CNN Panelist Defends Use Of 'Bitch' As Pejorative

Paging Geraldine Ferraro! When it comes to sexism, there exists a more fertile ground to critique than obscure hip-hop gestures. And, there are more fitting chauvinist villains than the Obama campaign. Take GOP consultant Alex Castellanos - the man best known for creating "Hands," an overtly race-baiting advertisement that Jesse Helms deployed to great effect in defeating his African-American opponent, Harvey Gantt.

Tonight, as a part of CNN's primary night panel, Castellanos took issue with Jeffery Toobin, who decried a recent newspaper column that referred to Clinton as a "white bitch." The thoroughly refined and scintillatingly relevant counterpoint that Castellanos interrupted Toobin to make - attached to an assertion that Toobin was "dead wrong" by the way - was that, "Some women, by the way, are named that, and it's accurate." Clinton was apparently one such woman, because she is "abrasive, aggressive [and] irritating."

Right about then, I really started noticing how abrasive, aggressive and irritating Castellanos was! See for yourself.

Comments

[lennix]

THIS IS SO STUPID LETS KEEP THESE PEOPLE OFF TV ALSO THAT NUT CASE THEY GOT ON GLENN BECK WHAT IN THE HELL IS THIS GUY HE SOUNDS LIKE SOMEONE FROM 1960

[bryan0218]

Glenn Beck = "Archie Bunker." America should embarrassed that this guy has a national tv show.

[CocteausTwin]

The MSM is almost a totally lost cause. They do not care about their viewers in any way other than how they spend their money and vote for their own agendas.

I think it is time for subscription, commercial free, televised news.

[presto]

Try PBS or the BBC news. Much better.

[rimmer]

How far is it between 'some women deserve to be called bitches' and 'some women deserve to be slapped around'? Not very.

[Mirri]

And if the media thinks it is OK to call Hillary a "white b...ch," then what about Michelle?

[okmama]

No it is not right to call Hillary a B..CH! Just like it is not right to call Obama a N.....!

But my problem is why bring Michelle into it at all! Do you think they should go after Chelsea!

This whole thing needs to get out of the gutter.

[Waitaminute]

There is no difference.

[SDnavyPROUD]

My neighborhood psychoanalyst constantly reminds me, that people are most often critical of those attributes noticed in other people, but are really noticing attributes about themselves that could use work....
"Right about then, I really started noticing how abrasive, aggressive and irritating Castellanos was!"

[SouthFloridaDem]

If you spot, it, you got it.

[Jaradan]

Did your neighborhood psychoanalyst also mention your tendency to write passive-aggressive comments on random political blogs?

[bellecloche]

I agree - that should cost him his job.

[Mirri]

We agree on this one.

[fair1234]

Obama has faced a lot of racism in this campain but he never complains like Hillary does and that says more about the kind of person he is. Hillary just complained tonight about unfair treatment and people counting her out and as a woman that is embarrasing and I hope she knows she does not speak for all women. I thought she was stronger than this... it should have been Nancy Pelosi running and not Hillary Clinton.

[thecanadian]

Hillary Clinton is always complaining! SHE DOES NOT speak for all women either. I am a women and I think she has done more damage to the rights & image of women than anyone I have ever heard.
I would never vote for CLINTON

[crl9]

let's hope you don't vote for anyone in the USA unless you've become a naturalized citizen sweetie.

[PHLSouthernJack]

Then you cannot see the forest for the trees. Get over your own bitterness and see all the barriers Hillary has broken through in this campaign to make it easier for women in the future, let young girls see that anything is possible and show that women are not second class citizens and can be powerful individuals that can make this world a better place!

[4wehttam]

I absolutely concur. I'm a woman as well and I feel like Clinton is taking advantage of her situation and miring the party. I've talked to alot of women who voted for her in NJ (where I commute to work) and they would take their vote back in a minute.

[SuzieG]

You probably voted for Harper too!

[BigBen]

I guess that is women for you. You tell them what to do and they just bitch about it.Don't they know their place?

[CoronaDon]

Why does cnn keep employing such incredible idiots? These pundits are as mindless and ingnorant, as the people who they are supposedly addressing. I am at a point where i would love to just erase all of MSM.

[dbdzen]

Don't make this about Obama. Castellanos is a Republican strategist. I'm an Obama fan and I don't like Hillary being called the b word on TV. Unless it's in a skit like SNL where the context is clear and everything is fair game.

[presto]

This has nothing to do with political affiliation. It has to do with decency and integrity. Castellanos is showing a lack of both.

[realtalk]

HE`S A REPUBLICAN, VERY TELLING OF HOW THEY THINK.!!! THIS REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST CALLS HILLARY A BITCH!
AND JOHN McCAIN CALLS HIS OWN WIFE A CU*T!!!

REPUBLICAN MEN REALLY ARE A VERY SEXIST BUNCH!!

[BigBen]

And the gentlemen democrats rose to her defense no?Quick to endorse Obama; silent when Hillary is abused.No need for enemies with such gentlemen as friends.

