Mitch McConnell and the Republican Party Go All Sexist Archie Bunker on Alison Grimes

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Mitch McConnell

Team Mitch for the FAIL.

The McConnell campaign, the Kentucky Republican Party, and the Republican National Committee doubled down on misogyny until they were scraping the gutter when they shared a woman bashing conservative editorial so offensive, civilized people hope it’s satire. It’s not.

Laura Bassett at Huffington Post raised the alarm on an incredibly offensive Washington Times “editorial” (if by editorial, they mean a license to make up their own facts) shared by the Mitch McConnell campaign, which takes such sexist aim at Democratic Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes as to seem like a caricature of Republicans. Sadly, it’s not. They’ve become the Archie Bunkers of America, only it’s not a joke.

Bassett points out that these kinds of attacks are why many women don’t run for public office. I’d add that for the alleged “family values” party, these kinds of attacks send a horrible message to our children.

Here’s a smattering of their “editorial”:

Hollywood is all about pretense and posturing — beautiful plastic people pretending to be someone else, declaiming against a backdrop of facades that look like buildings.

Clearly the editorial team has not worked in Hollywood, because this is as ignorant a statement as the rest of their editorial, as it’s based on an idea that all of Hollywood takes place on the MGM lot of yesteryear — just like their “ideas”.

Mrs. Grimes, Kentucky’s secretary of state, has smiled and chirped her way across the state trying to avoid debate like a terrified Dracula dodging sunlight… She is short on experience, having served only two years as “secretary of state,” which sounds considerably grander than it actually is.

Bassett rightly takes issue with their framing Grimes as someone who hasn’t done anything, citing her work for domestic violence victims and a bill she championed to help our military overseas vote. But also, if anyone is guilty of doing nothing in their job in this scenario, it’s Senator Mitch McConnell, who is going on 30 years now without a jobs proposal and has done nothing but obstruct the economy on purpose (he admitted that his mission was to make President Obama a one term president and then when he failed at that, his mission became stopping Obama’s re-election) out of spite since President Obama got elected. It’s too bad for McConnell that Obama is more popular in his home state than the Republican Senator.

If anyone is avoiding debate “like a terrified Dracula dodging sunlight” (oh my God, how do these people live with their triteness?) it’s McConnell. McConnell keeps voting no on bipartisan things and then running away from the press while setting his somewhat incompetent campaign team into motion to attack his enemies for him.

And then conclusion, “Mrs. Grimes is no doubt a nice lady, but Hollywood values, such as they are, do not connect with Kentucky values.” Got it, nice lady? You might live in Kentucky, which is more than we can really say of McConnell, but you-so-Hollywood because you are pretty, and we all know that pretty ladies don’t actually do any work, even when they hold titles like “Secretary of State”.

Or are a lawyer.

Bassett pointed out that the Washington Times editorial “contains at least one factual inaccuracy.”

It says McConnell “has few famous contributors, but nearly all of his contributors actually live in Kentucky,” in contrast with Grimes, who “has raised more money from Californians than Kentuckians.” But the Courier-Journal reported last fall that nearly 90 percent of McConnell’s contributions come from out of state. In addition, a super PAC supporting McConnell raised over $1 million from out-of-state donors.

So, that’s a lot of huff and puff from the Washington Times about an issue that is actually more applicable to McConnell. Which is the reason why they have to attack so hard, naturally.

What seems to have happened here is that Republicans had their attack ready for a different Democratic candidate, and just like they have trouble adjusting to facts and reality, so too they have trouble with all things that aren’t static. So they are attacking Alison Grimes as if she’s Hollywood. You know, like Ashely Judd.

The attacks still wouldn’t have been fair, but at least a reality based person might be able to trace their thought process. As it is, I’m not seeing how “plastic” refers to Grimes’s policies, and if not her policies, why are they discussing it? Oh, that’s right. Because their best shot is “empty dress” and “Obama girl”.

“Mitch McConnell and his campaign are going to desperate lengths to hide his horrendous voting record on behalf of the women of Kentucky,” Grimes spokeswoman Charly Norton said in a statement. “A day after McConnell blocked the Paycheck Fairness Act and exploited sexual harassment victims for his own political gain, it is deeply troubling his campaign now opts to spread such a derogatory editorial that demeans women. Kentucky’s women and families deserve a champion in the U.S. Senate — not a ‘guardian of gridlock’ who decides that protecting women from violence or paying them equal pay for equal work is not worthy of his support.”

Sexism and racism are but tools of the elite, and here we see sexism being deployed as bait for the Archie Bunkers of the GOP. Sexism is an easy punch, devoid of actual content. It plays on the emotions of the targets (ironically), but the people deploying it are doing it deliberately. What McConnell and the GOP are saying is that Grimes doesn’t belong in this race because she’s a woman. This fact discredits her in their eyes.

And that says everything about them, and is no reflection on Alison Grimes, or any other female candidate.

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