American Morning
Are women secretly yearning for a bad boy?
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/10/09/mad.men.2.art.jpg caption="Jon Hamm plays Don Draper, the charismatic lead character of AMC's "Mad Men.""]
Don Draper. He's the charismatic lead character in AMC"s "Mad Men," a TV show that takes place in the sixties when women mostly stayed at home, and men brought home the bacon. Draper is a suave "ad man," who cheats on his wife, but supports her financially. And who treats most other women like dirt. Women we talked to who watch the show – LOVE him.
“Don Draper. He’s just so mysterious,” says one 26-year-old. “It's a very particular type of magnetism – he is just so confident, and he never doubts himself,” says another young woman. One young woman summed it up best when she said, “You know he's not good for you, but like oh my God, you know, I have to have it!”
Some female viewers love Don Draper so much, they didn't blink an eye when he went beyond "bad boy" behavior to, um, sexual assault in a clip from season two .
Even Jezebel, a feminist women's blogsite, gave him a pass for this because "...sometimes assertive women get tired of always being so damn assertive ... sometimes they like to be told what to do."
Just sayin' – Are women secretly yearning for a bad boy?
Psychiatrist Gail Saltz says, “I think that women have throughout the ages ... yearned for the bad boy” and that women love the idea of Don Draper because, today they feel overwhelmed in a down economy with work, the kids, and the needy husband.
According to a study by the Wharton school, called “The Paradox of Declining Female Happiness," ...women's happiness has fallen both absolutely and relative to men's…”
The 60's world of Mad Men is, what Dr. Saltz calls, "a fantasy solution." “The idea that the knight would come in and scoop them up and make everything easier is also very appealing, but it's a fantasy that doesn't include the being suppressed, you're not having anything of your own, it doesn't include those things.”.
But there's even a TV show about a wife who's loyal to her cheating politician husband – called "The Good Wife."
And in real life women have scorned "cheaters" like former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer, South Carolina's Governor Sanford and John Edwards.
Yet they've given some cheating men a pass like Bill Clinton and now, seemingly David Letterman. Want the real life reason why? Dr. Saltz says it's "very much a function of how much you identify with the woman who's been hurt. Feel sorry for her – hate the man. Think she can take it – his cheatin' heart might be okay.”
What do you think? Why do women love the cheatin' Don Draper? Do we now yearn for that old-fashioned, bring home the bacon kind of guy?
Avlon: 'Wingnuts' race to the bottom
Editor’s note: John P. Avlon is the author of Independent Nation: How Centrists Can Change American Politics and writes a weekly column for The Daily Beast. Previously, he served as Chief Speechwriter for New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and was a columnist and associate editor for The New York Sun.
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/10/09/wingnuts.grayson.gohmert.art.jpg caption="Rep. Alan Grayson (L) and Rep. Louie Gohmert (R)."]
With Congress’ approval ratings hitting 21%, according to a new Gallup poll, the polarization and hyper-partisanship is taking a toll. This week we look at two more members of the House of Representatives who’ve been adding fuel to the fire, earning them entry into the Wingnut Hall of Shame: Republican Louie Gohmert and Democrat Alan Grayson.
On the right, Texas Republican Louie Gohmert drew stunned reviews after a rambling speech on the House floor, speaking on the subject of a hate crimes provision attached to a defense bill. Here’s part of what he said:
“If you’re oriented toward animals, bestiality, then that’s not something that could be held against you ... which means that you’d have to strike any laws against bestiality. If you’re oriented toward corpses, toward children. You know, there are all kinds of perversions, what most of us would call perversions, some would say it sounds like fun, but most of us would say were perversions and there have been laws against them and this bill says that whatever you're oriented toward sexually that cannot be a source of bias against someone.”
We’ve heard this riff before from conservatives like Rep. Steve King and Chuck Norris. It’s reaching for slippery-slope legal arguments sure sounds scary – but it’s thoroughly debunked by sources like Politifact – because for, among other reasons, pedophilia, necrophilia and bestiality are criminal acts while gays and lesbians are protected by basic civil rights.
Gohmert’s ramble somehow drew Hitler’s Germany into the conversation – which is an ever-popular wingnut tactic. He also took time to announce that he was not racist because he once voted for Alan Keyes for president – a man most recently seen calling Obama a communist and defending the birthers.
But Gohmert’s been busy developing Hall of Fame Wingnut credentials this year. He’s a co-sponsor of the Birther Bill and waded into the health care debate on 9/11 Truther Alex Jones’ radio show by stating "this socialist health care ... is going to absolutely kill senior citizens. They’ll put them on lists and force them to die early." Stay classy, Louie.
NASA to give moon 1-2 punch in search of water
(CNN) - Two U.S. spacecraft are set to crash on the moon Friday. On purpose. And we're all invited to watch.
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/TECH/space/10/08/probe.moon.crash/art.lcross.nasa.jpg caption="An artist's rendering shows the LCROSS spacecraft, left, separating from its Centaur rocket."]
