Jacob Ogles
Former Congressional candidate Gina Sosa’s defense of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh during a CNN interview went viral and drew heavy criticism for normalizing sexual assault.
During an interview on CNN, Sosa and a group of women identified simply as Republican voters defended Kavanaugh, whose confirmation hearings came under threat after accusations surfaced he assaulted a girl in high school.
“We’re talking a 17-year-old boy in high school with testosterone running high,” Sosa said in the clip. “Tell me what boy hasn’t done this in high school. Please, I would like to know.”
Sosa sat among five women interviewed by CNN Correspondent Randi Kaye. The broadcast never mentioned Sosa recently ran for an open Congressional seat in Florida’s 27th Congressional District. Sosa on Aug. 28 came in last place in a nine-candidate Republican primary.
In the clip, the women, including Sosa, unanimously say the believe Kavanaugh’s denial that any encounter ever took place between himself and Christine Blasey Ford, a Palo Alto University professor.
Ford told The Washington Post that when she was 15 and Kavanaugh was 17, he pinned her in a bed, tried to take her clothes off and held his hand over his mouth when she tried to scream.
While the women in the interview say they believe Kavanaugh’s denial, they also say this sounds like normal teenager behavior and should not derail his confirmation.
Sosa tweeted about the Kavanaugh proceedings herself, where she repeated the actions in question seem normal. “Tell me what boy or girl in high school didn’t do dump (sic) stupid things,” she wrote.
https://twitter.com/GinaPolStrategy/status/1042491301349023744
The clip—Sosa’s comments in particular—drew wide condemnation on Twitter.
Benny Johnson of the conservative Daily Caller commented on the issue on Twitter, where his tweet got re-tweeted more than 37,000 times.
CNN asked women if they believe Judge Kavanaugh.
This was not the response they were expecting.
Wow. pic.twitter.com/RCgZBBzpDF
— Benny (@bennyjohnson) September 21, 2018
Starfish Media CEO Soledad O’Brien, who previously anchored broadcasts for CNN, wrote “these ladies are terrible people.”
Wow, these ladies are terrible people. https://t.co/wHuBRQ1UOX
— Soledad O'Brien (@soledadobrien) September 22, 2018
Some also criticized CNN’s decision to include Sosa and other women in the group without mentioning their involved in Republican politics.
Amee Vanderpool, director of The Inanna Project, which advocates for equal pay for women, criticized the network presenting Sosa as an “average female viewer.”
In this @CNN video claiming to present the "average female viewer" we have:
✔︎Gina Sosa, failed GOP Trumper candidate for #FL27
✔︎Irina Villarino, Trump supporter and operative who helped with GOP tax bill
✔︎Lourdes Castillo de la Peña, Ted Cruz operative and fundraiser 1/ pic.twitter.com/nPdGtERnky— Amee Vanderpool (@girlsreallyrule) September 23, 2018
12 comments
Hope
September 23, 2018 at 3:32 pm
It certainly was not like this when I was in school 40/50 years ago. Guys might want to make out, but none, none ever attempted to force me or any friends that I know of. If this woman thinks this is par for the course, I dare say she is totally wrong. Did this happen to her and she actually thought nothing of it? Really??
Cha deb
September 24, 2018 at 10:49 am
Who the hell does this women hang with? https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/i-knew-brett-kavanaugh-during-his-years-republican-operative-don-ncna907391
Noneyo
September 23, 2018 at 3:37 pm
I am, as a man, completely at a loss for words by the excuse “what boy hasn’t done this?”
That statement… excusing a 17 year old because of “testosterone” for attempted rape is everything about male sexual entitlement that I have spent my entire life cleaning up after. Everytime any woman has to turn a guy down she fears for her safety based on past experience…
Ma’am, maybe that is the standard you hold men to… but I hold anyone, including myself, to a much higher standard.
Hope
September 23, 2018 at 3:44 pm
thank you sir, for commenting. thank you for your higher standard. it has significant meaning to me.
Charles
September 23, 2018 at 6:04 pm
This blows my mind to think something like this is normal! No means no period! End of story
Suzanne Jensen
September 23, 2018 at 6:28 pm
These women make me sick and it is discouraging to know they have children. We have to license animals but not people to raise children. No wonder we live in such a violent society. Sounds to me like this women has a son who has done this and so she is trying to make it normal behavior for all boys/men. Not on your life lady. This is the behavior of selfish entitled boy who thinks he can get away with it. You are a bitch to even suggest this as being normal behavior. Shame on you!
Catherine Cohen
September 23, 2018 at 7:06 pm
Really??? This is what you tell young girls? Women? Okay then if a couple of young bucks approach you with that thought in mind??? You deserve what you dish out. All other females DO NOT! Ever.
Dede
September 23, 2018 at 10:57 pm
These stupid old hoes!!! So why the F! Are there men SPECIFICALLY MEN OF COLOR LATINO MEN IN JAIL FOR SOMETHING THEY DID WHILE THEY WERE 17? These stupid bitches can go F themselves! I hope they get the backlash of a lifetime
Ron Bloom
September 24, 2018 at 12:45 am
I’m as mad at CNN for not identifying these women as (R)s, as I am at their attitudes.
Miss Chulani Abalos Magante
September 24, 2018 at 2:55 am
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Dave
September 24, 2018 at 9:47 am
Why do we support such behavior at any age? My daughter in the navy was raped by a drunk shipmate who showed up at her room one night and she had to change ships and bases in an attempt to protect her. The man is still on the same ship. This whole administration is full of these incidents from the president on down in today’s value system are we willing to allow the people to serve? Please recall the low report rate of rape and assault by women in general, especially young women. It’s embarrassing for them and has been socially accepted for so long, “boys will be boys” who would have reported it so long ago? It happened many times to my first and second wife, my oldest daughter, my youngest daughter, my mother and friends many friends and several students I have taught. Is this really the time to say we need this man? Is this the best conservatism has to offer the us? Maybe if he would have come out and spoken of his indiscretions as life mistakes, he may be better but looking at the mess of the conservative group (not republican necessarily) that we have in office right now it seems that it has been full of problems from the top down. Is this our legacy? Drain the swamp? It seems like we are drawing to the deepest point and the worst is gathering in one deep area and trying to lead the world in the; (right?) direction? Not a chance no more excuses no more gimmes! We in the U.S. are leaders of the free world like it or not we have responsibilities it’s time we grew up and fulfilled those responsibilities for our own republic and territories as well as the world.
Walter Ziebell
September 25, 2018 at 6:30 pm
If Gina Sosa really believes “What boy hasn’t done this in high school”, then I would believe that she, during her high school years, was a willing participant in this kind of debauchery. How else would she know? When I was in high school we called these kind of girls “loose”, or “sluts”, and I avoided them like the plague! I also would think that Gina Sosa would take serious offense if someone said she was a “slut” in high school, but what other conclusion could I have reached after what she said?
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