CNN: Trump Fed Pick Called it a ‘Travesty’ that Women ‘Feel Free’ to Play Sports with Men

CNN unearthed several quotes from Trump Federal Reserve pick Stephen Moore, in which the would-be Fed Reserve Board member made multiple critical comments on the role of women in sports.

The quotes come from research conducted by CNN’s KFile and primarily focus on articles Moore wrote for National Review from 2001-2003. The unearthed quotes include Moore calling it a “travesty,” that girls feel free to compete in men’s sports. In addition, while making the case for getting rid of female referees and vendors at college basketball games, Moore asked if there was any area in life “where men can take vacation from women.”

According to CNN:

In one of his 2002 columns, Moore suggested changes to March Madness tournament to get rid of ‘un-American’ aspects of it. The first rule proposed by Moore was ‘no women.’

‘Here’s the rule change I propose: No more women refs, no women announcers, no women beer venders, no women anything,’ he wrote in March 2002. ‘There is, of course, an exception to this rule. Women are permitted to participate, if and only if, they look like Bonnie Bernstein. The fact that Bonnie knows nothing about basketball is entirely irrelevant.’ He later wrote that Bernstein, a CBS sports journalist at the time, should wear halter tops.

Earlier the column, Moore expressed disgust at a woman refereeing an NCAA game.

How outrageous is this? This year they allowed a woman ref a men’s NCAA game. Liberals celebrate this breakthrough as a triumph for gender equity,’ Moore wrote. ‘The NCAA has been touting this as example of how progressive they are. I see it as an obscenity. Is there no area in life where men can take vacation from women? What’s next? Women invited to bachelor parties? Women in combat? (Oh yeah, they’ve done that already.) Why can’t women ref he women’s games and men the men’s games. I can’t wait to see the first lady ref have a run in with Bobby Knight.’

Moore wrote that this was part of the “bigger and more serious social problem in America” which was “the feminization of basketball generally.” Moore added he didn’t care about watching women’s basketball and he was upset games were shown on ESPN.

‘And while I’m venting on the subject, here’s another travesty: in playground games and rec leagues these days, women now feel free to play with the men — uninvited in almost every case,’ added Moore. ‘There’s no joy in dunking over a girl. Never mind that I can’t dunk (except on the eight-foot baskets). If I could, I wouldn’t celebrate dunking over someone named Tina.’

The White House has not responded to CNN’s reports about Moore’s past comments.

CNN continued:

In another column in 2003, Moore again wrote there should be ‘no women announcers.’ And in 2001, Moore wrote, ‘Another problem is that CBS now has women announcers and commentators. Is nothing sacred?’

Writing in another column in 2000, Moore said the real issue of inequality in sports was women making more than ‘collegiate level’ men who Moore said ‘could beat them handily.’

‘The women tennis pros don’t really want equal pay for equal work. They want equal pay for inferior work. There’s a very practical reason why Pete Sampras, for example, makes a lot more money than Martina Hingis does,’ wrote Moore. ‘He’s much, much better than she is. The day that Martina can return Pete’s serve is the day she should get paid what he does. If there is an injustice in tennis, it’s that women like Martina Hingis and Monica Seles make millions of dollars a year, even though there are hundreds of men at the collegiate level (assuming their schools haven’t dropped the sport) who could beat them handily.’

‘Yet these men make nothing. Venus Williams is a multi-millionaire not in spite of the fact that she is a women, but precisely because she’s a woman,’ continued Moore. ‘She receives much higher pay than an equally skilled man. Isn’t that precisely the opposite of what is meant by pay equity?’

Oddly, in addition to his duties as a Wall Street Journal editorial board member and president of the Club for Growth, Moore also served as a CNN contributor from 2017 up until March of 2019. Yet, either CNN only decided to do “oppo research” on Moore after he left the company and became Trump’s nominee for the Fed Board. Or, perhaps more likely, knew about the comments all along and only made the information public after he became one of Trump’s nominees for the Federal Reserve Board.

Either way, if CNN believes Moore’s comments constitute a significant news item which should have bearing on his nomination, then one wonders why the comments didn’t dissuade them from hiring him?

Follow Dylan Gwinn on Twitter @themightygwinn