So, Mitt Romney has a problem with Hilary Rosen kinda sorta saying something about his wife that if you really wanted to twist it of context might be knocking some women (even if it she really didn't), but he's okay with a foreign policy spokesman who makes sexist and homophobic remarks about Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, First Lady Michelle Obama, and MSNBC host Rachel Maddow.
ThinkProgress via HuffPo:
Richard Grenell, a former Bush administration official who joined the Romney campaign Thursday as national security and foreign policy spokesman, appears to have deleted more than 800 of his past tweets following scrutiny over numerous swipes aimed at the media, prominent Democratic women and the Gingriches. Grenell also apparently took down his personal site, which featured writing on politics, foreign affairs and the media.
ThinkProgress noted Grenell's tendency to make cutting remarks about the appearances of prominent women in media and politics, including his tweet advising MSNBC host Rachel Maddow "to take a breath and put on a necklace," and another suggesting she resembled a Justin Bieber.A Justin Bieber (I don't think the reporter knew who he was!)
In another tweet, Grenell wrote that "Hillary is starting to look liek Madeline [sic] Albright." He discussed First Lady Michelle Obama working out and "sweating on the East Room carpet." He also asked whether Callista Gingrich's "hair snaps on," and on another occasion, commented how Gingrich's third wife "stands there like she is wife #1." Politico flagged more examples and noted Grenell's "old pastime" of "ridiculing the Gingriches."
The Romney spokesmen says the tweets were tongue in cheek, and humorous.
I don't think suggesting that lesbians look like men is "humorous." It's animus. It's homophobic. And it's quite likely sexist too. And making cracks about the First Lady and the Secretary of State, let alone the wife of your still-competitor in the primary?
I'll say it again: Mr. and Mrs. Romney both were quite outspoken about how they felt Hilary Rosen had dissed all of womankind. Where are the Romneys so silent when their own spokesman is shown to be sexist and homophobic? (And yeah, I know he's gay - newsflash: gay men can be, and are, lesbian-haters too.)
It's the kind of nasty, old boy language you expect about women from a Republican. And it's one more example of however moderate Mitt Romney wants you to think he is, in reality he's just as bad as all the other Republicans who think women are nothing more than the butt of a joke.
