You can’t involve yourself in long-term shameless, unprincipled pandering to a group unless you have a pretty sizeable amount of contempt for that group, and that is especially true of Democrats with women. The Democrats have now run two consecutive election cycles almost exclusively on opposing a completely fictional Republican “war on women.” Unfortunately, they haven’t got the foggiest conception of what that should entail besides loudly yelling for free birth control. What’s worse is that they don’t seem to even have a sense of how demeaning their single-minded push is to women as a whole, to suggest that what women want most from their male betters in government is for their contraception to be paid for.

Enter [mc_name name=’Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA)’ chamber=’senate’ mcid=’H000206′ ], outgoing Democrat Senator virtually for life in the state of Iowa. Republican Joni Ernst is running for his seat and by all accounts holds a slim lead over Democrat [mc_name name=’Rep. Bruce Braley (D-IA)’ chamber=’house’ mcid=’B001259′ ]. Apparently at a fundraiser last week, Harkin dismissed Ernst as being the political equivalent of Taylor Swift, apparently because Ernst is perceived as being both nice and attractive (and, you might have noticed, female).

Whatever you think of Joni Ernst’s politics, she is without a doubt a serious and accomplished person. She is a combat veteran with 21 years of military experience, and is currently a battalion commander in the Iowa National Guard. She has a distinguished record of public service as a two time county auditor and state Senator.

No male who had this equivalent resume, and who happened to also be good looking, would suffer through the indignity of liberal gasbag [mc_name name=’Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA)’ chamber=’senate’ mcid=’H000206′ ] dismissing him by likening him to, say, Owen Wilson or Robert Pattinson. For as much as Harkin and other Dems like to say they are fighting a Republican “war on women,” when they let their guard down even for a second, they immediately let their barely hidden contempt for women show.