For a while, it looked like the NOW might support Paula Jones in a "friend of of the court" brief - and it turned out that it was just all a mirage. "Drop Dead!!!!" seems to be the NOW motto of the day.

NOW found strong opposition on its national board and numerous local affiliates to assisting what is deemed a "right-wing" cause. So much for the NOW's willingness to defend women's rights in a case in which a woman has been victimized by a man who just so happens to support the NOW's agenda.

Let's thank Patricia Ireland and her cohorts for showing us just how accustomed they are to taken the path of least resistance and for making very evident to millions of American women that political considerations will trump principle and women's rights when the moment of truth arrived.

It evidently would have taken too much _courage_ for the NOW to even acknowlege it just might be possible President Clinton did engage in sexually predatory conduct upon Paula Jones. In the LA Times, Ireland had been quoted as having said just 24 hours earlier her group would determine within a month "whether this was the right case." In the AP wire service report today, the same Ireland charged Jones with being supported by "a phalanx of politically motivated lawyers." As an aside what does that have anything to do with the merits of her claim and wouldn't Ireland's characterization of Jones' defense team also describe President Clinton's attorneys?!?

Then there is the Big Lie that conservatives can't be feminists or believe in women's rights. Ireland finds it convenient to believe that people like Carolyn, Stephanie Herman, and millions of Paula Jones' supporters (like me) don't exist and we're all really dyed-in-the-wool certifiable, first-class order of misogynists. Read on for just how Orwellian Ireland can get:

"[NOW] .... decided not to work with the disreputable right-wing organizations and individuals advancing her cause who themselves have a very long-standing political interest in undermining our movement to strengthen women's rights and weakening the laws that protect those rights."

Gee, I wonder what that makes Rightgrrls. ;) Like the site's statement in favor of strengthening sexual harrassment protection for women doesn't count for anything? I mean, I've heard a lot of silly things liberals have said, but how more ridiculous can you get!?! You'd think the NOW's propaganda department could have come up with better spin for their boss...

In the final analysis, the NOW and their President have once again failed the women of America. In closing, their self-serving claim to work on behalf of _all_ women is rebuked by feminist and Democrat Marjorie Williams, taken from the April issue of Vanity Fair, reveals the contemporary mindset of the feminist establishment. Very fitting way I feel, to conclude this letter of mine:

"[F]eminists have all along muffled, disguised and excused the worst aspects of thepresident's behavior with women - especially in their reactions to Paula Jones, whose sexual harrassment suit they have greeted with attitude ranging from tepid boilerplate support to outright hostility."

No doubt Ireland will soon tell us Williams has been brainwashed to becoming a member of the "vast, right-wing conspiracy." We can't wait to hear it at her next press conference.