Women in House call Rice criticism sexist, racist...

USA Today Article: Women in House call Rice Criticism sexist, racist

As most of us know, on September 11th of this year, the U.S. ambassador to Libya, Chris Stevens, and three State Department officials were killed in a targeted rocket attack, resulting from riots over a U.S. film depicting the Prophet Muhammad as a fraud.  Certain Republican congressmen were very critical of U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice's comments following the incident, that she failed to inform the American people that this was believed to be a terrorist attack. Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham chose to accuse Rice of being unqualified and untrustworthy for her position even after the CIA Director, the ever trustworthy David Petraeus, confirmed that she had reported all the information she had been given and was able to release publicly. Democratic Congresswomen are on the defense, stating that any time something goes wrong for the Republicans, such as losing a Presidential election, they choose to attack the females and minorities in congress as those are who they view as chief supporters of President Obama. 

This is an interesting case of gender politics as well as racialization. 
"All of the things they have disliked about things that have gone on in the administration, they have never called a male unqualified, not bright, not trustworthy," said Rep. Marcia Fudge, the next chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus. "There is a clear sexism and racism that goes with these comments being made by unfortunately Sen. McCain and others."

I believe that racialization can be seen used by both sides of the argument in certain respects here. Is it possible that these Republican senators simply chose to attack Rice for her statement because they truly believed in a lapse of security intelligence communication, which needs to be fixed? Or is it more likely that they are lashing out at her this late after the incidents on September 11th, because they are threatened by her race and gender? Do her race and gender truly determine whether she supports or opposes the elected leadership? It is clear that females in Congress are still denaturalized as equally powerful voices in politics and are feeling the need to defend themselves against character attacks from the "Old Boys' Club."