Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY)
When the time comes for senior superlatives to be doled out for the Republican Presidential Primary Class of 2016 yearbook, Rand Paul is clearly hoping to be named class clown. But creepy troll might be more apt.
Paul has followed up his "secret tape" between "Hillary Clinton" and "Jeb Bush" with a nasty sexist Pinterest page targeting Clinton alone. Paul's page, which pretended to be from Clinton herself, was taken down by Pinterest, because even if you're a senator and potential presidential candidate, you don't get to put up a fake page for a public figure. Pinterest, of course, is a social media site dominated by women, which makes it an interesting venue for sexist mockery of a woman by a man. That's what Paul did, though:
... while most of the boards on the Clinton parody account targeted Clinton’s record — which is certainly fair game — the “White House Remodel” board has no apparent connection to Clinton, as a person or a politician. In fact, it’s unclear what aspects of her record Paul is “parodying” there — beside the fact that (heyo!) Clinton is a lady. It even came complete with stereotypical photo captions, falsely attributed to Clinton and crimped straight from suburban-mom speak: “LOVE this,” “lol,” hearts, smileys.
HA HA HA SHE'S A LADY! Ergo, heart-shaped tubs and mirrors and dainty furniture.
What exactly was Rand Paul trying to prove with this? That he's the kind of technologically aware Republican who can use social media to reach an audience composed mostly of women with his juvenile, sexist humor? That his youth outreach efforts have stretched to the point of hiring actual 12-year-old boys to run his social media?
Mission accomplished, I guess.