Sometimes it seems like there's a new sport called, "pin the tail on the celebrity male."
There was Bill Cosby. Women came out of the woodwork to blame him for sexual misdeeds. Surely not all of them were non-consenting in their relationships with him. But social mores changed over the years, and they were transformed into victims.
Also Roger Ailes. Gretchen Carlson, according to her petition, was a Stanford University graduate, a former Miss America, an accomplished concert violinist, a best selling author, an award-winning journalist and a Trustee of the March of Dimes. But apparently, she didn't have the wherewithal to tell the boss to back off. Here's a quote from said petition:
22. During that meeting in Ailes' office on September 16, 2015, Ailes stated to Carlson: "I think you and I should have had a sexual relationship a long time ago and then you'd be good and better and I'd be good and better," adding that "sometimes problems are easier to solve" that way.
Boy, if only Ailes had known that what would have been laughed off a few years ago would cost him his job and his boss millions of dollars. Read the whole petition and one comes away thinking that with all of Ms. Carlson's accomplishments she could have handled Mr. Ailes with her verbal skills. Nope.
Aside: Years ago my girlfriend at the time worked at a small corporation owned by the boss. One day he hugged her and tried to feel her ass. She pushed him away and said, "You dirty old man!" It never happened again. God, I loved that woman!
So now O'Reilly is the target. His attackers will walk away with millions, and he will be left looking for another job. If he is as popular as the media claim, he'll land on his feet -- after spending time with the family, of course. But what exactly did he say or do? We need to know so we can decide who is the real villain.
There's a current trend telling us we are supposed to believe the woman in a he-said-she-said dispute, even if she's set to win money in seven figures.
But this brings to mind another recent news headline -- Mike Pence's habit of not dining alone with woman other than his wife. One has to wonder how many of those people chortling about Bill O'Reilly's fate also snickered at Mike Pence's approach to avoiding false claims. Careful men could learn something from Mr. Pence.
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4:16 PM 4/20/2017
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