Says Meyers: Take Favreau to the woodshed. Myers, 31 years old when she was put in a high-powered White House position, admits she had to "grow up" to live up to the responsibility. Then again, as a female she was probably the equivalent of 54 62 in "Favreau Years" (where two male years only equal one female year). Here she is definitely risking her passport privileges to Versailles
:
"I can’t stop thinking about this picture, and I confess I find it really upsetting. And, no, it’s not because I don’t have a sense of humor. I like to think I have a well-earned reputation for often irreverent, sometimes ill-advised humor. But I’m not laughing now." .....
....What’s bugging me is his intention. He isn’t putting his hand on her “chest,” as most of the articles and conversations about the picture have euphemistically referred to it. Rather, his hand—cupped just so—is clearly intended to signal that he’s groping her breast. And why? Surely, not to signal he finds her attractive. Au contraire. It’s an act of deliberate humiliation. Of disempowerment. Of denigration.
And it disgusts me.
Oh, I know: If Hillary can get over it, why can’t I?"
Update: Fixed my math. Fixed opening sentence.
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I spiced up the headline, herb
Remember, the headline is all that RSS subscribers see....
Thanks!
I pre-echoed Anglachel last Friday.
And that would be a first!
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I'm not such a bad guy once you get to know me.
Why is Obama allowing his SoS to be undercut?
Anglachel writes:
Yes, I keep thinking about the SoS effect, too
I grew up in a conservative Catholic country and I can't get over how utterly inflammatory it is to sexually humiliate not just any woman (which is most insulting on its own, especially in ultra-conservative Islamic countries), but a woman who is your elder, your superior in your own administration, who just happens to be the wife of the former president of the United States, the global symbol of the fight for the rights of women and girls, and will be the representative of the United States to the world. Jesus! Oh, and did I mention she ran a historic race to become the first woman president of the United States, a race that was heavily followed by the rest of the world? Yeah, her.
Oh, and I, too, am a 27 year-old male and yet I was somehow able to grasp that such a photo should not be taken or, at least, not posted on your Facebook profile. Granted, I am three whole months older than Favreau and did not attend a school known for dipshit fuckery among its dudes so...
I, too, can't stop thinking about that photo. It gets worse every time. The imagery. The implications for women and girls. All of it. Obama has given this clear message of how he expects Clinton (and other women and girls) to be treated his official approval. That is just unbelievable to me.
Damn, now I've broken my vow to drop this (online, that is). For that I offer you this amazing Flamenco music video by Chambao, a modern classic. Enjoy.
Well...
>will be the representative of the United States to the world.
Not that I'm giving that little asshat a break, but the pic might have been taken during the campaign or right after HRC suspended or something similar. I don't think he'd like it if someone had a cardboard cutout of his mom and was doing that.
Right, but he left it up there until last Friday
He had nearly a month from finding out Clinton was most likely the top SoS choice for Obama, which was about a week after the election, to remove the photo from either his Facebook profile or whichever friend had it. It doesn't really matter when he took the photo but how long he kept it up.
To be fair, the photos were up for about two hours
if I remember rightly.
Sorry for absence of linky goodness.
Regardless, he should be fired.
We will push and push and push until some larger force makes us stop.
No, they were up for a while
They were just pulled within two hours of the first story about the photo, as were all photos on the page.
He who will not reason is a bigot; he who cannot is a fool; and he who dares not is a slave.
- Sir William Drummond
Facebook and photos
Yes, on Facebook when you or any friend of yours been tagged in someone else's album it will be put in your photos tab (Anytime a friend adds a photo, you're notified unless you specifically request not to be). When you click on any photo your sent to their album. So yes, it's certainly possible a friend put it up and it was on his photos tab but he had to have known about it and (as you implied) he's responsible for it. And Aeryl's right: the photos were removed quickly, but they seem to have been put up for a while.
