Still Fair Game

Looks like the appointment of Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State has not raised her out of the category of people it's OK to make fun of. You can't call Barack Obama skinny without being accused of using a coded word. But apparently, it's just dandy for Obama's speechwriter and another staff member to be photographed with a cardboard cutout of Clinton holding her by the hair, pouring beer into her mouth and cupping her breast. (picture at the link) As Dee Dee Myers asks:

At what point does sexist behavior get taken seriously? At what point do people get punished in ways that suggest this kind of behavior, this kind of thinking, is unacceptable? At what point do we insist there will be consequences? Clearly, that didn’t happen during the recent presidential campaign, when Hillary was—as I guess she is now—fair game. The press, the pundits, and the public could say things about her (“She’s a shrew!”) and to her (“Iron my shirt!) that were over-the-top sexist—yet got almost no reaction.

Imagine how different the reaction would be if an important aide to John McCain had been caught in similar picture featuring Michelle Obama? Or if the picture had shown a cutout of Barack Obama and, say, a white hood? Why is it when ideology and race are eliminated, so is the outrage?

To which I would add, consider what was acceptable commentary about Governor Palin. "Sarah Palin is a C***" on a t-shirt. It's the sexist equivalent of the "N" word.

As with race, this isn't a Republican or a Democrat issue. It's an issue of respect, of humanity.