Victor Davis Hanson in today’s National Review Online:
This is surely one of Hanson’s best and most certainly an all-time top ten.
How do you ensure that you won’t be ostracized, denounced, or fired if you are a media celebrity, captain of industry, or high public official?
For some, sexist banter is certainly no problem. Stand-up comedian Bill Maher called Sarah Palin a c–t and a tw-t, but suffered no ill consequences. David Letterman joked on air that Sarah Palin’s 14-year-old daughter had had sex with Alex Rodriguez during a New York Yankees game. There was no downside to that either. President Obama tosses around “sweetie” as he wishes. No problem with that. No one believes Barack could be condescending to women.
It is not just that sloppy speech can, with the right ideological insurance, become irrelevant.
Only thing omitted is the Mark Foley vs. Gerry Studds comparison . . .
Two Congressman: Foley, a Republican sent suggestive e-mails to an adult male page; Studds, a Democrat, gay and progressive, admitted gay sex with an underage male page. Foley, driven from office with full support of GOP establishment; Studds, thereafter reelected four times, and praised as a champion of the gay movement at his funeral.
Which of these two had “progressive insurance? DLH