[TinaSC]

Did she stand up for him when he faced racism? Why doesn't she ever once say, to those hard working white americans- the one that admit they will never vote for a black man-hey are wrong in their thinking. She will not. She is content in getting whatever votes she can get. She claims this long history of standing up against racism. She has not done it once during this campaign (that I have seen). This is when it matters. This is when I want to see she will stand up to whoever she has to to protect the rights of every american even when it may put her at a political disadvantage. I stand corrected if someone can post proof.

[CocteausTwin]

Which gentleman democrats? The ones on the panel? If that's the case -- it's CNN. The gentleman democrats here at HUFF? I see some standing up. I know as a man if one of my female friends is called a bitch by another guy, I am among the first to stand to defend if that is what they desire.

[iconoblaster]

Are you serious? Did McCain really use that word to describe his wife? When? Where can I see proof of that? I don't believe it.

[mahoner]

it's somewhere hidden Huffingtonpost now. But it was a very REAL story. That's why it makes me even more sickened when I hear Clinton supporters say that they'd vote for McCain. If that story hits the mainstream media and gets the attention it deserves... Trust me - there's NO turning back for McCain OR the Republican party. It will be OVER.

[presto]

That already hit the media a couple of months ago. And then someone brought it up at a town hall meeting. McCain yelled at the guy and the audience supported him. It came up in the 2000 election also and re-surfaces now and then.

[campgranata]

WOW, what a huge sample you collected to come up with that 'truth'.

[presto]

I agree. Statistics say you should never trust numbers.

[CocteausTwin]

It's a family values thing!

[presto]

This has nothing to do with political affiliation. It has to do with decency and integrity. Castellanos is showing a lack of both.

[Jentutsy]

And that should be the last panel Castellanos participates in on CNN. Seriously. Their producers couldn't find anyone more intelligent and relevant than him?

[gevan]

This is America! Our voters need to hear from people like themselves. Not intelligent and relevant eliteists. Remember; no one ever went broke underestimating the American people. You CAN fool some of the people ALL of the time.

[Bon1042]

I agree completely. I'm a 65 yr old white woman who has always supported Senator Obama. I was jumping up and down on my white sofa that summer of the 2004 Dem Convention when he was giving that speech.... no red states or blue states... the Repub's will slice and dice w/wedge issues, we have an amazing God in blue states, and don't the gov't snooping in our libraries in red states, stop thinking a black kid with a book is acting white, and so on.

I grew to detest the Clintons and what they are, ruthless, machivelian, it's all about them. I MIGHT have voted for her if she became the nominee back in the late fall when thinking about this, BUT when they started to use race, as supposedly progressive democrats (which they never were if you really study it all) starting w/Bill Clinton's Jesse Jackson comparison in So Carolina, as if they don't have primaries ev 2 yrs, ev 4 yrs, ev 6 yrs for Senators etc. with mostly white candidates, to try to marginalize Obama as the black candidate, I was livid.

There is an excellent article by Betsy Reed in a May issue of The Nation on the split in the feminist movement over Clinton's candidacy.

His claims that she is irritating, aggressive, etc. would be seen in a complimentary way of a man who would be her equal. Castellanos is way off base, WAY off !

[Caringthinkingperson]

Is it safe to say this is an HIspanic and macho viewpoint of who women should be? Or would that be considered racist?

[ilcapo]

I agree,Bill Clinton was the best republican president in recent history

[presto]

I have no problem with you supporting Obama. I do, however, have a problem with your ad hominem attacks on the Clintons. You are using bias, rumor and misinformation to arrive at an incorrect conclusion. I take issue each and every time anyone accuses the Clintons of racism because it is completely false. They have been unrelenting advocates for civil rights since the 1960's. I think it is incumbent on anyone who makes those kinds of scurrilous remarks publicly to make some effort to at least educate themselves on some of the facts. It really is not fair to do otherwise.

Try reading this - with a receptive mind instead of pre-conceived notions:

http://www.tnr.com/politics/story.html?id=aa0cd21b-0ff2-4329-88a1-69c6c268b304

[Mirri]

Their panels are pathetic, and boring.

[Kingbreaker]

The irony is that the emotionally invested Clintonites will find a way to make this discredit Obama.

[ksjohnso]

That was an idiotic statement. Clinton rubs me the wrong way but not deserves to be called a b*tch.

[DietrichMoody]

Why are Republican Strategist advising.

[robXdion]

To help Hillary.

[CocteausTwin]

Fofr an illusion of balance. Pandering to TV demographics. They want ad revenue and possibly to push the political views of their management.

[DietrichMoody]

Why are Republican Strategist evening advising. They need to go back to strategy school.


Cute, maybe a conspiracy theorist would think this low life was trying to victimize Hillary. Get her more bitter votes. They want her in the Fall folks. Republicans want her in the fall. It's going to be tough..

[the964kid]

This guy Castellanos is obviously a jerk. I agree that Hillary is not very likable to many voters, including myself, but I think it's offensive to call her any derogatory word. Let's stick to the issues.

[campgranata]

One does not need to stoop to vulgarity to define Hillary Clinton: the truth about her is vulgar enough.

[jewel4Obama]

CNN must be so proud.