Hypocritical liberals party at men-only Bohemian Club

Conspiracy theorists have a field day with the annual July meeting of the elite Bohemian Grove semi-secret society. This year’s frolicking just began at the group’s Russian River camp.

But what I find fascinating is how elite liberals attend it even though it bans women. Hillary Clinton, Janet Napolitano, Nancy Pelosi, Dianne Feinstein, Barbara Boxer, Meg Whitman — none can attend.

And none, for some reason, ever protests this. Why aren’t these powerful women showing up together and pounding on the gates at Russian River? What about the bumper sticker, which one woman near where I live pasted on her car, reading, “Well-Behaved Women Seldom Make History”? Are these seemingly powerful women indicating to us that they’re just charwomen for the Patriarchy?

Anyway, according to the Press-Enterprise, the top liberal men attending this year’s celebrations include Chris Matthews, the ultra-liberal news host on MSNBC and former top aide to House Speaker Tip O’Neill, D-Mass.

And Conan O’Brien, the liberal late-night talk show host.

In 2011, San Francisco Chronicle columnist Debra Saunders listed some Bohemian guests. Liberals included Pelosi’s husband, Paul Pelosi. So Nancy really is OK with male chauvinism.

And Google boss Eric Schmidt.

Among Republicans or conservatives or moderates over the years, attendees have included presidents Reagan, Nixon, Ford and both Bushes. But they weren’t high-profile liberals who often push feminism.

Saunders aptly wrote:

“The Bohemian Club has a right to exist. California courts have upheld the club’s right to exclude female members, but ordered it to hire female staff at the club and at the grove’s food facilities.

“I also believe in free speech, but that doesn’t mean I would say things I believe others have the right to say. I do not believe the Bohemian Club is a social/theater/music club — although I believe the former member who told me that’s what the club’s emphasis used to be.

“Now I buy [Sonoma State sociology professor Peter] Phillips’ summation — that the retreat presents powerful ‘men celebrating their male eliteness, which is kind of how the world works.’

“The male-only bastion’s discriminatory polices hurt women trying to compete in business and politics — and everyone in politics knows it.”

And liberals, including top feminist politicians, are OK with that. So all the talk about Pelosi, Hillary, et al. breaking the “glass ceiling” of female advancement in politics is just posturing.