Oh, those Republicans and their wacky sense of humor:
The male webmaster of the official website for the Senate District 56 Republicans says a video comparing the attractiveness of Democratic and Republican women is just a joke. Serenaded by Tom Jones, the GOP women are depicted in bikinis and gowns, while those identified as Democrats — Helen Thomas, Rosie O’Donnell and Michele Obama, among others — are represented in unflattering photos accompanied by the song “Who Let the Dogs Out?” The video, which wasn’t produced by the local GOP, “had only one purpose, humor,” writes SD56 webmaster Randy Brown via email.
Get it? Funny! Michele Bachmann is hot, but Michelle Obama is a dog. And Condi Rice? What a looker! But that San Francisco values lefty liberal Nancy Pelosi is so ugly -- especially in a Photoshopped picture of her grabbing her crotch.
But those who might take issue with the video -- including Andrea Kieffe, Republican candidate for the Minnesota House, who called the video a “juvenile attempt at marketing" -- are obviously just people who lack a capability for humor.
No, really.
“I do realize that there are groups of people who lack such capability [for humor], but fortunately that is their problem,” wrote Brown, who posted the video. “Again its only intention was to bring a smile to a few peoples faces, and possibly irritate a few others. Is it fair? Does that matter? It wasn’t intended to be fair. It was intended to be funny.”
Yeah, that's so funny. Democrats are ugly, but Carrie Prejean is hot in a bikini, so vote Republican. Ha ha ha.
(The Minnesota GOP has now removed the video from its website, but you can see a screen capture of it here, courtesy of the Minnesota Independent.)
The only real question is when Sarah Palin and her Mama Grizzlies, including Minnesota Republican Michele Bachmann, will stand up to refudiate this obviously sexist attempt at humor. After all, they are the new guardians of feminism and warriors against sexism. And, as Digby points out, if there's one thing Sarah Palin hates, it's sexism. Sometimes.
The choice of photo for the cover of this week's Newsweek is unfortunate. When it comes to Sarah Palin, this "news" magazine has relished focusing on the irrelevant rather than the relevant. The Runner's World magazine one-page profile for which this photo was taken was all about health and fitness -- a subject to which I am devoted and which is critically important to this nation. The out-of-context Newsweek approach is sexist and oh-so-expected by now. If anyone can learn anything from it: it shows why you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, gender, or color of skin.
So according to the rules of Sarah Palin, women shouldn't be judged on their appearance. Apparently, that's one memo the Minnesota GOP hasn't received yet.
