By now I’m sure everyone is familiar with Democratic congressional candidate Krystal Ball’s reindeer games (NSFW photos here). Now Ball has a missive up at the Huffington Post comparing herself to Hillary Clinton and bastardizing history on why Bill Clinton was impeached in the first place.
(Hint: it wasn’t because he was serviced by a Gap fan in the Oval Office. Lying under oath in a sexual harassment case is illegal.)
Politics is a nasty game. I knew that coming in. I thought I could take it.
The left is having more of a tantrum in pushing this issue than the right. They used this tactic successfully to knock the path clear for then-Senator Barack Obama. For a party that loves to preach about Uncle Sam not turning the bedroom into a federalized threesome, progs love gossiping about the sex lives of married people. Honestly, who CARES what you did at a Halloween party with your husband years ago? So what, the photos made it to the press, if I were working Ball’s campaign I’d release the photos, Demotivational-style and titled them: “KEEPING THE LOVE ALIVE.”
This isn’t politics. This is Ball embarrassed and freaked-out and trying to boost her campaign by crying wolf. She could have easily said: “So what? My husband and I had some racy photos on Facebook. And? We were married at the time and I was pretty young. What does this have to do with the issues?”
If Ball had competent handlers in her corner, it wouldn’t be an issue. Instead, she presupposes she’s receiving blowback from her racy photos because she’s a woman. Corporate media couldn’t utter a word about Scott Brown without also the jab of his nude photos in Cosmo when he was young, so the reaction that Ball is facing is neither unprecedented or shocking.
I’m sure it’s embarrassing for her to see photos which may not have been meant for public viewing to make it to the press (which poses the question: who published them on Facebook?) but it’s even more embarrassing for her to muddle what sexism actually is and claim it as a leverage for her political career.
Keep in mind that Ball began making headlines around the time that Jerry Brown called Meg Whitman “whore” simply because he was getting owned by a woman – but that wasn’t sexism. It was so not sexism to liberal feminists that NOW, the National Organization of WTF endorsed, Brown the day after.
If Brown had called Ball a whore, would that be sexism?
Also keep in mind that these same women crying wolf over Ball were the ones who attacked Carrie Prejean over her photos. But that wasn’t sexist, either. Prejean was a conservative, remember? Liberal women think that conservative women have balls, lest you forget. To play devil’s advocate, that probably explains why the two top female movements of the century-or-so were led by pro-civil rights, conservative women: women’s suffrage and the Tea Party.
Of course, who can blame Ball? She, like so many of us, have grown up in an environment where we’re told that women can’t count in society unless they’re registered Democrats. The media even ignores the historical significance of the record number of conservative women on ballots across the country this year. If Democrat women aren’t doing well at the polls then women in general are doing badly.
Another thing strikes me as odd: it’s great that she’s young, we need more non-geezers with their special-interest affairs, but I hate it when little-known up-and-comers try to blow a controversy out of their backside to make up for experience or credentials. It’s a beginner’s mistake, sloppy strategy, and devalues the offense of true sexism when it occurs.