The misogyny of John McCain

Little-discussed in the foofarah over lo these past many, many days about the "Obama = Paris Hilton + Britney Spears" ad is what the slurring of these women in a campaign ad says about John McCain.

Kathy Hilton, mother of Paris, opined at HuffPo that:

It is a complete waste of the money John McCain's contributors have donated to his campaign. It is a complete waste of the country's time and attention at the very moment when millions of people are losing their homes and their jobs. And it is a completely frivolous way to choose the next President of the United States.

Hilton Mère deserves credit for speaking out, but I wish she'd shown more outrage at the subtext of this ad and what it says about a man who has daughters and essentially calls these two women "sluts" in a campaign ad. Why choose Paris Hilton and Britney Spears? Why not use Angelina Jolie or Nicole Kidman or other famous women who are tabloid fodder? Because using Hilton and Spears allows the McCain campaign to frame Barack Obama, a guy who got a scholarship to Princeton and was editor of the Harvard Law Review, as a ditzy, empty suit with no gravitas whatsoever. And toss in a little miscegenation innuendo in the bargain and you have, as I posted earlier was noted by David Gergen, one hell of a dogwhistle to the bigot constituency.

But this kind of bile directed at women is nothing new for John McCain. Let's not forget his appalling "joke" about Chelsea Clinton back in 1998, and his joke about a woman enjoying rape. Add to this how he treats his little trophy wife and his embrace of a man whose 2000 campaign slurred his own daughter, and you have truly evil, nasty piece of work -- a hollow shell with no soul left. Whatever soul he may have at one time had has been eaten away over the last eight years by his lust for the presidency, and his willingness to attack anyone who dares stand in his way. Even if they are young, sometimes troubled women who aren't even standing in his way. Because everyone is just potential collateral damage where John McCain getting the presidency is concerned.