Last week, victories by several women in primaries led the media machine to suggest that 2010 is the "Year of the Women." NPR's Ken Rudin describes the phrase as "a hackneyed phrase that gets regurgitated at convenient times, and by now it often results in a rolling of the eyes" and reminds us that 1984 and 1992 were also dubbed "Year of the Women." In 1984, all 9 of the women candidates lost to male candidates. In 1992, Sen. Barbara Boxer and Sen. Dianne Feinstein were 2 of the 4 women to win, but the majority of women candidates still lost their races against men.

Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the force behind Jewish American Heritage Month, is the only woman in politics to come out and say that this is hooey.

From Politico.com:

Appearing on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Wasserman Schultz said that women are still largely failing to run for office, especially in the Republican Party, and pointed to California candidate Carly Fiorina, who won last week's GOP Senate primary.

“This is a party that has a brand that women don’t want to run with,” Wasserman Schultz said. Fiorina "is pro-gun, anti-choice... she supports offshore drilling. She has literally bought into the entire agenda, lock, stock and barrel.” 

According to Wasserman Schultz, only seven of the 104 candidates that the National Republican Congressional Committee has on their Young Guns watch list are women.

Jezebel pointed out that Wasserman Schultz's statement was doubly significant because it was made on "Meet the Press," a Sunday talk show. According to research by American University’s Women & Politics Institute cited in Politico.com, women have composed 13.5 percent of the total Sunday show appearances by all representatives and senators this year.

It's also great to see Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz stick it to Tea Party-endorsed candidate Carly Fiorina. It's possible she did so in solidarity with Sen. Barbara Boxer, after Fiorina insulted Boxer's hairdo in a leaked TV gaffe (for which she did not apologize). "Year of the Women," indeed.