What was it with Jo Swinson?

[Freespeecher]

I was quite surprised with the personal opprobrium directed at Jo Swinson during the electoral campaign as, while I had no particularly strong feelings either way (beyond shaking my head at her swallowing of the woke Kool-Aid when it came to self-ID) it was clear that a lot of people couldn't stand her.

Was it just self-ID or was there more to it than that? And if so, what?

On here self-id. Out there unfortunately The more people saw her the less she appealed.
I sort of wonder though if the electorate would react like this to any youngish woman telling them what to do though.
Less vitriol directed at male leaders.

It makes sense, my only question was whether it was Jo Swinson the woman, or Jo Swinson the individual.

It was Jo Swinson the politician, she didn't have a clue. She didn't know what a woman was, her voting record in parliament was abysmal and when questioned, she could hardly string two words together.
Finally, she wanted to totally disregard the votes of 17.4 million people.

For me it was self ID, although I suppose it particularly galled me that a woman was prepared to support a policy which would put so many other, vulnerable, woman in danger.

For me it was the self ID and that’s why I didn’t vote labour either. Hard stare at JC.

For me, Jo wasn’t a credible Lib Dem and far more a Tory in disguise.

I imagine though her being a woman hasn’t helped her either. Misogyny on the rise.

She came across badly when interviewed.
Probably some misogyny.

The girly swot thing was cringe. Blaming sexism for not being part of the leaders debate when she had no chance of being prime minister. Claiming she was going to be prime minister made her look totally deluded.
Jo Swindon’s Lib Dems bus as if she was the charismatic leader of a coherent party instead of the forgettable leader of a rag-tag bunch of all-comers.

For me it was the self-ID thing. So frustrating to have a female leader who doesn't know what a woman is.

It's also true that her voting record wasn't very encouraging - she had a history of voting with the Tories on all sorts of issues like bedroom tax. So she didn't have much success in portraying herself as a progressive politician.

It was Jo Swinson the politician, she didn't have a clue. She didn't know what a woman was, her voting record in parliament was abysmal and when questioned, she could hardly string two words together. Finally, she wanted to totally disregard the votes of 17.4 million people

Exactly. She couldn’t answer a simple question about whether she believed in biological sex. Her incoherent attempt to explain an incoherent ideology made her look idiotic. It’s not misogyny. It’s an intolerance for incoherence

Politics has a strong core of misogyny so I’m sure for any number of people the fact she was a woman was the sticking point.

For me the Self ID was an issue. For many some misogyny no doubt.

She went into multiple interviews unprepared to answer questions about things that were in her party's manifesto. I'd hope that any candidate who did what would be greeted with scorn.

Hilary Clinton suffered too and May. It’s a tough gig to win votes as a woman.

The Lib Dems happily formed a coalition with the Tories and promptly stomped all over their election promises when in power.

The memory of that will stain the Lib Dems for me.

The fact that she ignored the voters in her constituency, every interview with her was a car crash and the self ID thing were after thoughts.

Self ID here

And yes it was worse somehow coming from here. Men we know are mysoginistic and never get it. But shes a woman. She knows exactly what it's like. Shes suffered the same as the rest of us as a result of being female and still she can say that shit. She can lie to our faces to appease the very same.men who are responsible for everything that's happened to her...

Its more of a betrayal...

For me self ID and the fact that she was prepared to be totally undemocratic and just stop Brexit, not further vote, no nothing. She’s also a bit too old school private school head mistress for me

I'm very firmly Remain but the whole "well, we don't like this result so we're simply going to ignore it" didn't sit right with me either.

Like Corbyn she came across as lecturing and preachy.

Her voice also went right through me.

"Hilary Clinton suffered too"

If that is true, then how did Clinton get nearly 3 million - yes, 3 million MORE votes than Trump?
Under any sensible electoral system Clinton would have won hands down.

One thing that became rapidly apparent in her series of car-crash interviews was that it wasn't just self ID that was a problem, it was across the board. When asked about her voting record under the coalition or whether revoking article 50 without a second referendum could be seen as undemocratic she ummed and erred and blustered. She couldn't defend any of her policies.

"Hilary Clinton suffered too and May. It’s a tough gig to win votes as a woman"

Thatcher did okay?

US politics is even more broken than ours, but there is one candidate over there who may be the real thing - Tulsi Gabbard.

Yep Thatcher did ok which is why I didn’t include her

Self ID here, but her attitude and answers to that question clearly illustrated (thanks Anna from Warwickshire!) that she was clinging to the 'right' script, when it was dazzlingly obvious to all that it was utter batshit nonsense. Like a child with chocolate all over her face, standing next to an empty plate and insisting she didn't eat the cake.

Even if you don't know the first thing about the GRA, I think anyone could see that if she could be so stubbornly obtuse about the question 'what is a woman' hers weren't a reliable pair of hands to hold power.