Sexual Sadism Serious Problem in GOP Blogosphere
Submitted by Jerid on Sun, 08/26/2007 - 1:58am.
Someone in the Republican party needs to take care of their "Naugle" problem. The kid personifies everything that's wrong about the Republican party (not saying all Republicans fall into this category, but there's definitely quite a few that follow in the steps of young Matt). Tonight's post in the personal gutter attacking ODP staffer Todd Hoffman yet again illustrates what I think happens to be a prime case of sexual sadism.
The essential feature of sexual sadism is a feeling of sexual excitement resulting from administering pain, suffering, or humiliation to another person. The pain, suffering, or humiliation inflicted on the other is real; it is not imagined and may be either physical or psychological in nature. A person with a diagnosis of sexual sadism is sometimes called a sadist.
In my opinion, Matt seems to take sexual pleasure out of inflicting pain on individuals personally - it's a far cry from anything even minutely related to politics. And as long as Republican candidates are frequenting RAB and/or taking out ads at RAB, it's going to reflect poorly on the Ohio GOP. And trust me, the chickens are coming home to roost on this one very soon. If I were the Republicans, I'd be distancing myself and denouncing Matt and RAB as soon as possible - he gives decent folks on the right a bad name.
And who could forget these classic personal strikes by Matt and RAB...
Or his personal hit against Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner's son (which has somehow mysteriously disappeared from the RAB archive).
Or my personal favorite, the time he decided to attack my family.
Last I checked, none of these folks entered into the political fray personally to warrant these types of attacks. It might be fair for folks to point out a hypocritical point with a staffer not synching up to a party's platform which they work for, but in Todd's example Matt's post is entirely mean spirited spite topped off with an awful picture - there's nothing political at all. We all have different boundaries in the blogging world, but I think most folks can see the obvious faults in venturing into the world where these types of attacks from RAB reside.
Republicans (party folks and bloggers), you're accountable for policing your own - esepcially when RAB represents "Ohio's most popular and influential Republican website." In the past I've seen very few of you call him out for this sort of behavior (Mark from Weapons of Mass Destruction and VikingSpirit being the only two I recall). You either support this shit, or you don't. You can't be neutral on a moving train.
Your accusation regarding
Submitted by Anonymous on Sun, 08/26/2007 - 8:50am.
Your accusation regarding Matt taking sexual pleasure from attacking others cannot possibly be true. If taking sexual pleasure from something that is not your wife is immoral, and sexual pleasure can be gained from attacking others, then attacking others would be immoral. If Matt makes an attempt not to do immoral things, then we can conclude that attacking others brings no sexual pleasure.
Knock it off already.
Submitted by Anonymous on Sun, 08/26/2007 - 7:14pm.
You two idiots are going to enter defamation territory if this escalation continues. How about you stick to substantive topics and not become more of a d-bag like Naugle?
Hypocrisy
Submitted by Anonymous on Mon, 08/27/2007 - 9:44am.
When you fire a staffer for "impure thoughts" she had as a teen, you open yourself up for stuff like this. It made me sick to my stomach to write that news piece, but it's the media's job to point out glary hypocrisy, sometimes.
Is Hoffman keeping his job because they simply like him better? Or is it a "guy thing"?
This is not the Democratic party that once inspired me.
-James Renner
James
Submitted by Jerid on Mon, 08/27/2007 - 1:08pm.
I disagree with the party's position on the Megan stuff - I've written that here and I've let the party know that via correspondence too. I think firing someone because they took a controversial position against the party line when they were barely an adult is bullshit. However, that's where they've staked themselves out, so be it...
However, with Todd it appears that he made some poor decisions, and has since got his life back on track (I'm assuming from my dealings with Todd). Nothing about his violation is counter to party ideology...no one supports that sort of shit, but it's not a political position. Additionally, Todd wasn't the one that made the call to fire Megan (I know it wasn't him, but I don't know where the buck did stop).
That said, I just don't think it's appropriate to go after staffers on these sorts of issues. If you found something where Todd was supporting anti-choice positions, or discriminating against minorities, or whatever, that might fit more in with this issue and be a more appropriate topic to address....but I think this one's hardly hypocrisy.
BS...
Submitted by Anonymous on Tue, 08/28/2007 - 1:47am.
It doesn't matter if Todd made the call on Megan or not - It is an example of hypocrisy, what Megan did years ago was not against the law and what Todd did was. If what he did was okay than what she did was so much less than that and that should have been okay too. If Todd deserves a second chance (which I believe everyone is entitled to) than Megan given what her "crime" was? Should have received the same. Your whole statement here that, "with Todd it appears that he made some poor decisions, and has since got his life back on track" could easily be applied to Megan if not more so since she was 18 at the time and Todd was much older. It makes no sense that his behavior would be excused and hers would not. Megan despite her statement at age 18 broke no laws and that should be a primary factor if this was truly about the truth.
Couple holes in yer logic...
Submitted by Jerid on Tue, 08/28/2007 - 3:15pm.
The party's issue with either party was illegality, the issue was that Megan's published statements were insensitive and didn't synch up to the Democratic perspective.
Now I agree with your second statement, that both folks deserve forgiveness. Megan made her statements when she barely an adult, she's demonstrated she's come a long way. Todd has testified that he worked to get his life back on track. Both deserve forgiveness. I've made no bones about the fact I think the party came down on the wrong side of the Megan issue.
But your framing of the similarities is dead wrong.
Jerid,I believe you forgot
I believe you forgot to mention a certain blogger who also calls Naugahyde out.
I do believe the latest Hoffman post while over the line, shows a double standard. To be honest, neither person did anything to warrant losing their job.
The remarks made by the staffer were when she was a young lady, Hoffman was out having fun. I believe niether of these incidents occured while they were working, so they should not effect their job. Not to mention the tim frame of the events and their employment.
I do not think the remarks in the letter by the fired staffer, should have cost her, her job.
Her remarks on affirmative action should have been listened too! Today we are dealing with many of the problems created by affirmative action programs. At one time useful, they have long out lived their purpose. Instead of being a helping hand, they have turned quota hiring and a crutch.
As for the sexual sadism remark..... well that Blackwell blow up doll sure does have a lot of patches!