After the Huffington Post and Hoops Hype, the first Web site I check out each day is the Drudge Report, for the very simple reason that Matt Drudge often gets the news before anyone else.
But today, when I went on the Drudge Web site, I was extremely disappointed, not at the news of the day that was being made, but at the news of the day that Drudge chose to make: the main photo on the site is of Hillary Clinton looking tired. The headline of the site, under this unflattering picture, is "The Toll of a Campaign." As if the toll of the campaign is weighing so heavily on Hillary's face that it is making her look haggard.
Now, Hillary does not need my help defending her. For one, I am a speechwriter for another candidate. Two, I'm a guy, and it seems awfully stereotypical for a man to have to step in and defend the damsel in distress.
But I am offended by the attacks on Senator Clinton because there is no question that the slams against her are hypocritical and come because she's a woman.
Where's the picture of Fred Thompson, exhausted from the campaign trail? Okay, that's a bad example. Fred may be exhausted, but if he is, it's from eating too many doughnuts and staying up late watching A Shot At Love With Tila Tequila.
But you know what I'm talking about. Mike Huckabee is all smiles on the trail, but if he looked tired, you wouldn't see a picture of his mug headlining the Drudge Report.
Hillary is a woman. Get over it. You may like her views, her experience, her campaign tactics, or you may not. That's legitimate. That's political discourse. But to put up an unflattering photo of her on a well-read site like Drudge for the purpose of showing that she's looking tired -- what's the point? The point is an attack on women for not looking perfect.
Recently, Jennifer Love Hewitt was on a vacation in Hawaii, celebrating her engagement. Web sites ran unflattering photos of Love in a bikini. They took pride in slamming her. One caption read: "We know what you ate this summer -- Everything!"
What did Jennifer Love Hewitt do to deserve it? She was celebrating her engagement! The sport of bashing women because they don't look perfect is the sport of misogyny.
I'm disappointed to see that this misogyny has gone from attacking celebrities to attacking presidential candidates. It wasn't right for celebrities. It's not right for presidential candidates. And it's we, the people, who have to say, it's shameful to publicly slam Jennifer Love Hewitt for her appearance, and it's simply terrible to do to Senator Clinton.