From Hair to Whore: Fiorina, Brown Trip Over Technology

Warning to all California politicians: Big Brother is watching you - or at least listening. It used to be politicians could say mean things about their opponents to their friends and aides without everyone and their sister hearing about it. But as current California candidates Carly Fiorina and Jerry Brown found out this election year, microphones and digital recording devices - like pesky flies on the wall - pick up every snarky and salty insult. Worse, the recordings are played over and over and over again on the Internet and cable TV until even Grandma has memorized them.

In the most recent California political technology snafu, gubernatorial hopeful Jerry Brown and one of his aides started discussing Brown's rival Meg Whitman after leaving a recorded phone message for a police group. What Brown and his aide didn't realize was that after they left their message, they failed to disconnect the phone call and their conversation was being recorded as part of the message. In that conversation, either Brown or his aide referred to Whitman as a "whore," alluding to her willingness to take campaign money from the police group to cut them a better pension deal.

Although the comment clearly did not imply Meg Whitman was loose with her sexual favors, Whitman's campaign spokesperson, Sarah Pompei, was quick to lambast the remark as "an appalling and unforgivable smear against Meg Whitman" and "an insult to both Meg Whitman and to the women of California." Pompei may have overstated her case. As a California resident with two x chromosomes, I did not take offense at the word "whore" because I understood its metaphorical meaning and thought it aptly described Whitman's relationship to the group.

Meanwhile, senatorial hopeful and former Hewlett-Packard CEO, Carly Fiorina, was snagged by a bad hair comment last June while waiting to be interviewed by a television news reporter. Unaware her microphone was already turned on, Fiorina offhandedly repeated a comment made by one of her aides about her rival Barbara Boxer's hair: "God, what is that hair? Sooo yesterday.'"

Granted Fiorina's comment was vintage "Mean Girls" high school. But most of us have an inner teenager lurking inside and indulge in occasional gossip or snide remarks. As much as some women huffed and puffed over Fiorina's dig on Boxer's hair, most of us quietly said to ourselves, "There but for the grace of God, go I." In fact, some psychologists believe this kind of mild dishing helps foster intimacy and is not intended to cause harm to another, a theory humorously encapsuled by the old Alice Roosevelt Longworth quote, "If you haven't got anything nice to say about anybody, come sit next to me."

As tempting as it may be to act shocked or appalled by Jerry Brown's aide calling Meg Whitman a "whore" or Carly Fiorina trashing Barbara Boxer's hair, it is important to remember that only a handful of Mother Theresas in this world could withstand the high-tech scrutiny of modern technology. The rest of us can be grateful that our every word is not parroted by Keith Olbermann or Bill O'Reilly or immortalized on YouTube.

Sources:

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1010/43315.html#ixzz11n8Td9au

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/postpartisan/2010/06/carly_fiorina_pulls_barbara_bo.html