Christine O'Donnell

[ariich]

I doubt that there would be calls of man-whore or anything like that if a woman came out of the woodworks and said that, three years ago, she had a "one night stand" that didn't even end in sex with some male political candidate.

This is politics, people will make a big deal out of ANYTHING to belittle their competitors.

I believe their concern is that a whole new line of attacking women candidates has emerged that doesn't exist with male candidates. 

I guess I just don't see it. This is a one-off incident, not a worrying trend.

[El Barto]

I believe their concern is that a whole new line of attacking women candidates has emerged that doesn't exist with male candidates. 

I guess I just don't see it. This is a one-off incident, not a worrying trend.

Earlier this season, Republican Californian gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman  was called a "whore" by a woman identified as opponent Jerry Brown's wife during a conversation picked up on a voicemail messaging system that Brown had thought he'd hung up on. Brown later apologized for the slight.

In South Carolina, two Republican operatives have also claimed to have affairs with Republican gubernatorial candidate Nikki Haley. Neither has produced evidence of any trysts and Haley has denied both charges, saying she has been faithful throughout her 13-year marriage.

[hefdaddy42]

Ugh 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZlbZl7vbLE

Bill maher is more of a twat than she is.

He's definitely dickish, but he isn't running for office.

[j]

I doubt that there would be calls of man-whore or anything like that if a woman came out of the woodworks and said that, three years ago, she had a "one night stand" that didn't even end in sex with some male political candidate.

This is politics, people will make a big deal out of ANYTHING to belittle their competitors.

I believe their concern is that a whole new line of attacking women candidates has emerged that doesn't exist with male candidates. 

I guess I just don't see it. This is a one-off incident, not a worrying trend.

I agree.  I totally oppose the slandering and mudslinging that goes on between politicians, but it's unavoidable, particularly when the person doing the slandering is a member of the general public.  If he wants to blog about the details of their (almost) sexual relationship, he will.  It's deplorable, but true, and O'Donnell pays the price tenfold since she's running for a public office.

The "worrying trend" is that campaigns have so much to do with the personal lives of the candidates.  And that's a trend that has been around forever, I'd imagine, although with current technology and resources it's a lot easier to dig up shit about somebody than it was previously.

-J

[ariich]

I believe their concern is that a whole new line of attacking women candidates has emerged that doesn't exist with male candidates. 

I guess I just don't see it. This is a one-off incident, not a worrying trend.

Earlier this season, Republican Californian gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman  was called a "whore" by a woman identified as opponent Jerry Brown's wife during a conversation picked up on a voicemail messaging system that Brown had thought he'd hung up on. Brown later apologized for the slight.

In South Carolina, two Republican operatives have also claimed to have affairs with Republican gubernatorial candidate Nikki Haley. Neither has produced evidence of any trysts and Haley has denied both charges, saying she has been faithful throughout her 13-year marriage.

Ah ok, hadn't seen that. Even so, really what it comes down to is:

The "worrying trend" is that campaigns have so much to do with the personal lives of the candidates.  And that's a trend that has been around forever, I'd imagine, although with current technology and resources it's a lot easier to dig up shit about somebody than it was previously.

I guess calling a woman a "whore" is something that even the most moronic member of the voting public can understand. But it's only one example, and I'm sure there are plenty of other examples of similar kinds of slandering. It happens all the time here as well.