Brown Aide's Helpful Suggestion? Call Whitman a Whore

Let me pose a hypothetical situation to you: Let's say you are running for governor of California and are afraid that you about to lose a major labor endorsement to your female opponent. What should you do? If you are Jerry Brown and you listen to your aide's advice, you'll just call her a whore.

Brown and his team were discussing how to handle losing the official law enforcement endorsement to opponent Meg Whitman, former CEO of eBay, if he were to say that he'd cut police pensions if elected. After Brown suggested that his campaign "put an ad out" addressing the subject, one of his aides piped up with the enlightened suggestion, "What about saying she's a whore?" Brilliant.

To be fair, this sexist remark was supposed to be private. Brown had mistakenly thought that he'd disconnected a call to the Los Angeles police union, when in reality he was still on the line. The conversation was recorded and the union sent it to the LA Times. Still, saying you only meant to be a secret misogynist doesn't really make for a compelling defense.

Whitman's spokesperson has called the comment appalling and unforgivable. By way of apology, Brown's campaign manager said, "This was a jumbled and often inaudible recording of a private conversation. At times, our language was salty. We apologize to Ms. Whitman and anyone who may have been offended." Okaaaaay ... but the bit about calling Whitman a whore was clearly audible, so what's your point?

Political tactics like this are sadly too common and unfortunately too successful. Yes, this was a private conversation and yes, Brown himself did not suggest calling anyone a whore. But if Brown becomes governor, do you really want him surrounding himself with people like that?

Photo credit: megwhitman2010