Some people never change. After attracting attention for dismissing outrage over failed Republican U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore’s history of sexually harassing minors by comparing the relationships to the Bible story of Mary and Joseph, Alabama State Auditor Jim Ziegler — an elected Republican official — lashed out over new U.S. Senator from Arizona Kyrsten Sinema (D) because… she was wearing a dress that wasn’t some neutral color? Is that seriously anywhere near the most important issue right now?
Ziegler whined on Facebook in a caption of a post including photos of Sinema that she “took the floor improperly attired,” offering no evidence whatsoever to support his claim that her clothing was “improper” according to any standard other than his own preferences that are, of course, utterly irrelevant. He eventually adjusted the caption to make his thoughts about her clothing less explicit while still trumpeting his animosity loud and clear.
He claimed that Senator Doug Jones — the Alabama Democrat who defeated Roy Moore in a recent special election — “accompanied” Sinema onto the Senate floor and “represents these out-of-state Senators instead of us, the people of Alabama.”
Again, Ziegler offered no evidence for his claim that Jones has failed in his duty to represent the people of Alabama outside his appearance in Krysten Sinema’s general vicinity.
All of this mess went down on Ziegler’s public Facebook page maintained as the face of his elected position. He has suggested that he might run against Doug Jones in the next election — which would be quite a sight, to say the least.
This isn’t even the first time that a Republican has creeped on and criticized newly serving female Democrats’ clothing choices. Journalist Eddie Scarry shared a photo someone had taken of Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) from behind, commenting:
‘I’ll tell you something: that jacket and coat don’t look like a girl who struggles.’
First of all — Ocasio-Cortez is 29 years old — not a “girl.”
Scarry has actually been known to pull stunts like this one before, becoming infamous during his earlier years as a right wing hack for posting pictures of people’s behinds.
The problem isn’t confined to him, though, as the mess with Ziegler indicates.
The Republican Party by and large does not present itself as a place for women, and not just because it opposes women’s rights to decide the best course of action for their own pregnancies.
Only 20 Republican women are in the current Congress, compared to a whopping 106 Democratic women. Overall, they’re still under one-fourth of Congress overall — but progress is being made, and the Republican Party isn’t on-board.
Their issues will continue heading into the 2020 elections considering their continued support of President Donald Trump, who’s distinguished himself with his continued sexism. Not too long ago at an on-camera press conference, he quipped that he knew a female reporter didn’t think much — and it’s really not that difficult to imagine what prompted that. Throughout his rise, he’s dismissed women as out-of-control, “nasty,” and a whole host of other pejoratives — and more women keep joining the 2020 Democratic presidential candidate field every day.
Featured Image via YouTube screenshot
