The lengths liberals will go to trash Sarah Palin knows no bounds. On Friday, the Washington Post’s Ruth Marcus actually accused the former Alaska governor of being homophobic for calling reporters “limp” and “impotent.” As NewsBusters reported Thursday, Palin, while on Sean Hannity’s radio program the day before, bashed “impotent, limp and gutless reporters [that] take anonymous sources and cite them as being factual references.” From this, Marcus divined the following utter nonsense : The Vanity Fair writer, Michael Joseph Gross, is gay, which makes matters worse — conjuring the stereotype of “limp-wristed.” But whatever the sexual orientation of the offending reporter, Palin should not have been questioning his manhood. There are sexist aspects to the commentary about Palin, as with other female politicians. Sometimes sexism is imagined or overplayed; sometimes it is real and deserves to be called out. A new campaign, Name It, Change It, has been launched to expose such episodes. Fine, but women politicians have to keep to the high road if they don’t want men making fun of their high heels. Impotent and limp? No male politician accused a female reporter of being hormonal or frigid. To begin with, Palin never mentioned Vanity Fair or Gross’s name, nor did Hannity. In fact, their discussion about the media was precipitated by the former Alaska governor saying how poorly written a recent CQ Politics piece about her was. As such, it’s a stretch on Marcus’s part to claim Palin was specifically talking about Gross. Beyond this, how would Palin know Gross was gay? Until I read Marcus’s piece, I didn’t know that. Did Marcus herself learn this from the gay and lesbian publication Advocate.com which published the following editorial Thursday: Is Sarah Palin using code words to slam gay journalist Michael Joseph Gross, a frequent Advocate contributor who wrote the much-buzzed-about profile of the former vice presidential nominee in this month’s Vanity Fair? Palin didn’t mention Gross by name while talking Thursday on Sean Hannity’s WABC radio show, but she seemed to be referring to the article – and pointedly used emasculating words that have long been used as euphemisms for homosexuality – when she called reporters who publish “rumors” about her “impotent,” “limp,” and “gutless.” So, a gay and lesbian publication made this accusation Thursday, and Marcus decided to echo it at the Washington Post the following day. This now officially puts Marcus in the same category as MSNBC’s Ed Schultz who last month said Palin was sexist for suggesting Barack Obama lacked cojones when it comes to illegal immigration. Attagirl, Ruth! That’ll help you get that Pulitzer Prize you’ve always wanted.
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WaPo’s Marcus: Palin Is Homophobic for Calling Reporters Limp and Impotent