Yeah, regardless, he should be fired, but I just don't see that happening. It's pretty stunning that he likely won't even face a public condemnation from Obama for this when Obama was more than comfortable condemning people left and right, directly or by surrogate, during the primary campaign. I mean, not even Axelrod or Gibbs is out there smacking Favreau for his actions. Total. Silence. What makes Favreau so damn special?
What makes Favreau so damn special?
Obama doesn't need to win an election any time soon?
Only tyrants rig elections.
GQM: There's got to be more than that
It's too odd.
I'm delighted
that Dee Dee spoke up about this.
Wipe that smile off your faces, boyz. And grow the f**k up. You haven't done Obama any favors either, but I'm sure your peabrains couldn't think that far ahead. Instant gratification can lead to lifelong heartburn.
Maybe these guys aren't ready to play with the grownups.
Wow. Anglachel nails it. This is our SoS, how will the world see
her after this kind of stupidity by people who work for her boss. Amazing how disturbing this is on so many levels. The most disturbing is that I, a woman, chalked it up to stupid frat boy silliness and the dangers of teh intranets. Shame on me.
I love this job!
mixed feelings
On the one hand Favreau truly disgusts me. he is the sort of person I would cross the street to avoid.
On the other hand, everything a President does gets magnified and distorted. If Favreau lost his job over this, it would be an excuse not to hire someone because of a facebook photo where they are naked except for a lampshade on their head. That sort of thing would not bother me and I don't think should be a job disqualifier. On the other hand Favreau never made a proper apology, or even indicated that he understands why that photo is so offensive to women and men who respect women.
Favreau needs to make an abject apology, not just to Clinton, but to everyone who was offended.
I disagree
personally, if you want all your off line jokes and character flaws out there they they should go for it. They should know that employers are checking Facebook for behavior that might not fit in with the company mission statement.
Just to note: Every person should have some responsible boundaries. That is, don't put your personal stuff out there.......it's dangerous and unsafe. No one really wants as much information that some give nor do they want some of the garbage that some think is so hilarious. Boundaries are healthy and are the safety for functional people.
Lampshades aren't a
Lampshades aren't a liability problem. Groping is.
Did any of you read the comments?
....at her article.
Simply astounding and disgusting..particularly by one 'Efraim'...the spammer 'theflask' sounds like he's taken a few too many swigs of his own handle.
Makes me quite glad to comment and read some of the last, remaining civilized sights out there.
Though maybe it's just because I don't get to read the spam filter....
Looks like The Flask is the only writer. Maybe its' Favreau's
handle. If so, maybe he's working up a hard on and wants to cop a feel off of DeeDee. Ah, youth.
I love this job!
You have to go three pages...
....into the comments before anyone else really starts showing up. That's where Efraim is.
wow. go deedee. didn't see that coming from her.
way to stand up and not let it go.
Yes! Good to see Dee Dee take a stand on this--which she hasn't
always done.
Maybe writing her book, Why Women Should Rule the World, made her not only aware but gave her the courage to speak out.
That argument would hold water, DCB
if Obama's administration-in-waiting did not explicitly state on the application for new Admin hires that they must turn over every blog post and handle that could embarrass it.
They specifically included Facebook posts.
By their own words, Favreau is dammed, dammed, dammed -- and the resultant schadenfraude pie is delish. Let the bastid freelance his speeches, but not one thin dime of government bennies should go to him -- that, or he should walk down every pay period to submit to gropes from those bitter, jaded, old broads in the WH Payroll Dept.
Embarrassing yourself is different than disrespecting another
I agree about not using embarrassing photos as a disqualifier, but this isn't embarrassing to Fav-whatever, its degrading to Hillary. I think the fact that he posted it on Facebook is a good indicator of how those in the Obama campaign really view Hillary. Sam Power's "monster" comment (read the entire comment) suggested a lack of respect to Hillary, and a demeaning of Hillary by the common folk Obama supporters wasn't much better, how else can you explain the "fairy tale" lie and the RFK smear?
