View source for Pundette

{{Short description|American political term}}
A '''pundette''' is a female TV commentator or [[pundit]] in the US, often [[conservatism in the United States|conservative]]. The term was coined in the 1990s to describe anti-[[Bill Clinton]] commentators who came to prominence on [[cable TV]] during the [[Lewinsky scandal]].  Bill Clinton was president of the United States at the time.<ref name="LAT1">[https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2000-may-27-ca-34491-story.html Paul Farhi, "The Voice of Experience? Um, Not Exactly", Los Angeles Times, 27 May 2000]</ref>
==Role==
According to Stephen Klien, Assistant Teaching Professor of Political Communication at the University of Missouri, pundettes ''"seemed to capitalize on a combination of conservative identity, confrontational rhetorical style and sexual attractiveness in order to gain media attention"''<ref name ="KLN">[https://www.academia.edu/3047461/Ann_Coulters_Inconvenient_Gender_The_Conservative_Feminine_Persona_and_Legitimate_Public_Agency Stephen Klien, "Ann Coulter's Inconvenient Gender: The Conservative Feminine Persona and Legitimate Public Agency", Proceedings of 2011 National Communication Association Convention]</ref>
[[Susan Estrich]], a self described pundette, said her success was not so much because she had ''"run campaigns and taught law for 20 years and thus might know what I'm talking about, but that I have blond hair and legs almost as good as those of the twenty- and thirty-something blondes with whom I am usually paired."''  <ref name="EST">Susan Estrich, ''Sex & Power'', New York: Riverhead Books, 2001, {{ISBN|1-57322-893-1}}, page 207</ref>
The term is sometimes used dismissively by those that disagree with a pundette's position.<ref name = "SPC">[https://spectator.org/49714_dowd-syndrome/ Hunter Baker, "Down Syndrome",   The American Spectator, 19 August 2004]</ref>  Women described as pundettes, however, often embrace the term.<ref name = "EST"/>
More recently the term has expanded to include women commentators in a variety of fields, political views and races.<ref name="GIL"/>
==Notable women characterized as pundettes==
*[[Ann Coulter]]<ref name="LAT1"/>
*[[Kellyanne Conway|Kellyanne (Fitzpatrick) Conway]]<ref name="LAT1"/>
*[[Maureen Dowd]]
*[[Nancy Giles]]
*[[Laura Ingraham]]<ref name="LAT1"/>
*[[Heather Nauert]]<ref name="LAT1"/>
*[[Barbara Olson]]<ref name="LAT1"/>
==In the arts==
''The Accidental Pundette'' is a comedy play by Nancy Giles based on an incident where she lost her temper during a panel discussion on ''[[Larry King Live]]''.<ref name="GIL">[https://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/09/theater/reviews/summer-shorts-at-59e59-theaters.html Daniel M. Gold, "Mixing It Up With the Charmer, the Flight Attendant and the Pundette", New York Times, 1 September 2012]</ref>
==References==
{{reflist}}
==External links==
*[https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4639944/kellyanne-pundette-stand-up-1998 Kellyanne Conway sings the "Pundette Blues" at the 1998 Child Welfare League of America annual fundraiser]
[[Category:American political commentators| ]]
[[Category:1990s neologisms]]
[[Category:Conservatism in the United States]]