Right-wing, neo-con, anti-feminist, tarty tramps. Or something.

I'm still trying to figure out what lesson or conclusion to draw from this, but I'm moderately entertained by the furor over conservative screech harpy Kate O'Beirne's screed "Women Who Make the World Worse," an attack on, well, feminists.

I say "entertained" because there's just something weird about these neo-con banshees who attack feminism on the one hand while simultaneously tarting themselves up to look like cheap hookers on the other.

You know what I'm talking about, don't you? If you start mentally running through the list of well-known (and admired, at least from the nutbar conservative part of the spectrum) right-wing female pundits, they invariably trade on their looks for at least some of their notoriety. (Mind you, it's not generally a classy, sophisticated look -- it's more a "Hey, can you do both me and my buddy here for a hundred?" kind of look.)

Case in point: Ann Coulter. This is a woman who is unquestionably deranged, but is still monstrously popular among the neo-con set. Can anyone doubt that she'd be a complete non-entity if it weren't for her long blonde hair and skanky outfits?

Then there's Ann's fellow traveller Debbie Schlussel,

who I'm sure came by her infamy based solely on her encyclopedic knowledge of supply-side economics or something. (It's also amusing to see what some of these women look like before the construction job. Here's Schlussel sans makeup. Ouch.)

And do we even need to mention Canada's own Rachel Marsden? I mean, would anyone be taking her seriously if it weren't for the looks? (In all fairness, at least Marsden doesn't look like a skank, like her American counterparts. She just acts like one.)

So what's my point? Beats the hell out of me. There just seems to be a disturbing correlation between being a raving anti-feminist and looking like a cheap tramp. Feel free to draw your own conclusions.

BONUS TRACK: I would be remiss in my duties if I didn't point out the blatant, right-wing pandering to the baser instincts here: GOP Babe-of-the-Week Winners. Yeah, I'm pretty sure no one's going to confuse any of these women with hard-core feminists. Oh, Shannon ... say it isn't so.

I'M NOT MAKING THIS UP: One of the funnier profiles at that site is that of India Allen:

"I am incredibly conservative, I dress conservatively. I live conservatively. I have a very strong belief in God. I watch Rush Limbaugh on television. I'm a die-hard Republican. It never occurred to me that I couldn't pose nude and still be a Republican."

Conservatism and porn. It's such a natural combination, don't you think?

AND MORE: You can never have enough right-wing, morals-and-values trampiness. Here, we have the GOP babes of the week the Bush twins. How lame. Personally, we prefer this Jenna Bush. My God, all she'd have to do is lose 70 or 80 pounds and you wouldn't be able to tell her from Ann Coulter. Well, OK, that and grow an Adam's apple.