They don't respect or value Hillary which is why I think "promoting" Hillary to State was a way to get rid of her for other reasons.
Only tyrants rig elections.
Bingo!
That is what BIO chose not to acknowledge. This isn't about the damage Favreau did to himself, it isn't about how Clinton "feels" about it, and it isn't about "boys not being mature": it's about the damage Favreau's actions, as a member of Obama's senior staff, do to Obama's presidency by way of demeaning Obama's Secretary of State. Anglachel had the comparison right, if that cutout was Gordon Brown, or better still, Angela Merkl, would Obama be sanquine? I'm still hopeful he is not so cynical, and not so careless that he would deliberately install an untrusted political adversary in one of the most critical positions in his administration, and then undermine her and his own administration, merely to remove her as a threat to his legislative agenda in the senate.
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I'm not such a bad guy once you get to know me.
More likely he did it for shits and giggles.
As well as punishment for daring to run against Teh One.
JFK has been shot, we miss him a lot
He always knew what to do
-- Philly Cream
Favreau is a management problem for Obama
[cross posted from TalkLeft]
Even leaving aside the sexism, which some -- and by "some," I mean the Obama campaign apparat and, heck, the Village
-- don't even see, let alone see as a problem:
1. Favreau's post on his FaceBook page is exactly why the transition team demanded that all FaceBook material be disclosed. Surely he broke the spirit of the transition team's rules, if not the letter.
2. Favreau's actions undermine the authority of Obama's Secretary of State. If Obama won't discipline those who disrespect her, how can the leaders of other countries be expected to respect her?
3. Favreau's actions create workplace issues for the Obama administration. Can women staffers be confident they'll be given equal treatment in the Obama administration? Why? What if the cutout had been an image of a woman staffer, instead of Hillary? Should Favreau be disciplined in that case?
Finally, there's the issue of Favreau's buddy, who wore an Obama branded shirt. People in the corporate world have been fired for trashing the brand in an inappropriate social setting. Why doesn't that standard apply here?
First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win. -- Mahatma Gandhi
Go back to the article
...and look at the pictures on the right hand column of the site. They explain everything.
PB 2.0 - Supplement the wonk!
OMFG, good catch, tnjen!
For those who don't want to brave the link: Next to Dee Dee Myers's Vanity Fair article, on the right-hand sidebar, we are being treated to a slideshow year-in-review of photos of various female celebrities (Kate Winslett, Miley Cyrus, ...) in various states of deshabille, which appeared in Vanity Fair.
The cognitive dissonance is deafening.
... And another thing, where oh where are the men to speak out on a pulpit the size of Vanity Fair's denouncing the Favreau photo and asking for action? I appreciate Myers' writing this very much, it's great that she did, but (unfortunately) it's necessary that male allies show up as well.
We can't afford not to have single-payer!
I saw the pics too
ARRRGH!
Blue Lyon
Contact info on Favreau
Via Allegre:
First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win. -- Mahatma Gandhi
"Exacting" math
Judging by the picture, if about 193 people ask for a pound of flesh, that might just make the nut.
Add another 178 for the beermeister.
Seriously though, these morons really should be quietly asked to just not show up for work anymore. Disappeared, down the memory hole. Jon Favreau? Who's that? Never heard of him.... Oh yeah, THAT GUY; he decided to move on to a new position at MSNBC: he's going to be a writer/producer and consultant for David Shuster's new prime time show.
Bottom line, I don't know why anybody would worry about this twerp getting fired, he's set for life no matter what happens! Like Cato Cailin....
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I'm not such a bad guy once you get to know me.
Oh, that's good.
Thank you - and Allegre. A phone call and an email to Valerie Jarrett are on tomorrow's to do list.
Because it's OK if...
you're with "the administration"--whatever the "in crowd" happens to be.
Julie Myers debacle at ICE.
This time it just happens to be within the Obama Politburo.