In a recent interview, John McCain was asked why he didn’t choose the Governor of Nevada as his campaign chairman for that state. The interviewer then asked McCain:

Maybe it’s the governor’s approval rating and you are running from him like you are from the president?

To which McCain replied:

And I stopped beating my wife just a couple of weeks ago….

Cue feminist outrage. Here’s the response of “Erica” at the popular feminist blog, “Feministing.”

Now, a few people have pointed out that John McCain was referencing what’s apparently a well-known euphemism for a loaded question or character assassination (for example, a journalist will ask out of the blue “when did you stop beating your wife?” implying that the domestic violence was taking place at all). But, I personally had never heard of the phrase in that context before this interview. And for a politician who’s already been under fire for his stance on women’s and reproductive rights (not to mention for verbally abusing his wife) don’t you think he should be a little more, oh I don’t know, choosey with his words?

I find the idea that a presidential candidate could flippantly throw around references to domestic violence disturbing. I mean, if he’s making jokes like this on the campaign trail, what in the world would he do on the policy front? And as my mother always said, sarcasm always has an element of truth…

It must be hard being a professional feminist and having to search every nook and cranny for something to be offended by. (Earth to Feministing, here’s a prominent liberal blogger friend of yours using the exact same verbiage). But this instance really takes the cake (I apologize in advance to anyone who sees that as a joke about postwar suburban domesticity and baking, which it’s not).

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This entry was posted on Saturday, July 5th, 2008 at 10:03 AM and is filed under Contentions. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.