November 1, 2016

During a discussion on CNN, commentators Kirsten Powers and Margaret Hoover took host Chris Cuomo to task for the obvious double standard media applies to Hillary Clinton, as opposed to Donald Trump.

Cuomo asked, and he received. He questioned whether or not accusations of sexism were fair, given that they do not "spark sexism" in his mind.

After Kirsten Powers pointed out that Donald Trump not only doesn't know anything about public policy, but actually doesn't want to know anything about it, she got specific.

She pointed out that during the debates, Trump repeatedly interrupted Clinton while she tried to discuss policy, stalked her on the stage, and behaved like a bully. "I want you to imagine a woman doing that, Chris," she challenged.

To Cuomo, that just seemed to indicate that he expects more from women, that they don't act like that. "Women don't act in a caveman-ey way," he said. Yes Chris, we call that a double standard.

Hoover laughed, "That's kind of an example!" Because why aren't we expecting men to behave like men and not cavemen, after all?

Powers asked the question we all want to know the answer to. "Why do we expect women to behave better than men?"

"They're smarter, I think they have an ability to think through an apparent hostility," Cuomo responded, contrasting them with men who immediately turn to brute force to solve a problem.

Powers drove a stake into the conversation, reminding Cuomo that "women have had to learn how to deal with sexism.”

“So I don’t think it’s fair to expect them to have to constantly be reaching this bar, where Hillary Clinton has to be so good at standing there with this guy who is attacking her and doing things that, if a woman did, we’d call her a psychopath," she concluded.

Why yes, indeed. This is really the issue. Aggressive women are considered bitches. Aggressive men are considered powerful.

There is a double standard, and no one exposed that gaping maw better than Chris Cuomo in this discussion.

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