I have to :dubious: at this statement, actually. My brain is looking at your username and vaguely labeling you at least somewhat conservative based on past impressions of your posts. It’s possible that it was someone with a similar username, but I’m not sure, and I honestly don’t recall exactly which threads they were in, either. I just always think “conservative” when I see your username, and I think that’s not an impression that sprang from my head full-grown like Athena.
Bollocks.
And I’ll add. ‘Being open to attack’ is just a chance to swing another punch. Keep at it until they are down or cry uncle. that’s how you deal with bullies.
I don’t think he was calling her a literal sexual prostitute. I do think that most of us tend to use one subset of insults for women and another for men. We call women sexually profligate and call men women.
But we also call politicians “whores.”
Personally, I think any man who doesn’t maintain my own “dinner and a show” minimum is something of a slut, or at least no better than he should be.
Possibly because I’m capable of criticizing liberal Democrats? Or that I think there’s a lot of nice people who are Republicans out there?
FTR, I opposed the Iraq war, am pro-choice, support progressive taxation, think that European-style guaranteed health care would be the best thing to happen to this country and our businesses since the national highway system, support the employment nondiscrimination act and the hate crimes bill, oppose school vouchers, support higher taxes on gas, think we should increase foreign aid to developing countries, oppose intertwining church and state, like laws that protect the air and water, oppose drilling in ANWR, and think most Republican proposals on the economy and our society are simply bad ideas that have never worked.
But on the flip side, I tend to be a little wishy-washy on gun control and favor modest, but not huge, reductions to the defense budget. So perhaps I am a conservative in your book.
I think calling a woman a whore is an intrinsically sexist insult, no matter how you wish to dress it up, and no matter how the term whore may be jokingly applied to others. Grayson wasn’t making a joke, he was clearly intending to harm and insult this woman. It is exactly the same in my mind as calling a black President “uppity.” To try to divorce the sexism from the insult “whore” is beyond belief, to the same extent that an idiot might try to argue that “uppity” is merely a synonym for “haughty” that need not have any racist implications.
Yeah, we do on occasion. And maybe I don’t really notice when it happens, but it doesn’t strike me as one of the more common epithets used against pols.
But, to be clear, I call more women “whores” than I do men. I don’t think I’m a rampant sexist, though I do think that sexism undeniably underlies our societal choice of insults. We call people names we think will hurt them and, realistically, more women are going to be hurt by being called a whore than men are.
Insults are unkind by their very nature, so I’m not too worked up about it. Or not at all worked up about it. But I do think an argument can be made that there is an inherent sexism at work. But there almost always is, really.
Ravenman is a DC resident (and a defense analyst of some sort?) so he tends to be a bit more realistic than the rest of us in policy matters. In effect, that manifests itself as a streak of conservative analysis, but the effect would be the same if he were a conservative- reality moderates one’s views and he gets a bigger dose of it than we do.
Who said anything about “jokingly.” The figuative use can be dead serious. Of course Grayson wasn’t joking. What a strawman.
AS I said before, the “uppity” comparison is invalid because the figurative use of “whore” in an equal opportunity way is ubiquitous in a way that “uppity” is not.
45,000 people die every year due to a lack of heath care. the repubs are doing their best to prevent a change in heath care. That means, if the repubs defeat health care ,45,000 people will die per year. What the hell did Grayson say that was wrong? The repubs will allow 45,000 people to die so they can keep a broken system in place. That indicates they don’t care if they die. I think he was being too damn polite. The insurance companies have paid politicians to keep everything the same. They have clearly put profits in front of human lives. I want more from our representatives.
Whether Grayson’s statement was sexist or not, I think it’s pretty obnoxious and just the kind of mindless namecalling that drives away moderates even though it excites hardcore Democrats. In the long run this is not a good political strategy.
It worked for the Repugs for many years so I don’t see why. anyway - the point is to get the bully to change their behaviour. Bullies only stop when you fight back and it takes 2 to have a reasonable debate. turning the other cheek just invites a second punch.
And it is simply ridiculous to suddenly come over with an attack of the vapours over ‘whore’ as metaphor. It’s been in wide use in numerous contexts and only a fully-paid up member of the Offenderati could get upset by it. Or conservatives indulging in their usual ‘no fair’ whining.
Well, the Democrats have done an absolutely horrible job of pandering to their base lately. There are really only two ways to get people fired up about politics - tug at their heartstrings, or tug at their grumpy strings.
Republicans in general tend to go for the latter option, and Republican voters are predisposed towards being angry, so it works. Sometimes (Reagan) they can work in a bit of both. Democrats tend to choose the former option exclusively. Unfortunately, they’re not very good at it, since they’re generally just not very charismatic. I mean, really… John Kerry? That’s a much better example of a “not Bush” candidate than Obama.
As a result, they’ve tried actually campaigning (and building public support) on the issues. That never works, and the result has been the Republican base coming out in droves to protest everything from government spending to the Raiders’ draft strategy, while the Democratic base is pretty much sitting around looking pissed off.
ETA: That was a very roundabout way of saying that Grayson is using the grumpy strings strategy, and why shouldn’t he? No other Democratic politician has gotten anyone fired up about anything since the election.
It seems that Mr. Grayson may have let his supporters down. He has apologized for his remarks, and I wonder after he’s been lionized as a straight-talking non-politician, whether his flock will see him as just another one of those weak-willed, lilly-livered Democrats with no spine.
He also said he “did not intend to use a term that is often, and correctly, seen as disrespectful of women.” So much for “whore” being an insult free of sexism, right?
As for my views, Mr. Grayson was right to apologize, but it is also clear through a continuing pattern of insulting, crude, and despicable remarks, that he is, to borrow a phrase from George W. Bush, “a major-league asshole.”
One arguably insulting remark and one blunt but not insulting remark constitutes a “pattern”?
I don’t agree with your characterization of his remarks, but let’s make a bet: I think Grayson will make another stupid remark in the next three months. I further bet that I’ll think it is offensive and in poor taste, and you won’t. Proposed stakes are a bottle of whiskey.
What evidence do you have for that? The righties have shown zero respect and name call all the time. Is their base shrinking? Are bad manners driving away their fans? The strategy seems to appeal to the majority of the righties. Do the lefties maintain civility while the righties grovel in mud?
Ah, so there isn’t actually a pattern yet, you just anticipate one forming.
I did opine that he should apologize for both remarks, for the record.
I can understand why he apologized, but the remark still wasn’t sexist, and since does one incident make a “pattern?”
Point well taken.
I’m referring to the pattern of the stupid comments referred to in the OP (and the subsequent non-apology) as well as the “whore” thing. I’d count that as two and a half incidents making a pattern.