Fright of Self: ‘Billy Graham Rule’

July 10, 2019

Overcast with a bit of chill this Wednesday evening on California’s north coast, and despite that right now, it was overall a real gorgeous day.
Ran the dogs at Little River State Beach this morning, sunshine broke the clouds, and warmed the dunes, a splendid time.

State-of-silly scenario: ‘“Before our decision to run, my wife and I made a commitment to follow the ‘Billy Graham Rule,’ which is to avoid any situation that may evoke suspicion or compromise of our marriage,” the candidate, Robert Foster, said in a fundraising email Wednesday. “I am sorry the liberal media doesn’t share our views, but their attack on us is all the more reason we need a conservative that will protect these values we share.”

Hardcore asshole…

Foster is a hard-right Republican candidate for Mississippi governor. On Monday, his campaign turned down a request for a ride-along type journalism scenario from Larrison Campbell, a reporter for Mississippi Today — no way unless she was accompanied by a male colleague.
Via the Guardian this afternoon:

Campbell told the Guardian she was “shocked” when she was told Foster would not cooperate without a male colleague present because he had initially seemed interested when she approached him about reporting a story and they had an established working relationship.
“Really up until the last couple of minutes of our conversation I really assumed that we’d find a way to make it work and I was shocked that this was a deal breaker. That my being a woman was such a deal breaker,” she said.
“It made me mad … I’m showing up, I’m doing everything right, I’m trying to do my job, and you are sexualising me. How is that not sexist? The only thing that makes me in your mind unfit to do this job is the fact that I’m a woman. That is sexism. We’ve got to talk about that.”
In an article about the incident for Mississippi Today, Campbell said: “In two phone calls this week, Colton Robison, Foster’s campaign director, said a male colleague would need to accompany this reporter on an upcoming 15-hour campaign trip because they believed the optics of the candidate with a woman, even a working reporter, could be used in a smear campaign to insinuate an extramarital affair.”

We’re living a Twilight Zone episode…

(Illustration above: Pablo Picasso’s ‘The Weeping Woman [La Femme qui pleure],’ found here).

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