What is it with Concerned Women for America and its habit of firing its leaders?
Late last week, the religious right group, whose principal purpose is to be an attack dog against feminism and gay rights, announced that it had fired Sandy Rios as its president.
Of course, it’s hard to feel bad for Rios. To put it mildly, she’s a vitriolic, ultra-conservative nut. (Rios complained about the proposed Federal Marriage Amendment, for example, because it wasn’t discriminatory enough against same-sex couples.)
Like so many religious right figures, Rios generated fame and fortune as a radio talk show host before making the easy transition into far-right figure head. Everything appeared to be going fairly well. Rios was a mainstay on all the Fox News programs and CWA still had lots of money, so everyone was happy. Or so it seemed.
Last week, CWA fired Rios over “irreconcilable differences concerning the administration of the organization.”
What the AP account failed to mention, however, is that CWA has fired all of its recent presidents.
First, CWA tapped Janet Parshall to lead the group, luring her away from a lucrative career as a — you guessed it — far-right radio talk show host. That didn’t last. In 2002, CWA hired Carmen Pate to take over, but she only lasted a few months.
And now Rios has been shown the door, after a two-year reign.
I’d like to think that these constant changes will have a detrimental impact on the group’s political power, but as far as I can tell, CWA ceased to be relevant years ago.