The opinions expressed herein are those of the author, and not necessarily those of The New Agenda.

Let’s cut to the chase, I’m not a Sarah fan, I am a Hilary fan.  That being said, I am tired of the words bitch, cunt, and whore bandied about to describe female candidates as if they have a legitimate place in political discourse. They do not and should not.   I am also tired of listening to the real or imagined sexual escapades of female candidates. It is the ideas that should carry the day, not the slurs and name calling— which are becoming the norm.   The lack of debate about issues and the focus on trash talk are detrimental to the democratic process, regardless of where you stand.  And we should stand together to eliminate this nonsense.

Neither side of the spectrum has clean hands because people use what works and sexism and misogyny have been effective in derailing the advancement of women in politics and in the corporate world. Political scientists Jennifer Lawless and Richard Fox in their article “Hitting the Glass Dome…” stated that the perception of a fair environment can be an inhibiting factor in a woman’s decision to run for office.  According to political scientists Hunt and Healy “women who watch other women subjected to degrading treatment are deterred from running from office.” Sounds like a plan to me.  Lake Research Partners stated that even if mildly sexist language is used in debates, it costs female politicians twice the support that policy related debates cost.

Keith Olbermann famously lambasted Clinton and Malkin, and Senatorial candidate Michael Bennett admonished voters to vote for him because he didn’t wear heels— as if being male was a job qualification and not an accident of birth.  Chris Matthews can hardly be considered a feminist. But one of the more venomous attacks on a woman in the political sphere has been conducted a radio talk host John Sylvester of WDTY in Madison, Wisconsin.  According to transcripts from Freedom Eden, Sylvester mocked the Lt. Governor Rebecca Kleefisch of Wisconsin, saying: “I perform fellatio on all the talk show hosts in Milwaukee.  And they endorse me and that’s how I became lieutenant governor.”

According to these transcripts, he also went on to state that “I had heard at one point that Rebecca Kleefisch pulled a train, but that must have been a different story I was reading about.” Huh?

I’m probably old and cynical enough to believe that most people are neither moral nor immoral, but rather amoral.  Moral people know the difference between right and wrong and agonize about the difference; immoral people know the difference but do not care.  Amoral people do not know the difference because no one has shown them where the lines have been drawn and no one has taken them up short when they cross those lines.  So, according to my classification, Mr. Sylvester, you fit into the last category and we are calling you out—you are out of line. How about an apology Mr. Sylvester?  A sincere apology, not a perfunctory apology.

Want to do something about it?