Sex and the Capitol City
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James Joyner | Wednesday, June 2, 2004 |
Dan Drezner is sure there are some interesting parallels between the sex scandals of Alexandra Polier (outed by Wes Clark’s people and exploited by Drudge, Wonkette, and others for an affair with John Kerry that didn’t happen) and Jessica Cutler, a.k.a. Washingtonienne (who has been exploited by Drudge, Wonkette, and others for having had sex with virtually everyone who happened to be in the DC area recently–your intrepid blogger excluded) but isn’t sure exactly what the connection is. I’m not either, except that 1) people like to read about sex involving 20-something chicks and people connected in some way to power; 2) Drudge and Wonkette especially like to write about sex involving 20-something chicks and people connected in some way to power; and 3) one of the quickest ways for a 20-something chick to get rich and famous is to have sex with people connected in some way to power–especially if they can get noticed by Drudge and/or Wonkette.
Amanda Butler thinks there is some connection with the above phenomenon and a recent WaPo report that beauty and brains tend to go together (which is supposedly counter-intuitive but something I’ve known since I was old enough to care about what women looked like).
On a related note, Matt Yglesias, taken aback by criticism of an offhanded comment he made in a previous post, provides evidence that, at the aggregate level, women are far less interested in and knowledgeable about politics than their male counterparts.
Perhaps it’s because they’re looking at the politicians on television and thinking to themselves, “Damn, he’s hot. If I could lure him into my bed, I could get written up by Drudge and Wonkette, and get a book deal!”
Or maybe not.
Update: Jeff Jarvis has a somwhat related career money making scheme.
About the Author: James Joyner is the publisher of Outside the Beltway and the managing editor of the Atlantic Council. He's a former Army officer, Desert Storm vet, and college professor with a PhD in political science from The University of Alabama. He lives just outside the Beltway in Alexandria, Virginia.
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I say Not.
I'm completely disgusted by the antics of said 20-something women. That they get rich and famous for such behavior is a sad commentary on what our society has become.
Isn't the attempt to find connections between the Polier and Cutler stories bedeviled by the fact that, near as we can tell, Polier DIDN'T have sex with a powerful man? Or maybe she did, but not the powerful man rumored, which is functionally the same thing.
Jim,
Sure. But the online media reaction and the fact that both will profit handsomely (although perhaps not as much as Monica Lewinski) from the exposure is still present.
You know, the thing about Jessica is that she not only slept with allegedly "powerful" people, but she slept with several at the same time, accepted money in return for acts, then publicized it through her blog and her newly found patroness. She isn't smart...shrewd, perhaps, so she can get that "rock" on her hand and that book deal. But from her writing, "smart" is about the last thing that came to mind. Jeez, she was only a mailclerk who also wanted to sleep with that "cute intern" in addition to her stable of johns.
In other words, if she was middle aged, and tried to pull the same antics, she wouldn't have gotten very far.
Plus, Jessica makes Monica look downright dowdy. To be honest, Monica only tried to profit *after* her liasion was publicized since was only known as "that chick".
Polier DIDN'T have sex with powerful men.
Cutler HAD sex but not with powerful men.
People like titillation but neither girl will get their full 15 minutes. Once men can judge whether their HOT or not - it's over. (Unless they start designing handbags. Ha ha ha)
Why does the overwhelming weight of opinion seem to be that A. Polier did not have sex with Kerry? The NYMag piece was breezily readable and at first blush an appropriate stab at laying it all out while making some bucks, but its after-taste is an elaborately concocted, untrue, attempt to give plausible answers to all of the weaknesses and curiosities of her story. The natural inference to be made from her father's response to the word "Kerry" and her former friend's take on the Senator's instantaneous callback seem more plausible than a simple denial. She even has a convenient beard whenever she and Kerry were staying at the same hotel by "coincidence".
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