The Nancy Pelosi piñata uproar

The high-powered conservative CPAC conference sparked a controversy even before it got started in the nation's capital on Friday, with news that young conservatives at one of the weekend's parties planned to take turns smacking a Nancy Pelosi-themed piñata. Mary Christopher of CivicForumPAC, which is throwing the party, said the piñata would be filled with copies of congressional bills, and candy. "This is just us whacking big government down," she said. Harmless political humor, or partisan hate gone overboard?

This is deranged: "The act of bashing an object made to resemble the third person in line to the presidency is horrifying," says Sarah Libby in True/Slant. Conservatives cried sexism over the "lipstick on a pig" comments about Sarah Palin, and they scream treason any time someone burns a flag. It's disgraceful that they find symbolic woman-beating funny just because the target is liberal.

"Conservatives to woman-bash — literally — on Pelosi piñata"

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Lighten up, liberals. Give the phony outrage a rest: The left is really "grasping at straws" this time, says Dan Riehl in Riehl World View. It's just a party! And while the women hit the Pelosi piñata the guys will bop a Harry Reid punching bag, so the sexism bit is baloney. "Danged progressives, they just can't stand the thought of conservatives having fun!"

"CPAC: Hot con babes whacking Pelosi with a stick, oh my!

Fun's fine, but a little decorum would be nice: Whacking the likeness of a person — man or woman — "is in bad taste for any shindig," says Jessica Wakeman in Jezebel, "let alone one our nation's elected officials might be attending." It's a creepy pantomime of domestic violence. "Really, guys, wouldn’t just a donkey piñata — the symbol of the Democratic Party — do?"

"Conservatives to whack a Nancy Pelosi pinata at conference"

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SEE MORE OF THE WEEK'S COVERAGE OF NANCY PELOSI:

• The case for Nancy Pelosi

• Torture: What Nancy Pelosi knew

• Nancy Pelosi's warning

• Nancy Pelosi and waterboarding