TJ Walker (host) discusses Alabama state Representative Patricia Todd — identified here as the first openly gay legislator in Alabama — and her public threat to expose colleagues who vote against gay marriage while allegedly engaging in extramarital affairs. Walker frames Todd's tactic as a media-savvy, attention-getting use of hypocrisy exposure (comparing it to Larry Flynt's strategy during the Clinton–Lewinsky era), comments on the blurring of private/professional boundaries in politics, and offers anecdotal observations about state legislatures and late-night behavior.
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Alabama has a new media star, Representative Patricia Todd. You'll never guess what she's done. So Patricia Todd is the first openly gay representative in the Alabama legislature, and here's what's going on. Alabama, like many states, is grappling with the whole issue of gay marriage. She is a proponent of gay marriage. She's not happy that a number of her colleagues on both sides of the aisle are saying they are voting against gay marriage because they believe in traditional marriage where one man, one woman, together, sex only in marriage, under the auspices of heterosexual marriage in a traditional marriage. She's upset by that because she claims she knows of lots and lots and lots of legislators who are having affairs at the state legislature. And she feels like she has enough proof what she is saying to the legislators. If you vote against gay marriage, I am going to out you. I'm going to out you as hypocrites, I'm going to out you as frauds, and I'm going to tell the whole world about the affairs you're having. Regardless of how you feel about this and the ethics, you have to admit there's something clever about this. It's also funny. Regardless of your politics, it's always nice and fun to see politicians exposed for hypocrisy. And I think we can all agree that regardless of whether you're for or against gay marriage, there is some element of hypocrisy, hypocrisy here. Now, I don't think this is going to help the representative gain a lot of fans and support in the future for other legislation, but it's definitely getting her attention. In fact, she's going to get more attention than any other legislator in Alabama this year, most likely in any other piece of legislation. So as a way of getting attention, shock value. It's a brilliant, brilliant media. We've seen Larry Flynt do this before at the national political level, where he went after politicians who tried to impeach Clinton for fooling around with Monica Lewinsky while they were doing the same. So we've seen it. And Larry Flynt got a lot of mileage out of this. He got a lot of attention out of this. And now we're seeing this state representative as well. It does show that increasingly the line between personal and professional gets blurry. And it does mean you better get your house in order before you start making moral pronouncements about others. If you want to talk about how immoral people are whose sexual behavior is not what you prefer, you better be prepared for people pointing fingers back at you that's simply a new reality. It only takes one legislator. And, and we've seen this story take off. It's in the national media. Here I am talking about it. People are talking about this all over the country. Now, does this mean there's going to be gay marriage in Alabama because this legislator has essentially extorted or through threat, gotten what she wants? Well, I'll let others be the judge of that, but it's an absolute beautiful, beautiful media hook. And it also, I also find it fascinating having lived in Alabama, worked in the political system and seen what's gone on there. And I could tell you, I don't know in this respect if Alabama is much different from other states, but I can tell you there is something about politics where it's still largely men in legislatures. They are far away from home when they are in state capitals. So much of state business is done through late night parties, open bars. And legislatures tend to hire lots of young, attractive women. I don't know why. So the idea that there are legislators across the aisle who have affairs, perhaps lots of affairs, perhaps a much higher percentage than the general population, strikes me as exactly dead on. That is what happens. Ladies and gentlemen, I'm TJ Walker. Thanks for watching.
