The sexist nature of Washington Post endorsements

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m voting McKay because I think it’s important that the chair has prior supervisor experience (and I like what he’s done as budget chair).

I’m disappointed with WaPo’s question to the women, and I don’t really think it matters that they also asked the men. I still think the question is directed to the women, or it would mean where we are going with all this to say all people with kids shouldn’t work or have “big jobs.” I don’t think that’s what we want. I think that would be a net loss for society.

Overall I think Alicia worked this to her advantage and got a lot of publicity out of it so kudos to her on that and hopefully it also raised awareness so these questions won’t be asked again.

+1000

[Anonymous]

I wonder if the WaPo will formally respond to the concerns about the nature of their endorsement process. Not sure if they have a “public editor “ like The NY Times does.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At this point I treat WaPo endorsements as a mark against a candidate in local elections

LOL! I like you! And no longer read WaPo

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At this point I treat WaPo endorsements as a mark against a candidate in local elections

LOL! I like you! And no longer read WaPo

Their coverage of NoVa is poor, but you’re kidding yourself if you think their endorsements don’t matter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At this point I treat WaPo endorsements as a mark against a candidate in local elections

LOL! I like you! And no longer read WaPo

Their coverage of NoVa is poor, but you’re kidding yourself if you think their endorsements don’t matter.

NP. Their endorsements definitely matter particularly for local elections where there is so little coverage and people don’t get to know the issues. That’s why I was sad to learn it’s just one person making the endorsements (in this case it’s a person with a flawed sense of what a parent is capable of.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At this point I treat WaPo endorsements as a mark against a candidate in local elections

LOL! I like you! And no longer read WaPo

WaPo is one of the best papers in the country. Especially at this time when our nation is being flooded with conservative disinformation in media (from Fox to Daily Caller and IJR and all the other lying rightwing outlets), having a paper that cares about the truth is refreshing and valuable.

You’ll probably see some conservatives attack this post- they attack the Post as a political strategy, because they don’t like what it says, not because they actually believe conservative media is better.
(Marty Baron has complete control over at the Post. It’s sad that many of these same conservatives lap up the lies Anschutz tells them over at Washington Examiner. Sad to see conservative pawns get exploited by billionaires like that.)

Re: endorsements, I think it’s fair to ask those questions about both candidates. A large number of dads in this generation contribute substantially to child care.
I also think the endorsement of the Post no longer has much influence. I think all of the Post’s endorsed SBOE candidates last cycle in DC got pummeled.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At this point I treat WaPo endorsements as a mark against a candidate in local elections

LOL! I like you! And no longer read WaPo

WaPo is one of the best papers in the country. Especially at this time when our nation is being flooded with conservative disinformation in media (from Fox to Daily Caller and IJR and all the other lying rightwing outlets), having a paper that cares about the truth is refreshing and valuable.

You’ll probably see some conservatives attack this post- they attack the Post as a political strategy, because they don’t like what it says, not because they actually believe conservative media is better.
(Marty Baron has complete control over at the Post. It’s sad that many of these same conservatives lap up the lies Anschutz tells them over at Washington Examiner. Sad to see conservative pawns get exploited by billionaires like that.)

Re: endorsements, I think it’s fair to ask those questions about both candidates. A large number of dads in this generation contribute substantially to child care.
I also think the endorsement of the Post no longer has much influence. I think all of the Post’s endorsed SBOE candidates last cycle in DC got pummeled.

I do a lot of hiring. If I asked someone about whether they could do a job because they had children, I would be fired. It's not an appropriate question. The Washington Post needs to be more transparent about who is doing the endorsements, because if people knew that just one 60 year guy is making the local endorsements they would view them more skeptically. I always thought it was a team of people making endorsements, but I guess with local coverage being so limited these days, it's not a priority for the WaPo.

[Anonymous]

The questions about kids were inappropriate, but as far as I can tell the WaPo endorsed the most qualified candidates. Inappropriate questions don’t make less qualified candidates better choices.

[Anonymous]

so not one woman was considered most qualified? Not one?

Seems suspect.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:so not one woman was considered most qualified? Not one?

Seems suspect.

Yup, 9 female candidates, not one endorsed for any of the five positions. It begs the question of how Lee Hockstader is evaluating candidates and whether the WaPo needs to move to a system that doesn't depend exclusively on one man for endorsements.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At this point I treat WaPo endorsements as a mark against a candidate in local elections

LOL! I like you! And no longer read WaPo

WaPo is one of the best papers in the country. Especially at this time when our nation is being flooded with conservative disinformation in media (from Fox to Daily Caller and IJR and all the other lying rightwing outlets), having a paper that cares about the truth is refreshing and valuable.

You’ll probably see some conservatives attack this post- they attack the Post as a political strategy, because they don’t like what it says, not because they actually believe conservative media is better.
(Marty Baron has complete control over at the Post. It’s sad that many of these same conservatives lap up the lies Anschutz tells them over at Washington Examiner. Sad to see conservative pawns get exploited by billionaires like that.)

Re: endorsements, I think it’s fair to ask those questions about both candidates. A large number of dads in this generation contribute substantially to child care.
I also think the endorsement of the Post no longer has much influence. I think all of the Post’s endorsed SBOE candidates last cycle in DC got pummeled.

I do a lot of hiring. If I asked someone about whether they could do a job because they had children, I would be fired. It's not an appropriate question. The Washington Post needs to be more transparent about who is doing the endorsements, because if people knew that just one 60 year guy is making the local endorsements they would view them more skeptically. I always thought it was a team of people making endorsements, but I guess with local coverage being so limited these days, it's not a priority for the WaPo.

Yeah. Asking about whether you can do a job because you're a parent is illegal. If the WaPo guy were smarter and actually cared about the functions of the position rather than just pointing out that the candidate was a parent to young kids, he would have phrased it differently like ""This job requires frequent evening meetings. Does this schedule prevent a problem for you?"
https://hiring.monster.com/employer-resources/recruiting-strategies/interviewing-candidates/legal-job-interview-questions/

[Anonymous]

WTF WaPo? "...There are late night meetings and it's hard work."

Why didn't you just say "DON'T YOU BELONG AT HOME?"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:so not one woman was considered most qualified? Not one?

Seems suspect.

The local Dems endorsed 11 women and one man for FCPS School Board. Haven’t heard any women complain about that unbalanced outcome.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:so not one woman was considered most qualified? Not one?

Seems suspect.

The local Dems endorsed 11 women and one man for FCPS School Board. Haven’t heard any women complain about that unbalanced outcome.

Who are “the local Dems?”?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:so not one woman was considered most qualified? Not one?

Seems suspect.

The local Dems endorsed 11 women and one man for FCPS School Board. Haven’t heard any women complain about that unbalanced outcome.

Most of the candidates for school board are women. Very different from the WaPo not endorsing any women and asking them whether motherhood will interfere with their ability to hold elected office while rejecting the half the candidates who are women.