Photo Credit: Ben Margot
By Michael D. Shear. President Obama late Thursday night called Kamala Harris, the California attorney general, and apologized to her
for telling a group of wealthy donors that she is the “best-looking attorney general in the country.”
Read story on Obama’s remark towards CA AG HERE.
Mr. Obama made the comment on Thursday morning at a fund-raiser outside San Francisco. He praised Ms. Harris as being “brilliant,” adding, “she is dedicated and she is tough” before commenting on her looks.
There was a quick reaction on social media sites, with some people accusing Mr. Obama of being sexist and others defending his comment as harmless.
But the president’s aides apparently knew the potential for political damage. Soon after Air Force One returned Mr. Obama from his West Coast fund-raising trip, he called Ms. Harris and apologized, according to Jay Carney, the White House press secretary.
“You know, they are old friends and good friends,” Mr. Carney said, “and he did not want in any way to diminish the attorney general’s professional accomplishments and her capabilities.” Read more from this story HERE.
Obama’s ‘best-looking’ remark was sexist
By Ruben Navarrette Jr. It’s a good thing that Barack Obama is only the president of the United States and leader of the free world, and that he doesn’t have a really important job like television sportscaster.
Because in that other role, as we learned a few months ago, a man is simply not allowed to publicly compliment a woman on her good looks without getting in big trouble.
Just ask Brent Musburger. In January, after the BCS National Championship game, the ESPN commentator came under fire in the media and blogosphere. At issue: off-handed comments that Musburger made about University of Alabama quarterback A.J. McCarron’s girlfriend, Katherine Webb.
ESPN issued an apology, saying that the 73-year-old veteran sportscaster “went too far” in his commentary. In an interview with the New York Times, Michigan State University journalism professor Sue Carter called what Musburger said “extraordinarily inappropriate.” On the sports news website, BleacherReport.com, Jessica Isner suggested that his remarks were, at the least, “weird and creepy.”
It went on and on.
So what did Musburger say back then that was so terrible? As the camera focused on Webb, a former Miss Alabama, in the stands, the sportscaster turned to his co-announcer Kirk Herbstreit, a former quarterback at Ohio State University, and said: “You quarterbacks, you get all the good-looking women. What a beautiful woman.” Read more from this story HERE.
Homeland Security boss Janet Napolitano’s embattled high-ranking immigration aide took a leave of absence following salacious new claims about the agency’s alleged sexually hostile environment toward men, while Napolitano herself indicated she is pondering stepping down.
An affidavit by another ICE employee states that just before Halloween in 2009, at a gathering in the ICE director’s office, Barr turned to another ICE employee and called him a “sexy mothaf–ker!” Barr also allegedly “looked at his crotch and asked, ‘How long is it anyway?’” prompting other employees to laugh nervously, according to the statement.