In the sexist beauty pageant that apparently is the New Hampshire congressional race, Republican Rep. Steve Vaillancourt has appointed himself the judge.
In a self-described late-night blog post on Friday, Vaillancourt surmises that a candidate’s looks can decide elections and goes on to do some chauvinistic speculation based on this less-than groundbreaking concept.
Vaillancourt says Republican congressional hopeful Marilinda Garcia is “one of the mot (sic) attractive women on the political scene anywhere, not so attractive as to be intimindating (sic), but truly attractive.”
According to Vaillancourt, a candidate needs to be attractive to get into office, but can’t be “so drop dead gorgeous as to intimidate those watching.”
Just how attractive does he find Garcia? So attractive, Vaillancourt says, Democrats can’t even find an unflattering picture of her.
And if Garcia is “hot,” then who does that leave in Vaillancourt’s “not” category? Garcia’s Democratic challenger Rep. Ann McLane Kuster.
“Let’s be honest,” he writes, “Does anyone not believe that Congressman Annie Kuster is as ugly as sin? And I hope I haven’t offended sin.”
Just “how ugly is Annie Kuster?” he asks rhetorically. The lawmaker recalls this charming anecdote:
“I actually thought of Annie Kuster last weekend when I was in Montreal… [at] a bar called Mados…On almost any given night, standing for all to see in front of Mados is a rather attractive drag queen. People stop to pose for pictures with this Mado drag queen; other drag queens gather round because, you see, Mados is a drag queen bar…not that there’s anything wrong with that. Long live Victor Victoria; long live La Cage Aux Folles.”
For those unable to connect the proverbial dots, Vaillancourt clarifies: “the drag queens are more atrractive than Annie Kuster…Annie Kuster looks more like a drag queen than most men in drag.”
Garcia’s camp responded to Vaillancourt’s blog post in a statement, saying, “ I hope that as time moves forward and more female candidates run for political office around the country, people will focus on the content of our ideas rather than what we wear and how we look.”
Vaillancourt is no stranger to controversy. In 2012, he had to publicly apologize for saying “Sieg Hiel” and giving a Nazi salute during a tense floor exchange with then House Speaker Bill O’Brien.
Garcia trails Kuster in the election according to several polls, which does not bode well for Vaillancourt’s theory.
Bridget Todd