You know that saying, actions speak louder than words? It's one of those lessons you learn in kindergarten, but it still matters, especially during an election cycle when candidates try to spin their questionable past actions. Here's our example of the day: Herman Cain. Should we believe what he says about how he treats women or should we look at his record?
In an interview with Greta Van Susteren that will air tonight, Herman's wife Gloria Cain defends her husband, saying, "You hear the graphic allegations and we know that would have been something that's totally disrespectful of her as a woman. And I know the type of person he is. He totally respects women." Oh really. Is that why he "totally" disrespected House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi at Wednesday night's debate?
Let's take a look at his choice words. Herman was supposed to be explaining what he would do about health care costs if the Affordable Health Care Act were repealed. While explaining what happened with the bill, he managed to wedge in an unnecessary dig at Nancy Pelosi: "We didn't hear about it [the bill] in the previous congress because Princess Nancy sent it to committee and it stayed there."
Nice. "Princess Nancy." As The Daily Show's Jon Stewart put it, few non-royal women past the age of 5 like being referred to as a princess. Please, someone, explain to me how calling a grown woman, not to mention a high-ranking, elected leader of our nation, "princess" is respectful to women? What that word implies to me is that Herman sees a woman in power and wants to cut her down to size. It's like Pelosi didn't earn her way to becoming Speaker of the House. How dare she act like she's in charge of anything? She's just a silly little girl playing dress-up!
This wasn't the first time, either. Apparently he regularly referred to Pelosi as "Princess Nancy" on his radio talk show in Atlanta. So there's a record of this disrespectful behavior. As his rival Rick Perry would say, oops!
Naturally Herman would like us all to STFU about his calling Nancy "princess" -- just like he'd like us all to quit asking him about those sexual harassment allegations and settlements. After apologizing on Thursday, he couldn't help adding, "I remember when Speaker Pelosi called me and the Tea Party people ‘Astroturf.'" Where have I heard that justification before? Ah yes, it's the "he did it first" defense we all used when we were in preschool. Please, Herman, get off the playground, act like a grown-up, and start treating women more respectfully. Otherwise your wife's words are "totally" meaningless.
Do you believe Gloria Cain when she says her husband respects women or do you think calling a female colleague "Princess Nancy" shows he doesn't respect women at all?
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