It's a fickle time that we live in. The man pictured above may not be known to you, unless you live in Massachusetts. Charlie Baker is a local politician who is running for Governor. His opponent is Martha Coakley, the Attorney General. It's a tight race, but according to WBUR , Martha holds a 10 point lead over Baker. With a month to go before the vote, every moment must be analyzed and calculated. Polls, people and photo-ops are the stuff that wins elections and the candidates know it.
That's why Charlie may have just committed political suicide by uttering one sentence-on camera. Charlie Baker made a huge error when he did something I do quite frequently. Something the President himself has done and something that may well be innocent, but not in these times. Not today.
Charlie Baker was asked a question the other day by local Fox 25 reporter Sharman Sacchetti on camera, His response was, "OK, this is the last one sweetheart." Immediately, Sacchetti responded with "Sweetheart?" The local news had a field day with it and the sound bite ran on loop on all the major news stations. A female journalist dubbed it a "sexist slip-up" and others criticized the comment as "degrading towards women". Charlie immediately put out a statement then called Sharman Sacchetti and apologized for the error.
“I apologize to Sharman, as she is an accomplished professional and someone who I have come to both respect and consider a friend,” Baker said in a statement.
He then commented;
“I did call Sharman last night, apologized and she was gracious enough to accept my apology. My comment was a mistake and certainly doesn't represent my work, my attitude or what I am all about,” he said, according to Baker’s campaign manager Tim Buckley.
Oh Charlie, these are not good times.
What he did was foolish, yes it was. But do I believe that Charlie was being sexist, or worse demeaning to a woman? I'm not quite sure. I have to admit that I use the term "honey" or "sweetie" more often than not when having pleasant conversation with people who I may or may not know. In fact I do it a lot, and I've decided that it may be received the opposite of the way it was intended. I need to be aware of NOT using the term. Case in point Charlie Baker. While my mother, grandmother and Charlie's relatives may use the term freely when conversing, they aren't running for public office or working with the masses.
I guess what I'm trying to say is WE need to learn to whisper no sweet nothing.
2 comments:
Shoot in Detroit he would have said: "Show me your tits and you get the last question, if not...What do you want to know over there Bob?" We have not only murdered 325 people this year, political correctness is forbidden as a weakling's way to worm out of what they really want to say.
Ya understand me you hottie you?
It never ceases to amaze me that people are out looking for the negative. People can't be comfortble speaking anymore...and this is why we can never get a straight answer.
The man may have a potential to solve a lot of political problems but because people take a gesture the wrong way, it will be more likely that MA will elect a person who is part of the government red tape system.
My advice to Charlie is that next time he decides to slip up like that to give that news report a nice slap in the ass as she walks by. Hey, Go big or stay home I always say.
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