Minnesota GOP Releases Sexist, Offensive Video

08/17/2010

Republican Party unit ranks physical appearance over competence



St. Paul (August 17, 2010) — Last night, Republican Senate District 56 posted a video on its home page, titled “Republican Women vs Democrat [sic] Women.” The item linked to a YouTube video, 4 minutes 48 seconds long, that plays a montage of clips of female Republican politicians in flattering and sometimes provocative poses, set to “She’s a Lady” by singer Tom Jones, followed by clips of female Democratic politicians in unflattering and demeaning poses, with “Who Let The Dogs Out?” by Baha Men as the soundtrack. State Chair Brian Melendez released this statement:

“This video is sexist and offensive. Just what kind of ridiculous point were the Republicans trying to make with this video? I call on SD56 Chair Joe Salmon and State GOP Chair Tony Sutton to apologize for this sexist video. The day when a woman was judged by her looks rather than her competence and intelligence should have passed three generations ago. But apparently Republican leaders in the year 2010 still think of that bygone era as the good old days, and want to bring it back.

“It probably wasn’t lost on the Republicans who posted this video that Senate District 56 is represented in the Legislature and in Congress entirely by women.”

The link disappeared from the Republican Senate District 56 website early this afternoon, after being posted for over 16 hours, for almost all of which it was the headline on the website. The video itself is on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlR_h1V4loM. A screen capture of the link while it was on the website is available on request.