Sen. Gretchen Whitmer reacts to Sen. Rick Jones "hooker" comment with more name calling (commentary)

Cavemen are running our government.

http://www.mlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2012/01/sen_gretchen_whitmer_reacts_to.html

Published: Monday, January 09, 2012, 10:30 PM Updated: Monday, January 09, 2012, 10:34 PM

Why does this community feel like it it is getting screwed by its government? Well it was revealed to us by the honesty of this Michigan Senator.

"I do not have the heart to tell a classroom full of girls that the same attitudes and animosity they encounter on the playground persist to our highest levels of government."

"My colleagues often talk about promoting our state so our economy is not incorrectly viewed as a dinosaur. But how credible can we be when our standard-bearers act like cavemen?"

Cavemen can not have an intellectual conversation, their brains are not wired for it. Cavemen are running our government and making the decisions that most effect our community.

Thanks you senator for having the courage to call out senator Jones. As a brother and a father to a daughter, the comments of Senator Jones are offensive to any civilized society but not surprising. He has shown disdain to the medical marihuana community, even going as far as to suggest he knows what a sick person looks like. The caveman had been quoted this past September, after a rally of 4000 angry citizens protesting the current governments failure to implement the medical marihuana act, stating that the group was made up of mostly legalizers not patients. Well Senator Caveman, what does a cancer patient look like, what does a crones patient look like, and what does a chronic pain patient look like? Or did the Caveman forget that at least publicly you aren't supposed to judge a book by its cover.

It is this exact lack of compassion, understanding and evolved thinking that has interfered with the implementation of the Michigan Medical Marijuana act at state level. It is this exact thinking that has caused a community if sick people to fear it's government. If our senator is calling a female politician a hooker in public, we can only imagine what he is saying behind closed doors about the medical marihuana community. It is obvious that the current caveman dominated legislature is not the right group to be discussing the MMMA. Simply put, if they don't understand that using the word Hooker to refer to a woman is inappropriate, then obviously we can not expect them to have the intellectual capacity to really understand the current issues challenging the medical marihuana community. Thank you senator for bringing to light what the many in the medical marihuana community has known for a long time. Cavemen are running our government.

MLive.comGretchen WhitmerState Senator Gretchen Whitmer D-East Lansing, has gone on the offensive against sexism at the state Capitol. In an op-ed in Monday's Detroit Free Press she calls out the male-dominated legislature and Sen. Rick Jones R-Grand Ledge, in particular for "boorish and chauvinistic behavior."Last week Jones set off a firestorm of criticism for comparing Lansing PR maven Kelly Rossman to a “hooker.”Whitmer makes her frustrations over persistent and increasing sexism at the capitol clear:

As a female legislator, I often speak to groups of women -- from Girl Scouts and graduates to fellow female attorneys and aspiring politicians. I share my personal experiences and discuss the myriad of challenges females face in elected office. But I rarely convey how much chauvinism and sexism still go on in politics today because, quite frankly, I am embarrassed by it. I do not have the heart to tell a classroom full of girls that the same attitudes and animosity they encounter on the playground persist to our highest levels of government.

But she also makes it clear that childish behavior is not restricted to the “good old boys” when she when she herself goes all second-grade:

My colleagues often talk about promoting our state so our economy is not incorrectly viewed as a dinosaur. But how credible can we be when our standard-bearers act like cavemen?

Michigan Radio’s Jenn White asked Senator Whitmer about the apparent hypocrisy. Whitmer deftly denied that her name-calling could be compared to Sen. Jones’ name-calling which was in response to name-calling by Rossman:. Well, I don’t think that calling...saying that we have a backward attitude and that we’re in the stone age in terms of relations between men and women…um…merely rises to the level of calling someone a hooker.

I suppose a rose by any other name would still smell as sweet. But name-calling at the capitol is becoming a thorn in the flesh.