O'Donnell was 35 years old at the time, and had just come off one losing campaign for the Senate. She and a female friend showed up at the writer's doorstep asking to change into their Halloween outfits. In Gawker, he writes:
We'd met for the first and only time three months earlier when my two roommates and I signed the lease on our apartment: Christine's aunt owned the place we were moving into, and she happened to be up from Delaware visiting at the time. But we'd only spent about five minutes together that day and we hadn't spoken much, and I hadn't thought of her since.
Yet here she was standing outside my door with a friend. And both of them were pretty tipsy.
He continues to explain an encounter that's not unlike any one a healthy young man has had in his life. Part of it are totally funny and very revealing about Christine. Actually, she reads like a lot of fun, frankly. And her first male target reads like a jealous guy who wasn't worth her time; yet she went after him.
When she didn't get what she wanted, she dated his roommate. So, in what seems to be a retaliation for that, he's outing her sex life.
Classless.
Now, the Republican woman presented as fearful of sex, and then a witch, is now dealing with what some claim is a smear campaign on the part of Gawker against her. But sexual harassment? That's what O'Donnell's campaign claims it is. Note, they do not deny the blog post. It's true.
Whatever one says, it's clearly an explosive story, one that emerged just five short days before the November election. Here's the Christine O'Donnell campaign response:
Wilmington, DE – Communications Director Doug Sachtleben stated in response to the universal condoning of the Gawker story:
"This story is just another example of the sexism and slander that female candidates are forced to deal with. From Secretary Clinton, to Governor Palin, to soon-to-be Governor Haley, Christine's political opponents have been willing to engage in appalling and baseless attacks — all with the aim of distracting the press from covering the real issues in this race. Even the National Organization for Women gets it, but Christine's opponent disturbingly does not. As Chris Coons said on September 16th he would not condone personal attacks against Christine. Classless Coons goons have proven yet again to have no sense of common decency or common sense with their desperate attacks to get another rubber stamp for the Obama-Pelosi-Reid agenda. Such attacks are truly shameful, but they will not distract us from making our case to Delaware voters — and keeping the focus on Chris Coons' record of higher taxes, increased spending, and as he has done again here, breaking his promises to the voters."
The National Organization for Women (NOW) on Thursday condemned the tabloid website Gawker for publishing an anonymous account: NOW issued a statement late Thursday stating that "sexist, misogynist attacks against women have no place in the electoral process, regardless of a particular candidate's political ideology."
"NOW repudiates Gawker's decision to run this piece. It operates as public sexual harassment. And like all sexual harassment, it targets not only O'Donnell, but all women contemplating stepping into the public sphere," said NOW president Terry O'Neill.
The problem is, the encounter's not a sexual harassment issue. Sexual harassment is defined as
"intimidation, bullying or coercion of a sexual nature, or the unwelcome or inappropriate promise of rewards in exchange for sexual favors."
The Gawker article is certainly not appropriate. But if it was meant to smear Christine O'Donnell and cause her to lose the campaign, it will work. Say, it paints her as reckless with her public image. But it also shows her as human. Frankly, part of me feels sorry for her to have met a guy who did this to her. It's an obvious violation of a private act, only it's OK because now O'Donnell is a full public figure. Gawker can do this and get away with it.
But, hey, Christine's not bad looking at all. Let's see how this plays out.
More on this, including blog reactions, later. Here is the full blog post at Gawker.
No comments:
Post a Comment