OPINION:
Democrats launched the “war on women,” but they didn’t first sweep their side of the battlefield for land mines. Anthony Weiner, Eliot Spitzer and San Diego Mayor Bob Filner have dominated the headlines for their atrocious disrespect and sexual harassment of women. Yet the Democratic leadership is hiding in a foxhole.
The Weiner mess keeps getting more repulsive. The Democratic New York City mayor wannabe admits to sending photos of his genitalia and having phone sex with other women as recently as last year. It seems running for public office hasn’t quashed his compulsion. In an interview in The New York Daily News this week, the former congressman refused to answer definitively that he had stopped cheating on his wife, Huma Abedin, with his sexual emails and texts to young women.
On Tuesday, Mr. Weiner’s communications director, Barbara Morgan, called a female former campaign intern a slew of profane words, most of which can’t be printed in a family newspaper. Ms. Morgan was reacting to Olivia Nuzzi writing in The Daily News about her negative experiences during a monthlong internship, such as Mr. Weiner repeatedly calling female interns “Monica.” Ms. Morgan told Talking Points Memo that the college student “sucked” at her job and was a “slutbag.” That term quickly trended worldwide on Twitter.
Ms. Morgan used a variation of a pejorative word that last year triggered the Democrats’ grand idea to accuse the Republican Party of waging a “war on women.” Sandra Fluke was a Georgetown University Law School student who testified on Capitol Hill that Obamacare should force the Catholic school to pay for contraception. Georgetown, from which I also graduated as an undergrad, does not include health insurance coverage for birth control as it conflicts with its Catholic doctrine.
Radio talk-show host Rush Limbaugh said that Ms. Fluke was a “slut” and “wants you and me and the taxpayers to pay her to have sex.” Seizing on the comments, the Democrats launched an election-year campaign to link Republicans with the conservative radio host in order to get more female votes. Never mind that the comments were repudiated by GOP leaders and had nothing to do with policymaking.
Now, Democrats are faced with one elected official, Mr. Filner, who admitted to sexually harassing his employees at City Hall, which is illegal. They have Eliot Spitzer, the former New York governor who admitted to using prostitutes and was caught trafficking one woman across state lines, running for New York City comptroller. Then there is Mr. Weiner, the pervert who can’t stop cheating on his wife, no matter what the consequences.
PHOTOS: Eye-popping excuses in American political scandals
How has the party leadership reacted? Have they tried to defend women victimized by these predators? Have they spoken out that men who treat women like dirt should not be in public office? No. They hid out in their bunkers.
On Monday, a reporter asked White House deputy press secretary Josh Earnest at the the daily briefing, “The president, as the leader of the Democratic Party, does he have an opinion of whether or not Anthony Weiner should stay or go as far as the race is concerned there?” Mr. Earnest replied, “Not one that I’ve heard.”
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has not made a peep about the sex scandals. Reporters have repeatedly asked the senior senator from New York, Democrat Charles E. Schumer, about the Weiner scandal, but he refuses to answer.
Also, Democratic National Committee Chairman Debbie Wasserman-Shultz has not called on either Mr. Weiner or Mr. Spitzer to get out of their races. The most powerful female in the Democratic Party ignored for months the eight women who came forward with shocking stories of the sexual predator, Mr. Filner.
Finally, after the mayor said he would not step down but instead go to two weeks of so-called sex rehab, Ms. Wasserman-Shultz put out a written statement that he should resign. California’s two female Democratic senators — Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer — also called on the groping San Diego mayor to go to therapy and not come back.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi is the only exception to the Democrats’ tacit approval of mistreatment of women within their own ranks. Seemingly keeping to the social mores of her Baltimore Catholic school upbringing, Mrs. Pelosi is the only national elected official to say that Mr. Weiner should drop out of the mayor’s race.
SEE ALSO: Eliot Spitzer on Anthony Weiner: I wouldn’t vote for him
Referring to both the former New York congressman and Mr. Filner, the California Democrat said last week, “The conduct of some of these people that we’re talking about here is reprehensible. It is so disrespectful of women. And what’s really stunning about it is they don’t even realize it. You know, they don’t have a clue.”
There is no war against women, but there are men in public office who think women are nothing but their sexual playthings. Democrats like to think of themselves as the party that battles for women’s rights, but apparently, their own officials are in a demilitarized zone. The president and all the leaders of the party should denounce the behavior of Mr. Spitzer, Mr. Weiner and Mr. Filner and demand they permanently leave public office.
Emily Miller is a senior editor of opinion for The Washington Times and author of the upcoming book “Emily Gets Her Gun.”
Please read our comment policy before commenting.