A New Hampshire state lawmaker thinks the outcome of the race for the state’s 2nd congressional district will boil down to nothing more than the two female candidates’ looks.
“Let’s be honest. Does anyone not believe that Congressman Annie Kuster is as ugly as sin? And I hope I haven’t offended sin,” state Rep. Steve Vaillancourt (R) wrote Friday on New Hampshire politics blog NH Insider.
Incumbent Rep. Ann Kuster (D-NH) is being challenged by state Rep. Marilinda Garcia (R), a tea party-backed candidate who’s been endorsed by firebrand Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and the conservative Club For Growth.
“If I may be so bold as to speak the truth, Republican Marilinda Garcia is one of the mot attractive women on the political scene anywhere, not so attractive as to be intimindating [sic], but truly attractive,” Vaillancourt wrote of his state House colleague.
Vaillancourt explained that he’d seen polling data that showed attractive candidates have a significant advantage over less attractive or unattractive candidates, as long as those candidates are of the same sex and the attractive candidate is not “so drop dead gorgeous as to intimidate those watching.” He wrote that he’d give Garcia the edge in the race based on that information.
He went on to say that he thinks of Kuster every time he walks by a bar in Montreal where a drag queen stations herself outside to take photos with passersby.
“I’ve promised myself for years not to use this anecdote, but after seeing the story about the seven to ten point boost for the attractive, the story has political relevance,” he concluded. “Annie Kuster looks more like a drag queen than most men in drag.”
Garcia said Monday in a statement that Vaillancourt’s comments had “absolutely no place in political discourse.”
“Both Rep. Kuster and I have experienced this unfortunate reality of being a woman in politics,” she said in the statement. “I hope that as time moves forward and more female candidates run for political office around the country, people will focus on the content of our ideas rather than what we wear and how we look.”
See, here’s proof there’s no GOP War on Women—it’s a “War on Ugly Women®”
Unless you go to NH, you don’t realize that there isn’t a big difference from West Virginia in most of the state. When you drive through the state, often you are looking up at the leaves and miss the cars on blocks and the outhouses.
We all can’t be as pretty as Steve…
Does this, ah…person know that ugly is a DC prerequisite?
A true facepalm moment.
Sean, that was a picture of Mr Vaillancourt, I take it?
Now I’ll hafta bleach my keyboard.