Last week, the National Organization for Women and the PAC of the California NOW chapter took heat for their endorsement of state Attorney General Jerry Brown (D) over Meg Whitman (R) in the gubernatorial race in the wake of comments by a Brown aide that Whitman was a “whore.” At the time, national NOW President Terry O’Neill said that anyone who “from here on” calls a woman a “whore” should be fired.
She might want to have a talk with California NOW President Parry Bellasalma, who today told TPM in response to a question that “Meg Whitman could be described as ‘a political whore.’ Yes, that’s an accurate statement.”
TPM had called Bellasalma in reference to a Daily Caller story about the NOW endorsement. That story read:
Bellasalma said that while calling Whitman a “whore” was a poor choice of words, the description was accurate. “The very troubling issue that is embedded in that call is what prompted the description of Meg as a ‘whore’ is basically that she sold out Californians for an endorsement and a $450,000 independent expenditure campaign,” she said.
Bellasalma confirmed to TPM that Daily Caller writer Caroline May had accurately described her statements about Whitman.
The TPM Poll average shows Brown ahead of Whitman by a slight margin of 45.9% to 44.4%.
[H/T Amanda Hess]
[Ed note: this post was edited after publication]