A major political figure is being dogged by ugly words objectifying women – comments that are especially shocking in the “Me Too” era.
But odds are, you haven’t heard a word about it… because it wasn’t a Republican who made those remarks!
Liberal darling Beto O’Rourke, the Democratic Texas congressman running to unseat Republican Sen. Ted Cruz, was busted for a 1991 “review” of a Broadway show where he made very specific comments about female body parts.
Writing in the student newspaper Columbia Daily Spectator as Robert O’Rourke, the future politician slammed “The Will Rogers Follies” as “one of the most glaring examples of the sickening excesses and moral degradations of our culture,” according to Politico, which uncovered the report from the newspaper’s online archives.
“Keith Carradine in the lead role is surrounded by perma-smile actresses whose only qualifications seem to be their phenomenally large breasts and tight buttocks,” wrote O’Rourke, who was 19 at the time.
In comments that got much less attention, this snobby liberal elite also slammed seniors for both being old and having the nerve to enjoy the show.
“I was the youngest person in the crowd by about 60 years,” he wrote. “ThoughtI found it revolting, most people from that long-ago, faraway generation really enjoyed the show and were very pleased with the performance.”
Assuming that number is even close to accurate, that means he was surrounded by the “long-ago, faraway” people who survived the Great Depression, saved the world in WWII, fought off the advance of communism in Korea, and then sent humans to the moon.
But how dare they enjoy a musical – one that, by all accounts, couldn’t have been that bad.
The show ran for more than two years and was nominated for 11 Tony Awards, winning six of them, including Best Musical!
O’Rourke has rightly apologized, at least for his ugly comments about women — but seniors don’t get the same respect from him.
“I am ashamed of what I wrote and I apologize,” he said in a statement released to the media. “There is no excuse for making disrespectful and demeaning comments about women.”
Democrats were quick to accept the apology and move on, as should be the case for embarrassing and dumb behavior from the days of youth.
Except they don’t hold Republicans to the same standard, treating any allegation – no matter how old and how uncorroborated – like a major scandal.
It’s hardly the only ugly moment from his past.
He was also infamously arrested in a 1998 DWI incident – one in which police said he was driving above the speed limit in a 75mph zone. The Houston Chronicle said police reports claimed he “lost control and hit a truck, sending his car careening across the center median into oncoming lanes” and that at least one witness said O’Rourke tried to leave the scene.
He hit a 0.136 and 0.134 on breathalyzer tests, well above the state’s legal limit at the time, 0.10.
O’Rourke was arrested and charged with DWI, but the charges were dismissed after a court-approved diversion program.
Once again, he apologized, calling it a “serious mistake for which there is no excuse.”
Once again, Democrats were quick to forgive and forget – a courtesy they never seem to extend outside their own leftist circle.
Then again, maybe there’s a reason for it: This isn’t a political party anymore.
It’s a cult!
That sure would explain a lot, and at least one leading political figure in Texas hinted that may be the case, at least when it comes to O’Rourke.
“He’s been a cult-like, very popular figure the way that he’s run the campaign, but you don’t vote on cult, you don’t vote on personality when you get to the U.S. Senate,” Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, said last week on Fox News. “You vote on the issues.”
–The Horn editorial team