Elizabeth Vargas Steps Down as Anchor of ABC Evening News. NOW Claims a Conspiracy to Set Women Back

The problem with special interest groups is that when they have too much time on their hands, they end up attacking problems which don't actually exist. Such is the case with Elizabeth Vargas' recent decision to step down from the anchor desk at ABC evening news to have a child.

Kim Gandy, from the National Orgainzation for Women (NOW) claims, "It just doesn't strike me as a logical explanation. I don't think there are too many men who would be happy to be removed from the anchor chair."

Gandy was so fired up, in fact, that she, along with two other womens' special interest groups, sent a letter to Disney (parent company of ABC News) indicating that Disney was engaging in "a dispiriting return to the days of discrimination against women that we thought were behind us." They linked the "demotion" of Vargas, who will return to ABC news, once again co-hosting 20/20 with John Stossel, with the cancellation of "Commander-in-chief," the drama featuring Geena Davis as the President of the United States.

Of course, there is a grand conspiracy to make women voluntarily leave the work force to become barefoot and pregnant again.

But Vargas herself denies this. She claims a combination of circumstances, including an unexpected pregnancy (Vargas is 43), and the injury of her co-anchor, Bob Woodruff in Iraq led her to this decision. She felt that being a full-time mother to her newborn was more important than anchoring the nightly news.

Geez, Kim Gandy, that is an awful step back for women: someone realizes that the birth of a child is more important than the rigors of the nighly news! "Give me a break!", as John Stossel might say.