Writes NYT columnist Gail Collins, in "What Makes Cuomo So Grabby?"
A disgusting headline by the way. Are we supposed to care about the internal workings of his mind? Ah, I guess they did that with Trump, diagnosing him with narcissism and whatever, though that never seemed like an honest exploration of human psychology. It was always political attack and therefore a perversion of the field of psychology. Is it any different with Cuomo?
Oh! Now I've read the column, and I don't think it answers or even asks that question in the headline! Looking for what could possibly justify the headline, I'm at a loss. "His private life seems to be a little — wanting" — that is, he's divorced and his girlfriend left town. Albany is "a somewhat isolated world." And there's a gender imbalance "in the power structure." It's almost like saying boys will be boys. What the hell? Who wrote that headline?
But, yeah, forget that. Let's all kick Giuliani. That's how you pad this column. But what I'd like to know is not why Cuomo would commit so many acts of sexual harassment for so long, but who knew and who protected him? Presumably, there are a lot of New York Democrats who've protected Cuomo over the years, probably people who made sanctimonious pro-woman statements in the heyday of the "Me Too" movement. Tell me about them. Instead you wheel out a convenient Republican.
And by the way, the phrase "so grabby" — in "What Makes Cuomo So Grabby?" — trivializes sexual harassment in the workplace. It makes it sound like Cuomo is just childishly uncontrolled in the hands. But sexual harassment is a mechanism of power, structuring the workplace for the benefit of men and relegating women to a separate track, where success and failure depend on things other than work. Start taking it seriously.
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4 comments:
Michael writes:
I happened to get a free copy of the New York Times this morning, and so I happened to read Gail Collins’ column before I read this Althouse blog post.
I too found that the column did not explain “what makes Cuomo so grabby” I suppose, however, that Collins did not write the headline.
More generally, I found that Collins’ column was an meandering, pointless waste of space.
Ironically, Collins faults Cuomo for staying in his governor position far too long, but Collins herself has been in her own columnist position far too long.
Temujin writes:
Yes, Gail Collins did what everyone on her 'team' seems to do when they *have* to confront bad behavior on the part of a Democrat: Bring out the Republican! How does Giuliani have anything to do with this at all? And I love how we're now at the point where Journalists! who have known about Cuomo for decades, start asking the question out loud: How long have people known about this and looked the other way? Well, Gail? Tell us. How long has it been?
Or with Joe Biden.
Or with Bill Clinton.
Anthony Weiner.
Harvey Weinstein.
Kevin Spacey.
Matt Lauer.
Leon Wieseltier.
Elliott Spitzer.
Mel Reynolds.
Robert Menendez.
Al Gore.
Charlie Rose.
That's just a quick short list. Democrats all. How long had they been practicing their 'craft' and how long had 'Journalists!' somehow missed it?
As the saying goes, I'll believe 'Me Too' is an issue when those screaming the loudest about it start acting like it's an issue.
Joe writes:
Who protected Clinton? Who protects Biden? White, liberal women.
When it was proven that Bill had lied about his Monica affair, not a single member of his cabinet resigned...every one stuck with him. It's what Democrats do and it's the reason they win. They have no shame and are interested only in power and how to wield it.
One female 'journalist' even went so far as to offer Bill a blow job because he is in favor of keeping abortion legal. How objective!
You can argue that Biden's grabiness is much worse because he tends to target children.
I don't think he's any kind of pervert or molester, but he does seem to have some sort of impulse to touch and stroke little kids. He probably just thinks it's a thing that grandpa-types do, but it's borderline creepy.
Cuomo has some fight in him. He will not volunteer to kill himself. His 'Italian defense' is a little bit lame, but somewhat justifiable if you know anything about Italian culture....it is very physical and involves lots of hugging and kissing...ask me how I know : )
And it is pretty obvious to me that Biden won't be around to run in 2024, and Harris is sinking like a rock in the polls. This is just clearing the deck for Kamala. If Cuomo doesn't leave, it will be used to beat him over the head should he have the temerity to think about running against her in a primary.
MikeR writes:
"Know it's been said before, but: #meToo is Hollywood and politics. Most other American enterprises dealt with this long ago. In my hospital, which has some of the biggest "rock star" doctors in America, we have yearly classes on harassment and a very humorless HR department. There are doctors who are pigs with that kind of entitlement mentality, but they wouldn't try it. If they did, they'd stop it after a stern warning or be out on their ear, no matter who they are.
"But there are these industries where people coming up are very many and the opportunities very few. And the ones in charge have total power over them and everyone knows it.
"My cousin was young and beautiful, and she became executive producer for one of the more important production companies in Hollywood. When my son asked her about #meToo, she said, Yeah of course. But it worked in my favor so I went along with it. We all did.
"Obviously, if she hadn't they would have found someone else, no fuss."
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