OFF THE WIRE
FINGER POINTING AGAIN,
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/state/u-s-rep-wasserman-schultz-disgusted-by-candidate-987031.html U.S. Rep. Wasserman Schultz 'disgusted' by candidate West's work with motorcycle magazine Chip Somodevilla Democratic National Committee Vice Chairwoman Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) delivers remarks while responding to the House Republican's unveiling of their "Pledge to America" with Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO) and Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ) outside of the Democratic National Committee headquarters September 23, 2010 in Washington, DC.
ALLEN WEST
wheelsontheroad.com
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Updated: 3:34 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 23, 2010
Posted: 3:53 p.m. Friday, Oct. 22, 2010
Post a Comment E-mail Print ShareLarger Type Small Type DEERFIELD BEACH — U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz never expected to be the subject of a column in a hardcore biker magazine. When it happened, she didn't like it.
Wasserman, a Democrat from District 20, was written about in decidedly unflattering manner that questioned her sexual desirability in this month's issue of Wheels on the Road, a South Florida based publication.
That magazine includes among its columnists Allen West, a motorcycle rider who is the GOP candidate in neighboring District 22, where he is trying to unseat Wasserman's Democratic colleague Ron Klein.
With Democrats facing the loss of many seats in Congress Nov. 2, they are making a special effort to get women to the polls. Wasserman, chief deputy whip for the House Democrats, used that unwanted coverage in the biker magazine to rally several dozen demonstrators, mostly women, outside West's campaign headquarters in Deerfield Beach Friday.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee says it has also found an instance in the magazine where a writer said women exist "to serve man" and suggested they should wear "slave-chokers" as accessories.
Wasserman called the magazine, which regularly features bare-breasted or naked women, "degrading, sexist and misogynistic.'" She did not accuse West of personally writing anything derogatory towards women, but she said his association with the magazine was bad enough.
"He thinks it's okay to objectivize and denigrate women," Wasserman told the crowd of several dozen supporters. She said such depictions can stir violence against women and called on West to condemn the publication.
West has responded that he sends to the magazine the same column -- called Washingtoons -- that he emails regularly to all interested parties. He has said he no other connection to the publication and the rest of its content and that his only motive in supplying the column is trying to get his conservative message out.
Friday his campaign manager Josh Grodin said West was not a staff member of the magazine and never had been. He accused the Klein campaign of spreading lies about his candidate.
"Ron Klein's campaign is out of money, they are losing the election and they are trying to use the media to get their message out, to get their message out on TV," he said. "We are focused on winning the election."
The item in Wheels on the Road that referred to Wasserman was written by a columnist named Willy Woo. It referred to her in derogatory sexual terms, misspelled her name to have it sound like excrement, and alluded to her religion by describing her as a 'yenta,' a Yiddish term for a female busybody or gossip.
"Obviously I was disgusted by it," Wasserman said Friday. She again attacked West for contributing to the magazine.
"Allen West should know better," she said. "The disgusting images and language in this magazine have no place in our community, no place in our country and certainly no place in Congress. As far as we are concerned, Allen West can get on his motorcycle and ride right out of town."
