Sexism in Senate debates

In Arizona, Democratic Senate candidate Richard Carmona, hoping to put charges behind him that he mistreated women who have worked for him, did himself no favors Thursday when he told a male debate moderator that he was “prettier” than CNN’s Candy Crowley.

Richard Carmona

After a contentious stretch in the debate between Carmona and Republican Rep. Jeff Flake, moderator Brahm Resnik quipped “Geez, now I know how Candy Crowley felt.”

“You’re prettier than her,” Carmona responded, eliciting a nervous laugh from the moderator.

“I’m not sure how to take that,” he then said.
After the debate, eventually, Carmona apologized.

Meanwhile, in New York on Wednesday, the sole debate between the U.S. Senate candidates, incumbent Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand and Republican challenger Wendy Long was moderated by journalists from Time Warner Cable's YNN and NY1 networks. But in a final “lighting round” of questions posed to both candidates, YNN anchor Liz Benjamin asked whether each woman had read the sexually graphic novel Fifty Shades of Grey by British author E.L. James.

Maybe Benjamin is angling for a job at TMZ. If there’s any moderator that deserves a firestorm of criticism, she’s the one.