NASA's Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite is scheduled to drop its Centaur upper-stage rocket on the lunar surface at 7:31 a.m. ET.
NASA hopes the impact will kick up enough dust to help the LCROSS probe find the presence of water in the moon's soil. Four minutes later, the LCROSS will follow through the debris plume, collecting and relaying data back to Earth before crashing into the Cabeus crater near the moon's south pole.
The LCROSS is carrying spectrometers, near-infrared cameras, a visible camera and a visible radiometer. These instruments will help NASA scientists analyze the plume of dust - more than 250 metric tons' worth - for water vapor.
The orbiting Hubble Space Telescope and NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter will watch, and photograph, the collisions. And hundreds of telescopes on Earth also will be focused on the two plumes.
NASA is encouraging amateur astronomers to join the watch party.
"We expect the debris plumes to be visible through midsized backyard telescopes - 10 inches and larger," said Brian Day at NASA's Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, California. Day is an amateur astronomer who is leading education and public outreach for the LCROSS mission.
Ames will host "Impact Night," an event with music and food starting Thursday evening before a live transmission of the lunar impact will be shown around 4:30 a.m. PT Friday. Other science observatories and amateur astronomy clubs across the country will be hosting similar events. iReport: Are you planning to watch?
What’s on Tap – Friday October 9th, 2009
Here are the big stories on the agenda today:
Two big breaking stories on tap...
- Stunning news this morning that made every jaw in the newsroom drop. President Obama has won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize... Less than nine months into his presidency. The announcement coming a little more than an hour ago from Oslo. We're reaching out to the White House to see whether anyone there even knew this was coming. Our experts are weighing in all morning long about what this means, if anything at all, in places like Iran and Afghanistan.
- NASA bombs the moon. The space agency fired a rocket at the lunar surface in hopes that the fallout will reveal signs of water. It’s an extraordinary mission to see if the moon could sustain life… maybe a real estate opportunity too.
We Listen – Your comments 10/8/2009
Editor's Note: Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush's education interview garnered the greatest response from American Morning’s Thursday audience. Teachers’ pay was hotly debated by teachers and those in the private sector, some of whom claimed educators were overpaid.
- First Grade Teacher: In reference to your morning coverage about education with Jeb Bush: A crappy doc still gets paid, so I believe that it is an unfair strategy to say that teachers should get paid based solely on results. (Can anyone imagine if we paid the presidents on their performance?) Remember that teachers cannot change the parents and the parental involvement! Extending the day will not change the home life, the learning problems, and the motivation of students, parents and students accountability and so much more, let alone provide the resources, man power and materials to support the students that we have to make the needed changes that everyone expects. Mr. Bush and other lawmakers, when was the last time that you were in the classroom working, teaching, planning, dealing with the children and parents that you are talking about? Not just listening to other peoples experiences or looking at data?!? What is the compensation for playing the parental role in the classroom before being able to teach? I am a teacher. I get up at 4:30 every morning to be at work 2.5 hours before I am required, and stay at least 1-2 hours after work, take work home to work on PLUS I am going to school for my master’s degree, which I pay for because I am REQUIRED to have it in order to keep my job. People wonder why we don't have effective and fantastic teachers in the classroom. I am a social worker, parent, care giver, then an educator. You have to do this job out of the goodness of your heart! Three months off – HA! I spend my summer in required conferences, preparing my classroom and materials for my students, going to school, and sitting in meetings among so much more… plus try to have a home and a family. This coming after I spend nine months working 12 plus hour days every day, every week. I would love to see the majority of the lawmakers be as effective as they expect in the classroom in the conditions that many schools are currently in. I would enjoy seeing and learning from their greatness because obviously, I'm not doing the best job. Don't worry about considering the given that the students, expectations, requirements, peanuts and lack of appreciation I receive!!! Please be careful to make huge changes, demands and unrealistic expectations without preparing and supporting the ‘ineffective' teachers that are crazy enough to put their heart and soul into this job, doing the best they can considering. Along with your expectations, please expect to put LOTS of money into the education system (and not all for our pay) to support the needed accommodations to produce the results you are referring to. 26 six-year-olds to 1 teacher…I guess I need to be a magician. Please look at whom and what teachers are starting with and realistically set expectations. I work hard for often the small gains the students’ produce, but the life they are living is often the biggest barrier, and teachers have NOTHING to do with that aspect and can not change that!
- David: Teacher's Salaries: The comparison of teachers salaries to lawyers and doctors salaries is absurd. How many teachers have advanced degrees? Compare teachers salaries to the average salaries of other college graduates and you will see teachers are well paid for the 9 months they are in session. They earn every penny and should get more based on their productivity, just like the rest of us.
- Mick: Bad comparison regarding teacher salaries. The $43,000.00 is for a 180 day contract & a B.S. Edu. degree requiring only 12 hours in the discipline you teach. Hardly a fair comparison with the advanced degree programs, internships, residencies & liabilities of medicine & law. But why be fair?
Can private sector jobs be compared positions in public education? Are you a parent who believes your school’s teachers should be paid based on the performance of the children they teach?
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