Thanks, Saber !
Posted on 05/25/2004 10:22:49 PM PDT by kattracks
Meet the new Monica Lewinsky. Jessica Cutler, a 24-year-old mailroom clerk and phone receptionist, worked for Sen. Mike DeWine, R-Ohio, until last Friday -- when he fired her for using Senate computers to post to an Internet Web log that chronicled her trysts with six different men in Washington. Cutler's partners reportedly included government officials who gave her money for her sexual services.
Diary excerpt: "I just took a long lunch with F and made a quick $400. When I returned to the office, I heard that my boss was asking about my whereabouts. Loser." In another entry, Cutler explains: "F(equals)Married man who pays me for sex. Chief of Staff at one of the gov agencies, appointed by Bush."
Cutler, who aspired to be a journalist, spouted: "I'm sure I am not the only one who makes money on the side this way: How can anybody live on $25K/year??" When I was 24 and making less than that, I did it by eating Spaghetti-O's, Ramen noodles and Swanson pot pies for dinner; driving a Toyota Tercel with no air conditioning; and sleeping on a $30 futon. I did it the way most parents teach their daughters to succeed: through hard work, thrift, faith and perseverance.
I don't usually write about such inside-the-Beltway gossip, but Cutler's indecent conduct, glib rationalizations and in-your-face shamelessness, and the accompanying feeding frenzy over her, deserve a firm outside-the-Beltway lashing. This vulgar little episode reflects a larger, disturbing media trend toward normalizing and glamorizing sexual promiscuity among young working women. It harms those trying to succeed on their merits in the professional arena.
And it also harms our own daughters, who will be forced to fight harder to protect their dignity and credibility in a "Girls Gone Wild" culture.
The Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post featured Cutler, who dubbed herself and her online diary "Washingtonienne," in a prominent story last Sunday headlined "The Hill's Sex Diarist Reveals All (Well, Some)." Cutler posed for a fetching photo and supplied juicy soundbites. "It's so cliched. It's like, 'There's a slutty girl on the Hill?' There's millions of 'em," Cutler told the Washington Post's Richard Leiby. Millions? Follow-up dispatches appeared in Roll Call, the New York Post, the London Independent, United Press International and the Associated Press, whose wire reports on Cutler were reprinted everywhere from the Akron Beacon Journal to the Houston Chronicle to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
The news media originally caught whiff of Cutler from an online D.C.-based gossip site, Wonkette.com, authored by "edgy" (read: profanity-laced and sex-obsessed) writer Ana Marie Cox, who herself has been recently touted extensively by adoring media fans. CNN terrorism analyst Peter Bergen hosted a tony party for Cox last month; Washington Post reporter Howard Kurtz invited her on his CNN show, where she boasted, "I'm the expert at talking dirty."
Cutler and Cox, 31, appeared together on Fox News Channel this week, where they giggled and guffawed and rolled their eyes as they reveled in their sleazy celebrity. When Fox anchor Brigitte Quinn (who deserves a medal for her restraint) asked Cutler whether her parents knew about her raunchy sex life, she snorted: "They do now!" Cox cackled and went on to coo about Cutler's writing talent and future book publishing prospects. Cox generously mentioned she didn't want too much "credit" for Cutler's newfound notoriety. ("Credit?" Quinn mused subtly. "That's an interesting word.")
This female Beavis and Butthead duo illustrate what normal Americans hate about the Capitol scene: narcissism, moral bankruptcy and self-congratulatory media-political incest. The Washington Post's legitimization of this shallow "story" illustrates something else: the mainstream media's perverted moral values. The paper's recent profiles and features of social conservatives drip with condescension and ridicule. Religious activists are portrayed as intolerant homophobes; Republicans as gun-toting rubes; abstinence promoters as freaks.
But give The Washington Post two vain, young, trash-mouthed skanks who couldn't care less about what their parents think of their sex-drenched infamy, and the newspaper can't wait to help make them full-fledged members of the media elite.
Cutler and Cox apparently have no trouble looking at themselves in the mirror every morning. I pity the mainstream journalists-turned-pimps who can do the same.
©2004 Creators Syndicate, Inc.
Thanks for the ping!
Cox and Cutler are Sodom and Gomorrah, and Christians are the gentle breeze before the coming of their doom. Look at the imagery in Revelation concerning the harlot and her clients and you see a stunning parallel to any group of elites in society.
It's amazing what people are willing to actually pay for.
Yes, someone did: Us.
One way or another, these beltway jerks always arrange for the taxpayer to pick up the tab on everything, including these low-rent prostitutes. Why should they care if it costs them $400 a pop?
A lot of the younger female Hill workers are quite predatory. They don't make much money but they want to go to the fancy bars and restaurants. Most of my lawyer-buddies make good money and, as a result, do very well with Hill-chicks.
Clinton and Monica set the tone. Monica has been richly rewarded by the liberal establishment for being a slut and these two are simply following suit.
You've probably heard the saying, "Prostitutes are not paid for sex, they are paid to leave after sex." Some men don't want "complications."
Clinton was indiscreet and got caught. Don't imagine for even one minute that this hasn't been going on in Washington since the time of the Founding Fathers. Republicans are just as bad (though they tend to be smarter about it).
Republican Hill staffers tend to fall into one of two categories: holy-roller Jesus types and drunken frat boy/sorority girls.
I love this town.
I'm with Jacob T. Levy:
If the Washingtonienne story about the staff assistant blogging about her sex-for-"gifts"-life and subsequently getting fired for it provides some sort of moral Rorshach test, I've probably failed. I've found it really funny more of ten than I've found it appalling.
That said, I re-emphasize what I posted previously. Lewinsky was amply rewarded by the liberal establishment for her notoriety, and not just financially. She has been portrayed quite sympathetically, even heroically, by the media. The message is unmistakable: Follow Lewinsky's example and you will profit by it.
I also think you go a bit overboard in your characterization of Hill people as either drunken frat rats or "Jesus types." People are not that simple in my experience.
I won't ask where you got the "data" to support your contention that "Republicans are just as bad" as democrats in this respect. If, as you claim, they are "smarter" about keeping it quiet, then how would you even know the extent of their misbehavior?
I'm oversimplifying, I admit. I'm also mostly referring to low to mid-level Republican staffers. the Jesus-type vs. Frat/Sorority type are two very general and broad groups.
I won't ask where you got the "data" to support your contention that "Republicans are just as bad" as democrats in this respect. If, as you claim, they are "smarter" about keeping it quiet, then how would you even know the extent of their misbehavior?
All evidence is purely anectodal and should be taken for what it's worth. I think the point I'm trying to make is, based on stories from Hill people that I know, there are plenty of Republican members of Congress, Bush administration officials and Republican big-wigs who screw around on their husbands/wives, drink too much etc. etc. Being Republicans, they have a lot more to lose with the people back home (a Member of the House from rural Georgia who gets caught cheating on his wife will be in a lot more trouble with the constituents than someone who represents the Upper West Side) so they tend to be more discreet.
I'm guessing that an affinity for butt sex will do that.
Well yeah. If she gets paid for it, she is a professional prostitute. Not a very good one, pro's usually keep their mouths shut.
She's pretty tough looking. Attractive, but tough.
Thanks, Saber !
A very reasonable and measured reply, mm. Thanks.
Now there's something you want to teach your kids. Need extra cash? Just be a part time whore.
Thass right!
Best damn paper in the USA!
Did I mention the Universe?
Okay, now I feel better.
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