Florida GOP women’s president pegs Grayson’s ‘whore’ remark as ‘vulgar’

Commentary by Kay B. Day

The donkey has never been viewed by those who grew up in rural areas as having a large amount of intelligence when compared to, say, even a pig.Cindy Graves, president of the Florida Federation of Republican Women, held nothing back when she responded to Rep. Alan Grayson’s (D-Fla.) remarks about a female identified as former Clinton adviser Linda Robertson. Robertson is now a senior Federal Reserve adviser. Grayson, talking to radio talk show host Alex Jones, called the woman a ‘K Street whore.’ Grayson's outburst and the aftermath is like one of those situation comedies repeatedly relying on the same premise for laughs but changing little about the characters or plots.

Like many in Washington and on Main Street, Grayson wants increased oversight of the Federal Reserve, and he perceives Robertson as a barrier to that goal. But unlike many in Washington and on Main Street, Grayson plucked the oldest gender-biased term in history to criticize a female, though when he made the statement he claimed he didn’t remember her name. Media assumed Grayson was referencing Robertson and a later statement from his office appeared to confirm it.

Graves issued a statement on Tuesday, shortly after the story broke though Grayson’s slur was made in September.

Calling for the congressman to issue a formal apology to women everywhere, Graves said, “Americans deserve intelligent and thoughtful debate on the immense issues facing our country. Grayson’s constituents, joined by women everywhere regardless of party affiliation, should demand a public apology.”

Graves didn’t stop there. She continued, “Clearly spurred on by the nationwide attention this little known and disreputable man received from his last notorious outburst, he is a trying to make a name for himself and a mockery of Congress. He called upon citizens to visit the state and district offices of their representatives which is a good idea starting with Grayson’s own in Lake, Marion and Orange Counties.”

Graves closed her statement by encouraging women everywhere to demand an apology for his “disgraceful grandstanding and vulgar speech.”

Grayson has since apologized, but a spokesman for his office stepped right back into the substance donkeys drop in fields. CBS News reported on Tuesday, “’Let’s be clear about the context,’ Todd Jurkowski, Grayson's spokesman, said earlier today. ‘The attack was on her professional career, not her personal life.’” CBS appeared not to catch the Grayson-Jurkowski 'whore' gaffe.

One fails to understand how implying a woman is a ‘whore’ at work but not a ‘whore’ at home can make sense to anyone who has passed the phase known as puberty.

Many Democrat bloggers praised the congressman, and virtually every top search return on major engines reflects sympathy and whitewashing the incident.

Grayson made news earlier for his publicity push, complete with signage and a website, telling the public Republicans want people to die quickly, earning him the moniker the 'Die Quickly Democrat' in some quarters. The US Report made small waves by responding that if Republicans want us to die quickly, Democrats want us to die broke. The website based that statement on costs for future programs like Medicare and Medicaid, both of which are skyrocketing far beyond original projections due to consistent expansion of both programs.

Grayson claimed a number of people die because they have no health insurance, citing a study prepared by alleged advocates of universal health insurance. The particulars of the study on the uninsured are detailed by conservative columnist Michelle Malkin who called the death stats “bogus.” A cursory look at the study itself is revealing; the authors acknowledge limitations. [Pg. 5, ‘Limitations’] The most troubling limitation stems from the data on the issue of having insurance—all self-reported.

Grayson has little experience in Washington, but seems to have a penchant for theater. Ironically, though he pegged Ms. Robertson as a “whore,” he did not identify the name of whomever he perceives as her pimp.

The response from Graves’ FFRW group, one of the largest political organizations in Florida, stands in sharp contrast to official responses from Democratic organizations. There were none, a reflection perhaps of an established attitude towards women exhibited by well-documented Dem philanderers like President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, and Bill Clinton, as well as the late senators Bobby and Ted Kennedy, and also exhibited by harsh, often scathing criticism of Republican women like former secretary of state Condoleezza Rice.