Rich, white, probably smallishly-endowed politicians continue to make monumental strides in the field of Wildly Inappropriate Misogynistic Blatherings.
According to Reis Thebault in the WaPO, "A South Carolina congressman kicked off an election debate Thursday with a joke -- which got a few laughs inside the room, but drew condemnation from observers across the state and country who didn't find it funny at all. 'Did y'all hear this latest late-breaking news on the Kavanaugh hearings?' Rep. Ralph Norman (R) asked the audience at a Kiwanis Club in Rock Hill, S.C., referring to the confirmation hearings of Supreme Court nominee Brett M. Kavanaugh. 'Ruth Bader Ginsburg came out saying she was groped by Abraham Lincoln.'"
Thebault notes, "Norman's off-color attempt at humor drew swift criticism, and many felt the congressman was making light of women who come forward to talk about their experience with sexual violence."
My appropriately incensed friend and sister-author Rebecca Burcher Jones posted on her Facebook page, "I sent his 'Ralph Norman for Congress' page on FB a message via Messenger. I said, 'Only the most repulsive jerks would utter the joke you did re RGB. You are despicable.' Shortly, I received the message/reply'" below:
"My comments earlier today were meant to add a bit of levity to a very serious debate between me and my Democrat opponent and to point to the circus-like atmosphere that Washington DC has become. You really need to learn to lighten up. Clearly my opponent understood it that way since for the next hour we engaged in a substantive discussion about our many differences without mention of my comments. Once again, folks like you, Democrats and the media have taken an event that was newsworthy for so many substantive reasons and are now only adding more clowns and distractions to the current circus."
~ Ralph Norman, Republican from South Carolina.
" Lighten up," indeed.
We can deduce from his statement that Norman has a fairly capable speech writer who is getting pretty good at back pedaling, a skill that likely continues to be honed through a great deal of practice. But it didn't fix this.
Clearly Norman hasn't gotten the memo explaining that empowered women are rising up and the toxic patriarchy is going down with all its baggage. It is precisely comments like his that provide the solid rocket booster fuel for this blazing uprising. Watch for a clear confirmation of this shift in power on Nov. 6, I predict that the gender imbalance of the political spectrum will indeed, "lighten up."
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