Wash. Times' Pruden: Unlike A Man Her Age, Hillary Clinton “Is Getting Past Her Sell-By Date”
Written by Media Matters Staff
Published
The Washington Times' Wesley Pruden launched a sexist attack against Hillary Clinton, claiming that while a man her age is “not particularly old,” a woman in public life like Clinton “is getting past her sell-by date.”
Discussing speculation that Clinton might run for president in 2016, Washington Times' editor emeritus Wesley Pruden, began his September 24 column by noting that Clinton's interview with New York magazine had revived speculation on her political plans, adding, “the lady knows how to keep everyone guessing. Only her roots are showing.” Pruden concluded by saying that Clinton's age is “not particularly old for a man” but “a woman in public life is getting past her sell-by date”:
Will she or won't she? Not even her hairdresser, who is only called in occasionally, knows for sure. But the lady knows how to keep everyone guessing. Only her roots are showing.
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But what do they actually know? Hillary would be 69 on Inauguration Day 2017, not particularly old for a man not out of sight of his prime, but a woman in public life is getting past her sell-by date at 69. John F. Kennedy, who never had to grow old, got it right when he famously remarked that “life is unfair.” A second failed race for president would not be much of a capstone for a distinguished career in politics, and life at the hearth with Bubba and the dogs would be more rewarding than indulging the parasites of another campaign.
Pruden has a lengthy history of sexist attacks on Clinton, including in a column earlier this year in which he compared her to an “emotionally abused wife” and attempted to push discredited rumors about her alleged behavior as first lady in order to depict her as “angry and combative” during her congressional testimony on the Benghazi attacks.
Conservative media outlets also have a long history of sexism towards Hilary Clinton. The latest attacks from the right are centered on her age.