to the crazed Glenn Close in "Fatal Attraction" turned into a political horror show.
Cohen, who says he has always prided himself on his advocacy for women's rights, has never felt more dissed by the opposite sex. Paraphrasing his musical idol, the late Warren Zevon, Cohen said he almost wants to "lay my head down on the railroad tracks and wait for the Double E ... poor, poor pitiful me."
His woe-is-me condition comes after the powerful fundraising group EMILY's List, whose mission is to elect women who support abortion rights to Congress, made the unusual decision to endorse Cohen's main primary challenger, airline attorney Nikki Tinker. Tinker has no abortion rights record at all, while Cohen, one of the most liberal members of the House, has been endorsed by Planned Parenthood's political action committee and has received a "100 percent pro-choice score" from NARAL.
So why the endorsement? "It's because I'm a man," Cohen says. "And it's a woman thing."
But the Memphis congressman is also indignant at the treatment he's receiving. "Just a little joke about getting out of the race and all of a sudden I'm a misogynist," Cohen tells us. He says EMILY's List, by working to unseat him, is "playing speech police."
EMILY's List endorsed Clinton, with the group's president, Ellen Malcolm, declaring, "I am one of the millions of women who have waited all their lives to see the first woman sworn in as president of the United States -- and now we have our best opportunity to see that dream fulfilled."
The Memphis congressman suggests that Malcolm is punishing him for his choice. "I've been a surrogate of Barack Obama, and I don't think they liked that," he says. "They've gone so far out on a limb for Hillary Clinton."
Cohen, who is Jewish, is the only white member of Congress to represent a majority African American district. Tinker is black. And both race and religion have reared their heads in ugly ways in the primary. A black minister in Murfreesboro, Tenn., which isn't even in Cohen's district, circulated literature to Cohen's constituents warning: "Memphis Congressman Steve Cohen and the JEWS HATE Jesus." The flier encouraged Memphis voters to "see to it that one and ONLY one black Christian faces this opponent of Christ and Christianity in the 2008 election."
For now, Cohen is taking solace in the poll that Celinda Lake conducted for his campaign showing Cohen leading Tinker 63 percent to 11 percent. "I'm gonna win," Cohen said, his thick Southern accent putting an extra syllable in "win."
"Yeah, I'm gonna win."
By Mary Ann Akers - June 4, 2008; 4:02 PM ET
Is it that big a tent? Is there room in it for everyone? Is Rev. Wright in or out of the tent? And that Pastor not even in the district - reminds me a bit of Pastor Mac Hammond's flying circus, how he was for sure going to vote for Michele Bachmann, how he lived in the Third District not the Sixth.