Those are the exact words that legal issues expert and Slate senior editor Dahlia Lithwick uses to explain why so many well-qualified powerful women lawyers would decline being considered for nomination. Some say they don't wish to put their families through that kind of scrutiny and embarrassment; others don't want every dirty fact drudged up against them and have that kind of personal muck stick for the rest of their lives.
"Nasty, personal and hate-filled" could just as easily describe the bitter rivalry that caps off this season's Celebrity Apprentice finale, with comedienne Joan Rivers and professional poker player Annie Duke dissing each other at every opportunity.
Celebrities and reality show contestants know what they're going into when they sign up for this sort of thing. But it's a shame that in the post-Robert Bork era, Senate confirmation hearings are more geared to reducing a nominee to a 'hot mess' than vetting her/him for associate justice. The process scares away many qualified women who - as Lithwick points out - refuse to subject themselves to a process "almost designed to make them look ridiculous or awful for all time." Can you blame them?
If you found this post interesting:
Add to my Technorati favorites
Follow me on Twitter
Bookmark or Share
Comments
and in the cyberworld of texting, sexting, facebook and the preservation of an entire lifetime’s less than candid moments, probably no one will ever seriously volunteer for any kind of scrutinized office again… Unless, of course, women get over their own double-standard of public images…
And, Linda, since you are now on twitter, you will now be immediately disqualified.
Thanks, Linda, for injecting a bit of humor into this mess.
Remember Clarence Thomas? Anita Hill got beaten to a pulp because she dared bring to light of day the fact that while he was head of the EEOC, Clarence Thomas sexually harassed her.
It still boggles my mind that a man who was responsible for enforcing laws broke them, but he was still appointed to the highest court in the land.
Anne Caroline illustrates the point of this article perfectly. Any false allegations made against candidates go down forever as fact for those who want to believe them. Truth is ignored for those who don’t want to believe it. The court of public opinion doesn’t require a conviction for a sentence.